Full text of "History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time"

K-::;. ,.:■;. 





HBB1L 

fBHffHafiffjRBftBBB 



1811 




WBst 


ij— — to 


mm 


LLEGE L 

III 
403 




WSSSs 


H 




f^=^ 




1 


iSp 






■ i 


IBg 


H - 




m 







J 




i.iffwiMm,!..:i..ffigs 
LEARNJNq 

Resources 
Center 




asss* 8 * 8 ** 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 

in 2010 with funding from 

CARLI: Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois 



http://www.archive.org/details/historyofchicago01inandr 



URBS IN HORTO: 



HISTORY 



OF 



CHICAGO 



I" ROM THE 



Earliest Period to the Present Time. 



IN THREE VOLUMES. 



VOLUME L-ENDIN G WITH THE YEAR 1857. 



BY A. T. ANDREAS. 



CHICAGO: 
A T . A N I) R E AS, PUB L I S H E R . 



Copyright Secured, 1SS4, 
A. T. ANDREAS. 



\; ] ItlGIITS RESEK\ 1.1). 



R. R. DONNEU.EY A; SONS 
PRINTERS, 

I HE LAKESIDE PRESS. 



A. J. COX & CO., 

BINDERS, 
I44 MONROE STREET. 



BLOMGRKN BROS. & 
ELECT KOI 'YFERS. 



PREFACE. 



IN presenting the first volume of the History of Chicago to the public, the Publisher desires to 
define the plan upon which the work has been arranged. 

Much care has been taken with the compilation of the opening division of the work, and the subjects 
of original occupation and early exploration have received thoughtful attention. Wherever allusion to 
the indefinite region of "Chicagou" has been made in the reports of those venturesome and self- 
sacrificing men who formed the little bands of exploration, their words have been intelligently weighed, 
the trustworthiness of their records considered, and the local value of their labors regarded. In concise 
form, so much of the accepted history of their adventures as serves to give to the Chicago of 
to-day a location and a name, has been preserved within this volume. 

When the period of tradition and speculative possibilities is past, the reader will discover that 
the primary quality of our plan is detail ; and the further, advanced the work becomes the more 
apparent does this fact grow. One of the most serious obstacles encountered by the historian in 
the pursuit of his vocation is scarcity of reliable data. Whenever the patient searcher for historic 
truth is rewarded by the discovery of some forgotten script or volume, the world of letters hails the 
treasure with delight ; and it needs no argument to convince the intelligent that had not men failed 
to realize that the trifles of to-day become the vital elements of the historic works of the future, this 
deficiency would not exist. It is the purpose of this History to combine the scattered items of fact 
into convenient form, and, at the hazard of too great redundancy, preserve all that can be found 
descriptive of the past of Chicago. 

Much more material was obtained than could be placed between the covers of a single volume. 
It therefore followed that the History must be made in several books. How this could be 
accomplished was one of the most serious problems requiring solution ; for the history of a city 
differs widely from that of a nation in its scheme of treatment. While that portion which may be 
termed the narrative history was susceptible of epochal division, the succeeding years being taken up 
after each closed volume without detriment to interest, those more detailed chapters, which we speak of 
as topical history, could not be left unnoticed until the later volumes. The narrative of events must 
of necessity be cursory. It would suffice to say that, from such a year to such a year, the commercial, 
the religious, the educational, and the political affairs were thus and so ; but when the reader, whose 
taste directed him toward one particular factor in the city's measure of prosperity, sought for the 
detailed history of his favorite theme, he would look in vain for that explicit recital of events needed 
for his enlightenment. A general history might tell of the condition of Chicago from year to year ; but 
the elements which produced that condition demand a more exhaustive treatment. The contemporane- 
ousness of events had also to be borne in mind. It was, therefore, determined to exercise arbitrary 
powers, and select some period which marked an epoch in the general history at which to end the first 
volume, bringing both narrative and topical subjects to an end there. 

The year 1857 was made memorable in the calendar of the city's history by the most serious 
financial crisis experienced since its founding, twenty years before. Not only were commercial circles 
gravely involved ; the pecuniary stress exerted controlling force upon the social world as well, checking 
growth in every direction. Municipal operations were impeded, religious undertakings stopped by the 
failure of pledges, educational plans thwarted by the curtailment of necessary funds, and in all directions 
was felt the enforced economy which pervaded the social fabric. No more appropriate period could 
be found than this to bring the thread of history to a temporary end. With few exceptions — and 



PREFACE. 

those so minor as to be easily explained in the proper places — the topical sections of the work are 
closed at 1S57, to be resumed in subsequent volumes. 

The advantages of this plan are obvious. Each volume is made thereby complete in itself, as 
a work of reference, while the only serious disadvantage is temporary in its character ; since the 
incompleteness of the several topics will be amended by the issuance of the succeeding volumes. 

This Historv is the product of many hands. The assertion is often made that none save 
those who have participated in early events are capable of writing intelligibly or correctly of them, but 
experience has convinced the Publisher that it is better to entrust the labor of compilation to men 
who are wholly unbiased, and who have acquired practical methods in the work of arranging and stating 
facts. It is a curious fact in psychology that the faculty of memory is as eccentric as it " is treacherous, 
and historv based solely upon human recollection is scarcely worth the reading. When one individual, 
who was a witness of scenes which afterward became historic, attempts to give his version of the events, 
his statement is generally brought into dispute by another witness of the scenes, whose 'recollection is 
materially different. Members of the legal profession will agree with us in saying that were it not 
for this freak of the mind — involving men of equal honesty in questions of positive veracity — the 
practice of the law would be much less remunerative than it is. To illustrate this point, we cite two 
cases out of many similar ones that claimed the attention of our writers. One was the upsetting of 
an old resident's statement as to the day of his arrival in Chicago — our investigation proving that he 
had always erroneously given the date until we convinced him of his mistake ; and the other, that of 
a prominent banker, who declared, that his early bank was organized a year subsequent to the actual 
date of its establishment. In both instances these intelligent and reliable men, whose memories were 
proverbially good, sought to convince us, by contemporaneous happenings, of our "error," and in both 
instances we were able to demonstrate that, although the attendant circumstances were right in point of 
sequence, the dates were wrong. This allusion is made for the sole purpose of showing that the best 
of memories may be, and often are, at fault. Unless sustained by written confirmation, arbitrary assertion 
is generally not worthy of credence in a historic sense. 

To the end that as full a measure of accuracy as is attainable might be reached, every available 
source of information has been sought out, and yet the result will doubtless prove inadequate to the 
desire of the Publisher, for absolute correctness can never be achieved by human agencies. As one 
evidence of the good intention of those engaged upon the work, it is stated that no less than eight 
thousand newspapers issued in Chicago between 1833 and 1857 have been carefully examined by them. 
Considering the fact that the fire of 187 1 destroyed nearly all the records, printed and documentary, 
relating to the early days of Chicago, there remained no better authority for the establishment of dates 
than these newspaper files ; and while the fragmentary character of the information therein is conceded, it 
must be admitted that the journals of the past afford about the only available means of settling disputed 
points during the period of their publication. In this connection it may with propriety be remarked that 
the reader is indebted to Mrs. John C. Calhoun, Hon. John Wentworth, Hon. William Bross, Hon. 
Andrew Shuman, Hon. E. M. Haines, of Waukegan, Dr. Lots Pennington, of Sterling, and to the 
proprietors of the several newspapers of this city, as well as to the Chicago Historical Society, the 
Chicago Public Library, and the Calumet Club, for the acts of courtesy which enabled our writers to gain 
access to these valuable files. There are not known to be in existence now more than two or three 
numbers of all the issues of the two or three journals published here between June, 1837, and April 9, 
1839. The hiatus has been filled as well as it could be from the volumes of the Milwaukee Sentinel, 
and from the numerous collections of letters possessed by the Chicago Historical Society. A complete 
file of the leading journals between April, 1843, and August, 1844, has never been found. With these two 
exceptions it is believed by us that the writers on this work have read the newspaper record of events 
happening in Chicago from the issuance of John C. Calhoun's Democrat, November 26, 1833, to the 
close of 1857; the period from March, 1837, to the close of 1857 representing a daily issue. 

The amount of labor expended upon this volume is much greater than a casual reading would 



PREFACE. 

indicate. The almost total destruction of official records, of private diaries, of the innumerable 
quantity of memoranda, which generally furnish the historian with easy and satisfactory means of accom- 
plishing his work, in this instance proved a well-nigh insuperable barrier to progress. The few documents 
and books that survived the great calamity of 1S71 were of so desultory a character as to afford little 
practical aid. Because of the lack referred to, and which we have attempted to compensate for by 
calling upon individual memory to serve instead thereof, errors have undoubtedly found lodgment here ; 
deficiencies in all probability will be noted ; and personal opinions may be apparently treated with indifference. 
But we assure the reader that prejudice has not biased even so much as one statement herein made, nor 
have the writers willfully neglected to give what seemed due credit to every assertion that bore the die of 
truth. As many a base metal may be stamped with the coinage of honesty and bear the similitude of 
worth, so may many an ancient legend become, because of seeming probability, an accepted tenet in the 
historic creed of men. The writer who detects the inaccuracy of such current fictions must expect to 
encounter disapproval ; for of nothing is one so fondly tenacious as of the delusions of memory and the folk- 
lore in which some thread of association with one's own life can be traced. 

The task of searching for, arranging, weighing and preparing all that could be construed to have 
interes't or value in an historic sense was begun in October, 1882, and after January following the corps 
of writers numbered from ten to twelve, until the completion of the work in February, 1884 ; while, 
were we to count the number of friendly and voluntary co-laborers who have given transient assistance, 
the force would be increased to many hundreds. It is believed that the assignment of subjects was 
made with a view to congeniality of topic on the part of the several writers, most of whom have had years 
of experience in this line of work. 

It has been found impracticable, under the plan, to follow the usual custom of enumerating topics 
by chapter captions. This change, however, is one which violates no more serious a matter than 
precedent. 

Biographical sketches of those men who were identified with early Chicago are given as a neces- 
sary part of history ; the interest attaching to their public work exciting a commendable desire to 
know somewhat more fully their personal records. We maintain that the biographical sketches form one 
of the most valuable features of the work, and in the forthcoming volumes will appear individual mention 
of many who, although residents of Chicago prior to 1858, did not attain their greatest prominence until 
a later date. Their sketches will be given in connection with the topics with which they were identified. 

It is impossible to reconcile all traditions and legends that have, from that dignity which a venerable 
age often imparts to non-deserving things, grown to be a part of the accepted history of Chicago. It is 
safe to assert that fully as much money has been expended in the pursuit of lights which ultimately proved 
to be ignes fatui, as in the establishment of those truths which are worthy of preservation. 

The writers of this volume have adopted the rule of ignoring even favorite stories whenever their 
origin was shown to be indeterminate, their importance minor, and their character apocryphal. We can see no 
good excuse for perpetuating errors merely because they are clothed in the form of a neatly-told story ; or 
because they have gone uncontradicted for years. In fact, few have escaped contradiction, in one form or 
another ; for the argus-eyed early settler is always on the lookout for some alleged historic event to dispute, 
and it is equally true that no version is permitted to go unchallenged by some one. We have endeavored 
to state as fact only those points which are susceptible of substantiation. 

The mechanical work upon the volume was performed in Chicago ; even the greater portion of the 
illustrations were designed or executed here. It may be properly termed a Chicago product, and an evidence 
of the advancement of the mechanic arts in the West. The types' from which the book is printed were 
made and purchased expressly for it. The form of the volume was determined on with a view to the subse- 
quent volumes, which will of necessity contain much more letter-press and many more illustrations than this. 
In order to obviate the difficulty which attends the handling of a large volume, the page is made to contain 
nearly three times as much reading-matter as is commonly given in historical works. The wisdom of this 
decision will be recognized hereafter. 



PREFACE 

The succeeding volume will commence with a chapter containing a resume of what is herein 

published, with such emendations as later information or further historic research may demand to render 

the history complete. 

Among the numerous authorities consulted during the preparation of the history of early French 

explorations of the region were: Prof. C. W. Butterfield's monograph on Jean Nicolet ; the historical works 

of Francis Parkman ; Shea's "Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley;" " Proces Verbal of 

Taking Possession of Louisiana, by La Salle, 9th April, 1682," (French's Hist. Coll. La., Part I); Tonty's 

Memoir, (French's Hist. Coll. La., Part I;) Shea's "Charlevoix;" Du Pratz's "History of Louisiana;" 

Coxe's "Louisiana;" "Historical Magazine" (Shea); the Wisconsin Historical Society's Collections; 

" Early Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi " (letters and reports of French Catholic Missionaries^ 

1699-1700, reprints by Munsell and Shea; "Account of the Proceedings of the Illinois and Ouabache 

Land Companies," Philadelphia, 1796 ; etc. 

Relating to Indian occupation of this section there were consulted, among the many volumes, the 

books and papers of Isaac McCoy; the letters of Dr. Lykins, Rev. Robert L. Simmerwell, Rev. Jotham 

Meeker, and numerous other men who spent their lives among the Pottawatomies, Miamis, and tribes 

formerly identified with the history of the Chicago Region, and whose letters are now in the possession 

of the Kansas Historical Society. 

Important letters from Ramsey Crooks pertaining to the history of early Indian traders and United 

States Factors at this point, were furnished by Mr. Gurdon S. Hubbard, and access to the posthumous 

papers of Hon. Ninian Edwards, and many other valuable manuscripts, was obtained through the courtesy 

of the Chicago Historical Society. 

Invaluable aid on the latter portions of this volume has been received from the publications of 

Mr. Henry H. Hurlbut ("Chicago Antiquities"), Rufus Blanchard ("Discovery and Conquests of the 

Northwest, with the History of Chicago "), Robert Fergus, consisting of historic addresses, letters, 

biographies, etc., furnished by leading citizens of unquestioned ability, and possessing personal knowledge 

of the topics on which they have written ; a most valuable series of sketches published in the Chicago 

Times in 1875-76, entitled " Bye - Gone Days;" the writings of Mrs. Juliette A. Kinzie ; the historical 

works of Hon. William Bross, Mr. Elias Colbert and Mr. James Sheehan. The Publisher is under 

obligation to Mr. Albert D. Hager, Secretary of the Chicago Historical Society, for assistance rendered 

during the prosecution of this work. 

It is not claimed that, from this profusion of historic matters, a complete compilation has been 

made ; but it has been the endeavor of those entrusted with the work to so set in order the material as 

to give the reader a more comprehensive, connected and accurate account of events as they transpired, 

than has been undertaken by any single writer of the many to whom the publishers are indebted, and 

to whom they hereby make unqualified acknowledgments for the merit of their work, and the aid they 

have rendered in this latest attempt to write Chicago's history. 

The topical history has been carefully compiled from every special source accessible, which it was 

believed could render the treatment of the subject elaborate and accurate ; and the copy of this department 

of the History has been invariably submitted for criticism, correction and final approval, to citizens 

who from their personal knowledge were recognized authority, and whose approval should be a guarantee 

of the correctness of the work. 

A. T. A. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Original Proprietors of the Soil. 

The Miamis 33-3-1 

The Pottawatomies 34 - 37 

Origin ok the Word Chicago 37-38 

Early Explorations. 

John Nicolet 3S-41 

The Jesuits - _ 41-46 

Jacques Marquette .. 42-46 

Louis Joliet 42-43 

Early Chicago and the Northwest. 
(By Albert D. Hager.) 
Marquette — Maps and Journals — 46-49 
Joliet and Marquette's routes (Ex- 
pedition of 1673) 49 _ 5° 

Marquette's route to the Illinois 

Mission (1674-1675) 50-51 

The Grand and Little Calumet 51-54 

The Kaskaskia Mission . 55 

La Salle — The Miamis 56 

Louis Joliet _ 56 

Early Explorations (Continued). 
La Salle — Expeditions to the Illi- 
nois River 61-63 

La Salle — At the "Chicagou Port- 
age" 63-64 

Henri de Tonty — De la Durantaye 
— Henri Joutel — St. Cosine — De 
Courtemanche and others at "Chi- 
cagou," (1680-1 700) _. 63-67 

Iroquois and Foxes in Northern 

Illinois 6S-69 

William Murray's land purchase 69-70 

Modern Chicago and its Settlement. 

Baptiste Point De Saible 70-71 

Indian Traders 72 

John Kinzie 72-76 

Pottawatomies in the War of 1812. 76-79 

Fort Dearborn — The Massacre 79-83 

Chicago after the Massacre.. 84 

Jean Baptiste Beaubien 84-86 

U. S. Indian Agents and Factors-. 86-91 

Fur Trade and Traders 92-96 

The Kinzie Family.. 96-99 

Chicago from 1816 to 1830. 
Chicago as seen by visitors in 1817, 
1820, 1822, 1823, 1825, 1827, 

1828 

Taxpayers in 1S25 ._ 100-101 

The Clybourne family 101-105 

David McK.ee — The Mirandeau 
and Porthier families — The La- 
lime homicide — Stephen H. 
Scott and family — Mark and 
Madore B. Beaubien and Russel 

E. Heacock 105-108 

Three friendly Chiefs, Alexander 
Robinson, Billy Caldwell and 

Shawbonee _ 108-109 

Gurdon S. Hubbard, the oldest 

living resident of Chicago. no-in 

Chicago in 1830-33. 

Survey of the town (1830) — Its 

residents and appearance - — m-114 
Religious germs — First Post-office 

— Canal lots 114-116 

Becomes the County Seat — First 
County roads — First public 
land sale — Early amusements. . 116-117 
Black Hawk War — The cholera.. 117-121 
New permanent settlers — Harbor 

improvements 121-122 

Indian treaty of 1833 122-123 

Chicago incorporated as a town, 

(1833).. 128 



Page 

Government Appointees 147-148 

United States Land Office 14S-149 

Annals of Chicago 1S37 to 

1857 150-159 

Late Threads of Fort Dearborn 

History 160-162 

Roster of Officers Serving at the 

Post 163 

Lalime Homicide 164 

The Illinois & Michigan Canal. 

Idea of a canal connecting Lake 
Michigan with the Illinois 
River first suggested by Joliet 
in 1673 165 

First scientific exploration of route 
by Major S. H. Long — Survey 
of routes (1 823-1 824) 166-167 

Incorporation of Illinois & Michi- 
gan Canal Company — Land 
grants — Inauguration of work 
— Expense of construction to 
1S42 — Suspension of work 167-169 

Renewal of work (1843) — Formal 
opening of canal, April, 1848.. 169-171 

Difficulties of carrying on the 
work — Expenditures and re- 
ceipts of company from May, 
1845, to November, 1848... . 171-172 

The canal from 1S4S to 1857 .... 172-173 
Corporate History. 

Incorporation of the town of Chi- 
cago — Elections — Improve- 
ments — Population (1S33-1S37) 174-176 

Town limits — Officials — Appear- 
ance — Churches — Hotels — 
Citizens, etc., in 1833 128-133 

The great land craze 133-138 

Minor annals of the town 138-139 

Postal affairs 139-141 

Wharfing privileges — Fire De- 
partment — Cemeteries — Town 
credit and growth 141- 143 

Sketches of early residents 143-146 

Creation of the City of Chicago. 

Corporate Limits — First election 
— The municipality— First cen- 
sus (1837) — City and County 
buildings — Finances — Real es- 
tate — Panic of 1837. 176-1S3 

Growth and standing of the city, 
(1837-1857) — Roster of city of- 
ficers (1837-1857) 183-185 

Water-works — The river 1S5-192 

Street improvements and nomen- 
clature .1 194-197 

Plank roads — Ferries and bridges 197-200 

The flood of 1849 200-201 

Police Department 202-204 

Educational Department. 

Early schools and teachers (1816- 
1817) — Sale of School Section 
16 — First school districts, school 
buildings and school inspectors. 204-208 

Re-organization of school system 
under city charter — Report of 
commissioner of school lands at 
close of 1839, when school fund 
was transferred to new manage- 
ment 20S-210 

First Board of Inspectors of Chi- 
cago city schools — City organ- 
ized into districts — Schools es- 
tablished — School-houses erect- 
ed — Teachers and salaries — Re- 



ports of School Inspectors (1S40- 
1850) — School and teachers' 
conventions 210-213 

Public schools from 185 1 to 1857 
— Sangamon, Franklin and 
Moseley schools — Office of Su- 
perintendent of Public Schools 
created (1853) — Schools, teach- 
ers and salaries paid in 1854 — 
John C. Dore. Flavel Moseley 
and William Harvey Wells 213-216 

Schools, teachers and salaries paid 
at close of 1857 — Number of 
pupils — School fund — Evening 
schools — Industrial and reform 
schools — Officers of Board of 
Education (1840-1857) — De- 
velopment of Chicago schools 

by years (1S37-1857) 216-217 

Chicago Volunteer Fire Department, 
(1837-1855). 

First fire ordinance — First fire 
and fire company — Chicago 
Fire Department organized 220-222 

Sketches of Chicago fire com- 
panies and rosters of early of- 
ficers — Firemen's Benevolent 

Association 222-232 

Harbor and Marine. 

Chicago harbor — Work of im- 
provement 233-238 

Wharfing privileges 23S-239 

Local marine interests — Early 
vessels at Chicago — The light- 
house — Early steamers — Chi- 
cago ship-yards — Custom house 
and collectors — Wiliiam B. 

Snowhook ... 239-244 

The Railroad System. 

Preparatory steps .. 244-245 

Galena & Chicago Union Rail- 
road- 245-251, 256-257 

Illinois Central Railroad 251-256 

Chicago & North-Western Rai- 
lroad 257 

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 

Railroad 258 

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 

Railroad ... 258 

Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 

Railroad 258-259 

Michigan Southern & Northern 

Indiana Railroad 259-260 

Michigan Central Railroad 260-261 

Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chi- 
cago Railroad . .... 261-262 

Railroad system of Chicago in 1857 262-263 

Telegraph and Express 263 

Early Military History. 

Fort Dearborn militia — Winne- 
bago War . ... 264-267 

Cook County militia — Black Hawk 

War... 267-274 

Independent military companies 

prior to 1847 ... 275-276 

Chicago in the Mexican War 276-284 

Local military companies from 

1S4S to 1S60 2S4-2S6 

Religious History. 

Pre-church period - 287-288 

Pioneer Protestant ministers 28S-289 

Catholicism. 

St. Mary's Church — Sketch of 

Bishop William Quarter 2S9-294 



GENERAL INDEX. 



St. Patrick's Church — St. Peter's 

Church - 294 

St. Joseph's Church — St. Michael's 

Church - 295 

St. Louis' Church 296 

Church of St. Francis D' Assistant 

— Church of the Holy Name.- 297 

The University of St. Mary's of 

the Lake... 1 --- 29S-299 

Sisters of Mercy — Catholic Or- 
phan Asylum - — 299 

Pro rESTAN r Denominations. 

First Presbyterian Church 302-305 

Second Presbyterian Church 305-309 

Westminster Presbyterian Church 309 

North Presbyterian Church 310 

. Presbyterian Church 310-312 

Reformed Presbyterian Church.. 312-314 

Olivet Presbyterian Church 314-315 

First Baptist' Church 315-319 

Tabernacle Baptist Church. 319-321 

Edina Place Baptist Church 321-322 

Union Park Baptist Church — Sa- 
lem Baptist Church 322 

Berean Baptist Church 323 

Olivet Baptist Church 323-324 

First Swedish Baptist Church 324-325 

First Methodist Church 325-327 

Canal-street Methodist Episcopal 

Church 327-328 

Indiana-street Methodist Epis- 
copal Church 32S-329 

State-street Methodist Episcopal 

Church 329 

Desplaines-street Methodist Epis- 
copal Church 329-330 

Owen-street Methodist Episcopal 

Church 330 

Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Epis- 
copal Church 330-331 

First Get man Methodist Epis- 
copal Church 331 

Van Buren-street Methodist Epis- 
copal Church -. 331-332 

Maxwell-street German Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church 332 

First Swedish Methodist Epis- 
copal Church 332-333 

Methodist Protestant Church _ 333 

Quinn Chapel Methodist Epis- 
copal Church ....__ 333-334 

German Evangelical Association. 334 

St. James Episcopal Church 334-336 

Trinity Church 336-337 

Church of the Atonement — Grace 
Church — St. John's Church — 
Church of the Holy Communion 

— Church of the Ascension 337 

St. Ansgarius Church ._ 33S-339 

First Congregationalist Church . . 339-340 
Plymouth Congregationalist Ch._ 340-341 
South Congregationalist Church. 341-342 
The New England Church 342 



Page. 

First Universalist Church 343 

First Unitarian Church. 343-345 

Swedenborgian C hurch 345-347 

The Jews.. 34S 

St. Paul's German Evangelical 

Lutheran Church -. 348-349 

First Norwegian Evangelical Lu- 
theran Church 349 

Our Savior's Norwegian Evangel- 
ical Lutheran Church .. 350 

Swedish Immanuel Evangelical 

Lutheran Church ... . 350-351 

St. Paul's Evangelical United 

Church 351 

Christian Church .. .. 351-353 

Spiritualists - 353 - 354 

Chicago Theological Seminary.. 354-356 

Chicago Bible Society 356 

History of the Press. 

From 1833 to 1S57 360-412 

Printers, Lithographers, Book- 
binders, etc 412-418 

The Bench and Bar. 

The judiciary under the Constitu- 
tion of 1S1S — Chicago's earliest 

judiciary 419 

Circuit Court — Early terms, law- 
yers and trials — Sketches of 
members of early Chicago Bar 

(1833-1837) ... . ... 420-443 

Chicago courts from 1837 to 1857 
— First Law School — C 00k 
County Court — Sketches of 
prominent members of the Chi- 
cago Bar from 1S37 to 1857 — 

Lawyers practicing in 1857 

Medical History. 

Sketches of physicians connected 

with Fort Dearborn — 

Early medical practitioners (1832- 

1S44).---- — 

Early druggists — 

Rush Medical College 

Chicago Medical Society 

Homeopathy — Hahnemann Col- 
lege. 

The Drama. 
Early amusements — First profes- 
sional public entertainment 472-474 

The first theater (Isherwood & 
McKenzie) — "The Rialto" — 
" The Chicago Theater" estab- 
lished — Seasons of 1838-1839 — 
Sketches of leading members of 
McKenzie & Jefferson's Com- 
pany of 183S-1S39- 474-481 

Miscellaneous amusements 4S1-4S4 

Rice's Theater established — Sea- 
sons (1847-4S-49I — Burning 
and re-establishment — Seasons 
from 1851 to 1857 — Miscellan- 
eous amusements (1S47-1857) 
— Museums— North's Theater. 4S4-496 



443-456 



457-459 

459-463 

464 

464-466 

466-467 

467-471 



Page. 

! Music. 

Local Societies — Traveling Con- 
cert Companies at Chicago 

(1835-1S50) _ 496-499 

First opera — Philharmonic Society 

— Local musical talent 499-500 

Early* Literature. 

Sketches of early Chicago authors. 500-504 

Architecture 504-506 

Art and Artists 506 

Benevolent, Literary and 
Social Societies. 

Masonic 507-514 

Odd Fellowship 514-517 

Temperance 517-518 

Mechanic's Institute 518-521 

Young Men's (Library) Associa- 
tion 521-522 

Chicago Lyceum - 522 

Miscellaneous- 522-523 

Banks and Banking. 

First banking law — Banks under 

Territorial Government 524-5 26 

State banks — First Chicago bank. 526-531 
Illegal banking — Early banks and 

bankers . 531-544 

Banking under State law — The 

Bank war .. 544"547 

Sketches of early Chicago banks 

and bankers .. 547-553 

Trade. Commerce and Manufactures. 

Primitive manufactures 554 _ 559 

Early manufactures of wood, iron, 

etc 559-571 



Comparative value of various 
early manufactures — Miscella- 
neous manufactures of Chicago 
January 1, 1S57 — Review of 
Chicago trade and commerce.. 571-576 

Auxiliary Agencies - 576-581 

The Chicago Board-of Trade.. 5S1-587 
Scientific DESCRrPTioN of Lo- 
cality. 
Meteorological, — Topographical, 
— Geological, — Paleontologi- 
cal, — Zoological, — Ornitholo- 
gical, — Entomological, — Ich- 
t h yo 1 o g i c a 1, — Conchological 

and Floral 587-593 

Sanitary- History'. 

Town and City Regulations 594 

Cholera and Small-pox Epidemics 594-597 

Hospitals — 597 _ 598 

Political History. 

Admission of Illinois into the 

Union 599 

Daniel T. Cook, — Early Elections 600-603 
Chicago and the " Black Code " 604-60S 

Stephen A. Douglas 602, 60S-611 

Chicago and Kansas - 611-614 

Local Politics 614-62S 

Wolf Point and Early Hotels 629-63 

Chronological Record of Events.- 639 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Page 

Abbott, Charles H 329, 549 

Abbott, Lucius 462 

Abbott, Samuel S8 

Abell, Sidney 140, 184, 1S5, 477 

Abell, Ralph M. P... 140 

Abert, J. J.. _ 337 

Abrahamson, Erick 349 

Ackerman, William K 246, 263 

Adams, Charles _. 223 

Adams, Henry T . 544 

Adams, J 300 

Adams, J. McGregor 309 

Adams, J. Q. 220 

Adams, William H , 132, 175, 269, 336, 476 

Adams, William 206 

Adams, R. E. W ._ ._ 467 

Adams, Mrs. H 300 

Adam, William.- _ 344 

Adams's Flouring Mills 564 

Addams, J. H 256 

Adler, L _ 348 

Adsit, J. M.__ 518 

Ahert, William.. 101 

Aiken, Samuel 339 

Aiken, Mrs. Samuel 339 

Aiken, Mrs. Sarah 306, 309 

Allbright, Jacob 334 

Alexander, J. K 263 

Alexander, Samuel 166 

Allen, D. W. C 477 

Allen, James. 234, 477 

Allen, James Adams 466 

Allen, James H _ 282 

Allen, J. W._ 252 

Allen, Nathan 454, 477 

Allen, Susan Randolph 87 

Allert, C. F 332 

Allison, Barbara : 312 

Allopathy vs. Homeopathy (1857) 470 

Allouez, Claude 33, 41, 49, 62, 65, 287 

Alsop, Joseph W __ 253 

Altai -boys' Sodality. . 297 

Alter, John J 302 

Alton & Sangamon Railroad 247,259 

Alton & Springfield Railroad 247 

Amberg, Adam 294 

Ambrose, J. E 316 

Anient, Anson 271 

"America," Engine Company No. 9... 225 

Sketch of . 231 

American Car Company and Works, 

341, 342, 568 

American Express Company 263 

American Fur. Company, 74, 75, 93, 

no, in, 342, 554 

" American Odd Fellows " 402 

Amerman, G. K 470 

Amundson, John 349 

Anderson, Alfred. 332 

Anderson, Andrew. 324 

Anderson, A. J.. 332 

Anderson, C. J 350 

Anderson, Paul 349, 350 

Anderson, John 338 

Andrews, Edmund 463 

Andrews, Mrs. Mary 339 

Andrew, H. P 260 

Annen, Peter 295 

Anti-Masonic Society (State) 514 

Apollo Commanderv, No. 1 513 

Archer, William B.'._ 168 

"Archer's" Road (Chicago to Lockport), 165 

Architecture of Early Chicago 504, 506 

Argard, John W 328 

Armstrong, George 267 



Page 

Armstrong, Nicholas P 415 

Arnet, Lewis 334 

Arnold, Isaac N., 97, 169, 170, 173, 1S4, 

210, 212, 217, 237, 248, 249, 276, 384, 
422, 435, 436, 437, 451, 518, 612. 

Art and Artists 506 

Aspinwall, William H 253 

"Ashlar" — (Masonic newspaper). 411 

Ashley, L. W 253 

Astor, John J 93 

Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Company 260 

Athens Marble 570 

Augenstein C 334 

Aurora (Branch) Railroad- 25S 

Austin, W. G 461 

Averell, James 242 

Averill, Bradford T -- 315 

Averill, B. Y 216 

Avery, Charles E 477 

Avery, J. T 342 

Avery, O. S 315 

Avery, William 242 

Ayers, George — 595 

Ayers, Mahlon 476 

Baak, B 297 

Baar, Ernest 332 

Babcock, Cyril 321 

Babcock, Lydia F 321 

Bacher, Louis 285 

Backman, Peter 283 

Badin, Stephen D 288 

Bagley, Daniel 333 

Bailey, Alexander 271 

Bailey, C. S. 209 

Bailey, Daniel 26S 

Bailey, Frederick 477 

Bailey, Jonathan N 112, 115 

Bain, Alexander 311 

Bain, Mrs. Elizabeth - 311 

Baker, Daniel 84, 90 

Baker, David J._ 85, 86 

Baker, Edward D 280, 2S3 

Baker, Edward L. 258 

Baker, Elisha 306 

Baker, Hiram 209 

Baldwin. M. H 351 

Baldwin, Mrs. M. H 351 

Balestier, Joseph N 134, 431, 518 

Ball, Silas R 341 

Ball, Mrs. Amelia 34.1 

Bailantyne, J. F 402, 407 

Ballard, C. A. 132, 175 

Ballard, J. 476 

Ballentine, Mrs. Agnes M 342 

Ballingall, Patrick--. 184, 185, 442, 448, 455 

Balloon frame buildings 504 

Balme, J. R 409 

Baltis, P 298 

Bandt, Henry 227 

Banks, Charles 2S0 

Banks, J. N 595 

Banks, Early 525 

Under Territorial Government. 525, 526 

Under State law __ 537, 544 

Bank war 544, 547 

Bankruptcy in 1842 446 

Bankers and brokers from 1S37 to 

1852--- 534 

Sketches of Chicago banks (1S37- 

1857) 547, 5 5° 

Bank of America 538, 543, 548 

Bank of Commerce -538, 543. 548 

Bank of Chicago 53S, 543 

Bank of the City of Chicago 540 

Baptist Union Theological Seminary 354 



Page 

Barber, William _ 271 

" Baring Brothers & Co." _. _ 170 

Barker, Charles \V 286 

Barlow, William 336 

Barnard, J. H 461 

Barnard, Alice L -212, 213 

Barnes, James H 260 

Barnes, Seth- 283, 284 

Barnum, Ezra H - 226 

Barrows, Mary 206 

Barry, William 37 

Barth, Matthias \V 297 

Barth, Nicholas 285 

Barth, Philip 331 

Bartle, William T 342 

Bartlett, C. F -. 402 

Bartlett, Samuel C 342, 356, 396 

Barton, James L 236, 237 

Bascom, FlaveL-301, 304, 305, 306, 

308, 341 

Bastian, N. S 352 

Bates, Edward 237 

Bates, Mrs. Ellen M 91 

Bates, George C _ 91 

Bates, Kinzie 91 

Bates, John, Jr._i22, 132, 133, 134, 139, 176, 
421, 476, 594. 

Batsche, Charles 332 

Baumbarten, Maurice 295 

Baume, James 326 

Baumgartner, Mr. and Mrs 331 

Bauskey, Joseph 106,114 

Baver, August 351 

Baxley, J. M 132 

Beach, James S 175, 3S9, 468 

Beach, Elizabeth 206 

Beach, Samuel S 48 1 

Beardsley, H. H 463 

Beardsley, Havilah 260 

Beaubien, Jean Baptiste, 84, S5, 89, 94,95, 

96, 100, 101, 104, 112, 117, 132, 175, 

19S, 205, 266, 269, 270, 272, 274, 275, 
284, 2S9, 290, 420, 496, 600, 602. 

Beaubien, Alexander.- 85, 288 

Beaubien, Charles H 205 

Beaubien, George 290 

Beaubien, Madore B., 112, 117, 128, 132, 

175, 198, 602. 

Beaubien, Mark, 106, 112, 114, 117, 128, 
132, 197,' 240, 243, 2S9, 472. 

Beaubien Claim, the 85, 86 

Beauharnais, M. De 69 

Beaumont, George A. O. 275, 413, 431, 477 

Beck, Abraham 420 

Becker, C. G - 332 

Becker, Joseph N 285 

Beckwith, J. D 490 

Beckwith, H. W___ 265 

Beebe, Gaylord D 468, 469 

Beebe, Thomas H 311, 312 

Beebe, Mrs. Catharine.. 311 

Beebee, Mrs. C. M 353 

Beef, first shipment of from Chicago — 554 

Beers, Cyrenus 222, 336, 476, 582 

Beer Riot, trial of participants 453, 454 

Beggs, Stephen R.. 114, 115, 2S3, 2S9, 325 

Beidler, Jacob 306 

Beinder, H 390 

Belden, James. - 285 

Belden, Mrs. Elvira P 339 

Belding, Lemuel C... 346 

Bell, Digby V. 220 

Bell, John - 319 

Beloit & Madison Railroad 257, 262 

Bell's Commercial College 220 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Page 
Bench and Bar of Chicago (difficulties of 

1839) 444 

Bender, George _ S4, 129, 234 

Benedict, Amzi 220, 549 

Benedict, L _ 341 

Benedictive Fathers 295 

Bennett. S. C 219, 212, 343 

Bennett. William 246 

Bentley, Robert 32S 

Bentley, \Y. N 595 

Benton, Thomas H 237, 374 

" Beobachter von Michigan" 410 

Berean Baptist Church 323 

Berg. Anton 294 

Berg. Joseph 294 

Best, Martin 2S5 

Bestor, George C 25S 

Bethel. The __. 354,359,518 

" Better Covenant, the " .. . 3S3, 3S4 

Beyer. B. A- 35 1 

Biedermann, A.. 331 

Bigelow, Captain . . 401, 402 

"Big Foot" (Indian chief), log, 117, nS, 

265. 267. 

