William
Frederick
(Bill)
"Buffalo Bill"
Cody
Born in Le Claire, Scott County, Iowa Territory, United States
Ancestors 
Son of Isaac Cody
and Mary Ann Bonsell (Laycock) Cody
Brother of
Martha Cody [half], Samuel I Cody, Julia Melvina (Cody) Goodman, Eliza Alice (Cody) Myers, Laura Ellen (Cody) Wetmore, Mary Hannah (Cody) Decker and Charles Whitney Cody
Husband of
Louisa M (Frederici) Cody
— married
6 Mar 1866 in Arnold, Missouri
Descendants 
Died
at age 70
in Denver, Denver County, Colorado, United States
Profile managers:
Paula J 
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| Created 25 Jul 2014
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Contents |
Biography
Buffalo Bill Cody was a scout of the Western United States Frontier and Wild West showman.[1]
Bill Cody is Notable.
Early Years
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| Cody home Leavenworth County, Kansas |
William Frederick Cody was born on February 26, 1846 on a farm just outside Le Claire, Iowa, the son of Isaac and Mary Ann Bonsel (Laycock) Cody.[2][3] William was baptized in the Dixie Union Chapel in Peel County, Ontario, Canada in 1847.[1] The church was built on land donated by his grandfather, Phillip J Cody.[1] The Codys lived in Toronto until 1853 when Isaac sold the land he owned in Iowa and moved to Kansas.[1][3]
Appeared in the 1850 U. S. Census in Scott, Iowa. The household included: Isaac age 36, occupation stone sawyer; Mary age 33; Martha age 15; Samuel age 9; Julia W. age 7; William F. age 4; Eliza A. age 2.
The Codys settled in Salt Creek Valley in Leavenworth County, Kansas where Bill's father took up a claim and made friends with the neighboring Native Americans by offering them hospitality.[1] Isaac once invited 200 local natives to a barbecue.[4] Bill learned to hunt with a bow and arrow from his new friends.[4] There were also hardships that taught him many lessons.
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| William Cody aged about 10 |
Bill's father was an abolitionist. At one point, Bill rode his pony 30 miles to warn his father that pro-slavery neighbors were coming to kill him, an act that saved his father's life. Soon after, they stole the pony which left Bill without a way of making an income. In June 1856, Bill and his father were on a trip into Fort Leavenworth and Bill's father gave a speech outside a local bar and was stabbed in the back. Afterward, Isaac became a hunted man and left his family for Cleveland, Ohio. The family was under constant attack and ill-treatment from the neighbors, who took their belongings and forced Bill's mother and sister to accommodate. In the spring of 1857, Bill's father returned to his family very ill from his previous wound; he died March 10, 1857.[1] Bill was forced to seek work to support his mother and siblings.[5]
Appeared in the 1860 U. S. Census in Kickapoo, Kansas. The surname was transcribed as Codey. The household included: Mary B. age 43, occupation farmer; Julia age 16; William F. age 14; Eliza age 12; Laura age 10; Mary age 7; Charles age 5.
Appeared in the 1865 Kansas State Census. The surname was transcribed as Coday. The household included: James A. Goodman age 30, occupation farmer; Mrs. Goodman age 21; Wm. Goodman age 1; D. W. Goodman age 26, occupation clerk; W. F. Goodman age 23, occupation teamster; Allice Goodman age 4; W. L. Coday age 19, occupation soldier; Ellen Coday age 14; Mary Goodman age 12; Clark Coday age 9.
Appeared in the 1870 U. S. Census in Lincoln, Nebraska. The household included: William age 35, occupation Indian scout; Lulu age 26; Mary age 25; Artie age 3; Thomas Landheart age 20, occupation day laborer; John Wilson age 24, occupation day laborer.
For the next few years, Bill worked for Russell, Majors and Wadell, the parent company of the Pony Express.[1] In an early job as an extra hand with a large wagon train driving freight, he experienced his first attack by Native Americans. He gained notoriety in the newspapers of the time due to his young age.[4] Bill became a rider for the Pony Express at age 14.[1]
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| Pony express advertisement |
Appeared in the 1875 Monroe, New York State Census. He was a lodger in a hotel. His household included: William F. age 36, occupation theatre actor; Louisa age 24; Artie age 8; Kit Carson Cody age 4; Ora Cody age 3.
