In the 1980s, Ethel Ann Hickok, the last surviving niece of James Butler (“Wild Bill”) Hickok, donated fifty-four family letters and five photographs to the Kansas Historical Society. She donated two letters to historian Joseph G. Rosa. In total, the fifty-six letters document the adventures of the Hickok children in California, Kansas, Missouri and Dakota Territory among other places, and the Hickok family in Troy Grove, Illinois, between 1851 and 1904.James Butler Hickok, eventually known as “Wild Bill” Hickok, is one of the most legendary and elusive figures in the history of the American West. Hickok’s legendary status as the West’s preeminent scout, lawman, gunfighter and gambler was built as much on myth as it was on fact. Wild Bill wrote five of the letters in this collection and many others give accounts of his activities, death and burial. Read the entire Hickok family collection with transcriptions on Kansas Memory.       For more on Wild Bill Hickok select the category People - Notable Kansans - Hickok, James Butler, 1837-1876 in Kansas Memory.