A Talk on Kansas City Founder, William Gilliss

Hear as historian Diane Euston discusses one of the most mysterious early Kansas City pioneers, William Gilliss, whose life was intertwined with some of the most controversial topics – Indian removal, enslavement and the political stance of Kansas City during the Civil War.

William Gilliss, born in Maryland about 1797, is a prime example of an enterprising Indian trader who, because of his reliance upon Native American tribes, followed his source of income west. His relationships with multiple Native

American women resulted in at least three children. His relocation to Jackson County, Missouri and involvement in the Town Company which established Kansas City made him one of the most important and one of the area’s richest early settlers. This, however, along with his Southern sympathies, made him a target of the Union and antislavery settlers. By the time he died in 1869, his work as a trader, relationships with Native American tribes, and role as a town builder were soon overshadowed by headlines over the contestation of his will by his Native American children and grandchildren. Through depositions in these cases from Native Americans, former traders, one of his children, the formerly enslaved, and prominent residents of Kansas City, an analysis of a Kansas City businessman and the community in which he lived can be assessed with great detail.