James Felix Bridger (1804 - 1881)

Born 17 Mar 1804 in Richmond, Virginia, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Cora (Insala) Bridger — married Mar 1835 (to 1845) in Green River, Wyoming

Husband of Ute (Woman) Bridger — married about 1848 (to 4 Jul 1849) in Wyoming [uncertain]

Husband of Mary (Washakie) Bridger — married about 1850 in Fort Bridger, Wyoming

Descendants

Died 17 Jul 1881 at age 77 in Kansas City, Clay, Missouri, United States

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Biography

Jim Bridger is Notable.

Jim is the 3x-great-grandson of Joseph Bridger (bef.1631-1686), a Qualifying Ancestor (see Jamestowne Society Qualifying Ancestors).

James "Jim" Bridger was born on March 17, 1804, in Richmond, Virginia, the son of an innkeeper. His family had been in North America since the early colonial period.

James Felix Bridger was one of the most important mountain men, fur trader, scouts and guides who explored Western United States between 1820 and1850. Jim Bridger was often an intermediary between native tribes and whites.

Timeline

"1822: On March 20, 1822 at the age of 18, Bridger left his apprenticeship having responded to the St. Louis Missouri Republican "want ad" and joined General William Ashley's Upper Missouri Expedition, a party that included Jedediah Smith.

1830: In 1830, Smith and his associates sold their fur company to Bridger and his associates naming it the Rocky Mountain Fur Company.

1831: Bridger's tale was similar to the actual death of Jedediah Smith who had died under the lances of Comanche Indians on the Santa Fe Trail in 1831.

1843: In 1843, Bridger and Louis Vasquez built a trading post, later named Fort Bridger, on the west bank of Blacks Fork of the Green River to serve Pioneers on the Oregon Trail.

1850: In 1850, while exploring in order to find an alternative overland route to the South Pass, he found what would eventually be known as Bridger's Pass, which shortened the Oregon Trail by 61 miles.

1864: In 1864, he blazed the Bridger Trail, an alternative route from Wyoming to the gold fields of Montana that avoided the dangerous Bozeman Trail."

The Ogden (Utah) Herald, July 28, 1881:

BRIDGER DEAD

Jim Bridger, the old mountaineer, known to some of the oldest settlers of Utah, died on the 17th of July. Fort Bridger was named after him, and his early exploits have furnished the ground-work of many novels of the thrillingly sensational type.

The Kansas City Mail of the 17th inst. Says:

James Bridger, one of the last survivors of the early mountaineers whose headquarter were in this part of the country, died at his residence near New Santa Fe in this county at 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Mr. Bridger has passed his seventy-sixth birthday anniversary, that event taking place in last March. His funeral took place today. The remains were interred in a little county cemetery not far from the place in which he died. Mr. Bridger was a Virginian by birth. He had been a scout, guide, and plainsman for about thirty years. About sixteen years ago, while riding a “bucking” mule, he received injuries that permanently disabled him. Since that time he has retired from active life and has been living on his or rather children’s farm near Santa Fe.

Bridger must have been greatly surprised at the development of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. When the “Mormons” came to this country he asserted that they, or any other white people, couldn’t live here, as nothing, in his opinion, could be raised for the sustenance of man.

Source: Utah Digital Newspapers. https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=7171207

General Grenville M. Dodge, under whom Jim Bridger scouted and trailed, was one of the greatest admirers of the veteran plainsman. Here is the General's epitaph to the man:

“Unquestionably Bridger's claims to remembrance rest upon the extraordinary part he bore in the explorations of the West. As a guide he was without an equal, and this is the testimony of everyone who ever employed him. He was a born topographer; the whole West was mapped out in his mind, and such his instinctive sense of locality and direction, that it used to be said of him that he could smell his way where he could not see it. He was a complete master of the plains and of woodcraft, equal to any emergency and full of resources to overcome any obstacle. In fact, in all my experience, I never saw Bridger, or any other of the voyagers of the plains and mountains, meet any obstacle which they could not overcome.

“While Bridger was not educated man, still, any country that he had ever seen he could fully and intelligently describe, and he could make a very correct map of any country he had ever traveled over; could mark out its streams and mountains and the obstacle in it correctly, so that there was no trouble in following and understanding it. I have never claimed knowledge that he did not have of the country or its history or surroundings, and he was positive in his statements in relation to it. He was a good judge of human nature. His comments upon people that he had met and been with were intelligent and seldom critical. He always spoke of their good points, and he was universally respected by the mountain men, and looked upon as a leader also by the Indians. He was careful to never give his word without fulfilling it. He understood thoroughly the Indian character, their peculiarities and superstitions. He felt very keenly the loss of any confidence in him or his judgment, especially when acting as a guide, and when he struck a country or trail that he was not familiar with, he would frankly say so, but would often say that he could take our party up to the point we wanted to reach. As a guide I did not think he had his equal on the plains.”

Source: The American Trail Series, Volume 1, 1922. Pages 250-251. [1]

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bridger

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:SRGK-DWP : accessed 2017-11-27), entry for James Felix "Jim" /Bridger/.

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/134/jim-bridger

• "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M46H-YXB : 12 April 2016), James Bridger in household of Albert Wachman, Missouri, United States; citing p. 9, family 62, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 552,280.

• "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6X8-TM1 : accessed 9 April 2016), James Bridger, Washington, Jackson, Missouri, United States; citing enumeration district ED 39, sheet 248A, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 0694; FHL microfilm 1,254,694.

• Encyclopedia of exploration, 1800 to 1850: a comprehensive reference guide to the history and literature of exploration, travel and colonization between the years 1800 and 1850, by Raymond John Howgego. Hordern House, 2004.