Why is baby doe tabor famous

Her rags-to-riches and back to rags again story made her a well-known figure in her own day, and inspired an opera and a Hollywood movie based on her life. Born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin to Peter McCourt, [ 1 ] she moved to Colorado in the mids with her first husband, Harvey Doe, whom she divorced for drinking, gambling, frequenting brothels, and being unable to provide a living.

She then moved to Leadville, Colorado , where she met Horace Tabor , a wealthy silver magnate almost twice her age.

How old was baby doe tabor when she died

In , he divorced his first wife, Augusta Tabor , to whom he had been married for 25 years, and married Baby Doe in Washington, D. They then took up residence in Denver. His divorce and remarriage to the young and beautiful Baby Doe caused a scandal in s Colorado. Although Tabor was one of the wealthiest men in Colorado, and supported his wife in a lavish style, he lost his fortune when the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act caused the Panic of , resulting in widespread bankruptcies in silver-producing regions such as Colorado.

He died destitute, and Baby Doe returned to Leadville with her two daughters, living out the rest of her life there. Once known as the "best dressed woman in the West," [ 2 ] she lived in poverty and solitude for the three decades of her life in a shack on the site of the Matchless Mine. She was found frozen in her cabin, aged about 81 years, after a snowstorm in March Born in September, according to the census, she appears to have been christened on October 7, , [ 5 ] at St.

Peter's Catholic Church. Her father was a partner in a local clothing store and owner of Oshkosh's first theater, McCourt Hall. Her mother fostered in her beautiful daughter the belief that her looks were of great worth, excusing her from domestic chores so as to preserve her skin and allowing her to dream of a future as an actress.

Concerned by his wife's indulgence in their young and striking daughter, Peter McCourt thought it prudent to put her to work at the clothing store, where she was often in the company of fashionable young men. At age 16, she was a "fashionably plump" blond-haired young woman with a hectic social schedule.