by J. Young
During the initial period of his life, William H. Bonney – more commonly known as the notorious outlaw Billy the Kid – has left no trace of his existence until around 1870. Despite the ambiguity surrounding Billy’s youth, little is known about his familial connections to this day. Various accounts have been documented concerning his family background, and we shall explore a few of them.
The first version describes how a Catherine, purportedly Billy’s mother, was born in 1829 and arrived in New York City from Liverpool on April 29, 1854. According to the 1860 census, Catherine was serving as a domestic servant in Utica and was residing mere houses away from the Bonney siblings, John J. Bonney and Edward Finch Bonney. It is surmised that Catherine may have been involved with one of the Bonney brothers, became pregnant, and left with her illegitimate child, whom she named William Henry —. Consequently, Billy’s birthplace would have been Utica, NY. The suggestion that Joe was Billy’s half-brother was mooted by various newspapers after Billy’s alleged demise, but there is little to substantiate this claim.

Second theory, it’s possible that Catherine’s last name was not McCarty until her first marriage to a Mr. McCarty. However, there is no record of any McCarty family in the state census for New York, Missouri, or Indiana, where a child named William Henry lived as a youngster. The closest match in the McCarty theory is of a woman named Catherine Devine who married a man named Patrick McCarty and had two children; Bridget and Henry. Granted the daughter Bridget later went on record to claim Billy the Kid was her younger brother, however there was no mention of Joe. The other let down on this claim was the fact that Billy’s childhood friend later stated Billy’s middle name was Henry and they only called him by that was to not confuse Mr. William Antrim with the boy. So it would not make sense for him to go by his middle then where there were no other Williams.

Third theory is that William, one of the twin boys of Barnabas Bonney from Lyons, Wayne County, New York, was Billy the Kid’s biological father, and that his real last name was Bonney, not McCarty. However, the records in Lyons, New York seemingly only go back to 1880. Therefore no evidence has been found to support this claim.

There is evidence to support the fourth theory regarding Catherine’s meeting with William Antrim in Indianapolis and subsequent move to Kansas. Despite the abundance of McCarty family residences and Williams and Catherines in the area during the 1830s, none fit the correct combination. Moreover, the census records are so faded that they are difficult to interpret. Nevertheless, for the sake of consideration, let us proceed with this theory.

According to the Indianapolis City Directory, a Catherine McCarty, lived at 385 North New Jersey Street on the west side of Indianapolis in 1867. At the time, Indianapolis’s public school system was flourishing, with enrollment open and free for virtually every child in the city, including Irish immigrants’ offspring. Just a short distance from Catherine’s home was Second Ward Elementary School, situated on the corner of Vine and North New Jersey Street. Although no school rosters have been discovered, it is possible that Billy attended grades 1 through 3 at this school from 1866 to 1869.
Then a woman named Catherine McCarty moved into 199 N. East Street in 1868, where a man with the same name as William Antrim’s friend, William Hoffmeyer, also known as Hoffmeier, had just vacated the property. This is a very slim suggestion that this could have been where Antrim and Catherine met. If she was indeed our Catherine McCarty, then she, along with Antrim, relocated from Indianapolis to Wichita, Kansas, in the spring of 1870.

According to our fifth theory, Billy the Kid was potentially adopted by Catherine and grew up with Spanish-speaking peers, as he was fluent in the language at a young age. It is possible that he arrived on an orphan train and spent his upbringing in the American Southwest. The 1880 Fort Sumner census records William Bonney as 25 years old and from Missouri, while a thorough search through Missouri’s census from 1860 yields 148 McCarty residences, none of which match the profile.
In the 1800’s more than 200,000 children were left orphaned, abandoned, or homeless. Some children can often be traced back to organizations such as the Children’s Aid or the New York Foundling Hospital. These children were sent by railroad and placed throughout the United States and Canada, including states Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas. During this process, they were matched with suitable families. Single families often would take on a child for the help, as in those times, you often labored your own living, from hunting, fishing, growing vegetables and fruit to building your own home. Was young Billy actually an adopted orphan?

Some of what is known, In 1870, Catherine was the sole female to sign the petition that facilitated the incorporation of Wichita, Kansas. She owned her own property, leading to speculation that she met William Antrim as a neighbor if he didn’t move to Kansas with her. Alternatively, if they departed Indianapolis together, they may not have been fully committed to one another yet since Antrim did not live with Catherine in Wichita, according to the map below.
Note: James Antrim is brother of William

Catherine McCarty established a laundry service and purchased and sold vacant lots in town. They lived well until tuberculosis was diagnosed, and a doctor recommended a warmer and drier climate. The couple left, potentially for Denver, Colorado, before settling in New Mexico with Catherine’s sons. On March 1, 1873, Catherine married William Antrim at the Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe. Within a year, the family relocated to Silver City. Catherine’s illness worsened, and she made a friend promise to take care of her children if anything happened. Catherine died on September 16, 1874. Billy started out as Kid Antrim before changing his name to William H. Bonney.
In 1880 Joe Antrim appeared in a Colorado census report showing he was born in New York and his mother born in England on line 12.

Clara Truesdell had a son who was friends with Billy, his name was Chauncey Truesdell. Chauncey may have the key to what we seek. Something worth noting is when Truesdell says why Billy was called Henry. He also states the family’s name before Antrim was McCarthy. Not McCarty
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