Hi All, Pat had some of the details right on Baby Doe. She was orginally born Elizabeth, and came out west to marry her first hubby whose name was Doe. "Baby" was a nickname she acquired sometime early on. She met Horace Tabor while trying to make a go of first hubbys mines ( he wasn't too ambitious, and she actually worked claims herself) She and Horace became an item while living in Leadville. Horace was still married to Augusta Tabor at the time, and she ( Augusta) was really pretty much running all his business concerns at the time. Horace struck it big by outfitting a couple of prospectors heading into the hills to mine on the tick. ( Augusta would NEVER have approved) When they struck it big, Horace was part owner of the Matchless mine. One of the richest silver mines in Colorado. As his fortunes improved he basically moved in with Baby and began trying for a divorce. After several years of machinations, and a consistent refusal by Augusta, she finally gave in, and Horace and Baby were married in Washington while Horace was doing a short stint as a US Senator. They were shunned by polite society in Washington as being vulgar, and shunned in Denver because of a fond regaurd for Augusta in society there. In many ways she echos Molly Browns fight to become accepted. Horace was very open handed and funded many things in Denver including the Tabor Opera house. The current Tabor Center there is named for him. After the US moved to the gold standard, the silver market collapsed, and Tabor lost most of everything. He finished his final years as a postal inspector, a mostly honorary post that gave them a small stipend. The talk about Horace telling her to never give up the Matchless is legend, as by the time he died, he did not own it anymore. Baby did try and mine it herself, with leases from the owners, and finally just on their tolerance. She died there in the 30s probably by freezing to death.
I chose to do Baby Doe for the convention, as there was a Colorado Historical category, and I felt that "everyone" would do Molly Brown. Turns out I was the only one in the category. LOL. Anyway, I started looking for pics of Baby, and found a couple of books on her, and went ahead and read them, as I have always been interested in women in Colorado history, as you had to be a tough cookie to make it out here. I ended up almost wanting to do Augusta more as that woman had a will of iron, but Baby is the more romantic of the two. I also am very interested in Molly Brown ( as in the usinkable for those of you into the movies) and will be doing some research on her soon.
As for redoing Baby, I don't even want to talk about that stupic opera cloak. It was the most famous pic of her, so I decided I had to do it, but I had to trim a rabbit skin, and then each of the small black pieces are a single piece of black rabbit trimmed, sewed into the back and glued in place. She took well over a month of solid working and cussing to do, and I don't think I am up to it again. LOL We won't even visit the topic of the hoop skirt.
Also for some reason, I have become sort of disenchanted with the bigger dolls. They are much easier to sew for etc. but I just don't feel as free with them. Maybe the cost involved in the mistakes. LOL I love the challenge of interpreting something on the teeny tiny scale of Babs.
Ok, sorry for the novel and the silly history lesson, but I had a good time learing about her.
Kathy M.
At 02:08 PM 6/21/2002 -0400, you wrote:
wow! Now answer this for me, who is and what is the history of this Baby Doe? The name distantly rings a bell with me, but tell us the story. Also, how did you find this picture and were you specifically looking for this person or did you have an idea in mind and the picture satisfied a look you were hoping to capture in your doll?
And finally, would you consider interpreting the smaller version makeover into a larger 15.5" doll? I have a Gene that would definitely benefit from a Baby Doe look. Lovely work! Regards, Pat Brown ----- Original Message ----- From: Mroczko mroczko@verinet.com To: candichat@dolls.de Sent: Friday, June 14, 2002 7:50 AM Subject: Broken links repost
Hi All, Several people said they couldn't get the pics, but some did, so I am supposing it was my server being down for a bit yesterday. You never know with my ISP. So for those who want to try again, here are the links.
Pat's Poison Ivy
https://frii.com/~mroczko/temp/pois.jpg https://frii.com/~mroczko/temp/poisfc.jpg
And just for fun, the original doll, and the second one I did for Pat.https://frii.com/~mroczko/temp/poistwin.jpg
Also for someone who asked for the doll I took to Convention that took first in her category, here is my "Baby Doe" Tabor, and for the record, I hadn't seen the MA Cissy Baby Doe before mine was done. I am sure they copied me! LOL
https://frii.com/~mroczko/temp/babyd.jpg https://frii.com/~mroczko/temp/babydf.jpg sorry this one is so big
And here is a link to the original photo that I used.
https://frii.com/~mroczko/temp/babydpc.jpg
Kathy M. Frivolities Antiques Ft. Collins, CO
Frivolities Antiques Ft. Collins, CO