William Walker (c1766-1823)/Notes

From: 	 jlb651@bellsouth.net Subject: 	[TWWFA]: Re: William Walker c.1766-1823 Date: 	January 28, 2007 10:52:46 AM EST To: 	 TWWFA@googlegroups.com Cc: 	 WalkerShortList@googlegroups.com

Hi Tom! Are you aware of the references to future Gov. William Walker in Bernardo De Voto's book "Across the Wide Missouri"? The author credits "William Walker, a Christianized Wyandot ...who was well educated" with sparking interest "in the vast area called Oregon" in an 1833 article published in the Christian Adocate and Journal, a widely circulated newspaper for Methodists (p. 6-10).

De Voto's book (ISBN 0-395-08374-5) also contains several passages about mountain men and western explorers, Joseph R. Walker (son of Joseph Walker and Susan Willis) and Joseph Lafayette Meek (son of James Meek and Spicy Walker). Spicy's sister, Dicey Walker (wife of Peter Broomberry), was my g-g-g grandmother.

The book provides lesser known information about captive William Walker's son and namesake, such as the future territorial governor's journey to St. Louis in 1831 or 1832 and subsequent meeting with legendary William Clark of the Lewis & Clark expedition. He met with Clark in the latter's capacity as Superintendent of Indian Affairs. While meeting with Clark he also met "three chiefs of the Flathead tribe from the far Northwest (Oregon)" and communicated their receptivity to Christianity in a letter to a wealthy New York City merchant and prominent Methodist, G.P. Disoway, who published Walker's letters. According to De Voto the article "set free an energy that changed the alignment of empires in the Western world." Walker's letters to Disoway were apparently quoted extensively in No. 27. Vol. VII of the Christian Advocate and Journal (NYC, March 1, 1833). Jerry

From:  wmwillis@earthlink.net Subject: [WALKER_SHORTLIST] Re: [TWWFA]: Re: William Walker c.1766-1823 Date: January 28, 2007 11:01:14 AM EST To:  WalkerShortList@googlegroups.com

Hi Jerry

Things crop up in the oddest places DeVoto's book earned him a Pulitzer Prize and ended up being made into a movie starting Clark Gable and Ricardo Montalban

ACROSS THE WIDE MISSOURI 1951 Directed by: William A. Wellman Cast: Clark Gable, Ricardo Montalban Produced by: MGM Pulitzer Prize book by Bernardo De Voto