Peter A. Sarpy was born in 1805 and died in 1865 at the age of 60. He took charge of a trading post in Bellevue, Nebraska in the 1830s and married the daughter of an Omaha tribe chief. Sarpy became known as the "White Chief" and established a ferry business to transport settlers and miners across the Missouri River between Bellevue and Plattsmouth. Sarpy County was later named in his honor.