Bills, E. D 278, 282 

Bills. George R 346 

Bineteau Julian 33, 66, 67, 2S7 

Biographical Sketches of — 

Anderson, Paul 349-350 

Arnold, Isaac Newton 435~437 

Balestier, Joseph N 431 

Ballingall, Patrick 455 

Bascom, Flavel 304 

Bates, John — 145-146 

Beach, James S _ 468 

Beaubien, Jean Baptiste 84-85 

Beaubien, Madore 107 

Beaubien, Mark 106-107 

Beaumont, George A. O 431 

Beebe, Gaylord D 468-469 

Beggs, Stephen R . .. 327 

Borein, Peter Ruble 326 

Blatchford, John 304-305 

Boone, Levi D 622 

Brainard, Daniel _ 462 

Brown, Henry. _ _ 431-432 

Brown, Lemuel 566 

Brown, William H.._ 552-553 

Burgess, Otis Asa 353 

Bushnell, W. H 503 

Butterfield, Justin 433 - 435 

Butterfield, William. _. 466 

Caldwell, Billy 108 

Casey, Edward W._ 424-425 

Carpenter, Philo 340 

Caton, John Dean 437 _ 439 

Chappell, Eliza 206 

I hase, Philander D 338-339 

Clarkson, Robert H... 336 

'lybourne Family, the 101-102 

Collins, James H... 425-426 

Cook, Daniel P _ 600-601 

'rooks, Ramsey 93-94 

iJe Saible, Baptiste Point.. 70-72 

Uevore, John F 328 

Oyer, Charles Volneyl.. 460-461 

1 -Iyer, Thomas 622 

l.gan, William B 459-460 

Eldredge, John W 460 

Evans, Enoch Webster 440-441 

f ord, Thomas 449 

Freer, Joseph Warren _ 463 

Fullerton, Alexander N 425 

Garrett, Augustus. 621 

Gibbs, George Augtistin -. . 587 

odhue, Josiah C . 460 

odrich, Grant. 439-440 

-..'.rant, James 425 

Gurnee, W. S. 621 

. Hallam, Isaac W - 335 

Hamilton, Richard J 143-145 

Harding, Fisher A 431 

....Harmon, lilijah Dewey.. 458 

Harrington. Joseph 344 

Hcacock, Russel E 1.7 [08 



Page 
Biographical Sketches of — 

llibbard, John Randolph 347 

Hinton, Isaac T 318 

Hogan, J. S. C 139 

Hubbard, Gurdon S no 

... Huntington, Alonzo 430-431 

Irwin, Matthew 87-88 

Jouett, Charles. _ 86-S7 

Kercheval, Lewis C 450 

Kinzie, John 72-76 

Kinzie, Mrs. Eleanor (McKillip) 97 

Kinzie, Elizabeth 96 

Kinzie, James , _ 96 

Kinzie, Ellen M 99 

Kinzie, John H... 97-98 

Kinzie, Mara I __ 99 

Kinzie, Robert A 99 

Leary, Albert Greene 441 

Maxwell, Philip. 45S-459 

Meeker, George W._ . 454-455 

Mirandeau and Porthier families. 104-105 

Moore, Henry 426 

Morris, Buckner S 426-427 

Newman, S. B. 333 

Ogden, Mahlon D 441-442 

Ogden, William B 616-619 

Owen, Thomas J. V 91 

Paine, Seth 540 

Patterson, Robert 314 

Peck, Ebenezer 428-429 

Peyton, Francis 432 

Phelps, Pallas.. 451 

Porter, Jeremiah 302 

Prentiss, Alexander S 453 

Quarter, William 292 

Raymond, B. W . 619 

.Rice, Nathan L 310 

Robinson, Alexander 108 

Rounseville, William 503-504 

Ryan, Edward G _ 442 

Scammon, J. Young 550-552 

Scott, Stephen H. and Family 108 

Shaw-bo-nee (Indian chief) log 

Sherman, A. S ... 621 

Shippen, Rush R 345 

Shumway, Edward S 452 

Skinner, Mark 440 

Smith, OB 321 

Smith, David S -467-468 

Smith, Samuel Lisle ^2-433 

Snowhook, William B 244 

Spring, Giles J2 j-424 

Steel, George 587 

Stewart, Alexander M 313 

Stone, Luther 324 

Stuart, William 428 

Taylor, Augustine D 145 

Taylor, Benjamin F ._ 503 

Temple, John Taylor 468 

Temple, Peter 460 

Thomas, Jesse B 449 

Walker, Charles 586-587 

Wells, William 81 

Wells, William Harvey 215-216 

Wentworth, Elijah 637 

Wentworth, Elijah, Tr . 637 

Wentworth, George W 463 

Wentworth, John 622-628 

Whipple, T. Herbert 502-503 

Whistler, John 80 

Whitehead, Henry _ 327 

Wolcott, (Dr.) Alexander 90-91 

Wunder, Henry 349 

Young, Richard M.^ 423 

Bird, J. H. 466 

Bishop, Hiram M 337 

Bissell, William II ....253, 280, 612 

Bjookholen, John 350 

Bjorkman, T 338 

Black, William A. 282 

Black, W. F... 352 

" Blackbird " (Indian chief).. 78-82 

mm, Gideon 303 

" Black Code," the 604, 608 

Black Hawk -84,109,110, 117 



Page 

Black Hawk War 266-268 

Black Partridge. . . . 74, 78, 79, 80, 82, 83, 84 

Blacksmiths, Early 566 

Blackstone, John 212 

Blackstone, T. B 253 

Blackwell, Robert S _ 452 

Blackwell, Emily 465 

Blair, C. B. 260 

Blair, C. H. 477 

Blair, William 519 

Blake, Chelsey 241, 242, 606 

Blake, Levi 222 

Blanchard, Jonathan 339 

Blanchard, Richard A. 328 

Blanchard, Rufus.. 200 

Blaney, James V. Z..230, 346, 384, 463, 465 

Blaney, Mrs. J. V. Z. 310 

Blank, George A _ 334 

Blasey, B 294 

Blatchford, John 301, 304, 305, 357 

Blatchford, J. H... 209 

Blenkairon, W. M. 220 

Bletsch, Jacob 33 1 

Blish, Sylvester 258 

Bliss, George 260 

Blodgett, Israel P. 269, 271 

Blodgett, Tyler K 132, 566 

Blonquist, Frederick 324 

Blood, Caleb 320 

Bloomington Convention (1856J 390 

Blossom, Levi 257 

Board of Education 179, 217, 218 

Board of Trade 582, 586 

Boardman, C 221 

Boardman, Henry K. W., 461, 468, 470, 
47i. 595- 

Boaz, Jacob 334 

Bogart, Abram 226 

Bogartus, John L 101, 104, 420 

Boggs, Charles T 321, 520 

Boggs, Amelia 321 

Boggs, Virginia A 321 

Boisbriant, M. De 68 

Bolden, Jesse 321 

Bolles, Nathan, 176, 184, 209, 210, 211, 212, 
343- 

Bolles, Peter 176, 178, 181, 184 

Bolles, Sins 328, 329 

Bond, Benjamin 448 

Bond, Ezra 269 

Bond, Heman S 269 

Bond, L. L 330 

Bond, Shadrack 166, 167 

Bond, William 269 

Bonnell, J. D 136 

Boone, Levi D., 185, 220, 319, 322, 402, 
461, 466, 532, 538, 539, 544, 594, 595, 
597, 614, 615. 

Booth, Heman D 284, 285, 562 

Booth, Oliver P 286 

Booth, Junius Brutus 487 

Boots and Shoes, early manufacturers 

and dealers 570 

Borein, Peter R:.__ 325 

Boring, E. M 330 

Botsford, John K 222, 223, 2S5 

Botwell, Harvey 312 

Botwell, Mrs. Mary 312 

Boucha, Henry 269 

Bourassa, Daniel 94 

Bourassa, Leon 112,289 

Bouton, NathanS 194, 315, 568 

Bowen, Erastus 208 

Bowes, James 220 

Bowman, Ariel 414 

Boyakin, Henderson.. 281, 282 

Boyce, Leroy M 229, 521, 595 

Boyd, Robert 321 

Boyd, Mrs. Christina 321 

Boyer, John K 175, 211 

Boyer, Valentine A 244, 273, 459 

Boyington, W. W 328 

Brace, Mytle G 258 

Brachtendorf, Peter 295 

Brackett, William H 184, 336, 377 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Bradley, A. F 1S6, 519 

Bradley, Cyrus P., 201, 203, 225, 22S, 230, 

285, 594. 615. 

Bradley, David M 212, 372, 416 

Bradley, Hezekiah.-. : 83,84,92 

Bradley, J. C-- - 4 61 

Bradley, H. S- 477 

Bradley, S. S -- 477 

Bradley, William H 453 

Brady, George 152, 198 

Brady, Hugh. 298 

Brady, John 298 

Brady, L. D 258 

Bragg, Hannah 339 

Brainard, Daniel, 366, 384, 449, 450, 461, 

462, 464, 465, 466, 594, 595, 598. 

Brand, Alexander 534 

Brandes, Christian 332 

Braumhold, Gustavus 414 

Breck, James J — 244 

Bredburg, J _ 332 

Breen, John 294, 297, 29S 

Breese, Sidney,.- 85, 86, 245, 251, 252, 427 

Breese, J. S. 532 

Breweries 564, 565 

"Brewster, Hogan & Peck " 116 

Brick, early manufacture of 570 

First house of 566 

Early brick-yards 566 

Brick buildings in 1837 504 

Bridewell, The .- - 204 

Bridges, T. B 319 

Bridges, Emily 319 

Bridges, Early. 133, 143, 198, .199, 201, 202 

Bridge and Ferry Difficulties. 198, 199 

Brier, George 4S2 

Briggs, Benjamin 319, 320 

Briggs, Betsey Ann 319 

Briggs House 637 

Brink, Charles 329 

Brinkerhoff, John 336, 461 

Briscoe, Benjamin 300 

Bristol, R. C 201, 582 

Bristol, Harriet — 339 

Bristol, Mary 500 

Broad, Lewis. - 342 

Brockett, E. C.-_ 223 

Bronson, Arthur 129, 130,169, 289 

Bronson, Harvey S - - 328 

Bronson, Stephen 536, 53S, 544 

Brooks, Asahel L. 306 

Brooks, Edward E. _ 90 

Brooks, John \V 258, 260, 261 

Brooks, Henry 132 

Brooks, John 416 

Brooks, J. P 215 

Brooks, Samuel 307 

Brooks, Samuel M 132-506 

Bross, William, 199, 213, 395, 396, 407, 520, 

5S4, 610. 

Brown, Alfred 25S 

Brown, Andrew J 217, 219, 328, 53S, 562 

Brown, Mrs. A. J 309 

Brown, Arza 330 

Brown, Asa B. 383 

Brown, E. R 286 

Brown, Erastus .166, 167, 476 

Brown, E. S. 476 

Brown, George 294 

Brown, Henry 184, 199, 211. 212, 431, 

432, 501, 5°2, 595- 

Brown, Hiram 220 

Brown, Isaac 230 

Brown,. Jesse B 269 

Brown, John -142, 208, 2S6 

Brown, John J._ 447 

Brown, Lemuel 132, 566 

Brown, L. A 349 

Brown, Lockwood 354 

Brown, William (Fugitive slave) 326 

Brown, William H...86, 209, 210, 212, 214, 

217, 218, 247, 248, 249, 262, 305, 335, 

357. 377. 42S, 471. 476, 527. 552, 553. 

568. 
Brown, Mrs. William H 305 



Page 
Brown, R. A. 310 

Brown, Rufus 269, 2S9, 303 

Brown, Mrs. Rufus 132 

Brown, Mrs. Cynthia. 300 

Brown School, the 213, 214, 216 

Browne, L. D 212 

Bruce, T. W. 220 

Bryan, Thomas B 521 

Bryne, T 298 

Bryne, Michael 294 

Buchanan, John S 321 

Buchanan, Nelson 2S5 

Buchanan, Mabel A 321 

Buckingham, J. S. (Account of Catholic 

Church troubles) - 292 

Buckley, Timothy 226 

Buckley, Thomas 4S8 

Bucklin, James M 167 

Builders' Materials, early manufacturers 

of 5 6 9 

Bugbee, L. H 328 

Bull's Head Tavern, the 504, 563, 637 

Bull, Ole 499,500 

Bumgarden, Morris 132 

Bunce, James 258 

Burbank, A 315 

Burch, Isaac H., 25S, 534, 536, 53S, 544, 5S2 

Burgess, O. A 352, 353 

Burgess, Jeannette — 319 

Burgess, Margaret 319 

Burgess, William T 452 

Burke, Thomas 292 

Burke, Charles 47S, 4S1 

Burley, A. H 488, 582 

Burling, Edward 519 

Burnell, Levi.. 262 

Burnett, D. S 352 

Burnett, Anna 312 

Burnett, William 72, 74, 83, 92 

Burnham, Ambrose 203, 594 

" Burns House," the 81,84 

Burns, W. H 330 

Burr, Daniel E 284 

Burr, Jonathan 260 

Burrall, W. P 257 

Burroughs, John C 318, 402 

Burton, Stiles 220, 476 

Burton, L. S . 227 

Burtis, Richard 300 

Busby, Charles 329 

Busch, August F._ 351 

Bush, Charles P 342, 40S 

Bush, Frank 294 

Bush, John B 274, 294 

Bushnell, William H -389, 407, 503 

Butler, Charles, Letter of 129-130 

Mention 262, 289 

Butler, John H. 341 

Butler, Mrs. J. H 341 

Butler, Jesse 136 

Butler, T D -.292, 299 

Butterfield, Justin,. 169, 433, 434, 435, 444, 
" 449. 451. 456. 4°5- 

Butterfield, J. C. 416 

Butterfield, Jonathan C 378 

Butterfield, Lyman 271 

Butterfield, William 465, 466 

Buxton, F. S 491 

Byford, William H 463 

Cabery, Albert — 329 

Cabery, Ruth 329 

Cady, C. M 411 

Cady, Cornelius S. 342 

Cady, D. Spencer 274, 275, 278, 2S4 

Caldwell, Archibald 96, 629 

Caldwell, Billy 74, 91, 108, 109, 112, 117, 

11S, 125, 205, 265, 266, 2S9, 600, 632. 

Caldwell, James. 294 

Caldwell, Louisa B 106 

Calhoun, Alvin.201, 222, 223, 228, 274, 595 
Calhoun, John 132, 222, 223, 254, 360, 

366, 412, 477. 

Calhoun, John C. SS 

Calhoun, Mrs. Pamelia C 360 

California Loan Office 536 



Page 

Calkins, W. W 593 

Callis, Mrs. Susan M Bg 

Callis, Mrs., extract from letter of - go 

Calumet Lake (old canal) 52. 53, 54 

Calumet Rivers (Grand and Little Calu- 
met) --51. 52. 53, 54 

Campbell, Alexander . 352 

Campbell, James, trial of for counter- 
feiting -.451-452 

Campbell, J 389 

Campbell, James - 410 

Campbell, James B 137 

Campbell, |. D 274 

Campbell, James II .- 185 

Campbell, James K _ 313 

Canada, Thomas 294 

Canal, Commissioners of 1829 112 

Sale of lots (1S30) 115 

Cholera 594 

Scrip issued -- - 168 

Foreign loan -. ■- 170 

" Shallow Cut " plan 170 

Pre-emption claims to lands 448 

Canal-street M. E. Church ...327-328 

Cander, Christian 332 

Cannon, Thomas 330 

Carey (Indian) Mission 107 

Carlon, Philip — 294 

Carlson, Erland 350-35 1 . 4 10 

Carney, James 152, 211, 212, 294 

Carpenter, Mrs. Ann. 306, 339 

Carpenter, Mrs. Abel E 207 

Carpenter, Mrs Abagail H. — 342 

Carpenter, Benjamin 341 

Carpenter, Mrs 342 

Carpenter, James H 274 

Carpenter, Job 337 

Carpenter, Nathaniel 315 

Carpentei, Philo 122, 132, 175, 289, 300, 

301, 306, 307, 308, 339, 340, 355, 356, 
357, 396, 464, 60S. 

Carpenter, S. L 132, 198 

Carpenter, William 337 

Carr, E. S ... 463 

Carr, Miss R. R., earlv teacher 210 

Carroll, Edward -- 294 

Carson, George 2S3 

Carter, S. B. _ 256 

Carter, Thomas B --305, 306, 357, 497 

Carter, Mrs. Thomas B 305 

Carver, David 132, 175, 326, 554 

Carvillo 341 

Case, C. II 241 

Casey, Edward \V.__176, 221, 420, 424, 425 

Cass, Gov. Lewis 35, 88, 90, 237, 265 

" Cataract " (Engine Company No. S) - . 229 

Caton, John Dean.. 128, 175, 176, 17S, 184, 

366, 420, 421, 437, 438, 439, 448, 450, 
455. 461, 465, 632. 
Catholic Orphan Asylum, established in 
1849. New asylum incorporated in 

1852 -. 299 

Catholics (German) 294 

Cavalier (Daily) ...396, 401 

Cemeteries (Early) 141 

Central Military Tract Railroad 25S 

Central Presbyterian Church 310 

Chadwick, J. \V 176 

Chadwick, G. W 209 

Chaffee, J. F 328 

Chamberlain, E. W 260 

Chamberlain, Mrs. Harriet 342 

Chambers, A B 236, 237 

Chambers, David 236 

Champlain, Samuel 3S, 39 

Chandler, Joseph 122, 234 

Chandonnais. Jean Baptiste._74, 83, 94, 95 

Chapin, John P 1S4, 212, 220, 280, 297, 

343, 562, 5S2, 614, 621. 

Chapman, Charles H. 128, 152 

Chapman, George --I32, 175 

Chapman, John B 260 

Chapman, J. E. H 219 

Chapman. Mrs. Nancv 180 

Chapel, S. W. ... 389 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Chappel, Eliza I Mrs. Jeremiah Porter) 

206, 300, 301, 31 13 

Charleston, Charles _. - 320 

Charlevoix 33 

Chase. Dudley ._ — 337 

Chase. Charles L. _ 544 

Chase. Philander 33q, 334. 336 

Chase. Warren -- 353 

Cheqoimegon (Ashland. Wis.) 41 

Cherry, Stephen _ 329 

Cherry, Maria . . 329 

Chesbrough, E. S ..... 191 

Chester, A. 256 

Chevalier. Jean B ... 112 

Chicago Agricultural Works(i855) 565 

American 372, 376. 377, 371. 382, 

413. 482. 

\riel 401 

"Bag and Eire Guard Company," 

(The "Forty Thieves") 223, 224, 229 

r>ank, the. . 1 53S, 543, 54S 

Branch of Illinois State Hank 527 

Bible Society 323, 357, 359 

— Brewery 564 

Carriage and Wagon Factory 570 

City Bank 538.543. 54§ 

City Hydraulic Company, organized 

1S51--- 1S6, 107, 596 

Commercial Advertiser (1S47-1S53) 

--- 395, 39 6 . 579 

Courant(i853-iS54) 409 

Daily Express and Commercial 

Register (1S52) 407 

Daily Journal (iSj4).377, 378, 391, 392 

Daily Ledger 411 

Daily News, the (1845-1846) 3S9 

Daily Union (1S57) 411 

Democrat (First issue, fac simile). . 360 

370. (Daily). -372, 412, 535, 536, 538, 
539. 544. 563- 
Democratic Advocate and Commer- 
cial Advertiser (1S44-1S46) 384 

Dollar Magazine (1849) 402 

Early meaning of the name. -37, 3S, 90 

English and Classical Academy.2o6, 366 

Express ( Daily and Weekly) 377 

Examiner (1S57) 411 

.. Evangelist ( Presbyterian newspaper) 407 

. _ • ' Fire Guards " 224 

..Female Seminary (Henderson). 220, 312 

.-Furnace Hirst foundry) 566 

..Gas Light & Coke Company 155 

.. Harmonic Society (1S35) 496, 497 

. .Herald (1S56-1S57) 410 

..Homeopath (1S53-1S56) 409 

. . Hibernian Benevolent Emigrant So- 
ciety .. 293 

Historical Society 523 

. . Hydraulic Company. 176, 1S5, 451 

Hide & Leather Company (1S43) 565 

...Literary Budget, the (1852-1855) 

... 402, 407 

. .. Lyceum 180, 522 

...Magazine (1857) 412 

...Marine & Fire Insurance Com- 
pany 531, 532, 536, 549 

Medical Society (first organization, 

1850-1S52) 466 

Society (second organiza- 
tion, 1858) 466, 467 

hanics' Institute. 170, 171,51s, 521 

(Flouring) Mills ... . 504 

..Musical Review (1857) 412 

-Oil Mill 566 

...Pathfinder {1855)... .. 410 

. . . Phrenological Society 523 

...Portage, described by La Salle. 45, 64 

By -' I "one - )-, 66 

By Samuel A. Storrow ..... 1 00 

By MajorS. II. Long 166, 167 

Mention of ... 44. ;'.. 63, 64, :<,. :n 
. . . Presbyter] (1851) 

... .Savings Bank(i85i) 534 

'I i- ■ 'ion 203 

Protestant (1854) 410 



Record 411 

... . Republican 3S3 

— Sacred Mine Society 497 

.--Typographical Union (tj, 410 

Site of ceded by Indians 70 

Steam Engine Works 567 

Steam Boiler Works 568 

. — Temperance Battle Axe (1849) 402 

Temperance House 636 

Temperance Savings Association, 

51S, 535 

..'I heater 475, 477, 47S, 479, 4S8 

Theological Seminary 35s, 356 

Tribune, First edition July 10, 1S47. 

Editors and publishers to 1857 401, 402 

Type Foundry 415 

Woodenware Manufactory (first) 570 

. — Volksfreund 3S9 

" Chicago " steamer 242 

Chickering, J, W. 337, 338 

Chichikatah (Indian chief) 33, 67 

Childs, I^benezer 100 

Childs, J. F 402 

Chipman, Levi 329 

Chipman, Mary. 329 

Chipman, Sarah 329 

Childs, Luther 2S9 

Childs. Shuball D. __i86, 414, 415, 519, 520 

Church of the Atonement 337 

Church of the Ascension 337 

Church of the Floly Communion 337 

Church of the Holy Name 297, 2gS 

Cholera, 119, 120, 121 270, 271, 594, 

595, 596, 597 

Choral Union Musical Society 219. 497 

Christian Anti-Slavery Convention (1850) 

Resolutions of Presbyterian Church 307 

Christian Banker 408, 541, 542, 543 

Christian Church. The Organization 
(1S50) — Indiana-avenue Church — 
Wabash-avenue Church — South Side 
Church — The First Church — Otis 

Asa Burgess. 351, 352, 353 

Christian Era, (1S52) 407 

Christian, Shoemaker, (1853) 408 

Church, Leroy 402 

Church, L. S. ... 549 

Church, William L..184, 1S5, 274, 284, 521 

Citizens' Fire Brigade 227 

City Bank 543, 548 

City Charter 176, 177 

( ity Express Post 263 

City Hospital. Flomeopathic board of 

practitioners appointed 470 

City Hotel -634, 636 

City property, Sale of 182, 183 

City Seal 179 

Claflin, I 215 

Clapp, William B 562, 563 

Clapp, Mrs. Laura 342 

Clark, Abraham 342 

Clark, Amelia A 319 

Clark, Cornelia A... 339 

Clark, Dennis 271 

Clark, Edwin 319 

Clark, Elisha 300, 308, 339, 596 

Clark, Elizabeth. 73 

Clark, E. R. 226 

Clark, George. 313 

('lark, Henry A 503 

Clark, Henry B 460,476, 527, 595 

Clark, Henry H 185 

Clark, Henry W 184 

Clark, Hugh G 346 

< lark, James C 263 

Clark, Jane 342 

• lark, Mrs. Jonas 310 

Clark, John.. 313 

'lark, John A 255, 256 

Clark, John K 73, 101, 103, 132,600 

Clark, John W 336,337 

Clark, Mrs. Melicent 342 

Clark, M. M. 333, 334 

Clark, N. I! 488, 489 

Clark, William A .- 280 



Page 

Clark, William H 52, 134, 222 

Clark, Timothy B 117, 192, 28S 

Clarke, Abram F 134, 464 

Clarkson, J. J 411 

Clarkson, Robert H 220, 335, 336, 598 

Clary, John _ 285 

Cleaver, Charles 220-223, 554, 632 

" Cleaverville" 565, 566 

Clendenin, D. R 220 

Clermont, Jeremy. - 101 

Cleveland, A 637 

Cleveland, F. W 383 

Cleveland, Fidelia. _ 206 

Cleveland House 637 

Cleveland Light Artillery 237 

Cleveland, Miriam 206 

Cleveland, Reuben 286 

Cleveland, Mrs. Sarah G 220 

Clifford, Lydia 339 

Clift, Benjamin H.. 414 

Climate and Temperature of Chicago. . 588 

Clock, David.-. 132 

Clock, David 633 

Clowry, Thomas - .. - 298 

Clowry, William 297, 298 

Club, Barbara _ 312 

Clybourne, Archibald, 96, 101, 102, 103, 104, 

106, 112, 116, 117, 118, 122, 132, 197, 

420, 560, 561, 563, 600. 
Clybourne, Mrs. Archibald, Barney, 

Charles A., Frank, John H., Henry 

C, Mary V., Martha A., Margaret 

E., Sarah A., and William H 104 

Clybourne, Henley 101, 103 

Clybourne, James A 104, 286 

Clybourne, Jonas 101, 104 

Coal M ine Bluff Railroad- 246 

Cobb, S. B 133, 222, 223, 276 

" Cobweb Castle" 90, 103, 112 

Coe, M. Daniel _ 46S 

Coffee, Patrick 284 

Coffin, J. W. C 335 

Coggswell, Miss F. A 215,220 

Cohen, G. M 348 

Coquillard, Alexis 95.9° 

Colby House 636 

Colby, O. V 636 

Cole, George M __ i 278 

Cole, Mrs. Julia 300 

Cole Rachel 342 

Cole, Samuel 348 

Cole, W. C 300 

Coles, Edward 167 

Colbert, Elias 561 

Colfax, Schuyler 260 

Colgan, Edward D 29S 

Collectors of Chicago 244 

College building (1844) 465 

Collins, George C 209 

Collins, Ira J 324 

Collins, J. A 285, 2S6 

Collins, James H., S6, 151, 248, 250, 281, 

422, 425, 426, 451, 465, 607. 

Collins, John 333 

Collins, S. B 570 

Collyer, Robert. '..- 344 

Colton, D. Alphonso 409, 468, 470 

Colver, Nathaniel 321, 323 

Commercial Bulletin and Northwestern 

Reporter (1S56) 411 

Commercial Express (1857) — 411 

Commercial Exchange Company — 538, 543 

Commercial Register (1S50) — 402 

Commercial Advertiser 416 

Commercial Bank 538 

Commilli, J. E ..- 410 

Company of the Hundred Associates--. 39 

Comstock, A. G - . — 2S6 

Conant & Mack, trading house of, 92, 93, 

95. 9"- 

Cone, George W. I 286 

Conley, Matthew 231,284, 286 

Conlv, Philip--- 244 

Cornier, S. M 352 

Connelly, Patrick- 298 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Page 

Connett, J. W 203 

Cook County 1 16 

Cook, Daniel P 167 

Cook, George C 3 2 9 

Cook, Mrs 329 

Cook, Isaac 140,147.223, 27S 

Cook County Hospital (1847) 597 

Cook County Medical -Society (1836-58), 

--- 466, 467 

Cook, Thomas 306 

Cooke, B. C 390 

Cooke, N. F 468,470 

Cooley, L 351 

Cooney, M . ... 2S4 

Cooper, David 96 

Cooper, John 457 

Cooper, Miss M._ 215 

Coquillard, Alexis — 95 

Corbitt, Mary Eliza 299 

Corning, Alfred H. P 226 

Corning, Erastus.. 258 

Corrigan, William 294 

Cotton, C. S. 258 

Corwin, Thomas 237 

Couch, D. W 330 

Couch, Ira and James 193, 635 

Couldock, C. W - -492, 49" 

Coulson, H. G -330 

Courtemanche, M. de, visit to Chicago, 

December, 1700 67 

Courts — Chicago Courts (1S37-1S44) 443, 
446 — (1S44-1S57) 446, 455; Circuit 
Courts(iS3i-iS34)420, 421 — (1835- 
1836) 427, 42S; Seventh Circuit es- 
tablished, 443 — (1 842-1843) 446 — 
(1854) 452; Court of Common Pleas, 
449, 451, 452; County Court (1845) 
446, 448. 
Court-House and Jail (county and city) 

180, 1S1 

Contra, Louis. . 101 

Co-vva-bee-mai (Indian chief at Chicago 

portage) 78, 79 

Cowell, Benjamin 470 

Cowles, Alfred 149,402, 522 

Cox, D _ 223, 594 

Cox & Duncan (clothing house, 1835)-- 137 

Cox, James A . . 477 

Cox, William L 204 

Cracraft, J. W 337 

Crafts, John-75, S4, 93, 95, 96, 100,101, 630 

Craig, John. 470 

Cram, T. J 235 

Crane, Betsey 315 

Crane, Ebenezer 315 

Crary, Miss Adelaide 219 

Crawford, John.. 241 

Crawford, Mrs. Sophronia 339 

Crego, David R 285 

Creote, Mrs. Prudence 322 

Crews, Rev. Hooper 326, 358 

Crocker, Austin 420 

Crocker, Hans 237 334, 42S 

Crocker, Sarah 319 

Croft, Robert 28*2 

Croner, Mrs. E 337 

Crooks, Ramsey 74, S8, 93, 94, 95, 98, 

240, 302. 

Crumbaugh, Frederick -...309, 315 

Culver, Miss H 215 

Culver, John . 330 

Culver, Sarah A 216 

Culver, S. B 274 

Cummings, Alexander 84 

Cummins, George D 336 

Cunningham, Henry. 152, 276 

Cunningham, N. P._ 326 

Curran, Bernard 2S4 

Currier, J. W 262 

Curtis, Harvey H 220, 301, 308,315, 407 

Curtis, Rev. O. T 325 

Curtiss, James 176, 184, 185, 212, 306, 

366, 372, 428, 444, 446, 447, 477, 594, 
607, 614, 621. 
Curtiss, D. S - 401 



Gushing. Nathaniel S 

Gushing, Mrs. Melissa 

(Custom House 243, 244, 5 78 

Dablon, Claudius 33, 165,287 

Daguerreian artists 

Dahly, B. O. - 

Daily Democratic Press (1852-1857) 

Daily Times and Citizen (Free-Soil— 

1852-1853). 

Dalsem, J. J.- 

Dances, Early 

Danenhower, J. W _ 

Danenhower, William W.2S5, 402, 407 
410. 

Daniels, William 

Darling, Enoch -I32, 

Darling, Lucius . .... 92, 

Darris, William H. 

Darwin, Francis 

Dass, J . C 

David, Mary 

David, William. 

Davidson, D._ 383, 

Davidson, James N 

Davidson, Mrs. Lucy 

Davidson, Elizabeth.. 

Davidson, Gilbert E _ 

Davidson, Orlando.. 341, 

Davidson, Mrs. Caroline 

Davies, John.. ... 

Davis, Andrew J 

Davis, Charles _ 

Davis, Devvitt C 

Davis, David 

Davis, D. E 

Davis, George 1S4, 19S, 207, 497, 

Davis, Isabella.- 

Davis, J. M. 341, 

Davis, John 170,330, 339,594, 

Davis, John L. . 

Davis, John H 

Davis, John W ._ 

Davis, Mrs. M. E 

Davis, Nathan S 3S9, 402, 419, 463, 

467, 468, 470, 591, 598. 

Davis, Richard _ 

Davis, S. A _ 274, 

Davis, Thomas O. 223, 330, 366, 

412, 417. 
Davis, William H.--274, 2S4, 285, 286, 

Davis, William T. 

Davisson, Alfred W (63, 

Davlin, John 291, 

Dean, Miss D. A 

" Dean House," the 85, 

Dean, John 85, 

Dean, Julia 4S6, 4S7, 

Dean, Philip 186, 198, 203, 

" Dean Richmond" (schooner).. 

Dearborn school building 

Dearborn Seminary 

Debaif, Samuel 

De Baptiste, Richard 269, 

Debon, M 

DeCamp, Samuel G. S 

De Courtemanche, M... 

Defrees, John H 

De La Source, M 

Delinquent tax list of 1836 

Democratic Argus 

Democratic Bugle 

Democratic Press. ._ 

Demon, Christoff 

Denker, Richard P 274, 

Dennison, Ephraim H 

Dennison, Mrs. E. H. 

Denin, Susan (91, 

Denin, Kate 491, 494, 

De Pontevieux, Father _ 

Der National Demokrat 

Deutsche Amerikaner (1854) _. 

De Saible, Baptiste Point De__70, 72, 92, 

Des Champs, Antoine 92, 94, 

Desplaines River, Flood of 1675. 

Desplaines River, Flood of 1849 



341 
341 
579 
288 
506 

349 
407 

407 
597 
117 
410 



282 
175 
263 
180 
294 
463 
319 
319 
389 
342 
342 
342 
258 
342 
342 
330 
353 
203 
2S0 
330 
339 
49S 
341 
395 
639 
112 
96 
227 

339 
466, 

330 

276 
372. 

477 
334 
538 
294 
215 

89 

95 
491 
594 
1 58 
211 
220 
269 
324 

80 
458 

33 
260 

66 
135 
402 
411 
5S0 
2S6 
285 
315 
315 
494 
495 
292 
410 
410 
605 
no 
44 



Page 
Desplaines-street Methodist Episcopal 
Church, Sunday-school and mission 
(1S50-1856) — Organization of church 
and erection of building — Constitu- 
ent members — pastors — removal to 
Maxwell Street— St. Paul's Method- 
ist Episcopal Church 329, 330 

" Detroit " (Vessel). ... 241 

Devore, John F 328 

Devore, William 312 

Devounan, Henry.- 351 

De Wolf, Calvin. 605, 608 

De Wolf, William F 105 

D'Iberville, M 67 

Dickey, Hugh T. . -.15S, 275, 442, 446, 447, 
44S, 451, 521,597- 

Dickey, John B. .226, 232 

Dickey, Julia 351 

Dickey, T. Lyle 276, 2S3 

Dickerman, Ernst 215, 331 

Dickenson, Miss A 341 

Dickenson, E. F 315 

Dickenson, Jesse R. .. 342 

Dickenson, Julia 341 

Dickson, Frances E 311 

Dillon, Matthew _ 292 

Dillon, Patrick 294 

Directories (City, 1839-1857) 413 

Distilleries, Early .. 565 

Districts, Early School. . .208. 209, 210, 211, 
212, 215 

Diversy, John 286 

Diversy, Michael, 212, 2S5, 286, 294, 29s, 410, 
564. 

Divine River, the 56 

Dix, Joel H. ...284, 285 

Dixon Air Line 257 

Dixon, James 322 

Dikman, Ernst 332 

Doan, G. W. 180 

Doane, John H 311 

Dodemead, Eliza. 87 

Dodge, John C 255, 582, 584 

Dodge, William B 339, 341 

Dodson, S 319 

Doggett, J. S 471 

Do'lan, B. S 285 

Dole, George W 112, 115, 122, 12S, 130, 

132, 140, 147, 175, 176, 1S4, 185,198, 
236, 241, 269, 305, 377, 527 549, 554, 
560, 561, 598, 612. 

Dole, Lucius G 462 

Dollar Weekly 401 

Donalson, Israel B 281, 282, 283 

Donnelly, James M... 203, 226, 228, 230,274 
2S4. 

Donohue, Michael --203, 294 

Donohue, P 1 298 

Dore, John C. 214, 215, 217, 21S 

Dorman, O. M 310 

Dorman, Mrs O. M 310 

Doty's Hotel 637 

Doty, Theodoris 627 

Doughty, William M 329 

Douglas, Stephen A 180, 251, 252, 258,371, 
446, 471, 488. 507, 602, 608. 

Douglass, Charles 243 

Downey, Michael 294 

Downs, A. S 262, 497 

Downs, Mrs. L. E.. 309 

Drainage System (1S47-1854) 190 

Drake, Alexander 329 

Drake, Mrs. Alexander 329 

Drake, John 635 

Drake, William 216 

Draper, H. M 20S 

Draper, J. F. & Co... 637 

Drier, J. J 331 

Drew, James A . 294 

Drew, Louisa (Hunt).. . 491 

Driffy, James 298 

Druggists, Early ... 464 

Drummond, Thomas, 246, 247, 24S, 249, 250, 

449. 45 1- 
Druns, R. VV 30S, 309 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Page 

Ducat, Arthur C .- --- 227 

Duck, C. H 462, 595 

Duffy, Miss A. M 215 

Duggan, James-. - 292 

Du Lhut," Sieur 65 

Dunmore War, the. 73 

Duncan. Miss A -- 215 

Duncan, Jeremiah W 337 

Duncan. Joseph 167, 602 

Dunham, John II.. 220, 470, 471, 541), sS2, 
612. 

