Maude Adams, the beautiful actress who played Peter Pan in 1904 on the Broadway Stage, was the daughter of Annie Adams and James Kiskadden.\u00a0 She was a first cousin of my father-in-law, Alma D. Eakle, Sr.\u00a0 I joined the family just about the time Maude’s life came to an end.\u00a0 She was, however, one of my favorite people.\u00a0 And I wanted to know more about her.<\/p>\n
I had read in True West <\/strong><\/em>Magazine that Annie Adams had played the gold fields when Maude was a small child.\u00a0 And Maude had bit parts and walk-ons with her mother.\u00a0 The story read that Annie was married to the notorious Jack Slade.\u00a0 One day, James Kiskadden rode out to the Slade ranch to tell Annie her husband was about to be hanged by the City Fathers of Virginia City Nevada<\/span>.\u00a0 Annie rode like the wind, but arrived too late to save Slade.\u00a0 So Kiskadden helped her cut down the body, place him in a coffin, fill it with whiskey (it was July), and transport it to the Salt Lake City Cemetery, where she buried Slade in the family Plot. And James Kiskadden married the widow.<\/p>\n What a delicious story I thought.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n I called my Father-in-Law to tell him.\u00a0 “Arlene, we don’t have a notorious criminal in our family plot,” he said sternly.\u00a0 Then I got a call from a genealogy colleague of mine, and she said, “Its true.\u00a0 Joseph (Jack) Slade is buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery!”<\/p>\n A few days later, I drove to Great Falls Montana to visit my daughter Linda and her family.\u00a0 When I passed the turn-off to Virginia City Montana<\/span>, I said to myself, “What if…”\u00a0 On main street in Virginia City was a mercantile with William Kiskadden across the front. Again, I said “What if…”<\/p>\n In a new history of Virginia City Montana, indexed entries took me to Jack Slade and James Kiskadden.\u00a0 BUT–Slade was married to a gold fields dancer with “the most beautiful legs west of Buffalo.”\u00a0 WOW,\u00a0 A dancer.<\/p>\n And the story thickened as I discovered the wife who cut the body down, put him in a coffin, filled it with whiskey, and transported it to the Salt Lake City Cemetery, and buried him in the family plot–was named Virginia, not Annie. WHAT?<\/p>\n James Kiskadden did marry the widow.\u00a0 And it seems my father-in-law was absolutely right.\u00a0 We had no criminal buried in our family plot.\u00a0 Kiskadden married Virginia Dale Slade.\u00a0 Later on, he married Annie Adams requesting that she abandon her life in gold fields—he provided a rather splashy home for her and Maude in San Francisco CA.<\/p>\n The Rest of the Story…<\/strong><\/p>\n My visit to the Summit County Courthouse, as part of Celebrating Family and Local History,<\/strong><\/em> brought the legend of Jack Slade back into my genealogy consciouness–he had ties to the mining camps of Utah!\u00a0 Dan Rottenburg has chronicled Jack’s life in Death of a Gunfighter:\u00a0 The Quest for Jack Slade, the West’s Most Elusive Legend.<\/strong><\/em> (Awarded the Best Western History Book, 2008 by the Wild West History Association.)<\/p>\n Plan NOW to attend our up-coming\u00a0 Family History Retreat<\/strong><\/em> in Coalville UT with a return trip to the Summit County Courthouse, where I will share some additional details about the lives of Jack Slade, Maude Adams, and James Kiskadden and how they impact my own Genealogy.\u00a0 Register now at http:\/\/familyhistoryexpos.com \u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle\u00a0 http:\/\/arleneeakle.com<\/p>\n PS\u00a0 Family History Retreats<\/strong> <\/em>build upon archives and libraries and their holdings as well as train you in using original documents to prove your family genealogy and extend your family tree.\u00a0 Intensive, focused learning mixed with the fun that comes from knowing your family background well enough to share it with others.\u00a0 Plan NOW to attend–you”ll not regret it, I promise.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Maude Adams, the beautiful actress who played Peter Pan in 1904 on the Broadway Stage, was the daughter of Annie Adams and James Kiskadden.\u00a0 She was a first cousin of my father-in-law, Alma D. Eakle, Sr.\u00a0 I joined the family … Continue reading