William S. "Old Bill" Williams (January 3, 1787 - March 1849) was a noted mountain man and frontiersman. He served as an interpreter for the government, and led several expeditions in the West. Fluent in several languages, he lived with the Osage, where he married the daughter of a chief, and with the Ute.
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William Sherley Williams, known as "Old Bill" Williams, was born January 3, 1787 in Horse Creek, North Carolina.[1][2] He liked to explore and learned to trap animals for their furs, and found he had a gift for languages.
Williams was a master fur trapper and trail guide, becoming fluent in several Indian languages among the tribes he knew the best. He served as a sergeant and scout with the Mississippi Mounted Rangers during the War of 1812 and, as he encountered local tribes, learned their languages and customs.[3] His ability to communicate in the different languages made him valuable to the government and the military for tribal negotiations.[4]
After military service, Williams became a Protestant preacher, and worked with some of the American Indian tribes, moving west from Mississippi to frontier areas.[4] He gradually adopted native spiritual beliefs. During his early years, he lived with the Osage Indians in Missouri, and later with the Ute Indians.[5][2]
He married A-Ci'n-Ga, a full-blood Osage woman, and they had children together.[6] He assimilated into the Osage as a fur trapper and never returned to European-American life. Williams was named "Lone Elk" by numerous Native American tribes.[7]
William had no less than two children with A-Ci'n-Ga, whose name means "Wind Blossom."[8] The first-born was Mary Ann, who was born in 1814.[9] The second, Sarah, was probably born around 1816. Among the later descendants of Williams' and A-Ci'n-Ga was John Joseph Mathews, who became a noted author of the Osage, served on the Tribal Council, and helped found the Tribal Museum in 1938.[6]
By 1822 he was working as an independent trapper[5], and also guided travelers through the far western frontier of the time. He was an respected figure among the mountain men and worked with many, including Uncle Dick Wooton[10], Joe Walker, Alexis Godey, George Nidever, Zenas Leonard, Antoine Leroux[2], Lucien Maxwell[10], Dick Owens[10], Kit Carson[10], and, infamously, with John C. Frémont[2][11] on his fourth expedition.[1] As an Indian fighter, he had noted encounters with Blackfeet, Apache, Comanche, and Modoc Indians.[1][3][4]
Williams traveled through a wide territory, including Texas, California, the Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone, the Santa Fe Trail, Arizona, and the Colorado and Little Colorado River regions.[2][3][7][10][11] Williams was with Joe Walker's historic exploration of Yosemite Valley.[1][12][5]
In November 1848 Frémont sought Williams to lead a transcontinental railroad survey into Sangre de Cristo range 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 first mountain range, where 10 expedition members died of starvation and exposure.[1][2][10][11][5]
Williams died shortly afterward at age 62 in March 1849 when ambushed and killed by Ute warriors. He was returning to Taos from helping to retrace the expedition trail to try to find survivors.[1][5]
"Old Bill" is portrayed in an 8-foot-tall bronze sculpture by B. R. Pettit, erected in 1980 in Bill Williams Monument Park of Williams, Arizona.[10] In addition to the park and town, several places in Arizona and organizations were named after him: the town, Bill Williams River; and Bill Williams Mountain, both in Arizona as well. [13] In addition, the Bill Williams Mountain Men of Williams, Arizona chapter of the Pioneer Club, and the Chautauqua Program: "Rendezvous With Old Bill Williams".[14]