Dunham, \V. X . 219 

Duntcin, Thomas J..- 477 

Dunlap. John .. 2S5 

Dunn. Charles 112 

Dunn, James Anson — 462 

Dunn, Patrick 25S 

Dunne, Dennis 294 

Du Page Precinct 116 

Du Page road 117 

Dupee. C. A - - - - 219 

Du Pin. M S4, 92, 457 

Dupuy. Charles M 256, 608 

Durant, Martha 212 

Durant, Louisa M 319 

Durantaye, De La (Commandant at fort 

at Chicago in 16S4I [6, 65, 66, 288 

Dussman, William 295 

Dutton, H. L -. .- 606 

Dutch, Alfred 395 

Dutch, J. F 286 

" Dutch Settlement" 212 

Dwight, Henry. — 259 

Dwight, Timothy 341 

Dyer, Abbey S — 339 

Dyer, Charles Volney, 176, 220, 273, 460, 
461, 462, 522, 594, 597, 606, 607. 

Dyer, George R 275 

Dyer. Palmer - 334 

Dver, Thomas, 149, 156, 1S5, 248, 250, 277, 
562, 563. 3S2. 622. 

Dyhrenfurth, Julius 220, 498 

Eagle Exchange (tavern) 106 

Early explorations in the Northwest.. 38, 67 
Eastman, Zebina, 212, 341, 383, 3S9, 401, 
407, 412, 416, 519, 520, 604-607. 

Eastman, Mrs. Zebina 341 

Ebert, John 24S 

Eberhart, A. G 323 

Eclectic Journal of Education and Liter- 
ary Review 402 

Eckstrom, P. E 349 

Eddy, Ansel D 309, 31 5 

Eddy. Devotion C 543 

Eddv, Ira B., 353, 354, 371, 408, 540, 541, 
543. 544. 

Eddv, Thomas M 328,408 

Eddy, W. H 286 

Edina Place Baptist Church (Third Bap- 
tist) — Organization, building and 
dedication of church edifice (1856) — 
Original members of Church — Pas- 
tors — Formation of Wabash Avenue 

Baptist Church 321-322 

Edwards, Arthur 408 

Edwards, Anna E... 341 

Edwards, John T 229, 230, 331 

Edwards, S'inian.. 77, 78, 167,600 

Edwards, Sarah ... 321 

Educational Convention of 1834 207 

Ells, Thomas S - _ 222 

Egan, Charles H 351 

Egan. William I:., [52, 168, 227, 236, 276 
285, 290. 334, 335, 459, 460, 594, 612. 
634. 

Eggleston, Nathaniel II 341, 35;, 39') 

Eicb, Jacob - 285 

Eichenscher, Simon .- - 286 

Eisenmcrger, Conrad 33 1 

Kiterman. L. II 334 

Eklund, II. W. 332 

- , J. W. 594, 460 

Elections, Early 112, 116, 272. 599, 603 

Elevators, Early 555, 579, 580, 581 

"Ellen Parker" (early vessel) 242 



Page 

Ellet, Edwin G 258 

Ellickson, N. H 349 

Elliott, George W 305 

Ellis, Albert G S9 

Ellis, R. L 333 

Ellis, Samuel 269 

Ellis, William 383, 384 

Ellis, Z. R 333 

EUinwood, M. R 32S 

Ellithorpe, Timothy C 412 

Ellithorpe, F. T 416 

Ellsworth, Elmer E 227 

Ellsworth, John 416 

Ellsworth, Joseph ... . 329 

Ellsworth, Mrs. Joseph. 329 

Emerson, D. C 226 

Emery's Journal of Agriculture. 411 

Emmet, Daniel __ 495 

Emmet, Peter 351 

Emory, Stephen 2S3 

English Classical and High.School 219 

Engravers, Early _ 414 

Enos, James L (01, 402 

Ensworth, Julia A. 339 

" Enterprise" (first Chicago locomotive) 368 

Ely, Edward 315 

Ely, Mrs. Edward 315 

Errett, Isaac 352 

" Estray Pen," the 175 

" Erie," early vessel 240 

Erwin, William 278, 280 

Erickson, H. I 349 

Esher, J. J _ 334 

Esher, John G. _ 334 

Esher, Jacob _ 334 

Esher, Martin 334 

Estes, Mrs. Zebiah (Wentworth).. 114, 631 

" Ethiopian Opera House ".. 494 

Eule, Michael. 294 

Evald, Carl A. _.. 350 

Evans, Enoch W. 331, 440, 441 

Evans, I. H 330 

Evans, John 219, 384, .463,466, 597, 59S 

Evans, John H 330 

Evans, Mary__ 330 

Evans, Rees _ 330 

Evarts, Sophia 309 

Evarts, W. W 310 

Evarts, Mrs. W W. _ 309 

Evening Journal 237 

Evening Schools.- 217 

Evileth, William S... _ 240 

Excel, P 295 

Excelsior Iron Works 568 

Excelsior Society. . 523 

Exchange Bank 536, 538, 543, 548 

Exchange Coffee House 106, 633 

Factories — First match, paper-box. to- 
bacco and white lead 570 

Failer, George 285 

Fairbanks, N. K 158 

" Fairplay " (U. S. Revenue cutter) 240 

Fargo, J. C 263 

Farmers' Bank 538, 548 

Farnsworth, A 476 

Farnsworth, John F 452 

Farnum, Henry 258, 263 

Faxton. F 477 

Fay, Charles 298 

lay, E. W 330 

Faymonville, William-. 295 

Felt, Norman 563 

Felt, William 562 

Fenno, Grafton .. 227 

Fergus, Robert, 236, 26S, 383, 384, 389, 
407, 412, 413. 4M. 415- 

Ferguson, I). C 215 

Ferries, early 106, 116, 197. 198, 199, 200 

Ferry-boat accident (1856)-. . 202 

ferry, William 302 

I'ichenscher, R _- 332 

Field, George. 346 

Field, John A. 319 

"Field Piece" 378 

Fifth-avenue Methodist Episcopal Church 333 



Page 
Fifth Illinois Volunteer Regiment in 

Mexican War 281, 282, 283 

Fifund, John _ 351 

Filkins, Joseph 274 

Fillmore, Millard .. 236 

Finley, Clement A 106, 457, 458 

Fire Department organized 222 

Fires ._ 151. 158 

Fires of October, 1837, March and Octo- 
ber, 1857 151 221, 226, 227 

Foremen's Benevolent Association 230 

Firemen's Convention . 227 

Firemen's Festival 229 

F'ire Limits of 1850 225 

Firemen's Journal 224, 225 

Fire Ordinances, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 
226 

Fire Wardens (first) 221 

Fire Companies — 

" Washington Volunteers" — 221 

...-"Fire Kings" Engine Company, 

No. I.. 220, 222, 223, 224, 228 

" Pioneer" Hook and Ladder Com- 
pany, No. I 222, 223, 226, 228 

" Neptune" Bucket Company, No. 

I... .. 223,224,229 

" Rough and Ready " Bucket Com- 
pany, No. 1 225,230 

" Philadelphia" Hose Company, No. 

1 224, 229 

" Tradesman's " Engine Company, 

No. 2 223 

"Metamora" Engine Company, 

No. 2 223, 225, 229 

"Hope" Hose Company, No. 2 

220, 225/230 

"Rescue" Hook and Ladder Com- 
pany, No. 2 226,231 

"Osceola" Engine Company, No. 

3 223 

"Niagara" Engine Company, No. 

3 220,226,228, 229 

"Lone Star" Hose Company, No. 

3 225, 231 

"Illinois" Hose Company, No. 3, 

225, 231 

"Empire" Hook and Ladder Com- 
pany, No. 3 226,228,232 

"Red Jackets" Engine Company, 

No. 4 220, 223, 224, 226, 227, 230 

" Lafayette" Hose Company, No. 4 

220, 226, 231 

" Excelsior" Engine Company, No. 

5 225, 228, 230 

"Lady Washington" Hose Com- 
pany, No. 5 . . 226, 232 

"Protector" Engine Company, No. 

6.. _ 220,225, 227, 230 

"Liberty" Hose Company, No. 6, 

_ 226, 232 

" Lawrence" Engine Company, No 

7 220,221, 225, 231 

" Eagle " Engine Company, No. 7, 

225, 226 

"Northern" Hose Company, No. 

7 228, 231 

" Wabansia " Engine Company, 

No. 8 231 

..." Phoenix " Engine Company, No. 

8 -- 225, 231 

"Cataract" Engine Company, No. 

8 225, 231 

"Union" Hose Company, No. 8 — 

" New England " Engine Company, 

No. 9 225, 231 

..." America" Engine Company, No. 

9-- - 225, 231 

..."Washington" Engine Company, 

No. 10 220, 225, 226, 227, 231 

"Neptune" Engine Company, No. 

II 226, 231 

" Wide Awake" Engine Company, 

No. 12 226, 231 

"Torrent" Engine Company, No 

13 226, 232 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Page 

"Red Rover" Engine Company, 

No. 14 - .227,228, 232 

"Northern Liberty" Engine Com- 
pany, No. 15 228 

"Long John," the first steam fire 

engine -.227,228 

"Citizens' Fire Brigade " 227 

First Baptist Church — 

Organization, October, 1S33 — First 
members — First pastor and church 

building 315, 316 

Subsequent pastors — Second, third 

and fourth church buildings 317, 318 

Rev. Isaac Taylor Hinton ....318, 319 
First Congregational Church — 

Ecclesiastical Council of 1851 — Or- 
ganization of church, May, 1851 — 
First members, deacons and pastor 
— Church building of 1S52 and 

1855- 339. 340 

First German Methodist Episcopal Church — 
Organization, 1847 — First lot and 
church building — Early members 
and class leaders — Clvbourne-avenue 
church building (1857) — Pastors — 

Centre-street mission ... 331 

First Illinois Volunteer Infantry in Mexi- 
can War __ 2S0 

First Methodist Episcopal Church of 
Chicago — 
First quarterly meeting — Rev. 
Henry Whitehead — Erection of 
church building on North Side — 
Removal to South Clark Street — 
New church edifice (1S45) — Slavery 

excitement — Early pastors 325, 327 

First Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran 
Church — 
Organization in 184S — First mem- 
bers — Church buildings — Pastors — 

340. 350 

First Presbyterian Church — 

Organization, June, 1833 — Original 
members — First pastor, and first 
communion — Church buildings — 

Pastors --302, 303 

First Swedish Baptist Church — 

Early members and pastors 324 

First Swedish Methodist Episcopal 
Church — 

Original members of " Scandinavian 
Mission " (1S53) — Church organiza- 
tion and building — Branches — Mem- 
bership and pastors 332, 333 

First Things — 

Mention , of word " Chicagou ". .. . 37 

Visits of explorers _ .43, 44, 46 

Settler __ 70 

Sale of real estate 72 

Permanent resident and residence 

72, 73 

Birth and marriage. .... 76 

Fort and garrison --79, So 

Justice of the Peace 420 

Constable 103 

Town election 112 

Blacksmith . .. _ 104 

Hotel and ferry 106 

Lawyer 420 

Merchant 115 

Post-office . 115 

County election 116 

County roads 117 

Frame store _ 122 

Militia 264, 266 

Baptism _ . _ 22S 

Church and church building 291 

Religious class 28S 

Newspaper and editor 360 

Teacher 204 

Physician 458 

Fire Department _ 141 

Temperance Society 517 

Bank 527 

Slaughter and packinghouses 560 



..Protestant Church and church build- 
ing 299, 300 

_ _ Public entertainment - 472 

..Circus 472, 473 

..Theater 475 

..Perry . . 116 

.. Bridges. ._..._. 132 

..F'ire ordinance 221 

- Debating society 117 

.Prayer meetings and Sunday-school 289 

. School-house — 204 

. Brick-yards and brick house 566 

. Lumber yard 555 

- Shipment - - - - - 554 

-Cattle yard 503 

. Tannery 565 

. Saw-mills 566 

. Fire- - 221 

_ Fire company 222 

-Steam fire engine .. 227 

- Taverns - 116 

-Cemeteries :_ 142 

. Military company _. 269 

-City election 177 

. Flouring mills 564 

. . Breweries 504 

.-Foundry 566 

-.Wagons and carriages ._ 567 

.-Printers, books and booksellers. 412, 414 

Terms of Court 420 

Teachers in public schools 209 

Permanent public school building-. 211 

Board of School Inspectors 209 

— Musical organization and public con- 

cert _ . 496 

— Music teacher 207 

— Music teacher in public schools 211 

Music printed in city 415 

— Opera 499 

.-Musical instruments 570 

. - Furniture 567 

.-Agricultural implements . 566 

.-Locomotive (Enterprise) _ 568 

..Boots and shoes 570 

. . Steam elevator .. 580 

. . Woodenware 570 

_ _ Water works 186 

..Observance of Thanksgiving Day.. 151 

..Church bell 344 

..Fire bell 291 

..Movements toward railroad con- 
struction 244 

..Excursion trip from Chicago (to 

the Desplaines, ten miles) 248 

. . Load of grain by rail to Chicago 24S 

-.Murder trial 121, 422 

Divorce 42 1 

Fugitive slave case 450 

Type foundry 415 

Telegram and telegraph office 263 

Express 152 

Life boat 243 

Art Union. 414 

First Unitarian Church — 

Organization of Society (1S36) — 
First services — First church building 
(1840) — Sketches of prominent pas- 
tors 343, 344 

First Universalist Church — 

Organization of Society (1S36) — 
First members — First church build- 
ing — St. Paul's Universalist Church 

(1856) 343 

Fischer, F 332 

Fisher, Frederick 227, 331 

Fisher, George W 220 

Fisk, Franklin W 356 

Fitch, A. H 216 

Fitch, Graham W 463,465 

F'lage, Andrew L 349 

Flagg, A. C 263 

Fleming, Isaac 313 

Flint, Austin 465 

Flint, Grace 319 

Flint, II M 285 



Page 

Flint, Susan Eliza 319 

F'lood of 1849. - 20 °. 2 °i 

Flood of 1S57 202 

Hood, Peter 241 

Florence, W.J 493 

Florence, Mrs. W. J 493 

Flouring Mills, Early 564, 565 

" Flower Queen" 411 

Floyd, J. R 2S6 

Floyd (John) & French (George II.) 637 

Floyd, Thomas 313 

l'lynn, John 319 

Foley, John 267 

Follansbe. Alanson 476 

Follen, Charles 343 

Folz, Conrad 295 

Fonda, John G 284 

Fonda, John H 100, 101 

Foote, Krastus 315 

Forbes, Elvira. 103,205 

Forbes, Stephen ... 114, 205, 420, 602 

Forbes, R. B 25S 

Force, Bernard J 295, 299 

Force, Bartholomew 294 

Ford, Ebenezer 300 

Ford, Theodore M 220 

Ford, Thomas, 85, 170, 427, 428, 443, 448, 

465. 

Foreman, Ferris 2S0, 2S3 

Forrest, Edwin 487 

Forrest, Henry L 538 

Forrest, Joseph K. C 211, 346, 372, 389 

F'orrest, Thomas L 346, 538, 544 

Forsythe, Annie S 311 

Forsythe, John 311 

Forsythe, William 176 1S5, 222, 2S1 

Forsyth, Robert A.... 73, 90, 97, 204, 265 

Forsyth, Thomas 34, 73, 74, 78, 83 

Forsyth, William 72, 73 

Fort Brady 299, 302 

Cataragua .. 61 

Chartres 68, 71 

.. ..Crevecceur 37, 62, 63 

Dearborn, Sketch of 79-§4 

Mention, 75, 100, 103, 11S, 119, 129, 

130, 160, 163, 233, 266, 26S, 270, 288, 

299, 464, 457. 

Dearborn Addition 151 

Dearborn Reservation 85, 86 

Frontinac 62,63 

Mackinac 81 

Miami. 62, 63,65 

St. Louis 33, 67 

Wayne 76. 81 

Winnebago 90 

F"oss, R. H _ 186 

Foss, Robert . 519,520 

Fossell , John 295 

Foster, Caleb ... 271 

Foster, George F 219, 223, 229, 242, 32S, 

518, 519, 582. 

Foster, George 608 

Foster House 637 

Foster, John H. 1S7, 216, 314, 462 

Foster, Mary S 32S 

Foster, R. S 329, 330 

Foster school 215, 216 

Foundries, early .._ 566, 567, 568 

Fourth Illinois Volunteers in Mexican 

War 280 

F'ourth Presbyterian Church 310 

Fowle, John 84, 299 

Fowler, C. H 328 

Fowler, Henry 401 

Fox, MissC. C. 215 

Fox, George 271 

Fox, John 271 

Foxes (Indians) 33, 67, 68, 69 

Francis, E. A. 331 

Franchere, Daniel 296 

Frank, William. .. 351 

Franklin school 213, 214 

Freeman, Allen B. 132, 301, 315, 316 

Freeman, Robert .. 600 

Freeman, Sarah L 319 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Freeman, Vincent H 319, 320 

Freer, Joseph \V __ 463 

" Free West " 410 

French. David 194 

Frink, John - --258, 377 

Frihed's Banneret (Norwegian) 409 

F^rique, Peter 114 

Frisk. L.L.. - 324 

Frost, Lott 329 

Frv. Jacob 170, 244 

Fry, Tames B 168, 284 

Fugitive slaves in Chicago- 452 

Fuller, A. B 344 

Fuller. Henry 243, 4S3 

Fullerton, Alexander N... 213, 425, 476, 594 

Fullerton, Mrs. A. N 305 

Fulton. Emeline C. 341 

Fulton. 11. C 330 

Fulton, Mrs. H. C 330 

Fulton. H. I 170, 519 

Funk, Absalom 562 

Furman, Robert C. 220 

Furniture, early manufacture of 567, 570 

F'urst & Bradley's Manufacturing Com- 
pany 569, 570 

F"ur trade and traders 91, 92 

Gaffrey, 1' 294 

Gaffrey, Esther E.-- 339 

Gage, David A. 635 

Gage, George W. 521, 635 

Gage, Jacob- 343 

Gage, Tared 564 

Gage, John 170, 209. 378, 212, 2S5, 518, 

519. 555- 

Gage, S. T. ... . _ 269, 2S6 

Gage, Sarah . 305 

Gale, John 90 

Gale, Stephen F 132, 175, I9S, 223, 224, 

225, 230. 237. 25S, 261, 263, 412, 419 

Gale, Harriet M. 48S 

Gale, W. S— - - -- 25S 

Gallagher, Arthur I. 2S4 

Galloway. James 102, 631 

Galloway. Mary (Recollections of). . 102, 103 

Gamble, David 53S 

Gamble, William .- 244, 328 

Gamble, Mrs William 32S 

Gammon, E. 11 32S 

Garden City House 634 

Garden City Institute 220 

Garden City steamer __ 242 

" Garland of the West " 3S9 

Gardiner, C. H 337 

Gardner, G. W. 227 

Garfield, James A... 352 

" GarlickCreek" 38, 69 

Garrett, Augustus --134, 1S4, 280, 477, 594, 
614, 621. 

Garrett Biblical Institute 354, 621 

Garrett, T. L — - . 276 

Garvin, Lucia A 212 

Gassett, Silas B. . . .- 321 

Gassett, Mrs. S. li. 321 

( ,as Works ( first) 156 

Gates, Caleb - 342 

Mary E 342 

I "harles. 342 

Gates, Mabel K 342 

Gates. Fhiletus W 274, 567, 568 

Gauer, Augustine 295 

Gault, William 271 

Gavin, I. K. -. - 476 

Gaylord, Marion 1 _ _ 219 

Gebel, Peter 212, 295 

Gee, Georgi - 309 

Gee, Mr G ... 309 

Geer, Nathan < 377 

Geiselman & Bro. . 637 

Gem of the Prairie 389, 489, 537 

" General Fry" Hirst boat over canal 1 171 
■ 

Georgian liny < anal scheme 584 

George, John li — - 321 

Thomas .... 327 

Mrs. Thomas. . 327 



" George W. Dole " (steamer) 242 

Germain, I. V 5S2 

German Kvangetical Association — Or- 
ganization in the United States — 
First members in Chicago — First 

Church . _ 334 

German Medical Society .. 467 

German schools (early) .. 219 

German Theater ( 1 856). 494 

German, Greene C. 177, 479, 481 

German, Mrs. Jane .478,479, 4S0 

Gerstley, M. . 348 

Getzler, A . . 294 

German Evangelical Synod of N. A 351 

Gherkin, Henry 295 

Gibbs, Aaron 390 464 

Gibbs, Anna M 311 

Gibbs, George A 582,584, 587 

Gibbs, Mrs. Mindwell W 310 

Gibson, William 329 

Gibson, Margaret 329 

Giddings, Josiah II. 271 

Gifford, Louisa . 208 

Gilbert, Ashley 222, 225, 22S, 230 

Gilbert, Tames. _ 175 

Gilbert, S. H 211 

Giles, Henry.. 344 

Gillespie, N. H 295 

Gillett, T. L. 257 

Gilluffy, J. J. - 221 

Gilman, M. D 343 

Gilpin, Henry D 85 

Gils, Flenry, Mr. and Mrs 332 

Ginsday, James 269 

Glasen, John 294 

Gleeson, Michael 284, 294 

Gleeson, M. B 219 

Godman, William .. .. 219 

Godfrey, James H 2S2 

Goodell, R. E. 263, 2S3 

Goodman, Edward 402 

Goodman, Epaphras 339,342, 407 

Gomo (Indian chief) 78, 79 

Goodhue, Josiah C, 178, 1S4, 198, 207, 208, 
210, 246, 294, 366, 420, 460, 462, 464, 
465. 

Goodrich, E. P 175,396 

Goodrich, Grant, 211, 212, 219, 223, 237, 
334, 356, 357, 377, 422, 439. 44°, 45', 
465. 47°- 

Goodrich, John 281, 285 

Goodrich, William S 637 

Good Templars 518,578 

Gordon, Mrs. Nellie (Kinzie) 97 

Goss, Daniel 329 

Goss, Cynthia 329 

Goss& Phillips Manufacturing Company, 569 

Gottschalk, Fred 332 

Gould, C 319 

Government Land-Office 134 

Grace (Episcopal) Church — Organization 
(1851) — First officers — Rectors — 

Membership to 1857 337 

Grain warehouses (earl v) 580, 581 

Graff, Peter... 520 

Graham, J. D 23S 

Grandpre, A .- 412 

Grand Rapids of the Illinois 103 

1 [ranger, Elihu 567, 611 

Granger, Elihu vs. Canal Trustees. 449, 450 

Granger, F._ _ 410 

Granger, Gilbert L . 315 

Grannis, Amos 285 

Grannis, Aurisson. 329 

Grannis, Samuel W 329 

Grant, James 425 

Grants, Marcus D ._ 226 

Grant, U.S... 2S3 

( iratton, Edward 416 

Graves, Dexter 132, 290 

< rraves, M'ehitable 306, 309 

Graves, Miss A. I... 215 

Graves, S. W 409, 470 

Cray. Charles M., 185, 211, 225, 230, 518, 
519, 569, 614, 621. 



Page 
Gray, F. D 314 

Gray, John. 210, 211, 212 

Gray, W. B. H 5y4 

"Great Western" (steamer) 241 

Greenebaum. Elias _. 216,217 

Greenbaum, Henry 230, 53s 

Greenebaum Brothers _ 348 

Green, Charles N._ 479 

Green, George \V 157,453 

Green, H. K _ 321 

Green, R. G _ 570 

Green, Russell. 274,373 

Greenville, Treaty of _ 79 

Green, William B.. __ 207 

Green-street Seminary 220 

Green Tree Tavern 96. 132,633 

Gregg, David L... 277, 294, 298 

Gridley, A 256 

Gridley, J -- 341 

Griebel, Lawrence _. 226 

Griffith, Owen 330 

Griffith, Robert _. 330 

Griffith, William.. 83 

Griffin, Philander 354 

" Griffin " (vessel) ... . ._ _ 239 

Grignon, Augustin 71 

Griggs, S. C 390 

Grinnell, Henry _. 253 

Griswold. C. E 230 

Griswold, George 253 

Griswold, David D 3S3, 522 

Griswold, David G 383 

Griswold, J. N. A 250 

Gross, John 294, 351 

Gross, Michael 351 

Gross, Philip 351 

Grouse, Peter 258 

Guarie, French trader in Chicago gz 

Guarie River 92, 630 

Guerin, Byram . 20S, 299 

Guilbert, E. A . 389 

Gunderson, G. T 349 

Gunzenhauzer, John 352 

Gurley, Jason 519 

Gurnee, Walter S., 1S4. 185, 220, 262, 521, 
565, 582, 614, 621. 

Guy, John 300 

Guyon, S 330 

Haaze, John.. 351 

Hacker, John S 284 

Hackley, James, Jr 90 

Hackney, B .. 258 

Hadduck, E. W 149,582 

Hadley, Elijah W 284,285 

Hadley, William H 344 

Hager, Albert D _ so 

Hagerman, F. C 286, 595, 597 

Haggerman, August 28b 

Hahn 20.4 

Hahnemann College 471 

Haight, J 170 

Haines, John C 158, 549, 504 

Hailborn, Fred -.- 2BO 

Halacher, Joseph 334 

Hale, Benjamin F 402 

Hale, Thomas 582, 584, 507 

Hall, AmosT 258, 202 

Hall, Benjamin -133, 505 

Hall, David 96, 103 

Hall, Elbridge G 343, 538 

Hall, Miss E 215 

Hall, Philip A.. 202 

Hall, Thomas P. 457 

Hall, William M 230 

Hall, Zadoc 32S 

Hallam Isaac W 99,316,334,335, 330 

Halsey, C. S. 470 

Hamilton, A. C 222, 223 

Hamilton, George A 298 

Hamilton House — 637 

Hamilton, Richard M 2S1, 2S2, 611 

Hamilton, Richard J 115, 130,133, 149, 

J 58, 175, 186, 205, 206, 208, 209, 21*. 
268, 281, 283, 477, 527. 
Hamilton, Mrs. R. J 115, 2S9, 310 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Page 

Hamilton, William S. .- 167 

Hamlin, E. H - - 318 

Hamlin, John .-- - go 

Hamlin, Rev. W. S 323 

Hammond, Charles G. 262, 342 

Hammond, Mrs. C. 15 342 

Hammond, H. L.. 355, 342, 396 

Hancock, John I. 562 

Handy, Emily 206 

Handy, Henry S... 122, 234 

Haney, Freeborn 32S 

Hanev, Richard 326 

Hannah, W. C - 260 

Hannah, J. M 319, 476 

Hansen, George P -349. 520, 594 

Hansen, Nicholas 295 

Hanson, Ann Dorothy. . 319 

Hanson, Bolletter — 319 

Hanson, Joseph L. 222, 223, 476 

Hapgood, Dexter J 132, 175 

Harbor, the 122, 233, 234, 235, 238, 577 

Hardin, John J 280, 612 

Harding, Frederick _ - 285 

" Hardscrabble " So, 8G, 95,96, 102, 

103, 630. 

Hare, James L 582 

Harmon, Elijah D. 112, 114, 115, 12S, 

147, 20S, 269, 28S, 420, 421. 

Harmon, Mrs. Elijah D 288, 2S9 

Harmon, Martin D _. --I33, 3 J 5 

Harmon Samantha 315 

" Harmony Hall " - 353, 541 

Harpell, Charles — 225 

Harper, Derastus. — 193, 202, 310 

Harper, Joseph 342 

Harper, Nathan... 415 

Harries, David 331 

Harrington, James. 112 

Harrington, Joseph 1S0, 343, 344, 345 

Harris, Benjamin 269 

Harris, Thomas H -. 284 

Harris, U. P. --1S5, 224, 226, 227, 230, 496 

Harrison, Edmond -. 271 

Harrison, L. D. 132 

Harrison, William H 35, 76, 77, 78, 82, 

83, 109. 

Hartlaub, Peter 295 

Hartley, John W 284 

Hartley, Miss M. E 214 

Hartman, Jacob 330 

Hartmann, Joseph. 351 

Harvey, Andrew 495 

Harvey, R. J 462 

Hass, Jacob 331 

Hass, Louis 351 

Hasselquist, T. N 350 

Hatala, Alois. 295 

Hatch, Miss Cora 353 

Hatch, David 274, 275 

Hathaway, Franklin.. . 220 

Hattendorf, Hendrick _ 282 

Hatteson, J. A 263 

Haven, Carlos 341 

Haven, Franklin 253 

Haven, Joseph 356 

Haven, Mrs. Julia 34* 

Haven, Luther 37S 

Haven School... 213 

Haven, S. Z... 462 

Hawes, Joel 3 01 

Hawkins, Rev. H. H 323 

Hawkins, Lucius 330 

Hawley, Perez 271 

Hayden, AmosS.. 352 

Hayden, James R 285 

Haynes, Mary J 34 2 

Haynie, Ishaiii N 283 

Hays, Benjamin F... 320 

Hays, Mrs. Helen.. 322 

Hays, Noble R 274 

Hazelton, George H 549 

Heacock, Reuben R 462 

Heacock, Russel E., 112, 116, 117, 12S, 

132, 170, 175, 192, 420, 421, 602. 
Heald, Dwight S.. 220 



Heald, Nathan 80, 81, S2, S3, 457 

Heald, Mrs. Rebekah (Wells), So, 82, 83, 

315, 457- 

Healy, J. (1856-57) 506 

Hearth, C. B._ 329 

" Heartless" (schooner) 239, 240 

Heath, Rev. N. P 329 

Heathcote, Edwin 604 

Hebrew Benevolent Society (1S54) .... 523 

Hedstrom, O. G... 332 

I leffrom, William 285 

Heil, William 256 

Heins, Peter 331 

Heintz, F 331 

Heintz, Mrs. F 331 

Heldmann, George D 297 

Helliker, Charles M 2S6 

Helm, Lainai T 73, 74, 81, 82, 83 

Helm, Mrs. Margaret, 73, 74, 32, 90, 97, 99, 

264, 334. 462. 

Helmuth, C. A 285,286, 3S9, 463 

Hemenway, F. D... . .. 328 

Hemlandet Det Gamla Och Det Nya. . 410 

Hempstead, Charles S 248,250 

Henderson, Elizabeth 312 

Henderson. E. C 2S5 

Henderson, D. P.. 352 

Henderson, R 349 

Hennepin, Louis... — 287 

•Henry, Mrs. Mary E 311 

Henry, R. W 311,312 

"Hercules" (schooner) 95,239 

Herndon, John F 269 

Heron, James E — S9 

llerrick, W. B., 230, 2S4, 285, 3S4, 3S9, 463, 

465, 466, 598. 

Herrindan, Joshua 280 

Hertle, Daniel ^ 390 

Hewett, O. B 216 

Hewitt, George 2S1 

Hibbard, G. S. . . 5S2 

Hibbard, John Randolph 346. 347, 348 

Hibbard, W. G -- ----- 227 

Hibernian Benevolent Society ..... 523 

Hickey, John '. 2S5 

Hickey, "Michael 2S5 

Hickory Creek precinct 116, 117 

Hicks, Stephen G 2S4 

High, John .- .226, 305 

High, Mrs. John 305 

High School 215, 21S, 219, 220 

Higgins, Montgomery & Co 134 

Higgins, Patrick 280 

Hildreth, Joseph S. ... .. 470 

Hill, Miss Betsy 322 

Hill, Horatio.. ... 366 

Hill, John. 212 

Hill, Miss N. M 215 

Hill, Robert 637 

Hill, Thomas 344 

Hillgaertner, George _ 389 

Hilliard, L. P. 582, 5S4 

Hines, George 321 

Hinley, Michael 292 

Ilinman, C. T 219 

Hinners, P _ — 332 

Hinton, Isaac Taylor 150, 209, 210, 301, 

316, 318, 319, 357, 413, 465. 

Hipwell, John W 283 

Hitchcock, Arthur 329 

Hitchcock. E 595 

Hitchcock, Horatio 341 

Hitchcock, Mrs. Louisa S 341 

Hitchcock, Luke. 326 

Hjortsberg, Max _ 338 

Hoard, Louis D. 447 

Hoard, Samuel -446, 543 

Hoard, Mrs. Mary Clarkson 3S9" 

Hobart, Rev. Chauncey 326 

Hobart, L. Smith -_.. 342, 355 

Hobson, Balev 269, 271 

Hodgkiss, J. P 564 

Hoeffgen, Robert Bernhardt 3S9 

Hoefninger, J. — 2*15 

Hoey, Lawrence - 292, 29S 



Hoffert, Isaac 334 

Hoffman, Francis A 612 

Hoffman, George W 118, 119 

Hoffman, Michael 295 

Hogan, John S. C 112, 116, 147, 16S, 

175," 178, 182, 184, 269, 276, 289, 420 

Hogan, Joseph... .... 319 

Hoge, A. H 567 

Hoisington, J. A 414 

Holbrook, Amos 339 

Holbrook, Mrs. Ann Laura 342 

Holbrook, D. B 252 

Holbrook, Mrs. Ellen 339 

Holbrook, John C 342, 355, 395 

Holbrook, Leverett H 339 

Holbrook, Mrs. Sophia 339 

Holbrook, Mrs. Susan A 339 

Holcomb. Charles M 416 

Holden, Charles C. P 253, 255. 256, 279, 

2S4. 

Holden, C. N. _ --1S5, 320, 498, 499 

Holden, Fanny 319 

Holden, W. P 274 

Holderman's Grove 269 

Hollister, Edward 258 

Holl, Christian F 332, 334 

Holmes, John M .408, 543 

Holmes, William G.. 312 

Holt, Devillo R. _ 306 

Holy Cross Society -298, 299 

Homeopathic Convention 469, 470 

Homeopathic Hospital 470, 471 

Homeopathic Pharmacy 470 

Honore, B. L 351 

Honore, Mrs. B. L 351 

Honore, H. H 351, 352 

Honore, Mrs. H. II 351 

Hood, David 312 

Hood, Mrs. Maria 312 

Hooke, Emma 216 

Hooker, John W 305 

Hooker, 'Mrs. John W 305 

Hooper, Warren. 378,412, 604 

Hopkins, A. S 209 

Hopkins, N 637 

Hopkins, Mrs. Luranda 322 

Hopson, W. H 352 

Hosmer, George W 343 

Horen, Charles 285 

Horen, David - 285 

Horn, Louis 285 

Horner's Chicago and Western Guide.. 407 

Horvil, Andrew.. ... 220 

Hotels, early.. — 629, 637 

Hough, Oramel S. 562,563 

Hough, R. M... 562, 563, 612 

Houghteling, W. D 584 

How, R. H 315 

Howard, Cordelia — 493 

Howard, Matthias 334 

Howard, William 167,234 

Howard, W. G - 31s 

Howe, C. F 279, 2S5 

Howe, F. A... 24S, 276 

Howe, James L 203, 276 

Howe, W. J -- 352 

Hoyne, Thomas, 184, 209, 250, 275, 286, 
352.443,448,451, 452, 453, 471, 477, 
4SS, 521, 522. 

Hubbard, Mrs. E. (Berry) in 

Hubbard, E. K.. 182,246,527 

Hubbard, Gurdon S., 52, 99, 100, no, in, 
122, 130, 137, 158, 168, 175, 1S5, 229, 
204, 265, 266, 271, 334, 337, 527, 549, 
554, 561, 562, 563, 566, 630, 634. 

Hubbard, H - 16S 

Hubbard, Henrvti - 222 

Hubbard, Mrs. M. A in 

Hubbard, Thomas R... 209, 431, 476, 477 

Huber, Henry S. 594, 595 

Huck, Anthony 285 

Hudson's Bay Company 93 

Hugunin Brothers {Leonard, Peter and 

Hiram) -- 241 

Hugunin, Miss C — -- 500 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Page 
Hugunin, Hiram, 176, 210, 222, 241, 366, 
594- 

Hugunin, John C 604 

Hugunin, lames R 251, 27S, 2S3, ^43 

Huibert. E. B._ ._ 586 

Hull, William 52,81,83 

Hullman, Mrs. Nancy. 334 

Humphreys, A. A '. 235, 477, 497 

Humphrey, Edward. _ 301 

Hungerford, G 477 

Hunt. Charles H 207, 227 

Hunt, George W 453 

Hunt, JamesF. .. .._ 2S3 

Hunt, "lames X 2S1, 2S2 

Hunt, W. C 220 

Hunter, David, S4, 99, 130. 1S5, 205, 273, 
634. 