Soldier
During the U.S. Civil War, Bill served first as a Union Army Scout in campaigns against the Kiowa and Comanche, and later enlisted in the 7th Kansas Calvary.[6] He served as a private in Company "H" from 1863 to the end of the war in 1865.[6] Bill earned his nickname, Buffalo Bill, after the Civil War when he had a contract to supply Kansas Pacific Railroad workers with buffalo meat.[7] He reported to have killed 4,282 American Bison (Buffalo) in eighteen months during 1866-67.[7]
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| William Cody as a scout |
Bill Cody was awarded the Medal of Honor.
On April 26, 1872, while traveling along Nebraska’s Platte River near Fort McPherson as scout for the Third Cavalry, Bill was awarded the Medal of Honor for his “gallantry in action”, although this award was revoked in 1916 on the grounds that Cody was not a regular member of the armed forces at the time. (The award was restored posthumously in 1989).[8][9]
Buffalo Bill's Wild West
Bill joined his friend, Texas Jack Omohundro in The Scouts of the Prairie, one of the original Wild West shows produced by Ned Buntline, December 1872.[7] During the 1873–1874 season, Cody and Omohundro invited their friend James Butler, "Wild Bill" Hickok, to join them in a new play called Scouts of the Plains.[4] The group toured for ten years.[1]
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| William Cody, Ned Buntline and James Butler |
Appeared in the 1880 U. S. Census in North Platte, Lincoln, Nebraska. The household included: William F. age 34, occupation actor and cattle raiser; Louisa age 37; Ara L age 13; Orra age 7; Laura H. Jester age 29 [sister]; Mary G. Jester age 6 [niece]; Maurice Dunsford age 37, occupation semi-actor; William Goodman age 16, occupation herder.
In 1883, Buffalo Bill started his own show,Buffalo Bill's Wild West, which was a touring variety show.[7] In 1893, Cody changed the title to "Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World".[7] The show began with a parade on horseback, with participants from horse-culture groups that included US and other military, Native Americans, and performers from all over the world in their best attire. [7] A wide variety of ethnicities displayed their distinctive horses and colorful costumes. Sitting Bull appeared with a band of 20 of his braves.[7]
Bill's show had other well known performers including Annie Oakley and her husband Frank Butler, Gabriel Dumont, Lillian Smith, and Calamity Jane.[10] Performers re-enacted the riding of the Pony Express, Indian attacks on wagon trains, and stagecoach robberies.[10] The finale was typically a portrayal of an Indian attack on a settler's cabin.[10] Cody would ride in with an entourage of cowboys to defend a settler and his family. The show influenced many 20th-century portrayals of "the West" in cinema and literature.[10]
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| Wild West Show at the Colosseum, Rome |
Buffalo Bill took his company to Great Britain in 1877 to celebrate the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria attended a performance. Bill did quite well in Europe, touring in 1889 and in 1890, even meeting Pope Leo XII. He had an exhibit at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. This exposure made him even more popular.[11][12]
Appeared in the 1900 U. S. Census in North Platte, Lincoln, Nebraska. The household included: Colonel Wm. F. Cody age 57, occupation show man; Louise age 50; Irma age 17.
In 1908, Pawnee Bill and Buffalo Bill joined forces and created the "Two Bills" show.[citation needed] That show was foreclosed on while playing in Denver, Colorado in <date>.[citation needed]
Besides his touring shows, Bill Cody was instrumental in the founding of the town of Cody, Wyoming. He fought for a hunting season and other restrictions to protect the diminishing buffalo.[7] He and his associates introduced an irrigation system by diverting water from the Shoshone River, which failed due to lack of money for a holding system. However, this did not discourage them. Early in 1903 they joined with the Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners in urging the federal government to step in and help with irrigation development in the valley. This eventually resulted in the construction of the Shoshone Dam which was renamed to Buffalo Bill Dam and Reservoir by an Act of Congress.
