All Ginger Boy and other character ornaments are handcrafted
by the author (mom, and a few friends pressed into the crafting service), and are constructed of 100% eco-fi polyester felt.
It's amazing what post-consumer plastic bottles can be turned into! The ornaments are approximately 6" high and are
complete with a hanging loop on the back (not shown in pictures). These are intended to be ornaments, or bookshelf friends,
and are not toys.
Not recommended for
children under three as small portions of the design may come loose and constitute a choking hazard.
The backgrounds are for illustrative purposes only and are not included with the ornament. For more information
about the backgrounds, please see the information about Gammons Gulch on the "Links" pages.
All ornaments
shown below are $8.00 (USD) each.
| Back Side of Ginger Boy |
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| All characters in the set are complete with loop hanger. |
Ginger Boy is the hero of the book series and represents
the ideal of the American Cowboy.
While cowboy outlaws and fearless marshals with their
quick-draw abilities are often thought of first when thinking about people in the Old West, it was often the intrepid prospectors
and miners who trekked into unmapped territories who found the gold and silver deposits that caused the founding of many towns
and cities throughout the West.
After the cowboy, the town marshal is probably the most
iconic figure of the Old West; however, in the case of some lawmen, the titles outlaw, hired gun and cattle rustler are listed
as prior occupations. Some of the most notable lawmen, some with dubious pasts, include the Earp brothers--Morgan, Virgil
and Wyatt--William "Bat" Masterson, "Mysterious" Dave Mather and James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok.
Ginger Nellie represents a variety of "genteel"
women who came West either as wives, entrepreneurs or adventurers, but nevertheless had a "civilizing" affect on
the wild lawlessness of mining camps and newly founded mining towns. Ellen "Nellie" Cashman was a true entrepreneur
and adventurer. She immigrated as a child with her mother and sister from Ireland during the potato famine, but later the
lure of gold and silver brought her to the West where she established many restaurants and boarding houses where a tired miner
could get a good meal and a bit of home.
The 19th century saw a big influx of Chinese immigrants who
arrived in California ports and rapidly spread out through the West seeking employment opportunities where they could. Many
were employed by the railroads, and while other found and created work as shopkeepers, house servants, day laborers and restaurant
owners. During the silver boom in Tombstone, AZ, China Mary as she was called, was the undisputed head of the Chinese community.
She is buried in Boot Hill Cemetery in Tombstone.
No western town, book or movie would be complete without
the "saloon girl". While some only served drinks and danced with lonely miners and cowboys, others, like the infamous
"Big Nose Kate", worked as prostitutes, or "soiled doves" in order to make a living and in some cases
to make enough money to leave that life by moving to another town and setting up house as a respectable woman of means. Big
Nose Kate, born Mary Katharine Haroney in Budapest, Hungary, is best known as being John "Doc" Holliday's girlfriend.
She died in 1940 at the Arizona Pioneer's Home located in Prescott, AZ at the age of 89. She is buried there under the
name of Mary K. Cummings.
