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Elder Stories
Frank Rowland, The Best of the Old-Time Frontier Interpreters
by Renee Sansom Flood
Frank Rowland Frank Rowland at Thanksgiving dinner 2004 is a welcome resident at the Center. He keeps everybody laughing! |
Frank Rowland likes to sit in the spacious front lobby of the Heritage Living Center. He seems engrossed in the morning newspaper, but he is also keeping his ears open to everything going on around him. To coin a cliché, Frank is “as sharp as a tack.” Nothing gets by the last living grandson of famed frontier interpreter Willis Rowland. Perhaps this trait of remarkable awareness was handed down from his forefathers.
William Rowland, the first interpreter to make a name for himself among the Cheyennes, was born in 1830. William, a courageous, tough, Kentuckian, married the daughter of a Cheyenne chief and proved himself in battles against the Pawnee fighting alongside his in-laws.
William and his growing family made their home at Fort Laramie where William served as interpreter. Later he moved to Fort Robinson, Nebraska to accept a similar position. After the Sioux War, William rendered his services during the tragic Cheyenne outbreak of 1879. George Bird Grinnell described William as “a fine type of prairie man – resourceful, without fear, and a good companion to travel with . . .” William later became one of the famous “Cheyenne Scouts” at Ft. Keogh under General Nelson Miles.
William had 8 sons and 2 daughters. His third son, Willis Thompson Rowland, (Long Forehead) took up his father’s profession and served as official Cheyenne interpreter for many decades.
An interpreter’s life was constantly fraught with danger as he rode the fence between cultures. If Willis made a mistake during treaty negotiations, his life was on the line. Historian and author Richard G. Hardorff said that Willis interpreted in a “. . . solid, and careful” manner like a “craftsman,” making sure his vocabulary was precise in every “painstaking detail.” Willis became friends and translated for George B. Grinnell, Thomas B. Marquis, George E. Hyde, Walter Camp, and many other writers who chronicled frontier history, including Indian interviews about the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn.
The only type of man who could have survived the difficult and precarious job of interpreter was a gentle, generous, fair-minded person. Frank remembers his Grandpa Willis as a good person who took in orphans and was kind to everyone, Indians and whites alike. Willis told his grandson: “If you have a visitor, feed him the best that you have. Make room for him to lie down and give him a blanket. If he needs clothing and food, make him comfortable. Never get mad at anybody.” Grandpa Willis lived in a log cabin. The only sign that he had an important job was his Model A Ford.
Many interpreters came with the military and left with the military. Willis never left the Northern Cheyenne. His sons and nephews became interpreters, tribal judges and police officers; respected men such as Chuck Rowland. Chuck served as Tribal Chairman for 16 years and led his people against the coal companies in the 1970s, after they illegally obtained coal leases to mine Cheyenne homelands.
Frank Rowland grew up in the shadow of great men. He attended Busby School and then worked in Wyoming on the railroad for years and spent time in Seattle and Anchorage, Alaska. Retired now, Frank and his dog, Simone, enjoy their new home at the Heritage Living Center. Frank is a welcome resident as he keeps everybody laughing. This is perhaps the most important survival trait handed down from the best of the old-time interpreters - men who could use humor to break the ice between cultures.