Hunter, Mrs. David 90 

Hunter, Edward E 175, 20S, 221. 343 

Huntington, Alonzo, sketch _. 430, 431 

Huntington, Josiah- 313 

Huntington, William P . 344 

Huntoon, Bemsley 209, 566 

Hurd, Daniel 322 

Hurd, Mrs. Rosetta 322 

Hurlburt, Frederick J 2S4 

Hurlbut, E. J. S. 402 

Hurlbut, J. L 230 

Hurley, Michael- 29S 

Huron Mission of St. Joseph 41 

Hussely, J. B ". 477 

Husted', Sirs. E. C 341 

Husted, H H 343 

Hustwit, John 329 

Hustwit, Mrs. John 329 

Hyde, S. P 247 

Hydraulic I Flouring) Mills 186, 564 

Ialtonstall, Mrs. Sarah. 306 

Iliff, Richard W 416 

Illegal banking 531, 534, 545 

Illinois, admission as a State 599 

"Illinois" (schooner) 241 

Illinois Gazetteer and Immigrants' 

Guide- - -. 410 

Illinois General Hospital of the Lake.- 597 
Illinois Indians, 34, 41, 43, 49, 50, 67, 68, 69 

Illinois Land Company 69 

Illinois and Indiana Medical and Sur- 
gical Journal 384 

Illinois (Kaskaskia) Mission 287 

Illinois Saving Institution .. 549 

Illinois St. Andrew's Society 523 

Illinois Staats Zeitung 3S9 390,395 

"Illinois" (steamer) 241, 242, 61S 

Illinois Stone & Lime Company 570 

Illinois Theatrical Company. _ 478, 479, 4S0 

Illinois and Wisconsin Express 263 

Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, 349 
" Independence," first propeller built on 

Lake .-. 242 

Indian Councils 35.76,78 

Indian Payment of 1831 _ 117 

Indian Treaty of 1833.... 36, 122, 12S, 130 

Indiana-street M. E. Church 328, 329 

Industrial School 217 

Ingersol. Chester 132, 472, 632 

Ingersoll, Mrs ... .... 474,478,479 

Ingham, Gyrus B 384 

..Felix 291 

Ingoldsby, J 298 

Ingraham, Isaac .. 300 

Insane Asylum 597 

Insects and flora of Chicago and vicinity, 593 
Internal Improvement Act of 1837, 168, 246 

Iron manufactories 569 

Iroquois Indians _ 33 

Irvine, James R . 462 

Irwin, Matthew 77,87,88,89 

Irwin, William 88 

Isham, Giles S 208 

Isham, R. N 470 

Isherwood, Harry 474,470,477 

Isle, Jacob 331 

Isle. Mrs 33T 

Iverson, Knud._ 157 



ackson, Abigail 319 

ackson, Ann. 319 

ackson, Barney M 258 

ackson, Ezra 319 

ackson, Daniel _. - 129 

ackson Hall 371,372,410 

ackson, John - 152, 176 

ackson, Lucinda 315, 319 

ackson, Samuel, 122, 176, 178, 234, 240, 
319, 320, 594, 595. 

ackson, S. T 315 

ackson, William M 149 

acobs, Jacob.. 349 

acobson, Abraham 349 

acobus, David L 322 

acobus, Oscar J _ 322 

'James Allen" (steamer) .. 241, 242 

amieson, Louis T 132, 300, 357 

' James Madison " (steamer) 241 

ames, Mrs. Samuel 312 

ames, T. C --.- _ 596 

aques, Father Isaac- _ 41 

ay, JamesF... _ 261, 451 

efferson, Joseph, Sr 481, 4qS 

efferson, Mrs. Joseph 4S1 

efferson, Joseph, Jr 47S, 479, 480, 498 

enkins, A. M 245 

ervis, John B _ 259, 260 

esuits and their explorations .. __ 41 

esuit Mission (Chicago) .. 66 

esuit priests at Chicago 66,67 

ews of Chicago — Immigration in 1843 
— Synagogues — Colonization So- 
ciety — Cemetery 348 

illson, JamesF 520 

ohnson, Andrew _■ 338 

ohnson, David 412 

ohnson, Elizabeth 319,321 

ohnson, H. A. 389, 463, 466 

ohnson, John _ 77 

ohnson, Miss J. M 220 

ohnson, Jacob B __ 224, 229 

ohnson, J. M. .- 230 

ohnson, Moses (fugitive slave) 156 

ohnson, Morris 450 

ohnson, Peter 334 

ohnson, Mrs .. 334 

ohnson, Richard log 

ohnson, Sanford - 229, 306 

ohnson, Seth ._; 244, 273, 297, 306 

ohnson, Mrs. Seth 206, 289, 305 

ohnson, S. F 262 

ohnson, William. 300,452 

ohnson, Y. W 333 

ohnston, Joseph... 340, 341, 355, 497, 608 

ohnston, Shepherd .. 204 

oliet, Louis, 37, 41, 42, 44, 49, 50, 5S, 165 

ones, Benjamin _ 12S, 175, 192, 221 

ones, C. F 253 

ones, David 331 

ones, John Price 330 

ones, Darius E - 396 

ones, K. K 272, 37S, 3S3, 389 

ones, Nicholas 604 

ones, Potter 330 

ones, Re.uben D 306 

ones School 211, 212 

ones, Willard.. 133, 315 

ones, William, 210, 211, 212, 217, 222, 330, 
476, 566, 595. 

ones, William E 186, 346 

ones, W.J 330 

ordan, F. C 328 

ordan, Anna 328 

ordan, Miller & Conners 242 

oslyn, A. J 322 

ouett, Charles Lalime, 77, 84, 86, 87, 89, 
90, 420. 

ouett, John 87 

outel, Henri, descriptive of visit to Chi- 
cago in 1687 65 

ournal De L'lllinois. 412 

oy, James F 257, 258 

udd, Norman B...184, 212, 384, 390, 442, 
471, 477, 521, 612. 



Pap> 

Judd, William E... 286 

Judiciary — Under constitution of 1818-. 419 

Early, of Chicag _ 420 

Under constitution of 1848 447, 448 

Judkins, David X. 310 

J udson, Philo 326 

Juengens, Henry • 332 

Juergens, D. L 282 

Jung, John 294, 295 

lungers, Jean . 226 

Junior Washington Temperance Society. 518 
Justices of the Peace — Earliest in Chi- 
cago 42 

Made elective 420 

Juul, O ._ 350 

Kaiser, Eusebius 295 

Kalvelege, Ferdinand 297, 29S 

Kane, Elias K 167 

Kansas, Chicago contributions for 614 

Kaskaskia, Indian village and mission 

on the Illinois River 43, 45. 50, 54, 

55, 63, 67. 
Kaskaskia, on the Mississippi, mission 

founded at 67 

Kear, James 298 

Keating, William H 100 

Kedzie, Adam S. 355, 356 

Kedzie, J. H 453 

Keegan, John 226 

Keegan, William 328 

Keen, J 156 

Keenan, John I 462 

Kegan, R 329 

Kegan, Margaret 329 

Kegan, Francis 329 

Kegan, Edward 329 

Keith, Henry M 216 

Keith, Julia E. W 216 

Keith, M.L 566 

Kelley, James 389, 401, 416 

Kelley, J. C 286 

Kelley, Patrick -276, 284 

Kelly, Edward 243, 298 

Kelly, Michael 285 

Kellner, August 332 

Kellogg, Ezra B — _- 335 

Kellog, Sarah (early teacher) __ 209 

Kelsey, Parnicks. 136 

" Kenilath Anshe Maarey" Jewish So- 
ciety 34S 

Kennedy, William — 313 

Kenney, Thomas B 282 

Cenney, Edward 294 

venney, Rev I. E 321 

vennicott, James — 464 

ennicott, John A. ... 37S 

ennicott, W. H __-iS6, 460, 519, 520 

ennison, David --I56, 487 

ent, Miss Augusta 306, 309 

Kent, Miss E. A - 215 

■vent, Lawrence 306, 309 

vent, Mrs L 306, 309 

ent (Rev.) 300 

ent, Trumbull -- 339 

venyon, Rev. A. 321, 322, 323 

'enyon, William Asbury (Extracts from 

poems) 4 T 4. 5°o, 501 

iveokuk (Indian chief) 267 

Kerber, John -- 2S6 

[vercheval, G 115, 116, 117, 132, 271 

ercheval, George 477, 482 

ercheval, Gholson. gi, 112, 129, 175, 

185, 268, 269, 594. 

Kercheval, Lewis C 152, 154, 450,451, 

507, 604, 607. 

ermott, Rev. W.J 3 2 3 

<ern, Daniel _ -- 334 

esling, Jacob 283 

essler, Charles -- 331 

essler, Johanna _ 33 T 

Ketchum, Morris -- 253 

Ketter, John.. 295 

Keyes, Stephen P 326, 328 

Kichen, Solomon. — 3'3 

Kilbourne, Byron 236 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Kilroy, E. B. 

Kimball, Dr I2g, 

Kimball, Walter 168, 176, 451, 476, 

Kimberly, E. G 

Kimberly, Edmund Stoughton 122, 

175, 198. 212, 217, 459, 464, 465, 

Kimberly, George A 598, 

Kimberly, Ira 

Kimberly, John E 2S4, 

King, Byron 176, 566, 

Kin r, Henrv W 309, 

King, Mrs. H. W 

King, Otis 

King, P. B 

King, Sherman _ __ 

King, Tuthill. 220, 223, 357, 476, 

King, William R . 

King, William W.. 

Kingsbury, E. S 

Kingsbury estate, (1833) 

Kingsbury vs. Brainard 

Kinkle, Gottfried .". 

Kinsella, Jeremiah A 293, 294, 297, 

Kinsella, John . . 

Kinsella, Thomas J 244, 284, 

Kinzie's addition, sale of portion of 

Kinzie, Mrs. Eleanor ^McKillip)_73, 75, 

Kinzie, Elizabeth-- 

Kinzie, Ellen Marion 73, 90, 

Kinzie, James 73, 94, 96, 97, 103, 

116, 117, 129, 130, 132, 175, 197, 

269, 602, 629, 630, 631. 
Kinzie, John 35, 72, 74, 75, 76, So. 

82, 83, 84, go, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 

97, IOO, IOI, 103, 104, IIO, 220, 

266, 420, 457, 594, 600. 

Kinzie, John, heirs of 

Kinzie, John Harris 73, 86, 97, 130, 

149, 153, 175, 176, 204, 20S, 212, 

230, 234, 241, 265, 527, 549, 5S2, 
Kinzie, Mrs. Juliette H 83, 98, 

461, 496, 629, 630. 

Kinzie, Maria Indiana 

Kinzie, Margaret . 

Kinzie, Robert Allen 73, 86, 99, 

129, 130, 132, 136, 168, 175, 264, 

269, 270, 452. 

Kinzie, William _ 

Kirk, E. N._ 

Kirke, Henry M 

Kitchel, H. D 341, 355, 

Kittlestring, Joseph 

Kittlestring, Mrs. Joseph 

Kjos, Hans J.. 

Klein, Mayer 

Kluckhohn, Frederick 

Knapp, Augustus H 

Knapp, B. E _ _ _ _ 

Knapp, Benjamin R. 

Knapp, M. L. 212, 463, 

Knauers, H 

Knickerbocker, A. V. 122, 221, 234, 

Knights, Darius 2or, 203, 285, 615, 

Knights, John A 281, 282, 

Knocke, William 

Knott, Eliza 

Knowlton, Dexter A 248, 

Know-nothingism in Chicago 

Knox, E. B 

Knox, James 319, 

Knox, S. H _ 

Koch, Ignatius . 

Koeneke, W. F.__ 

Kohn Brothers 

Kohn, M 

Kopp, Anthony _ 

Kopp, Fred 331, 

Kopp, Jacob. - -- 

Korber, John __ 

Korfliage, A 

Kotz, Charles -- 

Kotz, Christian- _ 

Kramer, J. P 

Kreissman, H 

Kribler, John 



2g8 
294 
131 
97 
73 
99 
112, 
221, 

81, 

96 

265, 

85 
132, 
221, 
634 
334, 

73 

73 

116, 

266, 

73 
301 
286 
356 
327 
327 
349 
348 
33i 
598 
476 
203 
465 
298 
477 
616 
2S3 
351 
322 
256 
152 
285 
595 
319 
410 
332 
348 
595 
295 
332 
334 
2S6 
331 



Kriege, Herman 389 

Kriezer, Motts 295 

Krinbill, Andrew 331 

Krinbill, George 331 

Kroeger, Arnold 351 

Kroemer, August 295 

Krohn, J. J 350 

Kroll, Christian 351 

Kroll, Phillip 351 

Kuhn, Christian 295 

Kuhn, John 295 

Knudson, W. 33S 

Kunreuther, Ignatz. - _- 34S 

Kuntz, Louis 331 

Kurg, Charles.. 351 

Kurth, Fred 285 

Kurze, R. A __ 1S5 

Kuter, Israel 334 

Labaque, Francis 269 

Ladan, Sarah - 294 

Ladies of the Sacred Heart 299 

Ladies' Western Magazine 402 

Ladusier, Francis __ 114 

Laflin, M 187 

Laframboise, Alexis - 289 

Laframboise, Claude 101,103, 269, 289 

Laframboise, Francis 84 

Laframboise, Francis, Jr. 103 

Laframboise, Joseph 101, 103, 125, 140, 

147, 269, 289. 

Laframboise, Josette 84, 107 

Lake, David 300 

Lake, D. J. 306 

"Lake House Ferryman," the ("Old 

Bill"). 199, 200 

Lake House ferry-boat accident 15S 

Lake House (1S35) 136, 632, 634 

Lake navigation in 1855 and 1856 243 

Lake shore breakwater.- __ 255 

Lake-street House 634 

Lake View House 637 

Lake View Methodist Episcopal Church. 333 

Lalime, John, autograph letter of 77 

, Mention 73, 74, 78, 105 

Lamacher, P 298 

Lamb, Thomas 242 

Lamphere, George C. 258, 284 

Lampman, Henry S 566 

Landauer, Jacob 331 

" Land Craze " 133, 134, 136 

Land sale, (Early) 149, 152 

Lane, De Witt. _. 249 

Lane, Elisha B 327 

Lane, Mrs. E. B __ 327 

Lane, James H 611, 612, 613 

Langden, Mrs. Artemisia 342 

Langden, Mrs. Candall L 342 

Langdon, Daniel 271 

Langdon, James J 384, 411 

Lange, John 332 

Lange, Mrs. John ._ 332 

Lansing, Deric .. 301 

Lantry, Mrs. Michael __ 299 

Larminie, Charles 321 

Larned, Edward C 217, 220, 258 

Larrabee, Charles H 184 

Larrabee, C.R 598 

Larrabee, William M. 223, 229, 262, 273, 276 

Larson, Neil 349 

La Salle. 33, 37, 56, 61, 62, 63, 64, 233, 2S7 

Lasby, Samuel S 240 

La Source - 2S8 

Lass, Leopold _. 332 

Lathrop, S. G _ 32S 

Lathrop, Samuel S, 316 

Latrobe, Charles Joseph-. 36 

Laughton, Bernardus H. 103, 107, 112, 114, 

116, 117, 192, 268, 269. 

Laughtons, David 107, 114 

"Laughton's Tavern'' 106, 272 

Laugland. Knud 417 

Laulewasikau, "The Prophet" 35, 76, 77, 

78, 80. 

Launder, Eliza.- 319 

Launder, James 319 



Lantry, Michael 294 

Law School (first) ... 447 

Law, John G 312 

Lawler, Michael K 284 

Lawrence, Abbott 170 

Lawrence, Emma R. 321 

Lawrence, John .. __ 321, 330 

Lawrence, Jos. F .... 339 

Lawrence, Susan 339 

Lawrence, William 319 

Lawson, Iver 349 

Lawson, Knud 349 

Leach, George . . _. 353 

Le Bosquet, Miss L. A 215 

Leavenworth, Jesse. 276, 335 

Leavenworth, Ruth 206,207, 208 

Leavitt, David 170, 171,172, 173 

Lebeau. Narcisse 296 

Lebel, Isadore A. 296 

Lebrecht, L __ 348 

Le Clerk, Peresh go, 114 

Lee, Charles 80 

Lee, Mrs. Charles 84 

Lee, Davis S. 337. 521 

Lee, George F 155, 156 

Lee, Plenry H 220 

Lee, Oliver H 309, 310 

"Lee's Place" 80,84,93, 631 

Leflenboys, Joseph 116 

Lehuhardt, Charles 351 

Leicester, H 477, 479, 480, 481 

Le Mai, Mons g2, 97 

Leonard, J. H 354, 359 

Le Page, Mrs. Emily (lieaubien) 106 

Leran, Elijah _ __ 285 

Lester, Mrs. J 330 

" Lelournean, " the Blackbird 78 

Letz, Frederick 351, 568 

Letz, Jacob ... 351 

" Levee plan" of 1830 234 

Levering, Samuel 78 

Levi, L. -..- 348 

Lewgow, Frederick 351 

Lewis, A. B 358 

Lewis, E. P.. 330 

Lewis, George 330 

Lewis, Isadore. 332 

Lewis, William 285 

Leyburn, William C 2S6 

Liberty Tree (newspaper) 401 

Licenses granted to early taverns. in 

Liermann, Hermann 294, 295 

Liette 70 

Light-house 240, 243 

Lignerie, M. De 6S 

Lill, William 564 

Lincoln, Abraham -. 390 

Lincoln, O. S 371 

Lincoln, S 222 

Lind, Jenny 33S 

Lind, Sylvester 229, 306 

Lindgren, C. M 332 

Lindgren, Mrs. C. M 332 

Lindsay, Mrs. Harriet 411 

Lindsay, R. R 411 

Linnear College 219 

Lintner, Christian 334 

Lippert, Henry E 499, 500 

Litchfield, Edwin C 260 

Lithographers (early).. 415 

"Little Turtle" 34, 35, S2 

Livergreen, John 332 

Livergreen, Mrs. John 332 

Lobin, E ' 298 

Lobingier, Henry Schell 352 

Lockwood, Asahel. 322 

Lockwood, Mrs. Mary 322 

Lockwood, Samuel D 253, 263 

Locomotive Manufactory (first) (1S54I-- 56S 

Loeber, C. A - 332 

Logan, Eliza 489 

Logan, James 79 

Logan, John A 283 

Logan, Stephen T — 427 

Lohme, Iver K 349 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Long. Eugene 

Long, James 149, 1S6, 217. 243, 

Long, Stephen H 100, 104, 166, 

Longley , H 

Loomis, Horatio G 1S7. 19S. 222, 

S82. 

Lord. D. E 

Lord. M. N 

Lord, William 

Lome, Samuel I — 

Loring, H. H 

Loss, Lewis H 306, 307, 

Lovejoy, Owen 303, 

Lovell, Vincent S 

Lowe, Agnes -- 

Lowe, Boyd 

Lowe, lames M 1 84, 

Lowe, Mrs. James M _ - 

Lowe, SI 203.211, 212,223, 229, 

519. 605. 

Lowery, Miss A. E 

Lovd, A 176, 1S4, 211, 223 343, 

' 620. 

Ludlam, Reuben [oq. 46S, 470, 

Ludlow, Thomas \V 

Lull, O. R. W 1S5. 

Lull. Mrs. Sarah. 

Lull, Walter 

Lumbard, Frank 212, 219, 496, 49S, 

500. 

Lumbard, J. G 

Lunt, Orrington 220, 329, 333, 471, 

5S3. 5S4. 

Lurson, Andrew 

Lusk, Mrs. Julia. 

Lutzi, Henry 

Lutz, John 

Lyman, C. H. P 

Lyman, Mrs. C. H. P __' 

Lyman. D. H 

Lyman, Fred 

Lyman, J. H._ _ ... 

Lyman, Timothy . . 

Lynet, Mathew 

Lyne & Powell Theatrical Company 

Lynn, Isaac — - 

Lyon, Lucius __ _ ■. 

Lyons, Michael P 

Maas, Hubert 

Mack. Mrs. M 

Mack, Stephen . _ 

Mack, \V. B 

Mackenzie. George 

Mackin, Thomas. 

Mackinaw Barges. 

Mackinaw Company - 

Macy, John B. — 

Madison-street bridge 

Magan, Father 292, 

Mager. John Baptiste 

Magle, H. H 

Magill, Arthur W 90, 

Magill, Mrs. Francis A 

Magniac, Jardine & Co 

Maher, Hugh 

Mail facilities 140. 141, 147, 

Maine Law Alliance (1S541 

" Main Poc," (Indian chief) 76, 77. 78, 

89. 

Major, L. S 351 

Manierre, George, 184, 237, 442, 454, 

521, 522. fxj-i. 

Manierre, Ed. -. 185, 

Manley, Richard . ... 

Manley, Mrs. Thomas 

Manley, William E -.343, 

Mann, John. ...112, 

Manning, John L. 271, 

Mansion House 132, 472.634, 

Manufactures 567, 

Marble, A. X 

Marble, Dan 478,482,484,485, 

Marble, Miss Mary 

' ' Marengo " (vessel) 

Mareshall, A 



217 
564 
312 
637 

477. 

330 
352 
344 
521 
2S5 
30S 
339 
346 
312 
32S 
312 
312 
275. 

215 
614, 

47i 
253 
549 
339 
339 
499. 

500 

5S2, 

33S 
353 
285 
334 
328 
328 
568 
286 
341 
339 
2S5 
482 
594 
130 
294 
294 

339 
112 

333 
280 
611 
239 

93 
257 
199 
294 
295 
222 

99 
334 
170 
562 
148 
410 
79. 

352 
455, 

477 
329 
329 
384 
289 
323 
635 
571 
343 
4" 
493 
"5 
500 



Page 
Margry, Pierre 61 

Marine Bank, (1S52) 537, 538, 539, 547, 

54S. 
Marine Hospital appropriation for erec- 
tion of 242 

Marine interest of Chicago 239, 240 

"Mark II. Sibley " wrecked 243 

Market House 151, 180 

Markle's Exchange Coffee House 459 

Markusen Butten 33S 

Marquette 42, 45, 48, 62, 2S7 

Marquis, D. S 310 

Marsh, J. L 1S5 

Marsh, Luther ..... 186 

Marsh Matthias 226 

Marsh, Sylvester 275, 561, 562, 563, 582 

Marshall, Benjamin F 284 

Marshall, Perry 496 

Marshall, Samuel D 2S4 

Martin, G. C 5S5 

Martin, James S. 284 

Martin, Joseph H._ 284 

Martin, Laurent 114 

Martin, Samuel S 550 

Martineau, Harriet 343 

"Mary" (brig) 242 

Mascoutins — 33 37, 40, 48, 49. 63 

1 ' Maria Hilliard " (schooner) 242 

Mason, Caroline 339 

Mason, Charles Kemble 480 

Mason, Mrs. Desire E 305, 309 

Mason, Mrs. Jane : 339 

Mason, John 637 

Mason, L. B 384 

Mason, Mathias 566 

Mason, Nelson 306, 309 

Mason, Roswell B.. letter of. .253, 254, 255 

Mason, Samuel B 343 

Mason, W 477 

Masonic — 

Apollo Commandery, No. 1, 

Knights Templar 513 

Apollo Lodge, No. 32 508, 510 

Chicago Council 513 

Cleveland Lodge, No. 211 512 

Far West Lodge, No. 29 507 

Garden City Lodge, No. 141 512 

Germania Lodge, No. 1S2 512 

Grand Lodge, first meeting in Chi- 
cago 511 

LaFayette Chapter, No. 2 513 

LaFayette Lodge, No. 18, 507, 510, 511 

Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 33 507 

Oriental Lodge, No. 33.. 508, 510, 511 

Wabansia Lodge, No. 160 512 

Washington Chapter, (R. A. M.)... 513 

Western Star Lodge, No. 107 (Kas- 

kaskia) 507 

William B. Warren Lodge, No. 209 512 

Massacre of Fort Dearborn 414, 495 

Mathematical and Chemical 219 

Mathews, L. M 280 

Matthews, William W no 

Matson, Matthew 324 

Matteson, Fred 285, 2S6 

Matteson House _ 637 

Matteson, Joel A 173 

Matteson, Joseph 371 

Mauch, F 28; 

Mau-non-gai, Indian chief at the " Little 

Calumick " in 1812... 79 

Mauser 34S 

Maxwell, Celia 206 

Maxwell. Philip. 122, 230, 334, 452, 45S, 

459. 466. 488, 594- 
Maxwell-street German Methodist Epis- 
copal Church.. 330, 332 

Maxwell, William 258 

May, II. II 258 

May, II. X 227 

May, William I. 602 

Mayer, Leopold 220 

Mayo, A. D - 344 

Maynard, Lorenzo D 283 

Mayor's Court 443,448, 451 



McAlpin, Patrick. 298 

McAlpine, William J 187, 262 

McArthur, Miss Caroline, 212, 213, 215, 309 
McArthur, Eriel, 230, 306, 309, 463, 466. 

595- 

McArthur, Gilderoy 309 

McArthur, Miss Harriet. 306, 309 

McArthur, Henry (1 306, 339 

McArthur, John 286 

McArthur, Rhoda _ 309 

McArthur, Sarah 309 

McBride, Silas 226. 227 

McCagg, E. B 536 

McCali, Samuel. 321 

McCalla, Thomas. 53S, 544 

McCardel & Crane ._ 637 

McCardel House 637 

McCherney, H 213, 215 

McClellan, George B 235, 263 

McClellan, James 207, 3S3 

McClintock, W 176 

McClure, Miss E •_. 215 

McCluer, Mrs 478, 479 

McClure, X. A 477 

McConnell, Murray 85 

McCord, J . . 222, 223 

McCorkel, John 313 

McCormick, Charles J 283 

McCormick, Cyrus H 310, 311,312, 569 

McCormick, Mrs. Henrietta M... 311, 312 
McCormick, Leander J., 310, 311, 312, 

569 

McCormick, Mary A. .. 310,311, 312 

McCormick & Moon 136 

McCormick, William S 311. 312, 569 

McCoy, Isaac 107. 2S8, 315 

McCunniff, John 294 

McDale, Alexander 112 

McDonald, Alexander. 265 

McDonall, Charles 152,212,294 

McDonald, J.. 637 

McElhearne, P. T 292, 293, 294 

Mclllwaine, Matthew 463 

McElroy, Daniel 45T, 611 

Mcintosh, Jane 319 

McFarland, T. 286 

McFarland, William 495, 496 

McGirr, John E 21S, 298, 463, 520 

McGirr, Mary Vincent 299 

McGirr, Patrick 463 

McGilvary, John .312, 313 

McGilvary, Mrs. Isabella 312 

McGorish, B 291, 298 

McGoven, John. 294 

McGovern, (Rev. Dr.). . 299 

McGuire, Mary Gertrude 299 

McGuire, Michael 291 

McHale, John 152 

McKaig, W. W. 32S 

McKay, Mrs. Almede 322 

McKay, John - 2S6 

McKay, Samuel 274 

McKee, David, 91, 101, 103, 106, 109, 112, 

268, 269. 
McKenzie. Mrs. Alexander 474, 475, 478, 

479, 4S1. 
McKenzie, Alexander, 474, 476, 477, 478, 

4S1 

McKenzie, Elizabeth 73. 101 

McKenzie, Isaac 73 

McKenzie, Margaret .. 73 

McKichen, Solomon.-- 312 

McKichen, Mrs. Margaret.- 312 

McLaughlin, P.J 294 

McLean, John 463, 465 

McMahon, P. 291, 298 

McMillan William 285 

McMullen, James 294 

McMnllen, John 2S4, 298, 299 

McMurtry, 'William 258 

McMurray, Francis 285 

McXeil, Miss Flora 312 

McXeil, Malcolm. 312 

McRoberts, Jonah -. 172 

McShellop, Daniel 284 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Page 

McVickar, Brockholst, 463, 466, 470, 594, 

595. 59 6 - 
McVicker, James H., 473, 47S, 4S6, 4SS, 490, 

491. 495- 

McVicker, Mrs. James II. 4S6 

Meacham, Silas. ... 243 

Mead, James 412 

Mead, Edward 597 

Mechanic's Hall... 343 

Medical practitioners (early) 459, 463 

Medill, Joseph 402 

Meek, Edwin G 3S4, 463. 401.. 41.7 

Meeker, George W. . .211, 212, 217, 377, 
443, 44S, 45°, 454 455. 482. 

Meeker, Joseph 132, 20S, 222, 223, 301 

Meeks, Daniel 25S 

Mehan, Patrick 280 

Membre, Father 62, 63, 22S 

Menard Rene, Father _. 41 

Menard, Toussaint 296 

Merchant's Dispatch 263 

Merchant's Hotel ... 637 

Merchant's & Mechanic's Bank 53S, 539, 

543, 543. 
Merchants' Savings, Loan & Trust Com- 
pany 549 

Meredith, R. R 331 

Merriam, Mary S 319 

Merrill, George W 223,262,305, 357, 

476. 

Merrill, Mrs ... 305 

Merritt, Mary A. . 293 

Merryfield, James M. 329 

Methodist Church in Chicago — first 

preaching — first class 28S 

Methodist Protestant Church . 333 

Metropolitan Bank _ 549 

Metropolitan Hall 499 

Metropolitan Hotel -_ 636 

Mexican War — Extracts of Chicago pa- 
pers of 1S46, 47, 276. 277 ; recruits 
raised in Chicago and meeting of 
February, 1847, 277, 278 ; noted 

Illinois volunteers -283, 2S4 

Meyers, Max ... 463 

Miamis 33, 34, 36, 37, 49, 55, 62, 66, 

68, 2S7. 

Michigan City 129 

" Michigan'' (steamer) 241, 242 

Mifflin, Thomas S7 

Mikkleson, A 349 

Miles, Francis 319 

Military — 

Chicago Artillery Company 2S6 

Battalion 2S5 

Cavalry -- 275, 276 

City Guards 275 276, 279 

German Odd Battalion .. 2S5, 286 

Grenadiers 286 

Guard of Liberty 2S6 

Highland Guards 2S6 

Hussars and Light Artillery 285 

Joegers - 285 

Light Artillery .. 285 

Light Guard.' .- - 285 

Militia. 26S, 269, 270, 274, 275 

Company F, Fifth Regiment (Mexi- 
can War) — 2S2 

Cook County Militia, 268, 271, 272, 273, 

274. 275. 

Emmet Guard 2S5 

Garden City Guards 285 

Dragoons 275, 286 

Jackson Guards 2S5 

"Montgomery Guards, 237, 275, 276, 277, 

2S4, 285. 

National Guards 2S5 

National Guards Cadets 285 

Ringgold Guards 2S5 

Shields Cadets 27S 

Shields Guards.. 2S5 

.Washington Battalion 2S5 

Washington Guards ... 275 

Washington Grenadiers 2S6 

Washington Jcegers 2S5 



Page 

Washington Independent Regiment 

No. 1 285, 286 

Washington Light Cavalry 286 

Washington Light Guards 286 

Washington Rifles 286 

.. .William Tell Guards 286 

M ilitary Tract 263 

Millard, James M 201 

Millard, Nelson 315 

Miller, Mrs. Adeline 322 

Miller, Mrs. Agnes. 312 

Miller, De Laskie 463, 470 

Miller House _ 103,629, 630 

Miller, Jacob ...... 295 

Miller, Mrs. Janet 312 

Miller, John, III, 12S, 133, 175, 297, 565, 
566, 594. 

Miller, John C 1S5 

Miller, Matthias ._ 295 

Miller, Robert 312,313 

Miller, Samuel, 96, 103, 104, 112, 116, 174, 
197, 198, 269, 629, 630. 

Miller's tannery 133 

Miller, W. Y 30S 

Milliken, Isaac L., 1S5, 518, 519, 520, 610. 
614, 621, 622. 

Mills, Benjamin 117 

Mills, Caroline 339 

Mills, H. B 339 

Milner, Sarah 329 

Miltimore, Ira, 170, 185, 186, 211, 218, 507, 

51S, 608. 
Milwarik, Milwaukee '1699) — Mention 

of 66 

Miner, F. T ... 212 

" Minnesota " (brig) ... . 242 

Mirandeau, Jean Baptiste, Sr. , 73, 105, 289, 
566. 

Mirandeau, Genevieve 105 

Mirandeau, Jean Baptiste, Jr _ 105 

Mirandeau, Madeline 101, 105 

Mirandeau, Thomas _ 105, 106 

Mirandeau, Victoire (Mrs. Porthier), 73, 105 

Misener, Ellen S 320 

Mitchell, Alexander 532. 533 

Mitchell, James 32S 

Mitchell, John T 316, 325, 356, 357 

Mitchell, Maggie 493,494 

Mitchell, W. W 584,585 

Mizener, Charlotte 319 

Modine, Peter 324 

Moench, Dietrich __ 2S5 

Mohn, A... 349 

Monagle, John 312 

Monagle, Mrs. Sarah 3T2 

Montigny, M. De ... 66, 288 

Montreal, trading post. 39 

Moody, Mrs. l.vdia „ 322 

Moody, T. M._ 186 

Mooney, E... 486 

Moore, Ann E 321 

Moore, A. H 263 

Moore, Charles E 2S5 

Moore, C. H 256 

Moore, Miss E 219 

Moore, Edwin G 306 

Moore, Henry 208, 426, 428, 465 

Moore, John 253, 2S4 

Moore, Peter 315 

Moore, W. T 352 

Moran, Mathew 2S0 

Morehouse, Philo 260 

Morey, Alvin V 281, 283 

Morey, Edward 27S 

Morgan, Achilles 265 

Morgan, Caleb. 336, 337 

Morgan, Charles 567 

Morgan, James D. 2S3, 2S4, 330 

Morgan, Richard P 247, 259 

Mormon Discussion 152 

Morning Bulletin, 1S57- _ 411 

Morrill,' John 283 

Morris, Buckner S., 184, 1S7, 199, 274, 377, 

426, 427, 44S, 457, 477, 594, 614. 
Morris, J. H 339 



Page 

Morris, Mrs. Mary E 339 

Morrison, Elizabeth. 321 

Morrison, Ezekicl 260 

Morrison, fames 1 . l>.. 283 

Morrison, John 312 

Morrison, J. M 222 

Morrison, Murdock 321 

Morrison, O. 175, 176. 202, 203 

Morrison, W. R. 284 

Morse, Miss Diana 328 

Morse, Jedediah 87, 89 

Mosselle, Charles 269 

Mosely, Flavel 15S, 198, 215, 216, 217, 

305. 

Moseley School 214, 215 

Moses, Hiram P 567 

Moses, M 348 

M orey , Alvin V 282 

Mossop, George 487 

Mossop Mrs.(Hunt) 487 

Mowtr, Lyman 277, 278, 279, 280 

Mozart Society 498 

Muchike, Friedrich 331 

Muchlke, Henry 351 

Mueller, Christian 331 

Mueller, Michael ... 286 

Mulford, E. H 132 

Mulford, James 249 

Mulfinger, G. F 331 

Mulligan, James A 298 

Munch, H. C. 220 

Municipal Court. 203, 443. 444 

Murders of Illinois settlers in 1S11-12 

- 77. 78 

Murder trial of Joseph f . Morris (Joseph 

Thomassen) in 1835 428 

Murdoch, James E. ... 486, 4SS 

Murphy, Harriet .. 633 

Murphy, John 212. 285. 29S, 474, 633 

Murphy, Edward 208 

Murray, George — 312 

Murray, James E 300, 4S9 

Murray, R. N --H5, 121, 271 

Murray, William 3S, 69, 70 

Museum (Buckley's). 488 

Museum (Kennison's) 487 

Music first taught 211 

Musical Convention (1848) officers. 497, 498 
Musical instruments, manufacture of 

(1S54, 1857) 570 

Mussey, D .. 355 

Myers, Fred 208 

Myers, S. G 2S6 

Myers, William E 311 

Naper, John — 269, 270, 271 

N'aper, Joseph 117, 26S, 269 

Naper Joseph, military company of 271 

Naperville House 637 

Napier, J. A. 158 

"Napoleon" (schooner) 554 

National 495 

National Hotel 637 

Native American, 1855-56 410 

Neal, David A 253 

Nebraska Bill, opposition to in Chicago 157, 

390, 608, 611. 

Needham, A. T 330 

Nelson, Andrew — 349 

Nelson, A. G ... 349 

Nelson, John 349 

Nelson, Mary A 219 

Nelson, Ole 349 

Nelson, Peter 349 

Nelson, Mrs. Peter 470 

Nerison, Kittel 349 

" Nescotnomeg " (Indian chief) 100 

Newberry, Oliver, 116, 121, 236, 242, 561, 

618. 
Newberry, Walter L., 176, 1S2, 212, 213,248, 

250, 351. 377. 521, 549- 

" New Buffalo School " 212 

Newby, Edward W. B ...2S1, 2S2, 283 

Newcomb, Miss E. P 344 

New Covenant .. 384 

Newell, Richard 330 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



New England Church (Congregational) 
Organization 1853 — Original mem- 
bers — Pastors — Membership to 1S5S 

New England House 

New England Society 

Newkirk, Alanson B. 310, 

Newkirk, Mrs. I.. N. 

Newkirk, D. A. B 

New Jerusalem or Swedenborgian Church 
— Early church services — " Illinois 
Association " formed — Original 
members of Chicago Society of the 
New Jerusalem — First officers — Pas- 
tors — Church building 345, 

Newman, S. K 332, 

Newton, Mollis 

New York House. 

Niblo, A. R. 3S3, 

Nichols, C. P... 

Nichols. Luther 203, 223, 

Nichols, W. A 339, 

Nicolet, John 34,40, 

Nichoff , Conrad L 

Nightingale. Crawford 

Nifes, John B 

Ninson, William .- 132, 

Noble, Calvin - 

Noble, Jane. 

