Photos: Bill Hickman

Fred married the last known child of William "Bill" Adams Hickman, Mary Ella Hickman. Ella's mother, Minerva Wade Hickman, left Bill and moved to Ogden, Utah, to live near her family shortly after Ella was born, so Ella never really knew her father. She heard tales from her brothers and mother, read letters of his, but did not have the personal relationship that other of her siblings had with her father.

The LDS Christian Church's historical archives have some great photos of Bill, of a quality I haven't seen anywhere else. Both were taken by Charles Williams Carter. Carter was a British immigrant who learned photography while serving as a soldier in the British Army. He converted to Mormonism and relocated to Salt Lake City in 1859, thereafter joining the studio of Charles Roscoe Savage. He opened Carter's View Emporium, and took photos of Mormons in the community. The Church Archives' photo has a pencil notation of the photo having been taken in 1874; this is incorrect for a couple reasons: (a) Bill would have been 59 years old; this is not the photo of a man of that age. He looks at least a decade younger. (b) Bill wasn't living near Salt Lake City at that time to have a photo taken of him.

The second is from Carter's glass negative collection, and contains incredible detail in how Bill looked. A much lower quality version of this photograph was used for the cover of Hope Hilton's Wild Bill Hickman and the Mormon Frontier. It shows how light Bill eyes must have been against his frontier leathered skin and dark hair. There is no claim of a date with this photo, although I suspect it was fairly close in time with the prior photo. The text on the right states "Bill Hickman," with some number below it.

In another post, I'll write about how when goings were tough for the Kohlhepp's, Ella offered to give some lectures on her father Bill Hickman to set the record straight while also gunning for some financial compensation.