Agnes Lake Hickok: Queen of the Circus, Wife of a Legend (review)

Authors Linda A. Fisher and Carrie Bowers chronicle the extraordinary life of circus star Agnes Lake from early immigration to America, rise to circus stardom, courtship and marriage to Wild Bill Hickok, and retirement. Previously, very little and often distorted information had been written and published. While Dr. Linda A. Fisher was researching cholera, she discovered a whiskey merchant’s diary authored by Agnes’s brother Joseph. This diary unlocked many secrets of her amazing life and inspired Fisher to research further. Impeded by conflicting information, often given by Agnes herself, and the numerous name changes that she used, Fisher and her assistant Carrie Bowers, along with other researchers, have pieced together Agnes Lake’s life story by viewing rolls of microfilm and by searching through numerous public records from coast to coast. The result is a book that meets the authors’ goals to “dispel the most erroneous reports of Agnes’s life, to interpret the clues she left behind … and to celebrate the life of a woman who defied cultural expectations” (285).

A young Agnes Mersman married circus performer William Thatcher Lake and began to train for the circus, eventually perfecting her skills as an equestrian and wirewalker. In the meantime, she mourned the deaths of at least two infants and adopted several children. Her husband was tragically shot in Missouri during a circus performance, leaving Agnes to manage the circus they owned. While on the road with her circus, she met the legendary Hickok in Abilene, Kansas, in 1871. They began a courtship through correspondence that resulted in their marriage in 1876. After only five months, an assassin took Bill’s life, leaving Agnes a widow once again. By this time, she had sold her circus and retired. However, she continued to accompany her talented daughter Emma to her circus performances.

Agnes dealt with personal tragedies, harsh traveling conditions, circus violence, and Victorian America’s criticism of her craft. Because she chose circus life and defied cultural expectations, she became an anomaly of her time. Although respectable people, she and other circus women were condemned by the media as immoral. She persevered in her occupation and stood by Emma, chaperoning and protecting her as she, too, rose to fame as a circus performer.

Although most of Agnes’s life centers in the eastern United States, her circus followed western expansion along the rails to San Francisco. During her travels, she delivered hope and entertainment to nineteenth-century people who often suffered from oppressed economic conditions, epidemic diseases, and harsh living conditions.

After Fisher succumbed to heart disease before the book was completed, Bowers achieved their goals and captured the courageous and independent character of Agnes Lake. The book is a fine biography of a woman who exemplifies the western spirit.