Noble, John 113, 11S, 330, 560, 

Noble, Lewis L 

Noble, Mark 115, 118,289, 

Noble, Silas - 

Noble, W. H 

Nockin, C -- 

Norelius, E __ 

Norheim, W. G -- 

Norris, J. W.-- 

Norson, Theron 

Norton, Nathaniel . 306, 

Norton, Nelson R., 132, 198, 223, 
598 

Norton, Sally Ann 306, 

Norton, W. A 

"North America" (early steamer) 

North's Amphitheater __ 494, 

North, Caleb . 

North, Levi J 494, 

North Presbyterian Church — First Serv- 
ices, May, 1S48 — Organization — 
First pastors and members — Church 
buildings — " Central Presbyterian 

Church " 

Northwestern Bank Note and Counterfeit 

Reporter 

Northwestern Book Concern .. 

Northwestern Educator 

Northwest Fur Company 

Northwestern Christian Advocate 

Northwestern Home Journal 

Northwestern Journal of Homeopathia. 
Northwestern Medical and Surgical 

Journal 384, 

Northwest Territory 

Northwestern University 

Noyes, George F _ 

Noyes, H enry S 

Nugent, Patrick 

Nugent • 

Oakley, Charles 170, 171, 

O'Brien. James H 

O'Brien. Martin, trial of for murder of 

Stephen M ahan 

O'Brien, Michael 152, 276, 2S4, 

O'Brien. Mary Agatha 

Ocho, Conrad-- 

O'Connor, C harles.. 

O'Connor, Michael 

O'Connor, Patrick 

Odd Fellowship; — 

Encampments — "Chicago," No. 10 

" Illinois," No. 3 

Lodges — "Chicago," No. 55 

" Duane," No. 11 

" Excelsior," No. 22 



" Fort Dearborn," No. 214 ._ 516 

" Harmonia," No. 221 516 

" Robert Blum," No. 5S (German)- 515 

"Western Star," No. 1, at Alton, 

first lodge in Illinois 514 

" Union," No. 9 514 

Odd Fellows Hall 516 

O'Donnell, Thomas- 29S 

Ogden, William B 129, 131, 142, 169, 

176, 17S, 1S1, 1S4, 199. 212, 213, 220, 
221, 236, 237, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 
256, 257, 258, 260, 262, 351, 3S4, 444, 
465, 504, 549, 564, 582, 614, 616, 619. 

Ogden, Mahlon D. 441,442, 605 

Ogden School -215, 216 

Oglesby, Richard J 2S3 

O'Hara, Daniel.- - 407, 610, 611 

" Old Battery A " 2S5 

" Old Battery B " 285 

Old Settlers' Ball (1852) _ 156 

Old Settlers' Society. 158 

O'Leary, J. E. O. 595 

Olive Branch of the West.. ...... 409 

Oliver, Christian ._ 320 

Oliver, Warren 327 

Olivet Baptist Church — Organization of 
•" Zoar Baptist " Church — " Mount 
Zion Church " — Union of the two — 
Erection and sale of church build- 
ing 323, 324 

Olivet Presbyterian Church — Mission 
Church and City Missionary — Or- 
ganization of Church (i856)-Paslors 
and elders — Union with Second 

Presbyterian Church 314, 315 

Olmstead, Lucius D 342, 356 

Olmstead, Mrs. Jane 342 

Olmstead, T. L . . 330 

Olsen, Peter 349 

Olson, Elias... 349 

Olson, Halvor 349 

Olson, Nels __ 349 

O'Mally, Patrick 2S4 

O'Meara, Father 291, 292 

O'Neil, Christian 329 

O'Neil, Edward ... 294 

O'Neil, John, trial for murder of Michael 

Brady 450 

Onoxa or F'ive Medals (Indian chief) . . 77 

Opera (First) 489 

O'Reilly, John . . 294 

Orcott & Sutherland 636 

Orcott, William F 636 

O'Regan, Anthony. 292, 296, 297, 298 

Ormsby, Arthur S 253 

Orr, John R 279 

Orr, Joseph.. 260 

Osband, E. D - 286 

Osborn, Andrew L 260, 412, 416 

Osborne, James T 269 

Osborne, L. H 337 

Osborne, William 223,306, 476 

Osborne, Mrs. William 306 

Osborne, W. H 263 

Osman, William- 372 

Ostlangerberg, G. H 295, 297 

O'Sullivan Eugene 284 

Ott, Jacob 334 

Ott, Lawrence.. 334 

Ott, Philip _ 334 

Ottawa Presbytery (1847) 300 

Otis, Seth T 273, 477, 521 

Ouilmette, Antoine 40, 72, S4, 92, 100, 

101, 106, 289. 

Ouillemette, Michael 269 

Our Savior's Norwegian Evangelical 
Lutheran Church (Organization 

1858)--. - 350 

Owen, G. M 33 

Owens, John E 495 

Owen, Robert 330 

Owen, Thomas J. V 36,91, 115, 117, 

119, 124, 128, 130, 175, 205, 207, 240, 
268, 271, 289, 290, 365, 507. 
Owens, W. D. 352 



Page 
Owen-street Methodist Episcopal Church 

(Organized 1852) 330 

Ozier, J oseph go 

l'acking-housesand meat products (early), 560, 

564- 
Page, Peter, 155, 186, 283, 291, 520, 521, 612 

Page, Benjamin G 309 

Page, Mrs. Benjamin G.,- 309 

Pagenhart, William 332 

Payne, Adam ____ 269 

Payne, Chris 208, 269 

Paine, Uriah 271 

Palmer, Alonzo B. __ -466, 594, 598 

Palmer, A. II 275 

Palmer, J. K. 594 

Palmer, William 328, 329 

Palmquist, Rev." G. 324 

Palo Alto, Battle of 279 

Palos, Cook County. 56 

Panic of 1857 1S3 

Paoli Gerhard.. __ 594 

Paper towns of 1836 134 

Parks, G. A 171 

Parkes, Aaron. 333 

Parodi, Teresa 500 

Parsons, B. F. 339 

Parsons, Miss E. 220 

Parsons, Samuel M _ 280 

Parsons, T. E 271 

Parry, Samuel 291 

Patchin, J._ 355 

Patterson, Isaac 350 

Patterson, J. W. 409 

Patterson, Madison . - 333 

Patterson, Robert W 220, 305, 306, 308, 

313, 315, 395, 407. 

Patti, Adelina 499, 500 

Patton. W. W. 339, 396 

Paul, Darius H 319 

Paul, John _. 294 

Paul, Rene 167 

Paulson, Lewis 411 

Payne, Seth 353, 408, 411, 538 

Payton, Francis 209 

Peace Society organized 279 

Pearce, W. L 637 

Pearson, George T __ 15S 

Pearsons, Hiram, 132, 175,178,184,192, 377, 
477- 

Pearson, John 443, 444 • 

Peck, Azel 211, 212, 519 

Peck, Charles E 225, 274, 276 

Peck, Ebenezer, 176, 230, 245, 366, 3S4, 465, 

594- 
Peck, Philip F. W., 115, 116. 132, 19S, 222, 
223, 271, 2S9, 303, 561. 

Peet, Stephen 355, 356 

Pemeton, David 269 

Pendleton, John 595 

Pennington, Mary 329 

Penny, A J 595 

Penny, John 570 

Penrose, James W 119 

Penrose. Mrs. Mary A., letter of _ 110 

Penton, Thomas B 274, 337 

Perkins, G. W -- ... 339, 355, 396 

Perkins, H. B -- 211 

Perkins, I. N.- 263 

Perkins, Miss L 215 

Perkins, S. H 258 

Perrot, Nicholas 46 

Perry, Arthur 280 

Peters, Abraham . . . . 280 

Peterson, C. I. P 349 

Peterson, Nels 332 

Peterson, Peter 324 

Petit, Claude 412, 415 

Pettell, Mons 72, 92 

Pettit, Charles M... 175 

Pettit, William 334 

Peyton, Francis 85,433,477 

Peyton, John L 285, 286 

Pevster, Arent S. De 70 

Pfaffle. William 331 

Pfeiffer, Casper _ 294 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Page 

Philadelphia House 637 

Philbrick, John D - 214 

Philharmonic Society 498,499, 500 

I'hillimore, G. W. 4S4, 4S6 

Phillips, Clifford S 477 

Phillips, D. I. 256 

Phillips, George S 318 

Phillips, W. B -- 329 

Phoenix Bank 54S 

Phcenix Foundry 568 

Piche, Peter 101 

Pierce, A.. .. 176, 17S, 211, 566, 569 

Pierce, C. H 377, 378 

Pierce, E. A 309 

Pike, H. B 286 

Pioneer lake vessels _ 239 

Pitkin, Louise R 309 

Pilson, 'George 278 

Pinet, Francis 33,66,67, 287 

Pinkerton, Allen 261 

Pinney, Miss Louise - - 86 

" Pioneer" Locomotive.- 248 

Pithey, Mrs. Henry 329 

Pitkin, Mrs. Nancy. 309 

Pitney, Aaron 467, 470 

Pitney, Franklin V 341 

Pitney, Mrs. Franklin V 341 

Pitt.C. D . 48S 

Pitts, H. A. 569 

Plagge, Christopher 219, 499 

Plank roads, early 192 

Plant, H. B. __ _ 253 

Planter's House 637 

Plathe, G. H 294, 295 

Plathe, Schaeffer 295 

Platz, G G - 334 

Porthier, Joseph 104 

" Portage River " 630 

Powell. Miss M. E 220 

Powell, M. W. 227 

Powell, Thomas 383 

Prairie Herald, the 342 

Prairie Leaf 41 1 

Pratt, James (Rev. Dr.) 336 

Pratt, Oscar __ 132 

Pratt, Spencer _ _ _ 282 

Prendergast, Thomas G 454 

Prescott, Eli S 149 

Prescott, T. O 346 

Prendeville, Maurice _. 152 

Prentiss, Benjamin M. 283 

Presbyterian Theological Seminary of 

the Northwest ._. 354 

Prescott C. L 262 

Preston, John B. _ 173 

Preus, A. C. 350 

Plows, first manufacture of in Chicago _ 566 
Plymouth Congregational Church -340, 341 

Plvmpton, Joseph 84 

Podd. Rev. James 324 

Police court created, 179; Constables and 

precincts, 203, 204; Justices and 

magistrates, 451, 454, 455. 

Polkey, Mrs. Samuel 

Pomeroy, C. B 

Pomeroy, Mrs. E. L 

Poncelot, Henroten 296, 

Pontiac - 33, 

Pool, Isaac A 

Pool, J. W 

Poole, Edgar 

Poor, J. H 

Pope, John.. 277, 

Pope, Nathaniel 448, 449, 

Pope, William 

Portage de Chicagou 

Porter, Augustus J 

Porter, Henry Dwight 303, 

Porter, Charlotte Eliz . . 

Porter, Edwards W 

Porter, George B 36, 

Porter, J. L 

Porter, James W _ 303, 

Porter, Jeremiah 129, 132, 303, 

334. 356, 357- 



Page I 

Porter, Mrs. Jeremiah 303, 304 

Porter, Mary Ann .. 319 

Porter, Mrs. Mary C. 4S2 

Porter, Mary Harriet (missionary).. 303, 304 

Porter, N. B 253 

Porter, Robert Otto. 304 

Porter, Peter B. 165 

Porthier, Joseph --91, 103, 104 

Porthier, Mrs. (Mirandeau) 73 

Post, Justus 167 

Post-office, first 139 

Letters remaining in January 1, 1834 148 

Postmasters 139.140, 147, 148 

Post-roads 141 

Pottawatomies 34, 36, 76, 77, 78, 79, 

122, 166. 

Powell, Edwin , 463 

Price, Cornelius 611 

Price, Mrs. Emma 322 

Price, Jeremiah _ 223 

Price, Sterling _ _ 2S3 

Price, William .. 140, 147, 520, 611 

Prickett, George W 284 

Prickett, John A 283 

Pride, John C. 464 

Prindiville, John 298 

Prindiville, Redmond 416 

Printing — first job, pamphlets and law 
book, 412, 413 ; Printer's Union 
early printers and pressmen, 416, 

417; first music 500 

Pruyne, Peter 132, 136, 208, 223, 444, 

464, 527. 

Proctor, Leonard . 462 

Provoost, B. B. -. __ 253 

Pryor, Fred. .. 295 

Putney, Mrs. Mary ..... 342 

Quackenbos, (Dr.) __ 299 

Quade, Andrew. .. 286 

Quarter, Walter J . 293. 294, 298 

Quarter, William 291, 292, 293, 294, 

298. 

Queal, William 343 

Quebec, Founding of 39 

Quequew, Father 292 

"Quid Nunc" (First Chicago penny pa- 
per) 383 

Quinn Chapel, Methodist Episcopal 
Church — Organization 1847 — Ex- 
citement on slavery question — 

Church buildings — Pastors 333, 334 

Quin, John S 285 

Quinn, John — .... . 294 

Quinn, William P. 333, 334 

( hiirk, James 285 

Raffen, Alex W 286 

Raffen, John T 286 

Ragatz, J. H 334 

Rahn, John C - 351 

Railroads — 

Chicago, Alton & St. Louis 259, 262, 

263. 

Chicago & Aurora 257 

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 257, 

258, 262, 263. 

Chicago & Milwaukee 262 

Chicago & Mississippi 259 

Chicago & North-Western 257, 258 

Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 25S, 

259, 262, 263. 

Chicago, St. Charles & Mississippi 

Air Line 257 

Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac 

256, 262. 

Chicago & Vincennes .... 245 

Detroit & St. Joseph .260, 261 

Elgin & State Line 257 

Erie& Kalamazoo 259 

Fox River Valley 257, 262 

Galena & Chicago Union 245, 251, 

256, 257, 262. 

Great Western ... 252 

Hannibal & St. Joe 263 

Illinois Central, 245,246, 251-257, 451, 

575, 576. 



Page 

Illinois & Wisconsin 257 

. — Joliet & Chicago _ 259 

Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, 259 

Michigan Central 260, 261 

Michigan Southern & Northern In- 
diana -. 259, 260 

Mineral Point.. 257 

Northern Cross, 246 247, 252, 258, 263 

— Northern Indiana 260 

Peoria & Bureau Valley 263 

Peoria & Oquawka 25S, 263 

Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago, 261 

Rock Island & Alton.. 258 

Rock Island & La Salle 247, 258 

Rock Island & St. Louis 258 

Rock River Valley 256 

Wisconsin & Superior .. 257 

System in 1S57 — Summary of trunk 

lines and branches. 262, 263 

Convention at Rockford in 1S46 247 

Machine shops (early) 568, 569 

Ralfstadt, Philip 332 

Ramsey, G. M 313 

Rand, Socrates 212 

Randall, G. P 299 

Randolph, John F 346 

Randolph, Mrs. Hannah. 322 

Randolph, Miss Marv 322 

Ranker, Charles ._ _ 296 

Rankin, G. H 230 

Rankin, James 567 

Rankin, William.. 567 

Ransom, Amherst C __ 174 

Ransom, T. B 246 

Rantoul, R. W _ 253 

Rantze, H. H. ... 351 

Raskop, Jacob 295 

Ranch, John H 463 

Ravlin, N. F. 323 

Ravlin, Pliny P 323 

Rawalt, Jonas .. 346 

Rawson, William 339 

Rawson. Mrs. S. 339 

Ray, Charles II 173, 402 

Ray, J. E 396 

Raymbault, Father Charles 41 

Raymond, Benjamin W 152, 184, 187, 

212, 220, 223, 227, 24S, 249, 250, 257, 
262, 305, 476, 497, 549, 614, 619, 620. 

Raymond, Mrs. Benjamin W 305 

Raymond, George 273, 2S4 

Raymond, John A 226 

Raymond, Lewis .. 320, 321 

Rhines, Henry .. 154,221, 604, 606 

Read, F. A. . 329 

Read, John Y 582 

Read, W. L 286 

Ready, Mrs. Elizabeth 339 

Real Estate News Letter and Insurance 

Monitor. _ 412 

Real Estate Register 412 

Rebekah , degree of 516 

Rechabites, Independent Order of 518 

Receivers of U. S. Land-Office at Chi- 
cago (1S35-1858) 149 

Recorder's Court (1853-1857). .451, 453, 454 

Reddick, John. 284 

Reddick, William 604 

Reder, John 351 

Reed, Charles M._ 241 

Reed, James H 521 

Reed, J. H 5S2 

Reed, James W __ 175 

Reed, Judson W 2S6 

Reed, Miss I,. M. .. 215 

Reformed Presbyterian Church — Organ- 
ization, 1S45 — First pastor, mem- 
bers and elders — Church buildings — 
Biographies of prominent pastors.. 312, 
314- 

Reform School 179, 217 

Registers of Chicago Land-Office -.148, 149 

Rees, James H 176, 225, 230, 249, 450, 

637- 
Reichart, John A 285 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Page 

Reid, Alexander -- 5S 

Reid. Sarah.. 319 

Reilev. John __ - - 2S3 

Reifsehneider, George 286 

Reighley, Charles - 219, 336 

Reis, Nicholas 294 

Reis, Peter 294 

Reisach, Cardinal 295 

Reissig, Charles 56S 

Remack, Edward 390 

Renan, William -- 348 

Reno, C. A 322 

Reseca de la Palma, battle of 279 

Resique, Samuel - -- 221 

Reynolds, Eri 562, 563 

Reynolds, Elihu G - 329 

Reynolds, George W -- 329 

Reynolds, Ira _ _ - 321 

Reynolds, John - 267, 26S, 602 

Reynolds, W. R. J 595 

Rexford, Stephen _- 132 

" Rialto," the .- -.475, 476 

Ribourde, Father -62, 288 

Rice, John B. 4S4-490 

Rice. Mrs. J. B. 486-491 

Rice. Ellisl.. _ 331 

Rice, John 223 

Rice, Nathan L. 310, 311, 312 

Rice. Susannah .. 315 

Rice, William H _ _ _. 320 

Rice. W. H. 595, 596 

Rice's First Theater (1S47-1S50), 4S4, 4SS, 

4S9- 
Rice's Second Theater (1852-1355), 491-494 

Richards, George W. 34 1 

Richards, Mrs. Laura _. 341 

Richards, R K 134, 135 

Richardson, R. H 310, 311 

Richardson, William A _ 283 

Richmond, Thomas 5S1, 582 

Richmond House __ 637 

Ricker. Henry _ _ 332 

Ridding, George 333 

Ridell, Archibald .. 341 

Ridell, Mrs. Archibald 341 

Rider, Isaiah 323 

Rider, Eli A 132,175, 229 

Ridley, James 330 

Ridley, Mrs. James 330 

Rile)-, James 90 

Ring, Edward H. 220 

Rincker, H. W 568 

Rinder, Friedrich 331 

Riordan. P. W 299 

Ritchie, .'Henry 337 

Ritchey, Samuel W 466 

River and Harbor Convention of 1847, 236, 

238. 
River — Ordinances against polluting, 191, 

192. 

Roads 117, 153, 154, 192, 197, 577 

Roath, W. T 286 

Robb, George A 242 

Robbins, Allen 352 

Roberts, David L 330, 636 

Roberts, Edmund 112 

Roberts, George 330 

Roberts, Henry 330 

Roberts, John J 330 

Roberts, R R 28S 

Robertson, Thomas D.. 247, 248, 249, 250 
Robinson, Alexander, 36, 92, 97, 101, 103, 

ICj-, I 17, 125, 289. 

Robinson, A. S._ _ 595 

Robinson, James 327,329, 357 

Robinson, Mrs. James _ 327 

kobinson, J. B 274 

Robinson, Henry 329 

Robinson, R. J 323 

Roche, Thomas 294 

Rock of St. Louis 34, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68 

Rock Island House 637 

Rockwell, James 357 

in, B 298 

Roe, John 327 



Page 

Roe, Mrs. John. 1 327 

Roecher, John W 331, 332 

Rofinot, P. F • 296 

Rogers, E. K 357.47°. 5S2 

Rogers, John - 582 

Rogers, William 277 

Roles, John P 299 

Roots, 13. G 256 

Ronan, George 81, 82 

Rosatti, Toseph 2S9 

Rose, O. J 1S5, 2S6 

Rosenberg, Jacob 348 

Rosenfeld, I 34S 

Ross, Lewis W 284 

Ross, Hugh -- 414 

Ross, J. P 470 

Ross, R - -.-286 

Ross, William H 2S5 

Rote, James 2S3 

Rothget, H 351 

Rounds, Sterling P 411 

Rounds' Printers' Cabinet — ...- 411 

Rounseville, William 3S3, 396, 397, 402, 

503. 5°4- 

Roy, Joseph E ... _ 339, 341 

Rucke'r, E A - 184 

Rucker, Henry L --273, 453, 454, 476, 

477. 6i5- 

Rudd, Edward H --37S, 413, 414, 416 

Rudolph, F 331 

Ruggles, George F 315 

Ruggles, Spooner 247 

Rumsey, Argill Z. _. 211 

Rumsey, George A 2S4 

Rumsey, Julian S 229 

Runyon, Clark __ _ 310 

Runyon, Mrs. Clark 310 

Rush Medical College 309, 310, 3S4, 

464, 466. 

Rush-street (first iron) bridge .._ 202 

Russell, Aaron ._ 414 

Russell, Fred C 244 

Russell, Jacob 220, 244, 334, 377, 59S, 

634, 635- 
Russell, John B. F. 36, 109, 16S, 1S0 

181, 247, 274, 275, 276, 279, 284, 303, 

454. 479- 

Russell, Mrs. John B 496 

Russell, John J. 274, 2S5 

Russell, William 298 

Russell and Mather's Addition 137 

Ryan, Dennis 298 

Ryan, Edward G 378, 442, 444, 476 

Ryan, Michael 169, 170 

Ryan, William M. D. 327, 329 

Ryder, William H 343 

Ryer, Geordy 486 

Ryerson, J. T 612 

Sadler, W. H 319 

Saeger, Anthony __ 295 

Salem Baptist Church organization (1853) 

Balmer, Rev. J. R. 322 

Salem Evangelical United Church 351 

Salisbury, Josiah 273 

Salisbury, S. M 271 

" Saloon " Building 147. 148, 151, 152, 

180, 305, 312. 313, 336, 343, 346, 384, 

521, 602, 607. 

Sanborn, L. K 227 

Sanborne, G. L._ _ 285 

Sanford, John F. A. 253 

Sanford, Miles , 318 

Sanger, J. Y 274, 276 

Sangamon School (Washington Family), 213, 

214. 

Sankey, T 477, 479, 481 

Sankey, Mrs. Thomas 478, 479 

Sargents, John K 315 

Saturday Evening Chronotype (1857). .. 411 

Saturday Evening MaiHj.8'54) 410 

Saunders, John, Mr. and Mrs 351 

Sauganash Hotel, 36, 106, 128, 132, 474, 632, 

&33- 

Sauksand Foxes 34 

Saulir, Charles ... - 336 



Page 

Savage, George S. F.._ 355 

Savage, Henry W 208 

Sawyer, Alonzo J. 220 

Saw Mills (early) 566 

Scammon, Franklin. 346 

Scammon, J. Young, 158, 180, 200, 210, 211, 
212, 217, 237, 247, 24S, 249, 251, 260, 
345. 346. 347, 377. 4*3. 431. 444, 445, 
476, 536. 537. 539. 544. 549. 550, 551. 
552,607. 

Scammon, Mrs. M. A. 346 

Scammon School 212 

Scanlan, P. L 294 

Scarritt, Isaac -103, 288 

Schade, Louis 410, 411 

Schaefer, Fred. _ 274, 285 

Schaeffer, John L 331 

Schaff er, Leander 291 

Schaforth, Charles 295 

Schairer, G.- - 351 

Schnall, Andrew 294 

Schaller, Andrew 294, 637 

Schambeck, Fred 286 

Schenck, Noah Hunt 336 

Schimberg, Peter 295 

Schilling, C 295 

Schlaeger Edward _ 389 

Schloetzer, George D. 167, 470 

Schlatter, Charles L 244 

Schmidt, E __ 467 

Schmidt, Mary Eva 299 

Schneider, John 285 

Schneider, George 3S9, 390 

Schnell, John . 331 

Schnerdacher, G. --■ 348 

Schnirch, Ignatz -- 297 

Schnudz, Anthony 297 

Schnuckel, Charles 297 

Schools (inclusive) 133, 204-220 

Schoolcraft, Henry R.-35, 90, 100, 302, 303 

Schooners, early 168 

Schreiner. William 332 

Schubert, Benedict 348 

Schuler, Rev. Frederick 332 

Schumacher, Joseph 294 

Schummer, John__ 295 

Schnyder, B._ 295 

Schuyler, Robert -- 253 

Scotch Temperance Society (1851) 518 

Scott, General Charles 34 

Scott, David - 567 

Scott, Deborah _ 106 

Scott, J. H _ 210 

Scott, James S -- 211 

Scott, Joseph R 285 

Scott, Permelia _-_io6, 107 

Scott, Samuel - - — 280 

Scott, Stephen H. 106 

Scott, StephenJ.- 106, 112 

Scott, Wealthy 104, 106 

Scott, Williard 271 

Scott, Winfield H 119, 120, 121, 122, 

129, 618. 

Scoville, Hiram H 567, 568 

Scranton, Abner B. - 328 

Scranton, N 199 

Scripps, John L 248, 389, 407, 610 

Seacor, Thomas - 283 

Sears, A. H._- 344 

Sears, John, Jr 346 

Sebley, C. C. — Company in Mexican 

War — Enlistments in Cook County. 282 
Second Illinois Volunteers, Mexican War, 280 
Second Presbyterian Church — Organiza- 
tion (June, 1S42) — Original members 
— First church building — Elders — 
Rev. Robert W. Patterson — Second 
church building (1851) — Pastors — 

Members.. 305, 306 

See, William, 96, 106, 112, 114, 116, 28S, 
289, 420, 566. 

Seeley, F. T - 341 

Seeley, R. R 152 

Sedgwick, Charles H 412 

"Sclina" (schooner) 240 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Page 

Selle, Augustus- 34 s . 35 r 

"Seneca" (steam tug) explosion 243 

Senn, Rev. Henry 332 

Senser, John W 32S 

Sereham, John 294 

Serlin, D. S • - --- 332 

Sewerage Commissioners 179-191 

Sexton, Sylvester 285 

Seymour, James - 246 

Seymour, Mrs. James. 215 

Seymour S 470 

Sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry — List 

of Chicago soldiers 281, 2S2 

Sketch of losses 2S2 

Shapley, Ann - -- 319 

Shapley, Morgan L 122, 234 

Shaw, Mrs. H. M 219 

Shaw, James 395 

Shaw, Knowles 352 

Shaw, William 227 

Shaw, Valentine C 2S3 

Shawbonee, letter of, 36, 109, no, 118, 123, 

265, 266. 

Shay, J. B 227 

Sheahan, James \V 409 

Shedaker, Chris 269 

Shedd, J. R - --- 3-H 

Shedd, Mis. J. R 341 

Sheffield, Joseph E 259 

Sheldon, A. S 338 

Sheldon School — Lot purchased - . 216 

"Sheldon Thompson" (first steamer), 120, 

240, 241. 

Shelling, Rev. Charles - - . 328 

Shepherd, Alexander 329 

Shepherd, Mrs. Alexander 329 

Shelton, Wallace. 323 

Sheriffs, John 306, 339 

Sheriffs, Mrs. Sarah 306 

Sherman, Alson S., 132, 1S6, 187, 212, 219, 

223, 224. 228, 229, 230, 275, 327, 614, 

621. 

Sherman, Ezra L._ 220, 275, 543 

Sherman, Francis C. 103, 176, 178, 184, 212, 

2S5, 395. 0IT . 614, 620, 635. 

Sherman, F. T 223, 229, 230 

Sherman House 636 

Sherman, S. W. 175, 208, 335 

Sherman, James ._ 274, 2S5 

Sherman, John B 563 

Sherman, 0.__ 228 

Sherry, Patrick 292, 29S 

Sherwood, S.J 223, 335, 336, 357 

" Shields Cadets" first officers (1847)--- 278 

Shields' Guards 2S5 

Shields, James. - 252, 29S 

Shinn, R. F 333 

Ship building (early) 241-243 

Ship chandlers (early) .. 242 

Shipman, George E., 220, 402, 468, 470, 471 

Shippen, RushR., sketch of life 344 

Ship yards (1S45) 46, 242 

Shirley, Thomas. 2S4, 285 

Shogren, Eric 332 

Sholes, Charles H 262 

Short, John 286 

Shrigley, John 203 

Shumway, Edward S 452 

Shumway, Horatio G 452, 521 

Sibley, C. C... 278 

Sibley, Solomon 35 

Sickles, Daniel E. 412 

Simons, George H 331 

Sinclair, John .- 2S9 

Sisters of the Holy Cross. 295 

Sisters of Mercy, establishment, 291, 293, 

299, 598. 

Sixth Illinois Volunteers 281 

Sixtieth Regiment 272, 275, 284 

Skelly, D. C 285 

Skelly, Dennis 294 

Skelly, A. E 2S5 

Skelton, W. D 330 

Skinner, Mark 156, 184, 211, 212, 440, 

451. 477. 521. 550, 597. 598, 612. 



Page 

Skinner, Samuel P. _. . . 343, 384 

Slack, George D. 280 

Slaughter, W. B 329 

Slayton, John L 219, 319 

Slayton, Mrs. Maria.. 319 

" Sloan's Garden City " (1S53-1S55) 407 

Sloan, Oscar B 407 

Sloat. Cornelia 339 

Sloat, George B, 339 

Sloat, G. R 519, 520 

Slocum, Eliz 319 

Sloo, Thomas 166 

Small, Alvan E 468, 470 

Smallwood, William A. 336 

Smallpox epidemics.. 151, 594, 595, 596, 597 

Smith, Abiel 412, 416 

Smith, Benjamin 497 

Smith, B. H 352 

Smith, Charles B 318, 319, 320 

Smith, Dr. C. E 230 

Smith, David Sheppard 409, 461, 467, 

468, 470, 471, 596. 

Smith, Elijah 309,518, 519 

Smith, Mrs. Elijah 309 

Smith, E. R 132 

Smith, Miss E. S 220 

Smith, E. W. 187 

Smith, Miss F._ . 215 

Smith, George 248, 250, 532, 534, 535, 

537. 53S, 539. 544. 582. 

Smith, Henry 211, 217, 306, 309, 608 

Smith, Mrs. Henry 309 

Smith, H. O 227 

Smith, Jane A 321 

Smith, James. 279, 285 

Smith, J. A 223,321,402, 476 

Smith, J. C .263, 274 

Smith, Jere 269 

Smith, John Mark .416, 462, 477 

Smith, Joseph V 389 

Smith, L. H 322 

Smith, M. P 280 

Smith, Mathias 132, 175, 289 

Smith, Orson 203, 594 

Smith, Phebe 309 

Smith, R 274 

Smith, Samuel L 184, 236, 377 432, 433 

Smith, S. W. 278 

Smith, Thomas W .166, 176,246, 445, 

446, 465, 549. 

Smith, William 269, 2S5 

Smith, W. B 285 

Snow, Chauncey 280 

Snow, George W .-.122, 128, 132, 168, 

175, 19S, 222, 504. 

Snow, H. O 220 

Snow, W. H - 222 

Snowhook, William B --237, 244, 274, 

276, 284, 294, 598. 

Snyder, William H. 282, 284 

Soap and candle manufacturers (early) 

--- 565. 566 

Society of Holy Childhood 297 

Somers, George 329 

Somers, Mrs. George - 329 

Somers, Richard & Co. _. 636 

Sonntag Zeitung 390 

Sons of Temperance, Illinois Division 

No. I — Subordinate Lodges 518 

Sons of Penn (1850) 523 

South Congregational Church — " Car- 
ville " and the American Car Com- 
pany" — Erection of church building 
— Organization of Church — 1853, 
first communicants — Pastors — 341, 342 
South Presbyterian Church organiza- 
tion — Original members — Elders 
— Early members — First pastor. 
Rev. R. W. Henry — First church 

edifice 310, 311 

Southerland, E. B. 274 

Southwest Company 93 

Southworth, Gus. W ..218, 306, 309 

Southworth, Mrs. Gus. W. 306 

Southworth, Mrs. Susan 309 



Spaulding, E. G 236 

Spaulding, Roxana 319 

Spaulding, S. F — 223 

Spear, Isaac. 518, 519, 520, 636, 637 

Spears, II . S 285 

Spears, Barton W. 407 

Spencer, A. P -■ 383 

Spencer, Thomas 463 

Spencer, William H 309 

Spink, Alfred 538 

Spirit of Temperance Reform, the (1845) 389 
Spiritualists — First medium in Chicago 
(1849)— First convert, Ira B. Eddy 
— Society formed (1852) — Lecturers 
— Mediums — Andrew Jackson Davis 
— " The Harmonial Philosophy".. 353, 

354- 

Spofford, George W 216 

Spohr, Frank 295 

Spring, Charles A 310, 311, 312 

Spring, Mrs. Ellen M 311 

Spring, George H - 311 

Spring, Giles .184, 334, 377, 420, 421, 

423, 424, 449, 476, 482. 

Springer, William 309 

Springer, Mrs. William 309 

Sproot, Grenville Temple -132, 206 

St. Ansgarius Church (Swedish and Nor- 
wegian Episcopalians, 1849) — First 
trustees — Church building — Gift 
from Jenny Lind — Difficulty in 

church - 338 

St. Clair, Governor Arthur — 34 

St. Cosme, Rev. John F. B 33, 37, 287 

Description of visit to Chicago 

(1699) 66 

St. Cyr, John M. 1 132, 2S9, 290 

St. Elizabeth's Association 297 

St. Francis D'Assisium — First church 
building — Priests — New building — 

Societies connected with.. 297 

St. Francis Society 297 

St. Francis Xavier mission of Marquette 

at Mission of Holy Ghost 42 

St. George's Knights 297 

St. George's Society (1847)..- 523 

St. James' Episcopal Church — Organiza- 
tion, 1834 — First members — First 
vestrymen — First Episcopal services 
in Chicago — " Tippecanoe Hall " — 
First church building (1837) — 
Church building (1857) — Pastors — 
Sketch of Rev. Isaac W. Hallam — 
Sketch of Rev. Robert H. Clark- 
son... -99, 334. 335. 336 

St. James' German Evangelical Lu- 
theran - 349 

St. John's Episcopal Church — Organiza- 
tion, 1856 — First church building — 
Parsonage — Sunday-school — Con- 
tributions 337 

St. John's Evangelical Lutheran 349 

St. John's Society -- 397 

St. Joseph (German Catholic) Original 
members — First church building — 

Priests — School 295 

St. Joseph Orphan Asylum 299 

St. Louis Church (French Catholic) — 
Rev. Isidore A. Lebel — Establish- 
ment of church — Financial difficul- 
ties — Church building removed 296, 297 

St. Mary's (Catholic) Church 132, 289 

St. Mary's Church (1833) (First Catholic 
church in Chicago) Quarter, Right 
Rev. William — Biography .292, 293, 294 

Petition for pastor — Signers 289 

St. Cyr appointed priest — First mass — 
First baptism — Building and dedica- 
tion of church 290 

New St. Mary's Church (1S43) — Bishops 

and priests connected with church 291,292 
St. Michael's (German) organization — 
First church building — Original 
members — Priests — - Redemptorest 
Fathers 295, 296 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



St. Mary's Sodality - .... 297 

St. Palais, Maurie de - 291, 293 

St. Patrick's Church — Establishment — 
Parochial school — Church buildings 

— Priests 294 

St. Paul's German Evangelical Lutheran 
Church — First religious services — 
Organization of church (1S40) — 
First church building — Division of 
church — New church building 
(1849)— Third building (1S64)— 
Fourth ( 1 S 7 2 ) — Past ors — Branches 
— Rev. Henry YVunder — Sketch, 34S, 
349- 

St. Paul's Catholic Church: 297 

St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church- 330 
St. Paul's Evangelical United Church — 
German Evangelical Synod of North 
America — Organization of church 
connected with (1S43) — Erection of 
house of worship — Church council — 
Early members — Pastors — hlich's 
Orphan Asylum — New church (1S64) 
— Destruction by fire of 1871 — Re- 
building — Present trustees 351 

St. Peter's (German Catholic) — First 
church building — Removal — Early 

members — Priests 294, 295 

St. Peter's Evangelical United Church.. 351 

St. Peter's Society (1847).. 523 

St. Rosa's Sodality 297 

St. Stanislaus' Boys' Society 297 

Stable of Humanity 544 

Stacy, William (Culver, Page & Hoyne), 

(1855) 414 

Staff. James T. B 2S4 

Stanger, Daniel ._ . 334 

Stanger, Christopher 334 

Standish, William H ._ 86 

Stanfield, T. S 260 

Stanton, C. T __ 477 

Stanton, George E 549 

Stanton, D. D 274 

Stanislaus, Sister M 299 

Staples, Stephen N __ __ 402 

Star and Covenant 384 

Star of Hope Lodge (Good Templar) 51S 

Starkweather, Charles Robert 140, 147 

Starkweather, Mrs. Charles Robert 305 

Starkweather, Charles H. . .. 521 

Starr, John F.. 220 

Starr, Elisha 37S 

Starved Rock (Fort St. Louis) 34, 64 

Stalbrand, C.J 2S5 

State Bank of Illinois. 151, 526, 527 

State (School) Convention at Chicago 

(1846) 2T2 

State Medical Society 467 

State -street Methodist Episcopal Church 
— Orrington Lunt — Organization of 
church — First pastor, Rev. N. P. 
Heath — Constituent members — Wa- 
bash-avenue Methodist Episcopal 
church building, 1857 — New trus- 
tees — First officers 329 

"Steamboat Hotel," the 636 

Steamboat Line established between Chi- 
cago and Buffalo (1839), 241; be- 
tween Chicago and Milwaukee 242 

Steamers, early 168 

Stebbins, Horatio 344 

Stedman, Charles 383 

Steel, George 562, 582, 584, 587 

Steele, Ashbel 133, 594 

Stein. Charles . 351 

Steinhouse, August 280 

Sten, Anton 286 

Stenson. James 285 

Stephens, John 311 

Stephens, E. B -' 285 

Stephens, Mrs. Sarah C 311 

Stephenson, J. W 267 

Stevens, Rev. Abel 219 

Stevens, E. B 352 

I lerrick 637 



Page 

Stevens, John.. . 271 

Stevens, John, Jr .. .. 271 

Stewart, Rev. A. M .219, 312, 313, 314 

Stewart, George 2S5 

Stewart, Hart L 147, 155, 249, (Hi 

Stewart, Miss Jane 219 

Stewart, James 91 

Stewart John ....325, 554 

Stewart, J. B 310 

Stewart, Robert 98, 260 

Stewart, Mrs. Robert 9S 

Stewart, T. A 212, 401 

Stewart, Royal... 427, 428 

Stewart, William S 220 

Stickney, Mrs. S.J 341 

Stickney, William H 454 

Stiles, David _ 20S 

Stillman's Run _. 268 

Stillman, Isaiah 267 

Stock Company (1S52) 491 

Stocking, Rev. S. H 326, 357 

Stoeber, William T 286 

Stoetzel, John 331 

Stole, A 176 

Stommell, Joseph . 295 

Stone, John, first murderer in Cook 

County 151, 273 

Trial 445 

Stone, David, letter of 95, 96 

Stone, Elijah 330 

Stone, H. O 477, 570 

Stone, Rev. Luther 318, 324, 325, 402 

Storm of April, 1854 __ 243 

Storrow, Samuel A 100 

Stose, C 222, 351, 566 

" Stove-pipe (fire) ordinance " (1S33) 221 

Stow, William H . 566, 633 

Stow, Mrs. William H 306, 309 

Stowell, Augustine 271 

Stowell, Calvin M._ 271 

Stowell, E. C... 341 

Stowell, Walter 271 

Strachan & Scott -532, 534 

Strakosch, Maurice _ 500 

Stratton, Newell .. 595 

Stratzheim, George 351 

Streets — Grading, paving and number- 
ing 191, 192 

Raising of grade .. 193 

First Nicholson pavement . . 194 

Nomenclature 194, 196 

Alterations (1847) 23q 

Strobbach, John E 351 

Strode, J. M 148, 441, 477 

Stroh, Daniel 334 

Strong, MosesM 257 

Strong, Orlo W 410 

Strong, Robert 269 

Strong, Rev. R. T. 333 

Strong, T. F. 257 

Strother, Bolton F 244 

Stryker, John 260 

Stryker, S. W. 285 

Stuart, Alexander 377, 416 

Stuart, H. L 212 

Stuart, Dr. J. Jay 461, 477, 595 

Stuart, John T 180 

Stuart, 2S5 

Stuart, Robert 171, 206, 302 

Stuart, Thomas A. .. 389 

Stuart, William, 93, 140, 147, 176, 181, 372, 

377, 416, 428. 445, 508, 509. 

