Marshall_Ashmun_Upson

Marshall Ashmun Upson

Marshall Ashmun Upson

American journalist and author (1828–1894)

Marshall Ashmun "Ash" Upson (1828–1894)[1] was a newspaper journalist for several years, postmaster, Justice of the Peace, and author. His claim to fame was as a ghostwriter of the book, The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid, by Pat F. Garrett, 1882.[2][3]

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Early life

Marshall Ashmun Upson was born November 23, 1828, the son of Samuel Wheeler Upson and Sally Maria Stevens of Waterbury Township, New Haven County, Connecticut .[4] Upson had married once, but later divorced. He then drifted West during the Civil War after working as a reporter for the New York Tribune. Afterwards, he established the Albuquerque Press in 1867.[5]

Career

He gained his reputation as a writer while employed as the city editor of The Cincinnati Enquirer. From Ohio, he went to Louisiana, then Missouri and published a paper there for several years. Upson then drifted to Denver, Colorado where he was a writer for the Denver News. He was later engaged in the newspaper business in Santa Fe, New Mexico.[6]

Ghostwriter

After Sheriff Pat Garrett gunned down Billy the Kid in July 1881, he asked Marshall "Ash" Upson to ghostwrite his version of the story. The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid came out in early 1882, but failed to sell until years later. Upson and Garrett formed a real estate company in 1889, which failed.[7] Although not many copies of The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid were sold, it had a decisive impact on the Kid's image. More than any other single influence, the book fed the legend of Billy the Kid. As the legend grew, writers turned to this book for authentic details. For more than a century, only a few researchers questioned the wild tales contained within Upson's book.[8]

Later years

Marshall "Ash" Upson was the postmaster at Roswell, New Mexico, and served as a Justice of the Peace in eastern Lincoln County, New Mexico. Some claimed that Sheriff Pat Garrett was almost illiterate and he employed Upson as his clerk to maintain the records of the sheriff's office. Garrett and Upson became close friends, which lasted until Upson's death on October 6, 1894. He was buried in a cemetery lot owned by Pat Garrett in Uvalde, Texas.[9]

  • The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid at Google Books
  • Marshall Ashmun Upson at ancestry.com
  • Googlebooks, The Fabulous Frontier, 1846-1912, by William A. Keleher, Sunstone Press, 2008, pg. 144
  • Ash Upson at New Mexico Statehood, University of New Mexico

References

  1. [1]
    "", Marshall Ashmun Upson at Findagrave
  2. [2]
    Klasner, Lily (1972). My Girlhood Among Outlaws, University of Arizona Press, pg 116
  3. [3]
    LeMay, John and Stahl, Robert J. (2020). The Man Who Invented Billy the Kid: The Authentic Life of Ash Upson. Roswell, NM: Bicep Books. pp. 127–133. ISBN 978-1-953221-91-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. [4]
    "M. Ashmun Upson, Connecticut Births and Christenings". Family Search. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  5. [5]
    Metz, Leon Claire (1974). Pat Garrett: The Story of a Western Lawman. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 128-131, 156, 160. ISBN 9780806118383.
  6. [6]
    Santa Fe Daily New Mexican, Santa Fe, NM, October 29, 1894, pg 4, "A Pioneer's Death"
  7. [7]
    Boardman, Mark (November 3, 2015). "Pat Garrett's Ghostwriter". True West Magazine. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  8. [8]
    Utley, Robert Marshall (1989). Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life. Tauris Parke Paperbacks. p. 199.
  9. [9]
    Garrett, Pat Floyd (1974). The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, University of Oklahoma Press
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