Border: Hunter
*Figured would showcase the Mates 🙂
John Peters Ringo was born to Martin and Mary Ringo on May 3, 1850 in Washington, Indiana. John was the eldest of five children. He had one brother, Martin, and three sisters: Fanny, Mary, and Mattie.
The family moved from Indiana to Missouri, where the three girls were born, and then in 1864 they began making their way out West, toward San Jose, California. While traveling to California, Martin Ringo Sr. died from an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound, witnessed by his family.
The family continued on to San Jose, where John Ringo remained until around 1871. While in California, he worked the farm for his family.
After leaving California, he went back East to visit family in both Indiana and Missouri before ending up in Burnet, Texas in 1874, where he committed his first criminal act: shooting a gun in a public square.
In 1875, in Mason County, John was involved in the HooDoo, or Mason County War, where much of his reputation was created, though he did not have nearly as much to do with the killings as rumor reported. He was originally charged for the murder of a man, but since no witnesses would testify against him, he was free to go. He remained in Texas until 1878, when he began traveling West, through New Mexico and ending up in Arizona in late 1879.
In December of 1879, Ringo shot a man in a saloon in Safford, Arizona. In 1880, Ringo met Joseph Isaac “Ike” Clanton, and they began traveling together. He was having fun wreaking havoc with Ike and his men, but when things began to heat up and become too much, he decided to leave.
However, Ike Clanton did not want him to leave the gang. In order to keep him there, Clanton Turned him without consent and made Ringo dependent on him for information and threatened the lives of his brother’s family, who lived on the California-Arizona border, should he try to leave. Since Clanton wasn’t the only Rogue in the Cowboys gang, which numbered over 300 members, Ringo decided to stay and bide his time before escaping.