The Active Historian

Mary Emma Manning was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Dr. William R. and Mary Elizabeth Peak Eager Manning. She was named after her mother so she was given the nickname, “May.”

In 1883, May was watching Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show in Philadelphia while attending school at Smith College. It was here she met Gordon Lillie (aka “Pawnee Bill”) who was the interpreter for the Pawnee showmen. Gordon would spend the next two years courting May while she finished college and they were married on August 31, 1886 after she graduated. Gordon gifted her a Marlin .22 target rifle and a pony for her wedding gifts.

In 1888, the couple began Pawnee Bill’s Historic Wild West show which later became Pawnee Bill’s Historical Wild West Indian Museum and Encampment Show. May Lillie was a sharpshooter and expert “lady rider” who rode sidesaddle. She also wore a full-length skirt while riding.

You can see examples of various show advertisements from the newspapers below.

In 1908, Pawnee Bill’s show joined forces with Buffalo Bill’s show to form, “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Pawnee Bill’s Great Far East.” This lasted for a few years and the partnership dissolved in 1913.

May managed the Blue Hawk Peak Ranch and oversaw the buffalo herd after she retired from show business. She helped with the conservation of around 200 buffalo in the United States.

Pawnee Bill also retired and managed a menagerie of animals including Scottish shorthorn cattle, peacocks, chickens, bears, and goats.

The Lillies celebrated 50 years of marriage in September 1936 in Taos, New Mexico. On the trip home, the Lillies were in a car accident. May did not recover from her injuries and passed away on September 17 at 67 years old. Gordon Lillie passed away a few years later in 1942.

May Lillie was inducted in the National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame in 2011.

Pawnee Bill Ranch & Museum

Today, you can still visit the Pawnee Bill Ranch. There is a museum, the historic home, historic barn, and you can drive through the bison herd. It’s a neat experience!

They also host a Wild West show once a year in June!

Learn more about the historic ranch and museum in this blog post.

Here’s the Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum address:

1141 Pawnee Bill Road

Pawnee, OK 74058

Concluding Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed learning more about the life of May Lillie. Please join me next time as we continue ‘breaking trail’ through American Western history!

Sources

Secondary Sources

Websites

Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum. Oklahoma Historical Society.

“Mary Emma Manning Lillie ‘May Lillie,’” National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame.

Erin Glanville Brown, “Pawnee Bill (Gordon William Lillie),” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Historical Society.

Holly Marcus. “May Lillie: A Wild West Star.” NRA Women. January 5, 2022.

“Mary Emma “May” Manning Lillie.” Find A Grave.

“Visit the Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum.” Oklahoma Historical Society.

Books

Chris Enss. “The Sharpshooter and the Showman.” (Helena: Far Country Press, 2025).

Primary Sources

Newspapers

“West Side Park.” Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the Evening News (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania), September 12, 1890.

“The Great Show.” Weekly Herald (Shenandoah, Pennsylvania), June 20, 1891.

“Pawnee Bill’s Wild West Show.” Atlantic City Sunday Press the Sunday Gazette (Atlantic City, New Jersey), August 9, 1891.

“Coming In All Its Grandeur.” The Opelousas Courier (Opelousas, Louisiana), September 28, 1895.

“Matinee and Night.” The Miners Journal (Pottsville, Pennsylvania), November 27, 1897.

“Temple Theatre.” Camden Daily Telegram (Camden, New Jersey), November 29, 1897.

“Wausau…” Wausau Pilot (Wausau, Wisconsin), June 4, 1901.

“May Lillie’s Riding a Feature at Wild West Show.” The Brooklyn Citizen (Brooklyn, New York), July 1, 1906.

“Is With the Pawnee Bill Show.” Hannibal Courier-Post (Hannibal, Missouri), August 6, 1907.

“Positively the Only Big Show.” The Osage City Free Press (Osage City, Kansas), August 14, 1907.

“Miss May Lillie.” St. Joseph Gazette (St. Joseph, Missouri), August 18, 1907.

“Pawnee Bill’s Historic Wild West and Great Far East.” St. Joseph Gazette (St. Joseph, Missouri), August 18, 1907.

“The Life and Adventures of Pawnee Bill.” Okmulgee Daily Democrat (Okmulgee, Oklahoma), August 10, 1927.

“Gordon and May Lillie Still Good Comrades After 45 Years.” The Tulsa Tribune (Tulsa, Oklahoma), September 27, 1931.

“Buffalo Bill Partner and Noted Rifle Shot to Observe Anniversary.” Lincoln Journal Star (Lincoln, Nebraska), August 30, 1936.

“Wife of Pawnee Bill Is Dead of Automobile Crash Injuries.” The Tulsa Tribune (Tulsa, Oklahoma), September 17, 1936.

“Soft Strains of ‘Last Roundup’ Bring Tears as May Lillie Is Placed in Tomb.” The Tulsa Tribune (Tulsa, Oklahoma), September 20, 1936.

“Mrs. May Lillie.” The Pawnee Chief (Pawnee, Oklahoma), October 27, 1949.

*All newspaper clippings in this blog post were pulled from newspapers.com. I am not affiliated with this website. I just wanted to let you know where I found my digitized sources.