William Sherley "Old Bill" Williams (January 3, 1787 – March 14, 1849) was a noted mountain man and

frontiersman A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a Border, boundary. A frontier can also be referred to as a "front". The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that ...

, known as Lone Elk to the Native Americans.Patrick Whitehurst, "The silent sentinel of Williams"
, ''Williams News,'' 5 May 2007 Fluent in several languages, Williams served as an interpreter for the government and led several expeditions to the West. He assimilated into the

Osage Nation The Osage Nation ( ) ( Osage: 𐓁𐒻 𐓂𐒼𐒰𐓇𐒼𐒰͘ ('), "People of the Middle Waters") is a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Great Plains. The tribe developed in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 700 BC along ...

where he married the daughter of a chief, and never returned to European-American life.

Biography

Old Bill Williams statue in Williams Arizona

Early life and education

Williams was born on January 3, 1787, on Horse Creek, a branch of the

Pacolet River The Pacolet River is a tributary of the Broad River, about 50 miles (80 km) long, in northwestern South Carolina in the United States.Alpheus H. Favour, ''Old Bill Williams, Mountain Man''
/ref> the fourth son and the fourth child of nine born to Joseph and Sarah (Musick) Williams. He liked to explore and learned to trap animals for their furs, and found he had a gift for languages. In 1795, the family moved to settle near

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

Career

Williams was a master

fur trapper Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket ...

and trail guide, becoming fluent in several Native American languages among the tribes he knew the best. He served as a sergeant and scout with the United States Rangers during the War of 1812. As he encountered local tribes, Williams would learn their languages and customs."William Sherley 'Old Bill' Williams"
Legends of America; Explorers, Trappers, Traders & Mountain Men, His ability to communicate in the different languages made him valuable to the government and the military for tribal negotiations.
/ref> After military service, Williams became a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

preacher, and worked with some of the Native American tribes, moving west from Missouri to frontier areas. During his early years, he lived with the Osage Indians in Missouri, and later with the

Ute Ute or UTE may refer to: * Ute (band), an Australian jazz group * Ute (given name) * ''Ute'' (sponge), a sponge genus * Ute (vehicle), an Australian and New Zealand term for certain utility vehicles * Ute, Iowa, a city in Monona County along ...

Indians. While residing with the Osages he worked with the Harmony Mission to the Osages. He translated the bible into the

Osage language Osage (; Osage: ''Wažáže ie'') is a Siouan language that is spoken by the Osage people of Oklahoma. Their original territory was in present-day Missouri and Kansas but they were gradually pushed west by European-American pressure and treati ...

and was the interpreter for the 1825 treaty between the Osage and the United States.Mathews, ''The Osages'', p. vii By 1822 he was working as an independent trapper, and also guided travelers through the far

western frontier The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

of the time. He was a respected figure among the mountain men and worked with many, including Uncle Dick Wooton, "Old Santa Fe Trail: The Story of a Great Highway, Bill Williams, Mountain Man"
, Mountain Man Bronzes Joe Walker,

Alexis Godey Alexis Godey also called Alec Godey and Alejandro Godey, born Alexander Godey, was a trapper, scout, and mountain man. He was an associate of Jim Bridger and was lead scout for John C. Frémont. Biography Godey was born in 1818 in St. ...

George Nidever George Nidever (also spelled Nidiver; December 20, 1802 – March 24, 1883) was an American mountain man, explorer, fur trapper, memoirist and sailor. In the 1830s he became one of the first wave of American settlers to move to Mexican California, ...

, Zenas Leonard,

Antoine Leroux Joaquin Antoine Leroux, aka Watkins Leroux (1801–1861), was a celebrated 19th century mountain man and trail guide based in New Mexico. Leroux was a member of the convention that organized New Mexico Territory. Biography In 1846, Leroux serv ...

, Lucien Maxwell,

William Thomas Hamilton William Thomas Hamilton (September 8, 1820October 26, 1888), a member of the United States Democratic Party, was the 38th Governor of Maryland in the United States from 1880 to 1884. He also served in the United States Senate, representing the ...

, Dick Owens,

Kit Carson Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman. He was a fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent, and U.S. Army officer. He became a frontier legend in his own lifetime by biographies and n ...

, and, infamously, with

John C. Frémont John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...

"Old Bill lives on – Bill Williams Mountain men"
''Williams News'' on his fourth expedition. As an Indian fighter, he had noted encounters with

Blackfeet The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Mon ...

Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...

Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...

, and Modoc Indians. Williams traveled through a wide territory, including Texas, California, the Rocky Mountains,

Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...

