Christmas Eve of 1809, Kit Carson was born in Kentucky. At the age of nine, his father died and he helped his mother with some of the younger children in his family of ten. At the age fourteen he began to apprentice for a saddle maker, because this was a job he was qualified for since he never learned to read. After his apprentice-ship that lasted about three years, he ran away to join a trading caravan on their way to Santa Fe. Once in Santa Fe Kit learned enough Spanish to serve as a Spanish translator. He not only learned to speak Spanish, but he had also learned French and many other native languages. In the year 1829 he joined Ewing Young to trap in Arizona and California. During his journey a band of Indians stole part of his horses.
