William "Bill" Doolin (member of the Dalton gang and founder of the Wild Bunch)

Occupation: Cowboy, and then a famous outlaw, known as Bill Doolin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Doolin (complete text)

William "Bill" Doolin (1858 – August 24, 1896) was an American bandit and founder of the Wild Bunch, an outlaw gang that specialized in robbing banks, trains and stagecoaches in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas during the 1890s.

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Doolen, Irish, immigrant to the United States of America in early 1700th, started the Doolin family in the United States of America.

Doolen and his wife whose name is still unknown, had 4 children:

William, Nancy, Daniel, Hardin, and

JOHN the youngest who was married to Cathy Rowe.

(This is when the name was mistakenly written down with a spelling error for two of their children, DoolEn turned into Doolin. The records clearly indicate, though, that all the four children were of the Irishman Doolen's family.)

John, and Cathy, they had 6 children,

Bartlett 1805

Michael 1805-1865

Elizabeth 1806

Margaret 1811-1842

John Jr. 1812-1858

George Washington 1818-1877

Michael IS Bill Doolin's Father.

Michael was married twice.

Six years after his first wife Mary Elizabeth Stephens'

death, Michael married

to Artemina Orlisslissa Beller.

Children with Mary:

Margaret 1830-1876

Barton 1932-1833

Melinda E. 14.09.1834-1892

Telitha Ann 1837-1929

Jamima 1840-1932

JOHN1845-(1935 ?)

Mary M. 1848

Children with Artemina:

WILLIAM (BILL) DOOLIN 1858-1896

Tennessee 1859-1918

William (Bill) was born in 1858, while his brother John was born in 1845, making 13 years of difference towards Bill being the younger brother.

(Now, JOHN, Bill's elder brother is my husband's

Great-Great-Great-GrandFather,

making Bill Doolin my husband William Lee's

Great-Great-Great-Grand-Uncle

(Fourth Great-Uncle, in short).

Unfortunately, the Doolin family is famous mostly for the Outlaw, Bill Doolin, the fourth generation from Doolen the Irish Immigrant.

Bill was a cowboy in Oklahoma,

later known as forming a gang of bank robbers,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j3mhyMUGrI

of which events songs are written and sung by the American Band, Eagles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-ma_nPOZn0

Doolin Dalton

They were duelin', doolin-dalton

High or low, it was the same

Easy money and faithless women

Red-eye whiskey for the pain.

Go down, bill doolin, don't you wonder why,

Sooner or later, we all have to die...

Sooner or later, it's a stone-cold fact

when four men ride out and only three ride back.

Better keep on runnin', doolin-dalton

'till your killers set you free

'cause if you're fast, and if you're lucky

You may never see that hangin' tree

Well, the towns lay out across the dusty plains

Everyone is filled with tombstones, just to wait for the names

And a man can use his back, or use his brains

But some just went stir crazy, cause nothin' ever changed

So, keep on running, doolin-dalton,

High or low, it's all the same

Easy money, and faithless women

Red-eye whiskey for the pain...

No, there's really nothing for the pain!

...Is there gonna be anyone left, is there gonna be... anyone?

How many miles does a bad man have to run?

Is there gonna be anyone left, is there gonna be?

In the end, it's hard to feel at home in the cemetery...

Is there gonna be anyone left, is there gonna be,

Is there gonna be anyone left, is there gonna be,

Is there gonna be anyone left, is there gonna be,

anyone?

Yet, it is little known that at some point of his life, being married to his beloved wife, Edit Ellswort, Deacon Burton Ellswort's daughter, Bill decides to leave his criminal past behind, and lead a virtuous life.

Several records on www.ancestry.com show that Bill and Edit also had one, or two children...

On his way to unclaimed area between Kansas and Texas, Bill Doolin was found by Marshal Sam Hughes, and shot to death, into his back.

There are several movies made about the events, one of which is this:

http://www.answers.com/topic/the-doolins-of-oklahoma

Bill Doolin was a younger brother to my husband, William (yes, the name William (Bill) runs in the family) Lee Highline's Great-Great-Great-Grandfather John Doolin, which means Bill Doolin is my husband's Great-Great-Great GrandUncle.

info at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Doolin

and one of the movies:

http://www.answers.com/topic/the-doolins-of-oklahoma

William "Bill" Doolin (1858 – August 24, 1896) was an American bandit and founder of the Wild Bunch, an outlaw gang that specialized in robbing banks, trains and stagecoaches in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas during the 1890s.

