14. Charley Parkhurst
One of the most excellent stagecoach drivers of the Old West was Charley Parkhurst, and many who raced her were surprised to find out she was a woman. Charley grew up in an orphanage and ran away, and she would dress as a boy so she could work in stables, which is where she learned how to drive a coach.
Known as One-Eyed Charley or Six Horse Charley, she was short in stature but strong in nature. She built a reputation as a skilled and talented driver but had to flee to Georgia after a possible threat of exposure. Charley would later move west to California in 1851.
Once in California, Charley Parkhurst started to become famous for stagecoach driving, and she had several mail courier routes as a result. It is rumored that she may have been the first woman to vote in a presidential election in California in 1868.
After she died of tongue cancer in 1879, doctors discovered that Charley Parkhurst was, in fact, she and a woman also had given birth at an earlier time.