Stubbins, Philander W.._, 311 

Students and graduates (1843-1858) 466 

Stupp, Henry .. 285 

Sturges, J 253 

Sturgis, William. 170 

Sturtevant, Julien M 339 

Sturtevant, Austin D 211, 212, 216, 497 

Styles, Jeremiah. _ 282 

Subscription list of Chicago Democrat 

(1833) -- 3t>5 

Sullivan, |. II.. 270, 274 

Sullivan, J. J 285 

Sullivan, Timothy 298 



Pag? 

"Sultan" (brig) 242 

Supreme Court — Justices as Circuit 
Judges — Judges of Seventh Circuit 

(1841) 445, 446 

Sulyle, Henry E 521 

Sunday Herald (1857) .. 411 

Sunday law of 1834 203 

Sunday Leader (1S57) 411 

Sunday Vacuna (1856) 411 

Sutherland, Mrs. Henrietta 322 

Sutton Female Seminary 219 

Sutton, Robert H. 333 

Svenska Republikanaren, 1855-1857 

(Swedish) 411 

Svensson, G 350 

Swan, C. A .... 384 

Swazey, Lewis S 358 

Swearingen, Lieutenant James S. (auto- 
graph) 72, 240 

Swearingen, Captain Herbert H 78 

Swedenborgian Society (first) 180 

Swedish Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran 
Church — Organization of Society 
(1S53) — Rev. Erland Carlson— His 
first sermon in Chicago (August, 
1853) — First church officers — Or- 
ganization of church (1S54) — Erec- 
tion of church edifice (1869) — Re- 
building of church after fire of 1871 

— Membership and work 350, 351 

Swedish Church, Second Methodist 

Episcopal 333 

Sweenie, John 285 

Swenie, D. J ... 227,229, 231 

Sweeney, Rev. John S 352 

Sweet, Alanson 132, 175,269, 270, 

271, 635. 

Sweet, Charles 328 

Sweet, Mrs. Charles. 114 

Sweet, Mrs. Susan 328, 115 

Sweet, Richard M 271 

Sweetzer, J. O 462 

Swift, Elijah 536 

Swift, Colonel R. K. ... 1S1, 237, 278, 279, 
285, 343. 536. 538, 544. 549. 59S. 6l 6 

Swift, W. H 170, 171, 172, 173 

Swing, David 309 

Swope, Cornelius E. 336, 337 

Sykes, M. L _ 262 

Sylvester, Willard 306 

Tabernacle Baptist Church — Organiza- 
tion August (1843) — First members, 
officers and church buildings — 

Pastors -3'9, 321 

Talbot, M. F 220 

Talcott, Edward B -170, 171, 173, 176 

Tanners and tanneries — 565 

Talcott, E. D. 396 

Tar, John. 226 

Tasker, William 329, 330 

Taverns, Early in, 116, 12S, 132, 136, 

13S. 

Tax-payers in 1825 101 

Taxes and assessments (1837-1857) 182 

Taylor, Anson H. --107, 132, 133, 198, 

289, 290. 

Taylor, A. W 269 

Taylor, Augustine D. 132, 145, 176, 290, 

291, 294, 5ig, 520. 

Taylor, Benjamin F 377, 37S, 3S7, 402, 

415, 482, 503. 

Taylor, Charles 133, 175, 19S, 289, 594, 

631, 632. 

Taylor, Mrs. Charles. 289 

Taylor, E. D __.S6, 149, 168, 246, 260, 

446, 465, 477, 527. 

Taylor, Ezra 284, 2S5 

Taylor, Francis H .- 17S 

Taylor, John 294, 

Taylor, Mary A 300, 632 

Taylor, P. A 286 

Taylor, William H 223,341, 476 

Taylor, Mrs. William H 341 

Taylor, W. W 594 

Taylor, Zachary 121, 279 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Teachers' Association 214 

Teachers of Chicago (1810-1857) ---204-220 

Teachers' Institute. 215 

Tecumseh 35.7°. 7S, So 

Teed, David -- 330 

" Telegraph " (vessel) _ 115 

Temple Baptist Church 323 

" Temple building" t32, 315, 316, 421 

Temple, Eleonore (Mrs. Thomas Hoyne) 206 

Temple, Mrs. Cornelia M 341 

Temple. Daniel II — 219 

Temple, John T , 132, 175, 19S, 207, 315, 
357. 459, 465, 466, 468. 594- 

Temple, Peter 246, 460 

Temple, Peter T 357 

" Temple of Honor " 51S 

Territorial Banks.' ---524, 525 

Terry, Pafrick 294 

Teschner, K. - .. 351 

Testhel, O.N. 349 

Tetenchoua (Miami chief) 46 

Tew, George C _ 462 

Thom, John H - 636 

Tibbets, Miss S. E 215 

Tierman, Father 292 

Tiffany, Joel 353 

Tilford, Augustus . 280 

Tillinghast, William _ 219 

Tinkham, Edward I. 220 535, 537, 612 

Tippecanoe, battle of 35, 78, 80 

Tippecanoe Hall 334 

Titsworth, A. D 402 

" Tivoli " lot, value in 1S32 137 

Tomlinson, William 31^ 

Tondey, William B. 284 

Tonty. Henri De 34,62, 63, 64 

" Topenebe" (Indian chief) 36, 72, 74, 77, So 

Topliff, W. B ,. 315 

Toutsson, Gisel .. 350 

Towne, E. W __ 359 

Townsend, H 275 

Tows, F. H. 263 

Thayer, U 25S 

Theis, August 332 

Thespian Society 4S2 

Thevenot, Melchisedech 14. 4^, 49 

Third Presbyterian Church— Organiza- 
tion, July, 1847 — Original members 
— Pastors — Difficulties in regard to 
relations of Church to General As- 
sembly 3 n 7-3 n 9 

Third Illinois Volunteers in Mexican 

War. _ _ 280 

Thomas, B. W _ _ 309 

Thomas, Mrs. B . W 309 

Thomas, Fred 357, 464 

Thomas, George _ 56S 

Thomas. James 330 

Thomas, Jesse B 212, 246, 248, 249 

Thomas, John B. 167, 213, 330 

Thomas, R. W 331 

Thompson, James 112, 167, 174, 343 

Thompson, J. A 185 

Thompson, J. L. 132 

Thompson, Mrs. Lucretia 152 

Thompson .O. H. 476 

Thompson, Robert 269 

Thompson, Samuel H _ 600 

Thompson, William 227 

Thorne, Charles R. -494, 495 

Thornton, William F 168 

Thurston, G. S 2S5 

Tobey, Orville H 562 

Tracy, Elisha 611 

Tracy, E. W. 482 

Tracy, J _ 29S 

"Tracy" (U. S. schooner) 72,239, 240 

Trade and commerce of Chicago. .. 152, 243, 
555-559. 579- 

Trask, LilaF . 389 

"Traveller" .. 410 

"Traveler's Home" 132,365,472, 632 

Traveling in Illinois in 1852 254 

Treaty of St. Louis 83 

Tremont House 158,223,635, 636 



Tremont House lot, its various values 

Tremont Music Hall (90, 

Tressy, John — 

Tressy, Mrs. John 

"Trestle Board "(Masonic) ... 

Trinity (Episcopal) Church — Organiza- 
tion, 1842 — First church officers — 
Church buildings — Rectors — Mem- 
bership 336, 

Tripp, R. 

Trowbridge, Charles C 

Trowbridge, John S 

Trowbridge, S. G. 176, 222, 22S, 

Trowbridge. William S 

Trowbridge's Eagle Hotel 

Truax, Samuel 

Tucker, Elisha 

Tucker, Henry A 220, 262, 

Tulev, Murray F 26S, 281, 2S2, 

Tull, Jacob 

Tulley, Alfred M... 291, 

Tupper, Chester 

Turbot, Peter 

Turnbull, Julia. _. 

Turner, Asa, Jr 

Turner, George F.. 459, 

Turner, H. 285, 

Turner, John B. 187, 248, 249, 250, 
257, 262. 

Turner, J. W 

Turrill. S. H _,.... 

" Tuscarora," wreck of the 

Tusch, Andrew 

Tuttle, A. H 

Tuttle, Maria 

Tuttle, Reuben 

Typographical Union, early membersof. 

Type Foundry ( first) . . 570, 

Union Car Works 

Union Express Company-- 

Union High School 

Union Park Baptist Church 

United States Courts 44S, 452, 

United States Express Company 

United States Factory, 85, 87, 88, g2 : 
233. 554- 

United States Hotel 633, 

United States Indian Agency 

United States Land-Office 148, 

United States Marine HospitaL 

University of St. Mary of the Lake, 291, 
299. 

Unonius, Gustaf 

Uberg, John 

Ubrich, J 

Uhlich's Orphan Asylum 

" Uncle Tom's Cabin " — First presenta- 
tion in Chicago 

Underground railroad (First Chicago 

passenger) 

Underbill, D. H... 

Union Agricultural Societv 

Union Agriculturist and Western Prairie 

Farmer, the 

Union Bank 538, 543, 

' ' Union " (brig) 

Updike, P. L 155, 176, 222, 

Upham, Edward 

Ursey, W. H... 

Ursula, Sister M 

Uster, John J. 

" Utica " (barque) 

Vail, Walter 

Valantine, John R 539, 

Valiquette, J. B 

Valley Watchman 

Van Buren-street German Methodist 
Episcopal Church Organization 

(1852) 331, 

Van Buren, Martin (Visit to Chicago). . 

Van Buren mass meeting 

Van de Velde, James __ 

Van de Velde, Oliver 291, 294, 295, 

297, 298. 
Van der Bogart Henry 207, 



Page 

Vandercook, C. R 56S, 633 

Van I loren ( Rev. 1 >r. ) - _ . ... 313 

Van Eaton, I Laid 112 

Van I lorn, John (12 

Van Nortwick, John 249, 258, 262 

Van Osdel, John M 180, 273, 294, 305, 

465, 490, 504, 505, 506. 

Vantassell, Levi R -..281, 383 

Van Vrankin, Benjamin 280 

Van Voorhis, Isaac W .-82, 457 

Van Wattenwytle, C. A. V 463 

Varnum, Jacob B. .. 88,89, 9° 

Vaughn, Daniel W - 421 

Vaughn, John C 402, 612 

"Velocipede Ferry". . 198 

Velie, Jacob W 592 

" Vermillion County Battalion " (1S27).. 265 

Vermont House . 63; 

Vessels built in Chicago (1847-1S71) 579 

Vincent, T. B. 330 

"Virginia," (vessel) --239, 240 

Vogt, John S 295 

Volker, Antonius 294 

Von Schneider, P 

Voss, Arno 185, 2S5 286, 3S9 

Voters, list of at first city election.. 177, 178 

Vrieland, Henry. 343 

Wabash-avenue Baptist Church 322 

Wabash-avenue Methodist Episcopal 
Church — First board of trustees and 

officers 329 

Wade, Daniel 269 

Wadsworth, Mrs. C. S. 310 

Wadsworth, E. S .. 257,258,582 

Wadsworth, F. W 227 

Wadsworth, James 36 

Wadsworth, Julius... . . 273. 477, 562, 563 

Wadsworth, Philip . . 2S5 

Wadsworth, Tertius 290 

Wadsworth, T. W._ . __ 230 

Wagner, William 467, 470 

Wagons and carriages — Early manufact- 
urers of 566, 569, 570 

Waggoner, Angelina 320 

Waggoner, Edwin 330 

Waggoner, H 330 

Waggoner, Mrs. H 330 

Wahl, Frederick 334 

Wait, J. F _. . _ 594 

Waite, "C. B 612 

Waite, George W 248 

Waite, Horace F. . _ 309 

Waite, Mrs. Horace F 309 

Waite, Thomas J 401, 402 

" Walk iD the Water " .239, 240 

Walbann, August 351 

Waldburger, J. J 389 

Waldo, Mrs. Clara M 341 

Waldron. A.J 262 

Waldron, John 292, 297 

Walker, Captain A. — Account of ravages 

of cholera in Chicago (1S32).. 120, 121, 
241. 

Walker, Abby. 341 

Walker, Miss A. W._ 219 

Walker, B. F . 343 

Walker, Charles, 171, 24S, 250, 452, 555, 
5S2, 586, 5S7. 

Walker, C. H 583, 584, 585, 587 

Walker, Deliver 341 

Walker, Mrs. Deliver 341 

Walker, George E 137 

Walker George H 269 

Walker, Isaac ....... 158 

Walker, James 116, 117, 142 

Walker, Rev. Jesse 112, 114, 132, 205, 

288, 289, 299, 325, 602. 

Walker, Joel 247 

Walker, John 205 

Walker, Joseph ... -. 462 

Walker, Rev. J. B 306, 395 

Walker, L. 214 

Walker, Lucy 637 

Walker, Rev.W. F 335. 336. *oS 

Walker, W.J 260 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Wallace, William H 96 102,103, 

Wallace, W. W 

Wallace & Davis . 

Wallace. Elisha B. . — 

Wallace. William H. L 

Waller, Mrs. Anton 

Walsh, David. . _ 

Walters, J. C - - - 

Walters. L 

Walton, Charles 

Wanlers. Agnes 

Ware. A. D 

Ware. 1. E 389, 

Ward . Amos _ 

Ward, B •- 

Ward, Daniel M - - — 

Ward, E. B. 

Ward, George L 

Ward, J. IE... 

Ward, Mary Frances 293 

Ward, Mrs'. Ruth... 

Ward. S. D. 314, 

Ward. T. W 

Warden, Peter 

Warner. Mrs. M. A 

Warner, Spencer 

Warner. Mrs. Spencer 

Warnock, John 

Warrington, Mrs. Isabella 

Warren, Hooper 

Warren, John A 

Warren, William 47S, 

W"arren, Sarah 

Washburne, Charles A 

Washburn, C. C 

Washburn, Elihu B 

"Washington School District " I Sixth 

Ward) — Appropriation for school 

(1S50) 

Washingtonian Home _ 

Washingtonian Society, organization 

first 

Washington Temperance Society 

Watchman of the Prairies 

Water Works 187, 189, 

Watkins, Francis _ 

W'atkins, John 175, 205,207, 

Watkins, Thomas 139, 

Watson, J . _ _ 

Watties, William 

Wattles, W. W 

Watson, James V . - . 408, 

Waubansee --74. 78; 

W'ayman, Mrs. Mary 

Wayne, General Anthony 

W'eatherford, William. 36, 

Weaver, Elisha -- 

Webber, George R 

Webber, John E — 

Webber, Nathaniel 

Webber, Mrs. Nathaniel 

Weber, C. P 

Webster, Mrs. Ann E. 

Webster, Daniel -..149, 235, 

Webster, Fletcher 

Webster, J. D 23S, 402, 

Weed, Ira M - 

Weekly Express (1852) 

Weekly Tribune, the(i840-iS4i) 

Wegland, William 

Wehrli. Rudolph 

Weikamp, Bernard _ 

Weikamp, John Bernard 

Weiler, Theodore 285, 

Weir, John B 

Weite, Alex . 

Welch, C. I! 

Welch, Michael .92, 

Welch, Patrick 

Weiler, Henry. 

Wellmaker, John 

Wells, Captain Elisha. 277, 

Wells, Elisha, his company for Mexican 

War 

Wells, Edwin E. 



Page 
Wells, E. S 570 

Wells, 11. G ... 319, 320 

Wells, J. B 172 

Wells, Captain William, sketch of. ..Si. S2 

Wells, William 70. So 

Wells, W. H 204, 215. 21S 

Wells. P. L 5S5 

Wells, Rebekah 80 

Wells, Captain Samuel 80 

Wells, Solomon.. 185 

Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Episcopal 
Church (1S45) — First Sunday-school 
— Ministers — Organisation of church 
— Members and officers — New- 
church building (1S67) — Present of- 
ficers — Sketch of denomination- 330, 331 

Wencker, Aug __ 297 

Wentworth, B. S 217 

Wentworth children 629,631, 637 

Wentworth, D. S 215, 216 

Wentworth, Elijah... 96, 103, 114, 116, 117, 
192, 602, 629, 631, 637. 

Wentworth, Elijah, Tr 147. 288 

Wentworth, Mrs. Elijah, Jr 2S8 

Wentworth, George \Y 372, 595 

Sketch of 463 

Wentworth, John 147, 171, 185, 235, 

23.7, 252', 267, 268, 271, 277, 316. 366, 
371, 372, 39°, 412. 446, 59 s . 6 33. &37- 

Sketch of 622-62S 

Wentworth, Lucy (W'alker) _. .115, 629, 637 

Wentworth, Rebecca. 637 

Wentworth's Tavern 112, 629, 630 

Wentworth, Mrs Zebiah (Estes) 114, 637 

Wentz, Christian 331 

West, Emanuel J. 166 

West Side Baptist Mission — 322 

Westcott, Seth 271 

Westergreen, N. O 332 

Westergreen, Olof. Mr. and Mrs 332 

Westerfeld, J. H ". 331 

Western Citizen, the '.., -. 383 

Western Crusader 410 

Western Enterprise _. 411 

Western Garland 411 

Western Hotel 633 

Western Institute of Homeopathy, of- 
ficers (1S51) 470 

Western Journal of Music (1S56) 411 

Western World Insurance & Trust Com- 
pany - 549 

Western Magazine, the (1S45-1S46) 389 

Western Museum, the. 4S3 

W'estern Tablet (Catholic, 1852-1855).. 407 
Westminster Presbyterian Church (new 
school), North Side — Rev. Ansel 
D. Eddy — Organization, 1855 — First 
elders — Organic members — First 
meetings — First church building — 
Second church building — Fourth 

Presbyterian Church. 309, 310 

Weston, Allyn .-.. 411 

Weston, Nathan 453 

Westover, Rev. J. T. — _ 323 

" Westward Ho," first boat that entered 

the river 241 

Wharfing privileges (1833-1S37) 141 

Wharfage property and docks 23S, 239 

Wheat, first invoice of shipped from 

Chicago S55 

Wheat, John W 2S2 

Wheeler, Alva 25S 

Wheeler, Charles H 257 

Wheeler, George M .. 262 

Wheeler, Hiram 584, 587 

Wheeler, John E 346, 389, 401, 416 

\\ heeler, Talman 337 

Wheeler, William - [87 

Whipple, T. Herbert 402, 410, 411, 502, 

5°3- 

Whipple, Rev. Henry 330 

Whipple, II. B.. 337 

Whipple. Mrs. P. 465 

Whistler, (leorge 72 

Whistler, George W 80 



Page 

Whistler, Captain John 72, 73, 80 

Whistler, Major John 92 

Whistler, |ohn... . .97, 240 

Whistler. General J. X. C... 80 

Whistler, Washington.. 97 

Whistler, William 72. 80, 84, 119, 268 

Whistler, Lieutenant William _ 72 

Whistler, Major William 84, 270 

Whistler, Colonel William 119 

Whitcomb, Lot 212 

White Cloud (Winnebago Prophetl 267 

White, Dudley C 226 

"White Elk" __ 90 

White, George. 604 

White, Rev. H. H. 323, 324 

White, Liberty 80 

White, R.J ..'. 32S 

White, R. N 294, 414 

White. R. M.. _ 506 

Whitehead. Henry 289 

Whitehead, Rev. Henry 325 

Whitehouse, Henry J... 336 

Whitelaw, Maggy 321 

Whitemarsh, Thomas C 341 

W'hitemarsh Mrs. Joliette F: - 341 

Whiting, A. B ..". 353 

Whiting, Captain Henry S9, 91 

Whiting, W. L. 581-582 

Whitlock, James 86, 148 

W'hitlock, Thomas 336 

Whitman, Seth S 465 

Whitney, George C. 342 

Whitney, Sarah 342 

Whittier, Mrs. A. E — 215 

Wicker. J. G. - 276 

Wickersham, Dudley. 284 

Wicoffe, Peter ._ 271 

Widening of the river, and condemned 

land 239 

Wier, J. B 274, 518, 519 

Wikkingson, Iver. 349 

Wight, Mrs. Caroline 315 

Wight, Rev. J.Ambrose .212, 306, 314. 

315. 378, 395, 39°- 

Wilburn, John S - 1S2 

Wilcox, A. S. 341 

Wilcox, Colonel De Lafayette_-.S4, 85, 132, 

300, 303. 

Wilcox, Elijah 247 

W'ilcox, Ed. P 309 

Wilcox, J 306, 308, 354 

Wilcox, John L 334 

Wilcox, Mrs. Mary E 309 

Wilcox, Mrs. S. G. 300 

Wild Onion River 100 

Wilder, A. G 215, 216 

Wilder, U. P 220 

Willard, Frances L 208, 301 

Willard, Henrv 329 

Willard, J. P.'. 637 

Willard, Lucius A 321 

Willard, Mrs. Mary A. F 321 

Willard, Dr. Samuel 208 

Willard, Silas 258 

Willard, Simeon 462 

Willard, Sylvester - 305 

"William Penn " (steamer) 241 

Williams, Archibald- - - . 448 

Williams, Barney -4S8, 489 

Williams, Rev. David 330 

Williams, D. D 330 

Williams, Mrs. D. D - . 330 

Williams, Edward 330 

Williams, Elizabeth — 319 

Williams, Eli B., 149, 156, 176, 208, 334, 

476, 477- 

Williams, Erastus S 220, 549 

Williams, Giles - 555 

Williams, H 221 

Williams, II. C 227 

Williams, Miss T 215 

Williams, JohnC 305 

Williams, Mrs. John C 305 

Williams, J. M 339 

Williams, Mrs. Lucy Fitch 310 



SPECIAL INDEX. 



Page 

Williams, Rev. Moses 330 

Williams, Mrs. Samuel--- 330 

Williams, S. B 315 

Williams, Rev. Thomas. 32S, 410 

Wills, Solomon.- 150 

Wilmot, George IS . - - - 2S0 

Wiley, A. C. . . - 25S 

Wilsey, Ferdinand L 467 

Wiley, Leroy 253 

Wilson, Charles L 377, 378 

Wilson, Henry T 271 

Wilson, Rev. James E.__ 32S, 333 

Wilson, James Grant 411 

Wilson, John 256, 263, 312, 350 

Wilson, John L 139, 147, 223 

Wilson, Joseph G — 407 

Wilson, J. M. _-_ 336, 471 

Wilson, Riehard L. 140, 147, 212, 236- 

278, 377. 378, 502. 

Wilson, Robert 2S6, 396 

Wilson, Roberts... 451 

Wilson, Theodore O - 284 

Wilson, William Duane 236, 401, 409 

Wimmerset, F. M .. 324 

Winnemeg 79, 109, 1 10 

Winter, W 332 

Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance 

Company Bank 532, 533, 534, 535 

Wisconsin City 134 

Wisconson & Superior _ 257 

Wisencraft, Charles 132,289, 325 

Wiesencraft, William 203 

Wisencraft, William.. — 327 

Wisencraft, Mrs. William 327 

VVitbeck, Mrs. Henry 309 

Witting, Victor 332 

Wunder, Henry 348, 351 

Wunderlich, Rev. E 332 

Wolcott's addition 131 

Wolcott, Alexander, Sr 90 



Wolcott, Dr. Alexander 35, 75, 90, 91, 

97, IOO, 101, 103, 104, 1S2, 264, 288, 
420, 457. 

Wolcott family 90 

Wolcott, Mrs. Ellen M ---90, 457 

Wolcott, Henry go 

Wolcott, Mary Ann 90 

Wolcott, Samuel 396 

Wolf, Augusta 22G 

Wolfe, Peter 185 

Wolf Point iu, 114, 174, 629, 630, 631, 

632 

Wolf Point 'I avern 96, 103, 106, 132, 637 

Wood, John 2S6 

Wood, Lewis N 476 

Wood, P. P 230 

Wood, S. R. 278 

Wood, W. A 1 25S 

Woodbridge, John . _ .. 310 

Woodbury, Catharine. 319 

Woodbury, Crecy '. 319 

Woodville, N. D 412 

Woodworth, E. D . 321 

Woodworth, Jacob 321 

Woodworth, James H 171, 1S5, 476, 614 

Woodworth, John M 321 

Woodworth, R. P 477 

Woodworth, Z 199 

Woolsey, Jedediah 182, 192,269 

Worrell, B. F 339, 395 

Worrell, Mrs. M . T 339 

Worrell, William H _ 339 

Worthington, William _.22I, 222 

Wright, Annie (Mrs. J. C. Webster) 206 

Wright, Edward 206 

Wright, Francis _ 206 

Wright, Frances S 305 

Wright, G. S - 285 

Wright, James -. 478 

Wright, Mrs. John 20S, 305 



Pa8c 

Wright, John, 129, 130, 132, 206, 20S, 290, 

299, 300, 301, 303, 357,396. 465- 

Wright, John S., 122 132 130, 158, 207, 

212, 251, 253, 2S9, 300, 305, 375, 396, 

569. 

Wright, John W 175 

Wright, Madam — 470, 471 

Wright, N. G 175 

Wright, O. H 256 

Wright, Thomas 207,209,357 

Wright, Timothy 132, 220, 396, 402 

Wright, T. G 171. 

Wright, Walter. 132, 410, 477, 521 

Wrose, Alfred 280 

Wyatt, W.J... 284 

Wygant, Alonzo 330 

Wynkoop, H. A 147 

Wyman, John B 285 

Yager, Joseph 294 

Yoe, P. L _ 230 

Yorkshire House 637 

" Young America " (hotel) (io, 637 

Young, Hugh 152 

Young, John _ 294 

Young, J. T : 286 

Young Men's Association 152, 521, 522 

Young, Rich M. 117, 420, 423, 446 

Youth's Gazette, the 383 

Youth's Western Banner (1853) 408 

Yunker, F. L 297 

Zabriska, Elias B. _ 280 

Zarley, J. W 269 

Zeitgeist _ 411 

Zempta, Eliza 332 

Zimmerman, Ed 322 

Zimmerman, Mrs. Harriet . 322 

Zimmerman, H. W 185, 337 

Zion's Evangelical German United 

Church 351 

Zoegel, Joseph _ - 295 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



MAPS. 

Page 

Marquette's I1673) 43 

Thevenot's (1673) - 47 

Joliet's colored map, (inset).. .4S, 49 

Carey's (iSoi) 51 

Morse's (1795) 5 2 

Hull's (1812) 53 

La Hontan's (1703) 54 

Hennepin's (16S3) 55 

United States U7S3) 57 

La Salle's (1679-1682). ._ .59, 60 

Franquelin's (16S4) -. 64 

Charlevoix (1774) -- 66 

DeL'Isle's (1703) - 67 

Sene.x's (1710) -- 67 

DeL'Isle's (1703) 63 

DeL'Isle's (171S) .- 63 

Moll's (1720) 63 

I CAnville's (1755).-- 69 

Mitchell's (1755) 69 

Carey's (1818).-. - 70 

Popple's (1733) 7o 

DuPratz (1757) --• 7* 

Chicago in 1S12 81 

Thompson's Plat 112 

Fort Dearborn in 1830-32 113 

Chicago in 1S30 (inset) 112, 113 

Plat of Chicago Lake Shore Line, show- 
ing changes from 1S21 to 1830 ... 5S9 

VIEWS. 

Chicago in 1779 ..: Frontispiece 

Chicago's Historical Tree 30 

Starved Rock 35 

The Kinzie House in 1832 75 

Fort Dearborn in 1 803 79 

Fort Dearborn in 1816 - 100 

The Clybourne House ..-- 104 

The Last of Fort Dearborn 628 

Chicago in 1S45 -- U9 

Chicago in 1830 - 164 

The Second Court-House. ■- 176 

The First Court-House. 177 

The Saloon Building- 180 



Page 
The Second Court-House, after third 

story was added -- 1S1 

Waterworks. -- 188 

Flood of 1849 - 200 

Chicago High School 218 

An Early Fire Engine 225 

The " Long John " Fire Engine 228 

St. Mary's Catholic Church -- 291 

First Catholic Cathedral 293 

The Temple Building.. 316 

First Baptist Church 316 

Second edifice erected by the First Bap- 
tist Society 3 r 7 

Tabernacle Baptist Church 320 

First Methodist Church 326 

St. James' Episcopal Church 335 

First Universalis! Church — 343 

First Unitarian Church 344 

Fac simile of — 

Chicago Democrat. 361-364 

Chicago Morning Democrat 367-370 

Chicago American 373~37° 

Chicago Daily American 379-382 

Chicago Express. 385-388 

Chicago Journal - 39 I_ 394 

Chicago Tribune 397-400 

Holcomb's Tribune. 403-404 

Chicago Commercial Advertiser-405-406 

Jackson Hall -- 371 

Rush Medical College 464 

Fac-simile of early theater bill . 488 

Fac-simile of first Masonic diploma is- 
sued to a Chicago man. — 509 

Masonic Temple 5 12 

Fac-simile of note of Chicago Marine & 

Fire Insurance Company — 531 

Fac-simile of Seth Paine's money 541 

Fac-simile of Michigan Wildcat money. 546 
Fac-simile of Wisconsin Wildcat money. 550 

Cattle Fair in 1856 560 

View of Chicago in 1853 592 

Wolf Point in 1830 630 

Dearborn-street Drawbridge, 1834 631 

Sauganash Hotel — 632 

Green Tree Hotel - - 634 



Page 

Frink & Walker's Stage Office. 636 

View of Clark Street in 1857 . . . . 638 

PORTRAITS. 

Hubbard, GurdonS... — 80 

Kinzie, John IL. 97 

Kinzie, Juliette A — 9S 

Kinzie, R. A — 99 

Clark, John K 101 

Clybourne, Archibald io r 

Clybourne, Mrs. Archibald 102 

Hall, David 103 

Porthier, Mrs. Victoire 105 

Beaubien, Mark 106 

Wentworth, Mrs. Zebiah Estes 114 

Hogan, John S. C. 139 

Hamilton, Richard J 143 

Keenon, Mrs. Ellen Hamilton 144 

Bates, John, Jr., 146 

Forbes, Stephen 204 

Forbes, Elvira — 205 

Chappel, Eliza 206 

Caton, Hon. J. D.. 240 

Beaubien, John B 266 

St. Cyr, Rev. J. M. I. 290 

Porter, Rev. Jeremiah 300 

Hinton, Rev. Isaac T 31S 

Carpenter, Philo 320 

Hallam, Rev. Isaac W 336 

Calhoun, John C 360 

Wentworth, Hon. John 384 

Morris, Buckner S. 4 2 ° 

Peck, Ebenezer 429 

1 1 untington, Alonzo ... - 430 

Smith, S. Lisle 43 2 

Iiutterfield, Justin. - 434 

Arnold, Hon. Isaac H 448 

Egan, W. B 459 

Brainard, Dr. D 465 

Isherwood, Harry 475 

Scammon, Hon. J. V 52S 

Cook, Hon. D. P. 600 

Ogden, Hon. W. B 617 

Caldwell, Archibald 629 

Wentworth, Elijah 637 




Copyright by A. T. Andreas. 1884. 



CHICAGO S HISTORIC TREE. 



THE LOCATION OF THE MASSACRE OF 1812. 



CHICAGO'S HISTORIC TREE. 

There is now standing in Eighteenth Street, between 
Prairie Avenue and the lake, a large cottonwood tree 
which marks the site of the massacre of 1812, and 
which, there is reason to believe, possesses even a 
greater historic value ; as it is believed by many old 
settlers to have been standing at the time of the disas- 
ter. In order that the appearance of this landmark 
might be preserved, and that the memories clustering 
about it might not pass from mind, we have caused the 
tree to be photographed and engraved, and have also 
obtained documentary evidence that the Kinzie family 
regarded both the site referred to and this particular 
tree as historic. 

On the morning of August 15, 181 2, the troops and 
settlers left the fort, proceeded southward "about a 
mile and a half," and were attacked by the Indians. 
A fearful tragedy was there enacted, as is described in 
the history of Fort Dearborn elsewhere in this volume. 

Having ascertained that Mrs. Juliette A. Kinzie 
had, during her lifetime, informed her friend, Mrs. 
Henry YV. King, of the belief concerning this tree, we 
addressed Mrs. King a letter of inquiry and received 
the following reply: 

" 151 Rush Street, Chicago, ) 
" January 25, 1S84. \ 

"A. T. Andreas, Dear Sir: I am very happy to tell you what 
I know about the tree in question, for I am anxious that its value 
as a relic should be appreciated by Chicago people; especially since 
the fire has obliterated nearly every other object connected with 
our early history. Shortly before the death of my friend, Mrs. 
John H. Kinzie, I called upon her and asked her to drive with me 
through the city and point out the various locations and points of 
interest that she knew were connected with the ' early day ' of 
Chicago. She said there were very few objects remaining, but 
localities she would be happy to show me. She appointed a day, 
but was not well enough to keep her appointment; went East soon 
afterward for her health, and died within a few weeks. However, 
at the interview I mention, she said that to her the most interesting 
object in our city was the old cottonwood tree that stands on 
Eighteenth Street, between Prairie Avenue and the lake. She 
remarked that it, with its fellow, were saplings at the time of the 
Indian massacre, and that they marked the spot of that fearful 
occurrence; though she was not sure but the smaller one had either 
died or been cut down. I expressed surprise at the location, imag- 
ining that the massacre occurred further south, among the small 
sandhills which we early settlers remember, in the vicinity of Hyde 
Park. I remember that her answer to this was: 

" ' My child, you must understand that in 1S12 there was no 
Chicago, and the distance between the old fort and Eighteenth 
Street was enormous.' Said she: ' My husband and his family 
always bore in mind the location of that massacre, and marked it 
by the cottonwood trees, which, strange to say, have stood unharmed 
in the middle of the street until this day.' 

