OCR Text |
Show NBTEDTRflPPER'S DAUGHTER HERE Mrs. Polly Williams Tells of Life of Her Father, Elijah B. Ward. Mrs. Polly Williams, of Ganett, Idaho, daughter of the famous trapper and pioneer, pio-neer, Elijah Barney Ward, visited Salt Lake yesterday, and at the historian's office of the Latter-day Saints church gave the following- account of her father's life: "My father was born in Virginia, about 1820. In 1S35 he came wesc, where he fell In with trappers and mountaineers. He helped to build Fort Hall on the Snake river, Idaho, and later worked at Astoria, near the mouth of the Columbia river, Oregon. He was a companion of Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, Baker, Smith and other famous frontiersmen, and spent many years among: the Indians, becoming be-coming familiar with many of their dialects. dia-lects. "At one time he was pursued by a band of hostile Blackfoot Indians, but escaped by hiding in the timber until night, when, under cover of darkness, he made his way to a village of the friendly Flat-foots. Flat-foots. Here he learned that the Black -foots had surrounded a company of immigrants im-migrants and were threatening them with destruction. Mustering a company of the Flat foots, he hastened to the rescue. A fierce battle followed, in which the Blackfoots were vanquished after losing los-ing twenty of their warriors. Father's company sustained a loss of three killed and a number wounded. "Later father went to Santa Ana and San Pedro. Cab, with Kit Carson to buy i horses and supplies. They returned to Fort Bridger, where they remained for some time among the Snake Indians, and while there an old friend of father's, Mr. Exervid, a Frenchman, while on his deathbed asked father to take care of his Indian wife and little daughter. Father accepted the charge and subsequently subse-quently married the Indian maiden. Two daughters, Louise and myself, were born to the union. "We lived among the Indians until the Mormon pioneers arrived. AVe then moved to Salt Lake valley and joined the Latter-day Saints church. My father became be-came an intimate friend of Brigham Young and other church leaders. Later he moved to Provo, where he acted for many years as Indian interpreter. i "When Fort Supply was founded father took up his abode there and remained until un-til the approach of Johnson's army. Dur- lng the days of danger that followed, father, thinking mother would be safer among her qwn people, sent her to the Indian tribe, where he died. "Father took part in the battles against the Indians at Fort Utah in 1850, and as a result won everlasting disfavor among the redmen. He migrated to Payson, Fair-view Fair-view and finally Gunnison, where, shortly short-ly after the Black Hawk war broke out, he was killed by Black Hawk Indians while hunting cows. He was buried at Sallna. "After my father's death my sister and myself were taken fnto the family of President Brigham Young, where we lived for many years." Mrs. Williams was accompanied by her son, Frank Williams, and his wife. |