, the

Santa Fe Trail The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, th ...

, Arizona, and the Colorado and Little Colorado River regions. Williams was with Joseph Walker's historic expedition which found, but did not enter, the

Yosemite Valley Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a U-shaped valley, glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surroun ...

."William Sherley Williams"
''The Columbia Encyclopedia''

Frémont's Fourth Expedition controversy

In November 1848 Frémont sought Williams to lead a

transcontinental railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...

survey into

Sangre de Cristo range , country= United States , subdivision1= Colorado , subdivision2_type= Counties , subdivision2= , parent= Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Rocky Mountains , borders_on= , geology= , age= , orogeny= Fault-block mountains , area_mi2= ...

after other mountain men had rejected Frémont's proposition. Once the team entered the mountains, Williams changed his mind due to the heavy early snowfall. He warned the party against continuing and insisted on a southern route. Frémont continued, and the expedition was defeated within the

San Juan Mountains The San Juan Mountains is a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. The area is highly mineralized (the Colorado Mineral Belt) and figured in the gold and silver mining industry ...

, where 10 expedition members died of starvation and exposure.

Marriage and children

Williams married A-Ci'n-Ga, a full-blood Osage woman whose name means 'Wind Blossom'. They became the parents of two daughters.Fredrick W. Boling, "Tribute to John Joseph Mathews: Osage Writer"
''

Western Writers of America Western Writers of America (WWA), founded 1953, promotes literature, both fictional and nonfictional, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional Western fiction, the more than 600 current members also include historian ...

Rpundit Magazine,'' August 2006, at Frederick Boling's website, accessed 3 December 2011 *Mary Ann (Williams) Mathews (born September 1814) *Sarah (Williams) Mathews (born c1816) married John Allan Mathews after the death of her sister and was the grandmother of Osage tribal council member and writer

John Joseph Mathews John Joseph Mathews (November 16, 1894 – June 16, 1979) (Osage) became one of the Osage Nation's most important spokespeople and writers, and served on the Osage Tribal Council during the 1930s. He studied at the University of Oklahoma, Oxf ...

Death

Williams died in March 1849, at age 62 when he was ambushed and killed by Ute warriors. He had been returning to

Taos, New Mexico Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Nuevo México Governor Fernando Cha ...

after retracing the trail of an expedition in order to help find survivors.

Legacy and honors

"Old Bill" is portrayed in an 8-foot-tall

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

sculpture by

B. R. Pettit Billy Ray Pettit (1947–2006) was an American sculptor, best known for his bronze sculptures, which feature the rugged mountain men of Western United States, the American West. His style was Realism (arts), realistic, and much of his work portray ...

, erected in 1980 in Bill Williams Monument Park in

Williams, Arizona Williams ( yuf-x-hav, Wii Gvʼul) is a city in Coconino County, Arizona, United States, located west of Flagstaff. Its population was 3,023 at the 2010 census. It lies on the routes of Historic Route 66 and Interstate 40. It is also the souther ...

. In addition to the park and town, several places and organizations in Arizona were named after him:

Bill Williams River The Bill Williams River is a river in west-central Arizona where it, along with one of its tributaries, the Santa Maria River (Arizona), Santa Maria River, form the boundary between Mohave County, Arizona, Mohave County to the north and La Paz C ...

and

Bill Williams Mountain Bill Williams Mountain is a peak and lava dome volcano located about west of Flagstaff and south of Williams, Arizona in the Kaibab National Forest. It is named for Old Bill Williams, a scout, guide, and mountain man, who lived in the 1800s. ...

, the Bill Williams Mountain Men of Williams, Arizona chapter of the Pioneer Club, and the Chautauqua Program: "Rendezvous With Old Bill Williams". He was portrayed by

Slim Pickens Louis Burton Lindley Jr. (June 29, 1919 – December 8, 1983), better known by his stage name Slim Pickens, was an American actor and rodeo performer. Starting off in the rodeo, Pickens transitioned to acting and appeared in dozens of movies and ...

in a

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

series entitled ''The Saga of Andy Burnett''.

References

External links

http://mojavedesert.net/people/williams.html

http://oldbillwilliams.com/

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110718052357/http://www.williamsnews.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=6783&TM=68304.59 https://web.archive.org/web/20110718052357/http://www.williamsnews.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=6783&TM=68304.59]
http://www.williamsnews.com/main.asp?SectionID=63&SubSectionID=200&ArticleID=7661
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Old Bill 1787 births 1849 deaths American fur traders Mountain men People from Polk County, North Carolina