" The above facts I communicated to the Chicago Historical 
Society, soon after Mrs. Kinzie's death, and believe, through them, 
was the means of preventing the cutting down of the old tree, which 
the citizens of the South Side had voted to be a nuisance. I sin- 
cerely hope something may be done to fence in and preserve so 
valuable a relic and reminder of one of the most sad and 
interesting events in the life of Chicago. Trusting the above 
information may be of some use to you, and that you may be able 
to present the matter in a more entertaining form than I have done, 
Helieve me, sir, Yours most respectfully, 

•' Mrs. Henry W. King " 

Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, whose residence in Chicago 
since 1836 enabled him to enjoy the friendship of the 
Kinzie family, was asked to state what he knew re- 
garding the subject. His response reads thus: 



" Chicago, January 25, 1884. 

" Captain A. T. Andreas, Dear Sir: I have your note of this 
morning asking me to state what I know relating to the massacre 
at Chicago in 1S12. I came to Chicago in October, 1S36; the Fort 
Dearborn Reservation then and for several years thereafter belonged 
to the Government, and there were but a few scattering houses 
from Fort Dearborn south to the University and between Michigan 
Avenue and the beach of Lake Michigan. The sand hills near the 
shore were still standing. The family of John II. Kinzie was then 
the most prominent in Chicago, and the best acquainted with its 
early history. From this family and other old settlers, and by 
Mr. and Mrs. Kinzie, I was told where the attack upon the soldiers 
by the Indians was made. There were then growing some cotton- 
wood trees near wliich I was told the massacre occurred. One of 
those trees is still standing in the street leading from Michigan 
Avenue to the lake and not very far from the track of the Illinois 
Central Railroad. This tree was pointed out to me by both Mr. 
and Mrs. Kinzie, as near the place where the attack began. As the 
fight continued the combatants moved south and west over consid- 
erable space. Mrs. John H. Kinzie was a person of clear and 
retentive memory and of great intelligence. She wrote a full and 
graphic history of the massacre, obtaining her facts, in part, from 
eye-witnesses, and I have no doubts of her accuracy. 

" Very respectfully yours, Isaac N. Arnold." 

A. J. Galloway, Esq , who has resided in the vicinity 
for many years, says ; 

Chicago, February S, 1884. 

Captain A. T.Andreas — My Dear Sir: At your request I 
will state my recollections concerning the cottonwood tree in the 
east end of Eighteenth Street. When I removed from Eldridge 
Court, to the present No. 1S08 Prairie Avenue, in 1858, the tree 
was in apparent good condition, though showing all the marks of 
advanced age. The large lower branches (since cut off,) after 
mounting upward for a time, curved gracefully downward, so that 
a man riding under them could have readily touched their extrem- 
ities, with his whip, at a distance of twenty or twenty-five feet from 
the body of the tree. From an intimate knowledge of the growth 
of trees, I have no doubt but its sapling life long antedated the 
time of the massacre of the Fort Dearborn garrison. I will venture 
the opinion, that if it were cut down and the stump subjected to a 
careful examination, it would be found that the last two inches of 
its growth covers a period of fifty years, at least. 
Yours truly, 

A. J. Galloway. 

Charles Harpell, an old citizen, now living on the 
North Side, says that so far back as he can remember, 
this locality was known as the "Indian battle-ground;" 
that years ago, when a boy, he, with others, used to 
play there (the place from its very associations having 
the strongest attractions!, and hunt in the sand for 
beads and other little trinkets, which they were wont to 
find in abundance. Mr. Harpell relates also that he, 
while playing there one day, found an old single-bar- 
reled brass pistol, which he kept for many years before 
it was finally lost. 

Mrs. Mary Clark Williams, whose father, H. B. 
Clark, purchased in 1833 the land on which the tree 
now stands, says that nearly fifty years ago she played 
under the old cottonwood, and that it was then a large 
and thrifty tree. In 1840 an old Indian told her father 
that the massacre occurred on that spot. 

Although there is no way of positively determining 
that the tree pictured on the opposite page is the iden- 
tical one that stood, a mere sapling, on the spot during 
the massacre, there is strong, almost conclusive, cause 
for declaring it the same. At all events, the proof of 
the site is satisfactory, and the view herewith presented 
is an interesting one, as showing how the scene of bar- 
baric treaihery appears after a lapse of nearly seventy 
two vears. 



191 



ERRATA. 

Page 47. In description of Thevenot's map it should be 
stated that Kaskaskia village is represented, although with a differ- 
ent spelling of the name. 

Page 54, eighteenth line from bottom, right hand column. 
" Northwestern shore of Lake Michigan" should read northeastern. 
Page 73. seventy-third line from top, left hand column. John 
J?, should read John A'. (Clark). 

Page 76. The sketch of the Kinzie House ends with the 
words, "numbered with the things that were." What follows 
should have borne the caption, " Pottawatomies in the War 
of 1812." The caption was in the original copy, but dropped out, 
either in the type-writing or composition. 

Pages Si, 82 and wherever name occurs, read Ensign Ronan, 
for Ensign Ronau. 

Page S2. Eor De Isaac Van Voorhis, read Dr. Isaac Van 
Voorhis. 

Page 84. For George Bendu, read George Bender. 
Page go. For City Surveyor (Alexander Wolcott), read County 
Surveyor. 

Pages 105, no, and 137. The discrepancy in statement con- 
cerning Mrs. Porthier and Mr. Gurdon S. Hubbard, as to each 
being " oldest living settler," is explained by reference to the fact 
that Mrs. Porthier was here prior to the massacre and removed 
from Chicago in 1835: while Mr. Hubbard came later but still 
resides here. 

Page in. Sixteenth line from top, left hand column . For 
" Watseca " read Iroquois. Same column : Alhira Hubbard should 
read Ahira Hubbard. 

Page 146. For " courier De Bois " read couriers tie bois. 
Page 179. " Urbs in Horte" should be " Urbs in Horto." 
Page 180. William H. Darris should be William H. Davis. 
Page 217. Jonathan T. Scammon should read Jonathan Y. 
Scammon. 

The date of the arrival of the "Sheldon Thompson," with 
General Scott and the cholera, was. according to the testimony of 
Captain Augustus Walker (see his letter p. 121) July 10, 1S32. On 
page 84 and page 270 the date is given as July 8. Depending on 
the testimony of Captain Walker, and on contemporaneous letters 
of General Scott, the date of his arrival is believed to be July io, 
1832. 



History of Early Chicago. 



EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENT. 



ORIGINAL PROPRIETORS OF THE SOIL. 

THE first definite and reliable information regarding 
the original proprietors of the soil of Chicago, is 
gained from the account given by LaSalle, of his expe- 
dition from the mouth of the St. Joseph, in Michigan, 
by land, to the Illinois River, in the winter of 1681-82. 
He says he proceeded on his journey from St. Joseph, 
toward the Illinois, by the southern shore of the lake, 
and was in the country of the Miamis until he reached 
what was then the Checaugau, but is now the Desplaines 
River. The portage which he was obliged to cross in 
order to reach that river, he calls the Checaugau Port- 
age. The neighbors of the Miamis, on the west, were 
the Mascoutins. 

The Miamis, whose ianguge, manners and customs 
were almost identical with those of the Illinois, are 
supposed to be the parent race, or an important branch 
of that nation. They originally lived beyond the Missis- 
sippi, some writers claiming that their home was on the 
shore of the Pacific. They had villages, one in common 
with the Mascoutins — in Wisconsin, before 167 1, and 
as late as 1697 ; but the greater portion of the tribe, 
before this time, had found their way to the southern 
shore of Lake Michigan, and east to the neighborhood 
of the St. Joseph River, in the present State of Michigan. 
They were of sufficient importance in Wisconsin, even as 
late as 1690, to warrant the English in sending an ambas- 
sador to their villages to purchase their friendship with 
gifts. They were partial to the French, however, and 
the overtures of the English met with little success. 
In 1670 the village of United Miamis and Mascoutins 
on Fox River of Green Bay, was visited by Father 
Allouez, and the following year by Fathers Allouez and 
Dablon in company. One object of the visit of the 
fathers in 167 1 was to quiet a disturbance between the 
Indians and some French fur traders who had offended 
them. 

"We found them." says Father Dablon, " in a pretty bad pos- 
ture, and the minds of the savages much soured against the French, 
who were there trading ; ill-treating them in deeds and words, 
pillaging and carrying away their merchandise in spite of them, 
and conducting themselves toward them with insupportable inso- 
lence and indignities." 

The Indians, although insolent to the traders, it 
seems were desirous of pleasing the missionaries, and 
Father Dablon, who had a keen sense of the ludicrous, 
found it hard to preserve his gravity, when a band of 
savage warriors, anxious to do them honor, marched to 
their tent, and slowly paced back and forth before it, 
aping the movements of the soldiers on guard before 
the Governor's tent at Montreal. " We could hardly 
3 33 



keep from laughing," writes the good priest, " though 
we were discoursing on very important subjects, namely: 
the mysteries of our religion, and the things necessary 
to escaping eternal fire." 

The Miami confederacy, composed of the Miamis, 
Illinois and Kickapoos, and which Bancroft says was the 
most powerful in the West, exceeding even the Six 
Nations, or Iroquois, included the Miamis proper, Weas 
and Piankeshaws. 

In 1683 a large number of the nation settled at 
LaSalle's fort on the Illinois River. LaSalle wrote 
that year from the " Portage de Chicagau," to LaBarre, 
then Governor of Canada, " The Iroquois are again 
invading the country. Last year the Miamis were so 
alarmed by them, that they abandoned their town and 
fled, but at my return they came back, and have been 
induced to settle with the Illinois at my fort of St. 
Louis. The Iroquois have lately murdered some fam- 
ilies of their nation." The Miamis, at Fort St. Louis, 
numbered 1,300, the Weas 500, and the Piankeshaws 

i5°- 

Charlevoix, writing in 172 1, says : " Fifty years ago 
the Miamis were settled on the southern extremity of 
Lake Michigan, in a place called Chicago, from the 
name of a small river which runs into the lake, the 
source of which is not far distant from that of the 
river of the Illinois." 

St. Cosme and his companions found Miamis at 
Chicago, in 1699-1700, and a mission established among 
them, in charge of two Jesuit Fathers — Pinet and Bine- 
teau. It is said by an early writer, that in 17 18, "the 
Weas had a village at Chicago, but being afraid of the 
canoe people* left it, and passed around the head of 
Lake Michigan, to be nearer their brethren farther to 
the east. Prior to this time — in 1702 — DeCourtemanche, 
an agent of France, had visited the Miamis, both at 
St. Joseph River and Chicago, to induce them to cease 
their wars with the Iroquois, which prevented communi- 
cation between Canada and Louisiana by way of the 
Illinois River. A council of the Algonquin tribes was 
appointed at Montreal, which was attended by Chichika- 
talo, then principal chief of the Miami nation, who made 
a speech in which he affirmed his friendship for the 
French, and desired to be guided by their wishes. The 
Foxes, from the vicinity of Green Bay, succeeded the 
Iroquois in their attacks upon the Illinois and Miamis, 
and during the first quarter of the eighteenth centurv 
had probably driven the latter from the vicinity of 
Chicago. From that time until the termination of Pon- 
tiac's War and the final defeat and extermination of the 



and Chippewas, who 



! from the north i 



34 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



Illinois at Starved Rock, when the Pottawatorriies 
grained possession of the country, the region now 
Chicago was inhabited, if inhabited at all, by roving 
bands of northern Indians. 

Major Thomas Forsyth, who lived a large portion 
of his life among the Indians of Illinois and Iowa, 
says* that in the first quarter of the eighteenth century, 
all the different bands of the Illinois Indians spoke the 
language of the Miamis, and the whole considered 
themselves as one people ; but from their local situation 
the language was broken up into different dialects. 
" These Indians were attacked by a general confederacy 
of other nations, such as the Sauks and Foxes, who 
resided at Green Bay, and on the Ouisconsin ; the 
Sioux, whose frontiers extended south to the River 
Des Moines ; the Chippewas and Pottawatomies from 
the lakes ; and also the Cherokees and Choctaws from 
the south. The war continued many years, and until 
that great nation, the Minneways (Miamis or Illinois) 
was destroyed, except a few Miamis and Weas on 
the Wabash, and a few who were scattered among 
strangers." 

That portion of the Miamis who were driven from 
Chicago, found a home with the rest of the tribe, on 
the St. Joseph, the Maumee and the Wabash. During 
the war of the Revolution, the tribe was hostile to the 
colonies, and even after the treaty of peace, consum- 
mated in the year 1783, their depredations upon the 
settlers on the Ohio and Maumee were continued until 
the final surrender of the northwestern lake posts in 
1796. In 1790, peace negotiations were opened with 
the Miamis and other tribes, which proved unsuccessful, 
and General Harmer was sent with an army by General 
Washington to bring the tribes to submission. Battles 
were fought near Chillicothe, Ohio, and near Fort Wayne, 
Indiana, neither of which was very successful on the 
part of the Americans. 

In 1 79 1 two other expeditions were directed against 
the hostile Miamis, Shawanoes and others on the Miami 
and Wabash — one under command of General Charles 
Scott, and the other under General Wilkinson. In 1791 
Governor Arthur St. Clair, of the Northwest Territory, 
marched with an army of fourteen hundred men to within 
fifteen miles of the Miami villages on the Great Miami, 
where on the 4th of November a sanguinary battle was 
fought. The Indians, led by Little Turtle, fought 
bravely, and finally defeated the Americans, who were 
compelled to retreat, abandoning their camp and artillery. 
In the precipitate flight the men threw down arms and 
accoutrements, and never halted until they reached 
Fort Jefferson, twenty-one miles distant. This success 
encouraged the Indians, and their depredations were 
only stopped by the decisive victory gained by General 
Anthony Wayne over the Western Confederacy of 
Indians, in August, 1794, which was followed by the 
treaty of Greenville, August 3, 1795 — tne first treaty 
with the United States, to which the Miamis were a 
party. It was at this treaty that Little Turtle, the prin- 
cipal chief of the nation, made his celebrated speech, 
defining the limits of his country. He said to General 
Wayne, " You have pointed out to us the boundary line 
between the Indian and the United States. I now take 
the liberty to inform you that the line cuts off from the 
Indian a large portion of country which has been 
enjoyed by my forefathers from time immemorial, with- 
out question or dispute. The prints of my ancestors' 
houses are everywhere to be seen in this region. It is 
well known by all my brothers present, that my fore- 
fathers kindled the first fire at Detroit; from thence 

« Drake's ■ Life of Hlack Hawk, ' 1826. 



extended their line to the head waters of the Scioto ; 
from thence to its mouth ; thence to Chicago, on Lake 
Michigan. These are the boundaries within which the 
prints of my ancestors' houses are everywhere to be 
seen." 

In 1840 what iew Miamis remainea .n the East 
were removed from the Wabash to a tract of land now 
comprised in Miami County, Kansas. They had in- 
creased in numbers during the preceding years of peace, 
and numbered about eleven hundred when they went 
to the Indian Territory. Homesickness soon reduced 
their ranks, and after remaining in the West a year, a 
large part of those surviving returned to Indiana. In 
1854 the tribe ceded their land in Kansas to the United 
States, excepting a reservation for their own use and 
occupancy ; which, also, they ceded in 1867. Quite a 
number became citizens of Kansas, and the remainder 
were removed to the present Indian Territory, where 
they became confederated with the Peorias. The last 
of the Miamis in Kansas, numbering about one hun- 
dred and thirty, removed to the Indian Territory in 
1871. 

The Pottawatomies. — The Pottawatomies, Otta- 
was and Chippewas, whose language, manners and cus- 
toms are similar, are supposed to be the original people 
who lived at the " villages of the falls," at St. Mary's 
Strait, and on the northern bank of Lake Huron. 
These tribes belong to the great Algonquin family, and 
speak one of its rudest dialects. They were hunters 
and fishers, and by the Illinois Indians, who never made 
voyages on the water, were called the " canoe people," 
and held in dread, as they were warlike, and frequently in 
collision with neighboring tribes. The first mention of the 
Pottawatomies by the French Jesuits, is in the Relation 
of 1639, where it is said that John Nicolet had visited 
them at their islands of Green Bay, where they had been 
driven by the Iroquois. These islands were known as 
the Pottawatomie Islands, and were the residence of the 
tribe for many years. Before the expiration of the first 
quarter of the eighteenth century a large portion of the 
Pottawatomies had emigrated toward the south, one 
band making a home on the St. Joseph River, of Mich- 
igan, and another in the vicinity of Detroit. They were 
always intimately associated with other tribes — usually 
with the Ottawas or Chippewas, but sometimes with 
Miamis, Foxes or Winnebagoes. They were faithful 
allies of the French until after the death of Pontiac, and 
took part with that chieftain in his attack on Fort St. 
Joseph, in May, 1763, and the subsequent siege of 
Detroit. 

A treaty was concluded between the English and the 
Western Confederacy in August, 1764, and of the nine- 
teen hundred and thirty warriors assembled at Niagara, 
as representatives of the various tribes, four hundred 
and fifty were Pottawatomies. Pontiac, disappointed at 
the result of his efforts to keep the hated English from 
the region of Detroit, came, it is said, to Illinois, and 
settled with a band of Ottawas, on the banks of the 
Kankakee. In 1769 he was assassinated, and it was 
believed by the united tribes (Ottawas and Pottawato- 
mies) that the Illinois Indians were accessory to the 
crime. In revenge for the death of their idolized leader, 
war was waged by the Pottawatomies and other North- 
western tribes against the Illinois, until the latter was 
exterminated, and the victors had possession of all 
northern Illinois. " Starved Rock," in LaSalle County 
(the " Rock of St. Louis," of LaSalle and Tonty), was 
the scene of the final disaster which completely anni- 
hilated the once powerful nation which gave the State 
of Illinois its name. Driven from one place of refuge 



ORIGINAL PROPRIETORS OF THE SOI 



35 



to another, the last surviving remnant of the Illinois In- 
dians gathered on the summit of Starved Rock, where 
they were besieged by their enemies on every side ; and 
when, at last, compelled by the pangs of hunger and 
thirst, in desperation they attempted to force a path 
through the ranks of the enemy, nearly every one was 
slain. Scarcely enough escaped to tell the tale. 

The Pottawatomies were now the dominant tribe in 
upper Illinois, although in many cases their villages were 
composed of United Pottawatomies, Ottawas and Chip- 
pewas.* Through the Revolution they were hostile to 
the Americans, but after the victory gained by General 
Wayne over the Western Confederates in the summer 
of 1794, at Presque Isle, on the Maumee River, the 
Pottawatomies joined the other tribes in suing for 
peace. 

The nations, who with the Pottawatomies, formed 
the confederated Indian 
force led by Little Turtle 
and Blue Jacket, Ottawa 
and Shawnee chiefs, 
against General Wayne at 
this decisive battle, which 
eventuated in the treaty 
of Greenville, were the 
Miamis, Shawanoes, Del- 
awares, Chippewas and 
Ottawas. 

On the 3d of August, 
1795, the treaty of Green- 
ville was concluded at the 
fortified camp of General 
Wayne, called by that 
name. By this treaty the 
Indians ceded an im- 
mense tract of country, 
south of the lakes and 
west of the Ohio, to- 
gether with certain spe- 
cific tracts, including the 
sites of all the Northwest- 
ern posts. 

The Pottawa t o m i e s 
were represented by the starve] 

chiefs of the St. Joseph, 

Wabash and Huron-river bands Pottawatomies of the 
Woods) and by the leading chiefs of the " Pottawato- 
mies of the Prairie " — the latter being those living in 
Illinois. The stipulations of this treaty remained un- 
broken until 1811, when the machinations of Tectim- 
seh and the Prophet sent General Harrison to the 
Wabash, and the battle of Tippecanoe followed. 

By this treaty of Greenville the Indians ceded to 
the United States, " one piece of land six miles square, 
at the mouth of Chicago River, emptying into the south- 
west end of Lake Michigan, where a fort formerly 
stood." There was also a stipulation that the Indians 
should allow a free passage to the people of the United 
States 'from the mouth of the Chicago to the com- 
mencement of the portage between that river and the 
Illinois, and down the Illinois River to the Mississippi." 

The Pottawatomies joined in the treaty negotiated 
at Fort Wayne by General Harrison in 1803, and before 
1809 had ceded considerable of their land to Govern- 
ment. In the War of 1812 a portion of the tribe joined 
the English, influenced by Tecumseh, and his brother 
the Prophet, and under the leadership of Suna-we- 
wo-nee, war-chief of the Prairie bands, made war upon 
the Americans, and participated in the massacre of the 

* See " Pottawatomies in the War of 1812," further on in this history. 




Fort Dearborn garrison. A treaty of peace was made 
with this band at Portage des Sioux in July, 1815, which 
was signed by Suna-we-wo-nee, and it is said the band 
never broke the pledge of friendship then made. In 
the following September, a general treaty with the Pot- 
tawatomies and other tribes was made at Detroit. 

Portions of the country claimed by the " Pottawato- 
mies of the Woods," Chippewas and Ottawas, in what 
is now the State of Michigan, were ceded to the United 
States prior to 1820, by treaties at Spring Wells, St. 
Mary's and Saginaw. In 1821 it was proposed by 
Government to extinguish the Indian title to that por- 
tion of the country lying between the northern boun- 
dary line of Indiana and the Grand River of Michi- 
gan. It was believed that the Pottawatomies and kin- 
dred tribes — the United Tribes — numbered at this time- 
in Michigan about four thousand. 

A council to effect this 
object was appointed, to be 
held at Chicago, in August, 
1 82 1. Governor Lewis 
Cass, of Michigan Terri- 
tory, and Solomon Sibley, 
were appointed United 
States Commissioners, and 
Henry R. Schoolcraft was 
named as their Secretary. 
Mr. Schoolcraft, in his 
work entitled " Travels in 
the Central Portions of the 
Mississippi Valley," which 
was published in 1825, 
gives a full account of the 
proceedings of this council, 
and of the appearance of 
the country at that time. 
He says: 

" On crossing the Des- 
plaines, we found the opposite 
shore thronged with Indians, 
whose loud and obtrusive saluta- 
tions caused us to make a few 
minutes' halt. From this point 
we were scarcely ever out of 
sight of straggling parties, all 
proceeding to the same place. 
Most commonly they were mounted on horses, and apparelled 
in their best manner, and decorated with medals, silver bands 
and feathers. The gaudy and showy dresses of these troops of 
Indians, with the jingling caused by the striking of their ornaments, 
and their spirited manner of riding, created a scene as novel as 
it was interesting. Proceeding from all parts of a very extensive 
circle of countrv, like ravs converging to a focus, the nearer we 
approached, the more compact and concentrated the body became, 
and we found our cavalcade rapidly augmented, and. consequently, 
the dust, confusion and noise increased at every by-path which 
intersected our way. After crossing the south fork of the Chi- 
cago, and emerging from the forest that skirts it, nearly the whole 
number of those who had preceded us appeared on the extensive 
and level plain that stretches along the shores of the lake, while 
the refreshing and noble appearance of the lake itself, with ' vast 
and sullen swell,' appeared beyond. We found, on reaching the 
post, that between two and three thousand Indians were assembled 
— chiefly Pottawatomies, Ottawas and Chippewas. Many arrived 
on the two following days. Provisions were daily issued by the 
Indian Department, during the treaty, to about three thousand." 

The Council opened on the 17th and continued over 
a week. It was held on the north bank of the Chicago 
River, probably between the present North State and 
Pine streets — the space included between the house of 
John Kinzie and that of Dr. Wolcott, the Indian Agent. 
In the course of the proceedings Governor Cass de- 
fined the limits of the country then owned by the Pot- 
tawatomies, as extending along both banks of the 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



Illinois and all its tributaries. On the north it reached 
along the western shore of Lake Michigan to the 
Winnebagoes of Green Bay. On the east they claimed 
all the country beyond the St. Joseph to the head waters 
of the Maumee and Wabash, and on the west, to the 
territory of the Sacs and Foxes on the Mississippi. The 
principal speakers on the part of the Pottawatomies were 
Topinebee.* chief the St. Joseph band, and Metea, of 
the Wabash band. The Ottawas and Chippewas also 
had their spokesman, and by each it was affirmed that 
the Pottawatomies. Ottawas and Chippewas were 
originally one nation, and still considered themselves as 
one people.t 

A treaty was concluded after a long delay on the 
part of the Pottawatomies, and five million acres passed 
to the possession of the United States Government, the 
latter to pay to the Pottawatomies five thousand dollars 
annually for twenty years, and to appropriate one thou- 
sand annually for the support of a blacksmith and a 
teacher among them. The Ottawas and Chippewas 
received a smaller amount. 

In 1827 the Pottawatomies refused to join the Win- 
nebagoes in their hostile demonstrations against the 
Americans, and again in 1832, although many of the 
younger warriors were in favor of joining Black Hawk, 
the councils of Shawbonee.J Robinson and the Sauga- 
nash prevailed, and the Pottawatomie chiefs not only 
prevented the tribe from taking part in the war, but did 
their utmost to serve and protect the whites. 

The last treaty between these Indians and the 
United States, prior to their removal to the Indian Ter- 
ritory, was made at Chicago — being concluded Septem- 
ber 26, 1833. George B. Porter, Thomas F. V. Owen, 
and William Weatherford were Commissioners on the 
part of the Government. A preliminary council was 
held with the principal chiefs more than a week before 
the formal council, which was on the 21st of September. 

Charles Joseph Latrobe, an English author, traveling 
in the United States, was present at this treaty. Speak- 
ing of the scene at the time of his visit, he says : 

" When within live miles o[ Chicago, we came to the first In- 
dian encampment. Five thousand Indians were said to be col- 
lected around this little upstart village -for the prosecution of the 
treaty, by which they were to cede their lands in Michigan and Illi- 
nois. We found the village, on our arrival, crowded to excess; 
we procured, with great difficulty, a small apartment, comfortless 
and noisy from its close proximity to others, but quite as good as 
we could have hoped for. The i'ottawatomies were encamped on 
all sides on the wide, level prairie beyond the scattered village, 
beneath the low woods which chequered them, on the sides of the 
small river, or to the leaward of the sand hills near the beach of the 
lake." 

At the informal council the Indians had informed the 
commissioners that they did not wish to sell their lands; 
they wished, on the contrary, to keep them; but, as the 
council was appointed, they were urged to take the mat- 
ter into consideration, which they did. Nearly a week 
elapsed before they could be again induced to meet the 
commissioners, and in the meantime — 

* The same chief who showed himself friendly to the inhabitants of Chi- 
cago in 1812. 

* Mr. Schoolcraft, in a note regarding the common origin of these tribes, says: 
•• This testimony of a common origin derives additional weight from the general 
resemblance of these tribes in person, manners, customs and dress, but above 
all. by their having but one council, fire, and speaking one language. Still, 
there arc obvious characteristics which will induce an observer, after a general 
acquaintance, to pronounce the Pottawatomies tall, fierce, haughty ; the Ot- 
tawas, short, thick-set, good natured, industrious; tin Chippewas, war-like 
daring, etc. Hut the generic lineaments, or to borrow a phrase from natural 
history, the suite features are identical." 

J The spelling— Shaw-bo-ncc -is purely arbitrary, and is adopted, in the 
absence of any generally accepted standard, as giving phonetically the sound 
of the name as commonly pronounced. Hurlbut and Wentworth spell it 
Shabotlee. In the treaty signed at Prairie du Chien in 1825. it is signed 
Chaboner; in the treaty of Prairie du Chien in 1829. Shab-eh-nay ; and in the 
Chicago treaty of 1S33, b twice spelled differently— Shab-eh-nah, and Sha-be- 



" Companies of old warriors might be seen sitting smoking under 
every bush, arguing, palavering, or powwowing with great earnest- 
ness; but there seemed no possibility of bringing them to another 
council in a hurry. * * * The little village of Chicago was in 
an uproar from morning to night, and from night to morning; for 
during the hours of darkness, when the housed portion of the in- 
habitants of Chicago sought to obtain repose in the crowded plank 
edifices of the village, the Indians howled, sang, wept, veiled and 
whooped in their various encampments. * * * The large body 
of Indians collected in the vicinity consisted not merely of chiefs 
and warriors, but in fact the greater part of the whole tribe were 
present; for where the warrior was invited to feast at the expense 
of the Government, the squaw took care to accompany him; and 
where the squaw went the children or papooses, the ponies, and the 
innumerable dogs followed, and here they were living merrily at the 
cost of the Government. Not far from the river lay many groups 
of tents constructed of coarse canvas, blankets and mats, and sur- 
mounted by poles supporting meat, moccasins and rags. Their 
vicinity was always enlivened by various painted Indian figures, 
dressed in the most gaudy attire. * * * Far and wide the 
grassy prairie teemed with figures — warriors mounted or on foot, 
squaws and horses. Here a race between three or four Indian 
ponies, each carrying a double rider, who were whooping and yell- 
ing like fiends; here a solitary horseman, with a long speer, turbaned 
like an Arab, scouring along at full speed; groups of hobbled 
horses; Indian dogs and children; or a grave conclave of grey 
chiefs seated on the grass in consultation." 

For the residences of the United States Commission- 
ers, and other notables present at the treaty, a number 
of plank huts or cabins were erected on the north bank 
of the Chicago River. In the vicinity of these the 
council fire of the United Tribes was lighted under a 
spacious open shed standing on the green prairie, and 
on the afternoon of the 21st of September some twenty 
or thirty chiefs assembled around it to eommenee pro- 
ceedings. The Indians were seated at the western end 
of the council room and the commissioners were oppo- 
site them. On the 26th the treaty was concluded; on 
the 27th certain supplementary articles added; and, to 
the shame of the whites be it said, the Indians sold their 
lands, not because they did not love it and wish to re- 
main upon it, but because they loved whisky better than 
everything else besides, and were allowed to drink until 
they cared for nothing else, but passively " put their 
hands to the quijl " and signed away the land which 
they had conquered, and had claimed for three quarters 
of a century. The land ceded by this treaty contained 
about five million acres, and was, with the exception of 
some small reservations, all then claimed by the United 
Tribes in Illinois and Michigan. 

They were granted a reservation which was then a 
part of the Indian Territory, but which by the " Platte 
Purchase" of 1836 became the northwestern portion 01 
Missouri. In the summer of 1835, the Pottawatomies 
came for the last time to Chicago to receive their annu- 
ities, and to start thence for their Western reservation. 
The total number that assembled was about five thou- 
sand. While in the town of Chicago, at that time, the 
Indians performed their war-dance, as a sort of farewell 
to their old home and their remaining friends among 
the whites. They were removed by Government, under 
charge of the late Captain J. B. V. Russell, to the reser- 
vation assigned them, now in northwestern Missouri, and 
about two years later again removed to the present site 
of Council Bluffs, Iowa. In 1837, the Pottawatomies 
of Indiana were removed to a tract on the Osage 
River, now in Miami Co., Kans. In 1848, the several 
bands disposed of their lands in Iowa and on the Osage 
for the sum of $850,000 and removed to another reser- 
vation on the Kansas River, where they were joined in 
1850 by the remnant still remaining in Michigan. In 
their Western home, as here, they were divided iiito the 
I'ottawatomies of the Woods, the Mission band (who 
were generally Catholics, docile, and easily civilized^, 



ORIGIN ol 



HE WORD CHICAGO. 



37 



and the wild Prairie band. At the treaty made with the 
tribe in Kansas, November 15, 1862, the latter could 
not be induced to break up their tribal relations, and 
were allotted a portion of the reservation which they 
were to hold in common. The Hand of the Woods and 
the Mission band elected to become citizens of the 
United States, and now hold their land in Kansas in 
severalty. The Prairie band numbered seven hundred 
and eighty at the time of the treaty, and was allotted a 
tract of about twelve miles square in what is now Jack- 
sun Co., Kans., upon which they still live. There are 
now (1883J on the reservation about four hundred and 
fifty; two hundred and eighty are in Wisconsin, thirty 
in Iowa and twenty-four in the Indian Territory. Dr. 
H. C. Linn is the present agent of the Prairie Indians, 
and their present chief is Sough-nes-see. On the reser- 
vation the Indians have one hundred and five houses, 
some of which are very comfortable, and as many well 
cultivated fields, enclosed with good fences. The In- 
dian boarding-school was opened in 1875, which with its 
■school building, boarding house, laundry, barn, etc., cost 
$12,000. A writer who visited them in 1882 says:* 

"This prairie band of Indians are many of them resolutely 
cultivating the arts of peace. They are just and honest with the 
whites and themselves; they are developing the holy love of a per- 
sonal, permanent home; they are comprehending subjects of busi- 
ness presented to them; they are substituting, for the sixteen 
English letters they have heretofore used in their Indian language, 
all of the English alphabet found necessary to express vocal sounds; 
they are learning to acquire property; in tine they are making grad- 
ual progress, and their permanent location in Jackson County may 
bring mutual compensation to themselves and the ' superior race.' " 

ORIGIN OF THE WORD CHICAGO. 

The first mention of the word Che-cau-gou, the 
Chicago of modern times, is in Hennepin's account of 
LaSalle's expedition to the Illinois River by way of the 
St. Joseph and Kankakee, in 1680. The title of one of 
his chapters has been translated, " An account of the 
building of a new fort on the river of the Illinois, named 
by the savages Che-cau-gou, and by us Fort Creveceur " 
This is a very blind translation, and it is difficult to 
determine from it, exactly what Hennepin meant ; but, 
judging from other descriptions of the same expedition, 
given by Membre and LaSalle, he probably intended 
that the title of his chapter should read, " An account 
of the building of a new fort, named by us Creveceur, 
on the river of the Illinois, named by the savages Che- 
cau-gou," which there is reason to believe was their 
name for the Illinois River. Marquette speaks of the 
river only as "the river of the Illinois," while Joliet calls 
it the "river of St. Louis," and also " The Divine River, 
or Outralaise."f 

Franquelin has evidently mistaken the locality of 
the St. Louis River of Joliet, as, on his large map of 
1684, he has applied to the Ohio the name " River St. 
Louis or Chucagoa." The name, however, shows that 
the river called St. Louis was also called Checaugou or 
Chucagoa. The name Chieagou is given to the Illinois 
by Coxe, also, in his "Louisiana." There is a map in 
the Historical Society Library at Madison, Wis., said to 
have been designed by Samson, geographer to the 
French King in 1673, before the results of the expedi- 
tion of Joliet and Marquette were made known. On 
this map is laid down a river, with its outlet in the Gulf 
of Mexico, and which is intended to represent the Mis- 
sissippi. It is called the " Chucagua River." 

One of the meanings of the word " Chicaugou," or 

*" History of Kansas," published in 1883. 

tin compliment to Madame Outralaise ; a friend of the wife of the Count 
l>cKrontenac, 



Chicago, is said to be "great " or " strong," from ka-go, 
something, and chi, from gitchi, great. It is not unrea- 
sonable to believe that this was the generic term applied 
by the Illinois Indians, not only to their own "great 
river," but also to the Mississippi. Much information 
regarding the latter river had been gained by the French 
from the Illinois Indians, but it was always called by 
them the "Great River," which its name also signifies in 
the dialect of the Northwestern tribes — mecha or meche, 
large or great ; and sepua, sept, river. The Illinois River 
is called the " Divine River" ("Riviere LaDivine"j by 
Joliet, who applies this name to the river, from the 
source of the Desplaines branch to its mouth. LaSalle 
calls the Illinois the Divine River, in 1680, and Membre 
says, speaking of the expedition on which he accom- 
panied LaSalle in 1681-82, that they "went toward the 
Divine River, called by the Indians Checaugou," to 
.make their way to the Mississippi ; Membre, however, 
applying the name only to the northern branch of the 
Illinois 1 Desplaines), which branch was called by that 
name or Chicago, until as late as 1812. LaSalle, writing 
of his expedition to the Illinois in the winter of 
1681-82, says he arrived in January, 1682, at "the 
division line called Checaugau, from the river of 
the same name, which lies in the country of the Mas- 
coutins." The Mascoutins, at that time, had villages 
between the Fox and Desplaines, in common with the 
Kickapoos, whose language, manners and customs were 
identical. It is believed that they were bands of the 
same tribe, known by the different names, and that the 
Kickaphos are now the only survivors of the tribe. 

St. Cosme, visiting this locality in 1699 and again 
in 1700, spells the name variously ; as Chikagu, Chika- 
gou, Chicagu, Chicago, and Chicaqu. The latter spell- 
ing is equivalent to Chicaque, or Checaqua, which was 
the name borne by a long line of Illinois chiefs — and as 
applied to them, would mean the great, or powerful, 
chiefs. 

Dr. William Barry,* first secretary of the Chicago 
Historical Society, who has given much attention to this 
question, makes the following statement : 

"Whatever may have been the etymological meaning of the 
word Chicago, in its practical use it probably denotes strong or 
great. The Indians applied this term to the .Mississippi River, to 
thunder, or to the voice of the Great Manitou. Edwin Hubbard, 
the genealogist, adopts a similar view, and says the word Chicago, 
in its applications, signified strong, mighty, powerful." 

