William S. Williams

William Sherley "Old Bill" Williams (January 3, 1787 – March 14, 1849) was a noted mountain man and frontiersman, known as Lone Elk to the Native Americans. Fluent in several languages, Williams served as an interpreter for the government and led several expeditions to the West. He married into the Osage Nation, having two children, each of whom married John Allen Mathews.

Early life and education

Williams was born on January 3, 1787, on Horse Creek, a branch of the Pacolet River, under Skyuka Mountain in Polk County, North Carolina, into a Welsh family. He was the fourth of nine children born to Joseph Williams and Sarah Musick. Sarah's family was from Virginia. Joseph was from North Carolina and served seven years in the Continental Army, receiving a 274-acre land grant on Horse Creek in North Carolina as pay. In 1794 the family sold the land and moved west to St. Louis, then part of Spanish Louisiana. He learned reading, writing, and math from his parents, and received at least one year of formal schooling. As a child, he liked to explore and learned to trap animals for their furs, and found he had a gift for languages. At seventeen he left home to be a travelling Baptist preacher and after seven years switched to fur trapping. Williams led a rescue party south towards Taos, and the survivors of the expedition eventually managed to follow.

In March, Williams and Dr. Benjamin Kern returned to the La Garita Mountains retracing the expedition trail to look for expedition notes, gear and survivors. On March 14, 1849, Ute warriors killed Bill Williams and Dr. Kern in the mountains. Bill Williams Mountain and the Bill Williams River in Arizona, and Bill Williams Peak and the Williams Mountains in Colorado are named for him.