Artist's name comes from gun- slinging, hard- riding cowboy
By Jackie Perrone Jacper@juno.com

(l to r) Standing: Steve Beebe, Frank Freeland, Billy Wilson. Seated: John Flowers, Alden Lytton Denby,Tom McHenry,Dick Maybray, and Tony (last name unknown).

Don't let Denby Singley Gorman's soft- spoken, Southern mannerisms fool you. She can document her heritage to a gun- slinging, hard- riding cowboy of the 1800s. And she's even named for him (or that branch of the family, anyway).

"My family has treasured this picture ( the one above) for more than 100 years," she says. "It was taken around 1890 when Alden Denby was 20 years old. He was the brother of my great- grandmother.

"Alden Denby left his home in Wilmington, N.C. at 18," she said. "He had some education for that day, meaning he could read and write and do math. He hired on as a cowboy at the XIT Ranch in Texas, and part of that job was to move the cattle herd to Montana for part of the year.

"At the time of this picture, he was in charge of the cowboys on the ride. The family story about the guns is that they arrived in Miles City, Montana, in October after being on the trail from Texas since April. They had to check their guns in when they reached the city. Photography was a novelty in those days, and two of the boys got a special permit to have possession of their guns long enough to pose for this picture.

"They got paid at the end of the run, and the young men of that day were pretty much like some of today's youth. They blew their paychecks pretty fast and then had to subsist on their friends' handouts until they could earn some more. Alden later told his sons that he befriended Billy the Kid, who was indeed just a kid of about 14. Alden was pretty wise for his age, and managed to put aside some money for his future.

"He married the local schoolmarm in Miles City, Vida Monteith, in 1911, and was able to buy some land and settle down on his own ranch. They had five children, and one son, Burton Denby, who visited our family here in the East and told us about their lives there.

"That's when we had copies made of this picture."

The photograph has made its way into some history books. It's featured in the Time/Life series of 1973, in The Cowboys book. It was

used in the movie Kung Fu,

starring David Carradine,

and in a book titled 6000

Miles of Fence.

Denby enjoys her unusual first name, and says several females in the family tree have been named Denby to keep the tradition alive.