Legacy
Buffalo Bill Cody died of kidney failure on January 10, 1917, in Denver, Colorado, one day after he was baptized into the Catholic Church.[13] He received a full Masonic funeral at the local Elks Lodge Hall.[10]
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| Passage of Buffalo Bill's Coffin |
On June 3, 1917, Cody was buried on Colorado's Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado. The Buffalo Bill Memorial Museum is located there now. His wife is buried with him.[10]
In 1948 the Cody chapter of the American Legion offered a reward for the "return" of his body, so the Denver chapter mounted a guard over the grave until a deeper shaft could be blasted into the rock.[14] <explanation of what this means?>
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| Cody Pullman Car |
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Wikipedia contributors, "Buffalo Bill," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buffalo_Bill&oldid=818529947 (accessed January 4, 2018).
- ↑ "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV5Y-JZ76 : 4 September 2015), William Frederick Cody, 1906; citing Passport Application, New York, United States, source certificate #5066, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, 1, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 United States Census, 1850 index and images, FamilySearch, William F Cody in household of Isaac Cody, Scott county, Scott, Iowa, United States; citing family 816, NARA microfilm publication M432.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Buffalo Bill's Autobiography
- ↑ "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M66Q-N2F : 13 December 2017), William F Codey in entry for Mary B Codey, 1860.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 NPS soldier Details
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9 Cody, Col. William F: The Adventures of Buffalo Bill Cody, 1st ed. page viii. New York and London: Harper & Brother, 1904
- ↑ PBS Buffalo Bill
- ↑ Sterner, C. Douglas (1999–2009). "Restoration of 6 Awards Previously Purged From The Roll of Honor"
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 Buffalo Bill's Museum and Grave
- ↑ Griffen, Four Years in Europe with Buffalo Bill, p. xviii
- ↑ William F Cody Archive
- ↑ Weber, Francis J. (1979). America's Catholic heritage: some bicentennial reflections, 1776–1976. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin – Madison. p. 49.
- ↑ Lloyd, John & Mitchinson, John. The Book of General Ignorance. Faber & Faber, 2006.
"United States Census, 1850", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZ4J-QFZ : Fri Sep 15 16:25:23 UTC 2023), Entry for Isaac Cody and Mary Cody, 1850.
"United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M66Q-N26 : Sat Sep 16 07:15:13 UTC 2023), Entry for Mary B Codey and Julia Codey, 1860.
"Kansas State Census, 1865", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL68-62Q3 : Thu Sep 14 10:00:48 UTC 2023), Entry for James A Goodman and Goodman, 1865.
"Missouri, County Marriage, Naturalization, and Court Records, 1800-1991," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:66C8-P8JF : 25 February 2022), William F Cody, 6 Mar 1866; citing Marriage, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City; FHL microfilm 007513821.
"New York State Census, 1875", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VTZT-3RQ : Wed Sep 13 04:47:08 UTC 2023), Entry for David Botsford and Mary Botsford, 1875.
"United States Census, 1880", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8YN-ZGT : Mon Sep 18 04:36:48 UTC 2023), Entry for William F. Cody and Louisa Cody, 1880.
"United States Census of Union Veterans and Widows of the Civil War, 1890," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K83Q-5DL : 8 March 2021), William F Cody, 1890; citing NARA microfilm publication M123 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 338,196.
"United States Census, 1900", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3BZ-J7Y : Sun Sep 17 16:36:49 UTC 2023), Entry for Colonel Wm F Cody and Mrs. Louise Cody, 1900.
"United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV5Y-JZ76 : 16 March 2018), William Frederick Cody, 1906; citing Passport Application, New York, United States, source certificate #5066, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, 1, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
"United States Census, 1910", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ML4P-VZB : Mon Sep 18 23:58:59 UTC 2023), Entry for F W Cody, 1910.
"Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJ1-BRXT : 13 June 2023), Buffalo Bill Cody, ; Burial, Golden, Jefferson, Colorado, United States of America, Buffalo Bill Memorial Museum; citing record ID 211, Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/211/buffalo_bill-cody.