Doolin was born in Johnson County, Arkansas, in 1858. A son of Michael and Artemina Beller Doolin, he left home in 1881 and became a cowboy in Indian Territory. He was hired by cattleman Oscar D. Halsell, a Texas native, and began working for Halsell as a cowboy in Oklahoma. During this time, he worked with other noted cowboy/outlaw names of the day, including George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb, Charley Pierce, Bill Power, Dick Broadwell, Bill "Tulsa Jack" Blake, Dan "Dynamite Dick" Clifton, and Emmett Dalton.

Doolin's first encounter with the law came on July 4, 1891, in Coffeyville, Kansas. Doolin and some friends were drunk in public, and when lawmen attempted to confiscate their alcohol, a shootout ensued. Two of the lawmen were wounded, and Doolin escaped capture, fleeing Coffeyville.

Less than two months later, Doolin became a member of the Dalton Gang. On October 5, 1892, the Dalton Gang made its fateful attempt to rob two banks simultaneously, in Coffeyville, Kansas. The robbery attempt was an utter failure, with a shootout ensuing between Coffeyville citizens and lawmen, and the outlaws, leaving four of the five gang members dead, with the exception of Emmett Dalton. Historians have since indicated that there was a sixth gang member in an alley holding the horses, who escaped. Who this sixth man was remains unknown to this day, and Emmett Dalton never disclosed his identity, but speculation continues that it was Bill Doolin.

In 1892, Doolin formed his own gang, the Wild Bunch. On November 1, 1892, the gang robbed a bank in Spearville, Kansas. After the robbery, the gang fled with gang member Oliver Yantis to Oklahoma territory, where they hid out at the house of Yantis' sister. Less than one month later, the gang was tracked to that location, and in a shootout Yantis was killed while the rest of the gang escaped.

Following that robbery, the gang began a spree of successful bank and train robberies. In March 1893, Doolin married Edith Ellsworth in Ingalls, Oklahoma. Shortly thereafter, Doolin and his gang robbed a train near Cimarron, Kansas, during which a shootout with lawmen resulted in Doolin being shot in the foot.

On September 1, 1893, fourteen deputy U.S. Marshals entered Ingalls, Oklahoma, to apprehend the gang, in what would be known as the Battle of Ingalls. During the shootout that followed, three marshals were killed, two bystanders were killed and one wounded, three of the gang members were wounded, and gang member "Arkansas Tom Jones" was wounded and captured. Doolin shot and killed Deputy Marshal Richard Speed during that shootout.

The Wild Bunch was the most powerful outlaw group in the west for a time. However, because of the relentless pursuit of the Three Guardsmen (lawmen Bill Tilghman, Chris Madsen, and Heck Thomas) many of the gang had been either captured or killed by the end of 1894. In late 1894, gang member Bill Dalton was killed by U.S. Marshals. Rewards were offered for their capture or death, which often turned friends into foes to collect the reward. On May 1, 1895, gang members Charlie Pierce and George "Bittercreek" Newcomb were shot and killed by the bounty hunters known as "The Dunn Brothers". The bounty hunter team that killed them were the older brothers of Newcomb's teenage girlfriend, Rose Dunn. It was alleged that she had betrayed Newcomb, but it is more likely that her brothers simply trailed her to the hideout.

Doolin fled to New Mexico where he hid with outlaw Richard "Little Dick" West during the summer of 1895. In late 1895, Doolin and his wife hid out near Burden, Kansas for a time, then they went to Eureka Springs, so that Doolin could utilize the bathhouses to remedy his rheumatism brought on from his earlier gunshot wound in his foot. It was there, in a bathhouse, in early 1896 that Doolin was first captured, by Bill Tilghman.

Doolin later escaped on July 5, traveling to take refuge with his wife in Lawson, Oklahoma Territory. There, on August 24, Doolin was killed with a shotgun blast by Deputy U.S. Marshal Heck Thomas.

By the end of 1898, all of the remaining former Wild Bunch gang were dead, killed in various shootouts with lawmen. Heck Thomas had tracked most of them; the remainder were tracked down and eliminated by lawmen Chris Madsen and Bill Tilghman, and other posses.