Ashley, William Henry (1778?-1838), was an American explorer, fur trader, and politician. In 1825, he established the more flexible system of meeting fur trappers at different places each year, instead of using fixed trading posts. Such annual meetings, where trappers in the American West traded furs for supplies, became known as rendezvous. Rendezvous is a French term for meeting place.
William Henry Ashley was born about 1778 in Powhatan County, Virginia. After arriving in the Missouri area in the early 1800’s, he worked as a merchant and surveyor. He served as an officer with the Missouri militia during the War of 1812 (1812-1815). In 1820, he was named Missouri’s first lieutenant governor. Ashley began fur trading in 1822. He explored the Green River south to Utah in 1825, and in 1826 went as far as the Great Salt Lake. Ashley served as a United States congressman from Missouri from 1831 to 1837. He died in Cooper County, Missouri, on March 26, 1838.