See also:
- Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in Schenectady, New York Almanack, January 5, 2023, by Neil Yetwin, https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/2023/01/buffalo-bills-wild-west-show-in-schenectady/ , accessed 6 Jan 2023.
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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Bill:
It may be possible to confirm family relationships. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Bill:
-
~0.78%
Lola (Swearingen) Weber
:
Living DNA
Images: 9
- Is there a catagory for United States Army Scouts? Jun 20, 2019.
- Is wikitree relationship finder accurate? Feb 23, 2018.
Rejected matches › William Cottey (1844-1915)
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C > Cody > William Frederick Cody
Categories: Le Claire, Iowa | 7th Regiment, Kansas Cavalry, United States Civil War | Comanche Wars | American Heroes | United States, Entertainers | Nominated Profiles | Horse Riders | Pony Express | Example Profiles of the Week | Buffalo Bill Memorial Museum, Golden, Colorado | Frontiersman, Scouts | Freemasonry | Wild Wild West | Wyoming Project-Managed | Notables | Medal of Honor
edited by Cathryn (Hallett) Hondros
San Luis Obispo has at least one resident who was on intimate terms with Col. W. F. Cody—Buffalo Bill— whose death occurred last week. David Thaler, commander of Fred Steele Post, G. A. R., is that personage, and he can tell many interesting stories of their association in the early days of bison hunting and Indian attacks. As a matter of fact, Commander Thaler as much as saved Buffalo Bill's life once, and later the colonel showed his gratitude in many ways. But here's the story; Thaler and Cody were together on one occasion when attacked by a party of Indians, and during the melee the colonel was slightly wounded and his horse killed. "As I was unhurt," says Thaler, "I offered my horse to Cody, telling him that I could make a better get-away than he could. At first he positively refused my offer, but after I argued with him for a few minutes he reluctantly accepted and giving me a hearty hand grasp and his flask in due time he rode away." Years afterwards —probably 1908 or 1909—when Buffalo Bill's Wild West show gave the first exhibition In this city, Mr. Thaler thought he would see if the noted scout recalled him. "I soon found that the colonel had given peremptory orders to the porter of his private car not to admit any one under any circumstances. Naturally I was given to understand that I would not be admitted under any circumstances. I made up my mind to see Cody anyway, so I said In a tone of voice the porter would understand, 'You tell Col. Cody that Dave Thaler is out here and must see him.' Cody must have been impressed with the porter's message, for I saw him come to the window and look out, a little questioningly. The next Instant he was at the door grasping my hand. "Why didn't you say 'Dutch' wanted to see me?" asked the great scout. "You would have had no trouble getting In. That's the only name I ever knew you to go under when we used to scout together." Then followed greetings and embracings all over again, and the show man dragged Thaler into his inner sanctum and the two talked together of old times for many hours. The last time Buffalo Bill's show was here, Thaler sent in his card as "Dutch," and the celebration was repeated. (San Luis Obispo Daily Telegram, Vol. 11, No. 272, Mon., Jan. 15, 1917; 1:6 and 8:4)
edited by Jana (Vardeman) Diamond
project from the Army, in a battle scene depicting the "Battle of the Wounded Knee". He was also selected to be one of the causalities of the battle, falling off his mount. Unknown to him, the teepee's were constructed of cheesecloth and his plan to soften the fall was quite flawed. As he was getting up and recovering, the officer in charge of this movie had walked up close to him and was conferring with William Cody. Cody had been hired to help give advice, insuring an authentic re-creation for the movie. As a young soldier, my father was struck with such a well known figure so close at hand but wisely did not try to speak.
As told to me, his son, Lyle Teague
The 7 Kansas Cavalry operated out of Memphis and guarded the M&C RR out to Corinth. The regiment returned to Kansas to recruit more men & that is when Cody enlisted into Company H. I forget if it was Feb 1863 or 64. They returned to Memphis area for a few months. I live in Collierville, TN, 24 miles by rail from old Memphis depot. Cavalry units sometimes went on patrols by company but did Company H ever come here? BTW I have a copy of a journal of a soldier in 7 KS Cav but it doesn't mention my town anytime after Cody joined the regiment.