Alexander Hamilton Willard, born in Charlestown, New Hampshire in 1777, became an explorer, farmer, soldier, California pioneer, and the second longest-lived member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. After moving to Pennsylvania, he enlisted in the Army and, at age 25 at Fort Kaskaskia, Illinois, was recruited for the Lewis and Clark Expedition from 1804 to 1806, where his skills as a blacksmith, gunsmith, carpenter, and hunter proved valuable. In 1807, he married Eleanor McDonald near St. Louis, Missouri, and they had 12 children. After the expedition, Lewis and later Clark employed him as a blacksmith for various Indian tribes, and he later worked as an express agent. Between 1825 and 1827, he moved from Missouri to Wisconsin. In 1832, he and four of his sons served in the militia in the Blackhawk War. In 1852, at age 74, he, his wife, and much of his family traveled by covered wagon to the Sacramento Valley. He died at age 87 on March 6, 1865, at his ranch in Franklin near Elk Grove, Sacramento County, California.