It must be remembered that when LaSalle came with 
his party of followers to this region in the winter of 
1681-82, not only the river now the Desplaines, but the 
portage leading to it, was " called by the savages " (the 
Miamis and Illinois, whose dialect was the same) Che- 
cagou. The name, "as the appellation of a chief or 
brave," or whatever it might mean, could not have been 
" transferred by the French to the river, and passed 
from the river to the locality when the French settled 
there," as Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull, of Hartford, 
Conn., suggests, because both river and locality were 
" called by the savages Checagou " when the French 
first visited them. If the meaning of this word, in the 
dialect of the Illinois and Miamis, was great, or power- 
ful, and was the generic term by them applied to the 
Mississippi, the Illinois, their great chiefs, etc., and as 
the French gave other and specific names to their rivers 
and localities, this was at last only given to the Des- 
plaines, the portage, and later to the little stream lead- 
ing from the portage to the lake, of course, the name so 
applied lost all its significance. 

A similar word or compound word which applies 

* " Chicago Antiquities " — p. 121. 



3S 



HISTORY" OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



locally to the present Chicago River is found in another 
dialect Chippewa of the same Algonquin tongue — the 
words, shegahg, meaning skunk, or she-gau-ga-winzhe, 
skunk-weed or wild onion ; which it is believed was 
given to the present Chicago River by the natives, from 
the circumstance of its banks producing plentifully the 
wild leek or onion. The early French writers — Membre, 
and Tonty in his " Memoir" — speak of the abundance 
of this bulbous plant throughout the country ; the latter 
mentioning the fact of subsisting on the wild onions 
which he and his companions grubbed from the ground, 
on their journey from the Illinois to Green Bay in the 
winter of 16S0-81. 

E. M. Haines, of Waukegan, in Blanchard's " History 
of Illinois," says, in regard to this meaning of the word, 
so applied : 

" The word Chicago is understood to be an Indian word ; at 
least it is derived from that source. What its precise meaning is, 
or whether it has any particular meaning at all in its present form 
as now applied, is a matter of considerable dispute among those 
who have given the subject attention. The word comes to us through 
the early French explorers of the West as an Indian word from the 
language of the Algonquin group. Whilst this group of the North 
American tribes had one general or generic language by which they 
were distinguished, each tribe had its dialect differing more or less 
from that of the other tribes of the same group. The standard or 
parent language, however, since this people became known to the 
whites, was that spoken by the Ojibways (Chippeways, ) the most 
powerful and numerous of the various tribes of this group. Those 
who pretend to make any positive assertion as to the correct mean- 
ing of this word, as an Indian word, seem to have confined their 
investigations on the subject to the Indian language, as spoken by 
the Ojibways, without reference to other dialects, seeming to ignore 
the fact that it could come from any other source, whereupon they 
reach the conclusion, and soassert.that it means onion, garlic, leek or 
skunk. So far as appears at this day, there seems to have been no 
special inquiry into the origin or meaning of this word until about 
the time of the rebuilding of Fort Dearborn, in 1S16. The year 
following that event, Colonel Samuel A. Starron visited this place, 
and in a letter to General Jacob Brown of the L'nited States Army, 
refers to the river here as ' the River Chicago (or in the English — 
Wild Onion River).' * * * The definition of the onion by Rev. 
Edward F. Welson, in his dictionary of the Ojibway language, is 
keche-she-gaug-vh-wunzh. He defines skunk as zhe-gang. fohn 
Tanner, for thirty years a captive among the Ojibways, and many 
years United States Indian interpreter, in a ' Catalogue of Plants 
and Animals, found in the country of the Ojibways, with English 
names,' appended to the narrative of his captivity, defines skunk 
as she-gang. He defines onion as she-gau-ga-winzhe (skunk-weed). 
In a note thereto, by Dr. James, editor of Tanner's narrative, it is 
added : ' From shih-gau-ga-winche, this word in the singular num- 
ber, some derive the name Chicago.' * * * It is noticed that all 
who contend that the word Chicago, as applied to the river and 
city of that name, means skunk, onion or the like, derive their con- 
victions on the subject from one or more of the authorities which 
are before cited, or from some one familiar with the Ojibway lan- 
guage, who forms his convictions to the same effect, from the mere 
coincidence of sounds. History is so unsatisfactory and varied in 
regard to this word, that we are left to this day to determine its 
meaning solely upon the basis of similarity of sounds. For there 
seems to be no fact or incident narrated or mentioned in history 
that leads with any degree of certainty either to the original mean- 
ing of this word as intended, or to the dialect from which it is 
derived. And it is to be confessed that upon the theory aforesaid, 
conceding that the word comes from the ( tjibway language or dia- 
lect, no one is prepared to dispute the assertion so generally- made 
that the word is derived from skunk. The word skunk being in 
the Indian tongue simply she-kang, in order to make Chicago, the 
theory adopted i- that ong, an Ojibway local termination is added 
which makes Chi-cag-ong, meaning at the skunk, the sound rig 
being dropped in common speech, leaving the word in the form 
now used. Whilst this is not inconsistent in practice in dealing 
with Indian names, there is another theory, il is suggested, which 
may be adopted in this connection, that would seem to be equally 
consistent. The word Chi-ca-go, without adding ng, would be a 
fair Ojibway expression. The sound added, would denote the 
genitive, and might be rendered thus, 'him of the skunk,' in which 
• ase it would probably be the name of an individual, and it is 
stated that this won! is the name not only of some one Indian 
chief, but the name also of a line of chiefs during several genera- 
tions. * .-t that can be said of the word with any 



degree of certainty is, that it is of Indian origin and comes from 
some dialect of the Algonquin group, so called. It must be noted, 
however, that in the Ojibway dialect this word, or that which is 
essentially the same, is not confined in its meaning to that con- 
tended for as before mentioned. The word may mean, also, in 
that language, to forbear, or avoid, from kah-go, forbear, and che, 
a prefix answering to our preposition to ; or, it may mean some- 
thing great, from kago, something, and chi, from git-che, great. 
Besides several other words or expressions which may be found in 
this dialect, of the same sound, yet of different meanings, Che-ca- 
gua was the name of a noted Sac chief, and means in that dialect, 
' he that stands by the tree.' In the Pottawatomie dialect, the 
word choc-ca-go, without addition or abridgment, means destitute." 

There have been various other theories in regard to 
the meaning of the word, but the weight of authority 
seems to denote that when the French first mentioned 
the river, "called by the savages Checagou," they 
•referred to the Illinois, and its northern branch, and 
that it was simply at that time the " great river " of the 
Illinois. When these Indians and the kindred tribe, the 
Miamis, were driven from the region, and the " canoe 
people" — all branches of the original Ojibways — gained 
possession of the country, the name was transferred to 
the present Chicago River, although it was still applied 
also to the Desplaines. The name, as applied by these 
Indians to the little river had, doubtless, a local signifi- 
cation, and from the time of their advent, Chicago 
River, in all probability, meant skunk-weed, garlic, or 
wild-onion river. It was certainly known as such as 
early as 1773, when the Indians deeded to William 
Murray a tract of land, extending " up the Illinois to 
Chicagou or Garlick Creek," although it may never be 
fully known whether the simple word she-kang, the 
more complex she-gan-ga-winzhe, the Pottawatomie 
choc-ca-go, or some other similar word had the honor 
of giving a name to the present river and city of Chi- 
cago. 

EARLY EXPLORATIONS. 

John Nicolet. — A history of Canada, written in 
Latin, by M. DuCreux, and entitled Historic, Canaden- 
sis, was published in Paris in the year 1664. In this 
work was the following passage: 

" In the last months of 1642, New France mourned for two 
men of no common character who were snatched away from her; 
one of these (Raymbault), who died first, of disease, was a member 
of the Society of the Jesuits, and the other, although a layman, 
was distinguished by singularly meritorious acts toward the Indian 
tribes of Canada." 

This " layman," whose services in the interest of 
France and humanity well merited the above notice, was 
John Nicolet, the first civilized man who trod the soil 
or floated upon the waters of the great Northwest — the 
dauntless pioneer who penetrated to the hitherto un- 
known " fresh water sea," beyond the " Lake of the 
Hurons," and visited the Indian tribes dwelling upon 
its western shore; not resting until he reached the vil- 
lages of the Illinois Eriniouaz and, it is believed the 
beautiful prairies of the State which now bears their name. 
In the Historia Canadensis, and in the Jesuit Relations 
of 1639-43 Vimont , is found thenarrative of the lifeand 
achievements of the man who occupied so important a 
place in the history of French explorations. 

In 1603 Samuel Champlain first came to the banks of 
the St. Lawrence to make a survey of the country pre- 
liminary to founding a colony and permanently secur- 
ing to France a monopoly of the fur trade with the sur- 
rounding Indians. His visit was brief, but from the 
natives lie learned enough to satisfy him that the fail- 
ures of I)e La Roche, Pontgrave and Chauvin need not 
be repeated on the St. Lawrence. He returned to 
Fiance, to sail again in 1608, with men, arms and stores 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS. 



39 



for a colon)-, and in the summer of that year he com- 
menced the settlement of Quebec. During his previous 
visits he had heard from the savages of regions farther 
to the west — of great lakes, cataracts and rivers — and 
had become convinced that from the head of the St. 
Lawrence, by means of these inland lakes and streams, 
it would be possible to reach the so-called Western Sea 
and China; as, by the ( )ttawa of the North, he believed he 
could reach the Polar Sea. He came, therefore, to New 
France the second time, more as an explorer than as a 
merchant. The interests of the fur trade were placed in 
the hands of another, and after the settlement at Quebec 
acquired some degree of permanency, he commenced 
his exploration of the country farther to the south and 
west. Attaching to his interests the Algonquins of the 
Ottawa, and the Hurons of Georgian Bay, who came 
annually to the St. Lawrence to trade, and who, like the 
French, were fearful of the encroachments of the 
Iroquois, Champlain penetrated the country to the lake 
which bears his name, drove the Iroquois from its waters, 
and by his powers so attached the allied tribes to him- 
self, that before they left him to return to their homes 
the Hurons had invited him to visit them at their villages 
and ally himself with them in their war with the Iroquois. 

After revisiting France in 1609 and 1610, he again 
returned in 161 1 to the St. Lawrence, and selected as a 
trading-post the present site of Montreal. The con- 
tinuous and cruel wars of the Iroquois had compelled 
him to abandon his scheme of penetrating the western 
country, and he now devoted all his energy to the ad- 
vancement of the interests of his superiors in France, by 
attempting to secure a monopoly of the fur trade of the 
surrounding region. With the design of extending this 
trade to more distant tribes, he commenced, about the 
year 1615, to train young men for the especial purpose 
of dealing with the Indians, by placing them in the 
charge of some friendly tribe to learn its language, man- 
ners and habits, and to become hardened and inured to 
the deprivations and loneliness of a life spent in the 
wilderness and among savages. While training others, 
he did not fail to cultivate the friendship of the Indians, 
and attach them to his interest by every means in his 
power. In 1615 he consented to lead the Hurons and 
Algonquins of the Ottawa against the Iroquois. With 
two Frenchmen and ten Indians he left Montreal in July 
of that year, traveled up the Ottawa to the Algonquin 
villages, passed the Allumette lakes, and thence by Lake 
Nipissing, French River and Georgian Bay, reached the 
home of the Hurons, which lay in the little peninsula 
formed by the head of the Georgian Bay, the River 
Severn and Lake Simcoe. Here he joined the warriors 
of the two nations who had gathered at the Huron 
village. With them he moved south to the shore of 
Lake Ontario, crossed the lake and attacked the Iroquois 
in their fortified villages in the present State of New 
York. The attack was not a success, and, with his 
allies, Champlain returned to the Huron village, where 
he passed the winter, and returned to Quebec in the 
summer of 1616, arriving just one year from the time 
of his departure. He had learned enough of the lake of 
the Hurons and of the country farther west, with its 
treasures of copper and peltry, , to be more than ever 
anxious to secure it for France. 

Quebec, at this time, consisted of a small fort, of 
which Champlain was nominal commander, and a popu- 
lation of some fifty fur-traders, adventurers and Recollet 
friars. In 1618 there arrived at this post, from France, 
a young man named John Nicolet. He was a native of 
Cherbourg, in Normandy, and son of Thomas Nicolet, a 
mail-carrier from Cherbourg to Paris. His mother was 



Marguerita de la Mer. In accordance with the plan of 
Champlain to educate young Frenchmen for explorers 
and traders by actual trial of Indian life, Nicolet was 
selected for that purpose, as giving extraordinary prom- 
ise of future usefulness, and sent to an Algonquin tribe, 
whose home was the Isle des Allumette, on the Ottawa 
River, that he might prepare himself for the career 
marked out for him.* 

With the "Algonquins of the Island" he spent two 
years, accompanying them in their wanderings and par- 
taking of all their dangers and privations — sometimes 
almost perishing with hunger, and subsisting for weeks 
upon barks and lichens. During this time he never saw 
the face of a white man, or heard a human voice, save 
the guttural tones of the savages, which soon, however, 
became intelligible ; his memory, according to the 
record, being wonderfully good. At the end of two 
years he had become familiar with the Algonquin lan- 
guage, and was then sent, with four hundred natives, on 
a peace mission to the Iroquois. It would appear from 
the narrative, that Nicolet was authorized to negotiate 
with the hostile tribe, as it is stated that " he performed 
his mission successfully." At this time he must have 
visited the Hurons, the allies of the Algonquin tribe, 
who would be equally benefited by the renewal of 
peace, and whose villages lay directly in his route. 

After his return from this peace mission, Nicolet 
took up his residence with the Indians who dwelt on the 
shores of Lake Nipissing, further to the northwest than 
the Isle des Allumette. Here he lived eight or nine 
years, becoming practically one of the tribe. He had 
his cabin and trading-house among them, entered into 
their councils, and doubtless was looked upon as one of 
the " head men " of the nation. About the year 1633,! 
when Canada passed from the brief dominion of En- 
gland back to its former owner, Nicolet was recalled to 
Quebec by Government, and made Commissary and In- 
dian Interpreter in that city for the " Company of the 
Hundred Associates." 

During the years of Nicolet's absence among the 
Indians, New France had passed through various 
changes. The Recollets had been superseded by the 
Jesuits, who had commenced the work of establishing 
missions among the Indian tribes in Canada. The com- 
panies of French merchants who, for a time, enjoyed a 
monopoly of the fur trade, had given place to the Com- 
pany of New France, commonly called the " Company 
of the Hundred Associates," which, with Cardinal 
Richelieu as its brain and motive force, now held almost 
sovereign sway over both the secular and religious in- 
terests of the French colonists. Interrupted in its de- 
signs for a brief period, by the successes of England in 
Canada, its jurisdiction was restored after the treaty of 
peace, and in May, 1633, Champlain, who had been 
carried prisoner to England, was again restored to his 
former office, and assumed command at Quebec, with 
the understanding that the affairs of New France were 
now to be conducted in the interests of the Hundred 
Associates, and the Society of Loyola. The French 
population on the St. Lawrence was even now only about 
one hundred and fifty, and the only trading posts were 
Quebec, Three Rivers, the Rapids of St. Louis, and 
Tadoussac, at the mouth of the Saguenay. 

It was at this time that Nicolet was recalled from 
Nipissing, and entered the employ of the powerful com- 
pany which ruled New France. The narrative says , 
" During this period while Nicolet was commissary and 



of DuCreux calls the period spent he 



"preliminary 



4° 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



interpreter for the Company , at the command of the 
same rulers, he had to make an excusiqn to certain 
maritime tribes for the purpose of securing peace be- 
tween them and the Hurons.' The Hurons had always 
been friendly to the French ; they were the most dis- 
tant tribe with whom any commercial intercourse was 
maintained, and their country lay in the path to the far 
West. Should this threatened war be declared against 
their allies, explorers would hardly dare venture far 
from the banks of the St. Lawrence, and the proselyting 
designs of the Jesuits would also be effectually checked. 
Champlain was eager, too, to gain knowledge of the 
"maritime tribes," called "Men of the Sea "by the 
Algonquins, who sometimes made the long journey of 
five or six weeks to their country, and returned with 
wonderful tales of the nation which had wandered 
thither from the borders of a distant sea, and was still 
visited by a "strange people without hair or beards, who 
came from the west in large canoes, upon a great water, 
to trade." With his preconceived idea of the probability 
of reaching the sea which washed the shore of Asia, by 
means of the western lakes and rivers, Champlain be- 
lieved the " great water," of which the Indians spoke, 
might be this distant Western Sea, over which the beard- 
less Chinese had passed to trade with the people who 
once lived on its borders. Therefore, to the rulers of 
New France, it was an object to secure peace between 
the Hurons and the " Men of the Sea," in order to ad- 
vance the interests of both commerce and religion. 
Knowing the superior ability of Xicolet, and having been 
instrumental in placing him where he could acquire the 
special training necessary to fit him for the task of 
penetrating the wilderness to these strange and unknown 
tribes, and also of dealing with them in a prudent and 
successful manner, Champlain selected him for the mis- 
sion. He was to visit " La Nation des Puants ;"* if 
possible, " secure a peace," between them and the 
Hurons, and their friendship for France ; and he was 
also to explore the country of the Puants in search of 
the passage to the Western Sea. In July, 1634, Fathers 
Brebeuf and Daniel started from Quebec to found the 
Huron mission. Xicolet accompanied them from Three 
Rivers, where he had been assisting in the building of a 
fort — as far as the Isle des Allumette, his old Indian 
home. Father Brebeuf says he " endured every 
hardship " during the journey, " with the courage of 
the strongest savage." Here the fathers apparently left 
him to go to their mission. From the time that Xicolet 
left 'Three Rivers with the missionaries there is no 
record of his being on the St. Lawrence until Decem- 
ber, 1635 — nearly a year and a half — the time of his ab- 
sence on his mission to the West, when he visited the 
northern and western shore of Lake Michigan. 'This 
visit, therefore, was between July, 1634, and December, 
I< *35- He was not again absent from his post in Canada 
long enough for such a journey during his after life. 

Some time alter the fathers left him at the Isle des 
Allumette, Xicolet followed them to the village of the 
Hurons. and them e set out on his pacific expedition, ac- 
companied by " seven ambassadors of the Huron na- 
tion." and provided with gilts to conciliate any hostile 
tribe in his path. Launching their canoes, the party 
paddled up the Georgian Day: passed " the river"f which 
flows from Lake Nipissing; then the " Nation of Beav- 
ers," on the northern shore ,,1" Lake Huron; and still 
north of Sault Sainte Marie and the " People of the 
Falls," whose village was on the south side of the strait 
at the foot of the rapids, in what is now the State of 

•Winnebago, Win, 

rFrench kivcr. 



Michigan. Here lived the ancestors of the modern 
Ojibwavs and Chippewas — Algonquins, whose language 
was familiar to Xicolet, and here his party stopped for 
a brief rest. It may be that words here dropped by Xic- 
olet, in regard to the new mission among the Hurons, 
were remembered. Not many years after, the inhabi- 
tants of this village asked that a missionary might be sent 
among them, and still later there was founded here the 
successful mission of Dablon and Marquette. 

Leaving the " Village of the Falls," Xicolet returned 
down the strait of St. Mary, turned to the west, passed 
Mackinac, and his little canoe floated upon the clear 
waters of the "second great fresh water sea." 'The 
pioneer white man had found his way to the great 
Xorthwest. With that little boat came the beginning of 
the end which is not yet, — the dawning of the wonder- 
ful to-day of the West. Coasting along the northern 
shore of Lake Michigan, he stopped occasionally upon 
the shore of what is now the Upper Peninsula of Michi- 
gan, reached Green Bay and the mouth of the Meuom- 
onee River, which he entered, and visited the Indians 
living in its valley. At the head of Green Bay, near 
the point where it receives the waters of Fox River, 
lived the Winnebagoes* to whom he had come with nis 
message of peace. The narrativef continues thus: 

" When he was two days distant (from the Winnebagoes), he 
sent forward one of his own company to make known to the nation 
to which they were going that a European ambassador was ap- 
proaching with gifts, who, in behalf of the Hurons, desired to se- 
cure their friendship The embassv was "received with applause, 
and young men were immediately sent to meet him, who were to 
carry the baggage and the equipment of the Manitourinion (won- 
derful man), and escort him with honor. Nicolet was clad in a 
Chinese robe of silk, skillfully ornamented with birds and flowers 
of many colors; he carried in each hand a small pistol. When he 
had discharged these, the more timid persons, boys and women, 
betook themselves to flight, to escape as quickly as possible from a 
man who, they said, carried the thunder in both his hands. But 
the rumor of his coming having spread far and wide, the chiefs, 
with their followers, assembled directly, to the number of four or 
five thousand persons; and the matter having been discussed and 
considered in a general council, a treaty was made in due form. 
Afterward each of the chiefs gave a banquet after their fashion; 
and at one of these, strange to say, a hundred and twenty beavers 
were eaten." 

After negotiating a treaty with the Winnebagoes, 
Xicolet sailed up the Fox River, of Green Bay, a six 
days' journey, as the first step toward the discovery of 
the " great water " he desired to reach. Xear the " port- 
age " between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, he found 
a village of the Mascoutins. 

Allouez found the Mascoutin village, which he visited 
in 1670, at the western extremity of the portage on the 
Wisconsin, and says it was six days' sail down the Wis- 
consin to the " Messisipi," from the village. He also 
speaks of the lake or marsh near the portage as being 
the source of the Wisconsin River. J 

Nicolet evidently thought the same. 'The narrative 
reads: 

"The Sieur Nicolet, who had penetrated farthest into those 
distant countries, avers that had he sailed three days more 01. a 
great river which flows from the lake he would have found the sea." 

After sailing down the Wisconsin,!; and when with- 
iivthree days' journey of this "sea," Nicolet seems to 

*This tribe, railed OninipegOO in Vimoiu's Relation (1640), and Puants bv 
the trench, was identified with the Winnebagoes of Green Hay bv I. G. Shea. 

Ulu C'reux. 

JKel. 1670-71. "To reach them, the Mascoutins, we traversed the lake 
or marsh, at the head of the Wisconsin, which was a beautiful river running 

(jit is the Opinion of fohn i;. Shea and Francis Parkman that Nicolet 

reached and sailed down the Wisconsin, as stated above. Prof. C. W. liuttcr- 
field, of Wisconsin, who has given much time and study to the subject of 
Nicolet's explorations, is convinced— and gives good reasons for his belief— that 
Xicolet terminated his journey toward the West at ihe portage, and that it 
would have required a " three days' journey " on the Fox River to reach tl,e 
\\ consin an affluent of the Mississippi, and the " sea" of N 1, o|l 1. 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS. 






have found that it was still a long journey to the sea 
which washed the shores of Asia, and turned his course 
toward the south. He then visited the Illinois, whom 
he called Eriniouay. Viraont, from information derived 
from Nicolet, describes them as living south of the 
Winnebagoes, and as numbering about sixty villages. 
He also speaks of them as the Liniouek. After his visit 
to the Illinois villages, Nicolet returned to the region 
now Green Bay, visited the Pottawatomies, who lived on 
the islands at the mouth of the bay, and on the penin- 
sula forming its western shore. His mission ended, he 
returned to the Huron village and thence to Three Riv- 
ers, where he is mentioned, in the parish records, as 
standing godfather to Marie, little daughter of Capitanel, 
chief of the Montaegnais Indians , on the 27th of De- 
cember, 1635. On his return to Canada, he was as- 
signed to the post at Three Rivers, by Champlain, as 
commissary and interpreter. On the 7th of October, 
1637, he was married at Quebec to Marguerite Couillard, 
a godchild of Champlain. Their only child was a daugh- 
ter. His history, from the time of his return until his 
death, is thus simply told by DuCreux: 

'Nicolet returned to the Hurons, and presently, to Three 
Rivers, and resumed both of his former functions, viz., as com- 
missary and interpreter; being singularly beloved by both the 
French and the natives; specially intent upon this, that uniting 
his industry and the very great influence which he possessed over 
the savages, with the efforts of the fathers of the society (Jesuits), 
he might bring as many as he could to the Church; until, upon the 
recall to France of Oliver.?' who was the chief commissary of Que- 
bec. Nicolet, on account of his merits, was appointed in his place. 
But he was not long allowed to enjoy the Christian comfort he had 
so greatly desired, viz., that at Quebec he might frequently attend 
upon the sacraments, as his pious soul desired, and that he might 
enjoy the society of those with whom he could converse upon di- 
vine things. On the last day of October (1642), having embarked 
upon a pinnace at the seventh hour of the afternoon (as we French 
reckon the hours), i. e., just as the shades of evening were falling, 
hastening, as I have said, to Three Rivers, upon so pious an 
errand, + scarcely had he arrived in sight of Sillerv.t when, the 
north wind blowing more fiercely, and increasing the violence of 
the storm which had commenced before Nicolet started, the pin- 
nace was whirled around two or three times, filled with water from 
all directions, and finally was swallowed up by the waves. Some of 
those on board escaped, among them Savigny, the owner of the 
pinnace; and Nicolet, in that hour of peril, addressing him calmly, 
said: ' Savigny, since you know how to swim, by all means consult 
your own safety; I, who have no such skill, am going to God; I 
recommend my wife and daughter to your kindness.' In the midst 
of this conversation, a wave separated them; Nicolet was drowned; 
Savigny, who from horror and the darkness of the night, did not 
know where he was, was torn by the violence of the waves from the 
boat, to which he had clung for some time; then he struggled for 
awhile in swimming, with the hostile force of the changing waves, 
until at last, his strength failing, and his courage almost forsaking 
him, he made a vow to God (but what, is not related). Then strik- 
ing the bottom of the stream with his foot, he reached the sloping 
land under the water, and forcing his way with difficulty through 
the edge of the stream, already frozen, he crept, half dead, to the 
humble abode of the fathers. The prisoner, for whose sake Nico- 
let had exposed himself to this deadly peril, twelve days afterward 
reached Sillerv, and soon after Quebec — having been rescued from 
the cruelty of the Algonquins by Rupaeus, who was in command 
at Three Rivers, in pursuance of letters from Montmagny, on pay- 
ment, no doubt, of a ransom. This, moreover, was not the first 
occasion on which Nicolet had encountered peril of his life for the 
safety of savages. He had frequently done the very same thing be- 
fore, says the French^ writer; and to those with whom he asso- 
ciated he left proofs of his virtues by such deeds as could hardly 
be expected of a man entangled in the bonds of marriage; they 
were, indeed, eminent, and rose to the height of apostolic perfec- 
tion; and, therefore, was the loss of so great a man the more 
grievous. Certain it is that the savages, themselves, as soon as 

*Champlain died on Christmas, 1636. He was succeeded by de Chastefort, 
;ind he in turn, bv de Montmagnv. The General Commissary of the Hundred 
1'artners, at Quebec, was XI. Olivier le Tardiff, who sailed for France in Oc- 

+ His labors in behalf of the Indians were unceasing. At this time he was on 
his way from Quebec to Three Rivers to release an Indian prisoner who was 
being tortured by a hostile band. 

JAn Algonquin mission four miles above Quebec, 

gVimont. 



they heard what had befallen him, surrounded the bank of the 
great river in ciowds, i" sec whether they could render any aid. 
When all hope of that was gone, they did what alone remained in 
their power, by incredible manifestations of grief and lamentation 
at the sad fate of the man who had deserved so well of them." 

Thus perished John Nicolet, the brave yet gentle young 

pioneer who first found the path to the Northwest, and tin 
first white man who saw its magnificent Lkes, forests 
and prairies. Along his path follow til, after many years, 
a long procession of devoted priests, brave explorers anil 
hardy voyageurs ; but among them all, not one whose 
record is more noble than that of this unpretending 
" layman," who carried peace to the nations which he 
visited, and lived and died in unselfish devotion to the 
call of the suffering and oppressed. 

The Jesuits and their Explorations. — In the 
sketch of John Nicolet, it was mentioned that he started 
on his long western journey at the same time that 
Fathers Brebeuf, Daniel and Davost set out to found 
the Huron mission, accompanying them a part of the 
way. After leaving Nicolet at the Isles des Allumette, 
the fathers pursued their journey to the southern 
extremity of the Georgian Bay, and on the eastern 
shore of Lake Huron, at Ihonatiria, the principal Indian 
village, established the mission of St. Joseph. The 
country of the Hurons, although small in area, was rich 
and populous, and the inhabitants were more gentle and 
ready to listen to the missionaries than the other tribes 
they had visited. By 1636 three more fathers had been 
sent among them, and their work was wonderfully pros- 
perous. In the autumn of 1641, the mission of St. 
Joseph was visited by a deputation of Indians occupy- 
ing " the country around a rapid in the midst of the 
channel by which Lake Superior empties into Lake 
Huron,"* inviting them to visit their tribe. The fathers 
"were not displeased with the opportunity thus pre- 
sented of knowing the countries lying beyond Lake 
Huron, which no one of them had yet traversed ; " so 
Isaac Joguesand Charles Raymbault,t two of the later 
comers, were detached to accompany the Chippewas to 
their home. After seventeen days from their departure 
they reached the village at the "Sault," which Nicolet 
had visited in 1634, where the savages had assembled 
in great numbers to hear their words. They did not 
found a mission ; their visit being merely a prelim- 
inary one, to view the field. The following year the 
Iroquois war broke out afresh, and missions and Huron 
villages alike disappeared. Fathers Jogues and Raym- 
bault attempted to return to the St. Lawrence. The 
former was taken prisoner by the Iroquois and cruelly 
scourged and mutilated ; the latter died soon after his 
return. It was not until 1656 that the Jesuits dared 
again attempt the extension of their missions. In that 
year Father Garreau was ordered to Lake Superior, 
which now seemed a more promising field, but he was 
killed before leaving the St. Lawrence. DeGroselles 
and another Frenchman wintered on the shore of Lake 
Superior in 1658. They visited the Sioux, and from 
the fugitive Hurons who had sought refuge among 
them, heard of the Mississippi and the Illinois Indians, 
whom they had found on its banks. In 1660, Rene 
Menard, formerly a missionary among the Hurons, 
founded an Ottawa mission on the southern shore of 
Lake Superior, at Keweenaw May, but after a brief stay 
among the Indians died in the woods, of famine, or 
through violence. Five years later. Father Claude 
Allouez was sent to Lake Superior to take up the work 
of Menard. He arrived October 1, 1665. at "Chegoi- 
megon," now Chequamegon, or Ashland Hay, in Wis- 



* From the village visited by Nicolet in 1634. 

t Whose death is mentioned with th.it .1 Nicole! i 



'Historia Canadensis," 



4- 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



cousin, "at the bottom of which," wrote the missionary, 

•' are situated the great villages of the savages, who 
there plant their fields of Indian corn, and lead a station- 
ary lite." Near by he erected a small chapel of bark 
— the first structure erected by civilized man in Wiscon- 
sin, and at LaPointe. a little north of the Indian vil- 
lages, he established the mission of the " Holy Ghost," 
which in 1669, fell to the charge of Father Jacques 
Marquette. 

Jacques Marquette, whose name is now identified 
with the early history of Chicago, was a native of Laon, in 
Picardv — a devoted priest, and a learned and talented 
man. He had been employed on the St. Lawrence, and 
was preparing for a projected mission to the Montaeg- 
nais Indians, at the mouth of the Saguenay, in Canada, 
when he received orders to prepare for the Ottawa mis- 
sion on Lake Superior, then in charge of Father Allouez. 
He left Quebec on the 21st of April, 1668, and jour- 
neyed with the Ottawa flotilla of that year, to Sault Ste. 
Marie. When he reached Lake Superior, he found that 
new missions were required on the lakes, as the Hurons 
and other tribes driven west by the Iroquois were now 
returning toward their old homes. Two places were se- 
lected by the Jesuit superior, wherein to found these 
missions — the Chippewa village at the "Sault," and 
Green Bay. The former station was assigned to Mar- 
quette. A year later Allouez left the Ottawa mission at 
La Pointe, to found the mission at St. Francis Xavier, 
at Green Bay, and Marquette was transferred from the 
■• Sault " where, with the help of Father Dablon, his 
superior, he had built a church and established the mis- 
sion of St. Mary , to the western shore of Lake Superi- 
or, the former station of Father Allouez. Marquette 
arrived at La Pointe in the autumn of 1669, then the 
extreme point to which the French had penetrated, and 
lived a year and a half among the savage tribes who 
had congregated there the Hurons, and Ottawas driven 
from the east, the Christian Kiskadons, and the scoffing 
Ontaonks , " busily employed from morning till night " 
in instructing and admonishing them, both in chapel 
and cabin. In the spring of 1670, he was appointed to 
the Illinois mission, and earnestly hopes that it will 
"please God to send some father to take his place," that 
he may set out in the fall to commence the work among 
the Illinois. Several of this nation had been at La 
Pointe during the winter, and these "lost sheep" had 
called upon him " so piteously," that he could not resist 
their entreaties to visit them. The young Illinois hunt- 
ers accordingly left La Pointe in the spring, with a 
promise to send some of their " old men " to guide Mar- 
quette to their prairies in the coming fall. Marquette 
had learned much of these "hunters" during the win- 
ter. They told him of the great river, " almost a league 
wide," which they passed in coming to La Pointe, which 
he says he desired to visit, to teach the natives along its 
banks, and " in order to open the way to so many of the 
fathers who have long awaited this happiness." As 
a minor consideration, he desired " to gain a knowledge 
of the southern or western sea." Of the Illinois he says: 

" The Illinois are thirty clays' journey by land from I.a Pointe. 
by a difficult road; they lie southwest* from it. On the way you 
pass the nation of the Ketchigaminsr who lived in more tnan 
twenty large cabins. They are inland and seek to have intercourse 
with the French, from whom they hope to get axes, knives and 
ironware. * * Vou pa*s then to the Miamiwek.f and by 

great deserts reach the Illinois, who arc assembled chiefly in two 
towns, containg more than eight or nine thousand souls. When 
the Illinois come to l.a Pointe they pass a large river almost a 

entlv alluding to that portion of the Illinois west <>t the Mississippi, 
• This iribc i,l Mascoutina had a village in common with the Kickapoos.ou 
tbc Wisconsin River, twelve miles lower than the Hascoutin village, near thr 
portage. 



league wide. It runs north and south, and so far that the Illinois, 
who do not know what canoes are, have never yet heard of its 
mouth. The Illinois are warriors, they make many slaves, whom 
they sell to the Ottawas for guns, powder, kettles, axes and knives. 
They were formerly at war with the Nadouessi, but having made 
peace some years since, I confirmed it, to facilitate their coming to 
I.a Pointe, where Ianvgoing to await them in order to accompany 
them to their country." 

Marquette did not found a mission among the Illi- 
nois, as he desired, in the fall of 1670. The Sioux — the 
Nadouessi, whose treaty with the Illinois he had con- 
firmed, and whose country he believed he could safely 
pass — declared war on the Ottawas and Hurons, and, 
with what remained of his terrified flock, he passed an- 
other winter at the mission of the Holy Ghost. In the 
spring he left the dangerous neighborhood of the Sioux, 
with the Hurons, his last remaining Indians; the Otta- 
was, for whom the mission was established, having pre- 
viously fled toward the east. 

Marquette embarked with his Hurons on Lake Supe- 
rior, and crossing to its eastern extremity in frail canoes, 
passed down the strait of St. Mary, and thence to 
Michilimackinac. Entering the latter strait, they re- 
solved to land and make a home there, and on the north- 
ern side of the trait now Point St. Ignace, of the Michi- 
gan Peninsula , Marquette erected a rude chapel, and 
founded among the Hurons the mission of St. Ignatius. 
The Indians soon built near the chapel a palisade fort, 
enclosing their cabins, and Marquette remained among 
them, until the spring of 1673. 

In 167 1 France took formal possession of the whole 
country of the upper lakes, determined to extend her 
power to the extreme limit, vague as it was, of Canada. 
The Mississippi and some of its principal tributaries 
were well known to exist, and the importance of its 
exploration — it could hardly be termed discovery — was 
well understood. The rulers of New France, however, 
did not regard this great river merely as another avenue 
to be opened whereby' the cross might be carried to 
unknown tribes; and the ambitious Frontenac and 
sagacious Talon, well knew that Marquette was not the 
man to be entrusted with the purely secular interests of 
the expedition which they had determined upon. There- 
fore Louis Joliet, whom they rightly " deemed compe- 
tent for so great a design," was selected as the leader, 
and Marquette was " chosen to accompany him;" the 
former to seek by the Mississippi the mythical kingdom 
of Quivira, which with its gold and precious stones was 
believed to lie in the path to the California sea; and 
the latter " to seek new nations toward the South Sea, 
to teach them of the great God whom they have hitherto 
unknown." 

Louis Joliet was born in Quebec, in 1645, and 
was the son of a wheelwright in the employ of the Com- 
pany of the One Hundred Associates. He was educated 
at the college of Quebec, and, evincing a desire to enter 
the priesthood, took the preliminary steps and entered 
the theological seminary in the same city. As he grew 
older, mathematical and geographical studies seemed to 
have a greater charm for him than theological, and he 
finally decided to embark in business life. He first came 
to the West as a fur-trader, and was afterward — about 
1667 — sent by Talon to explore the copper mines of 
Lake Superior. On his return from this expedition, in 
1669, he met LaSalle near the head of Lake Ontario, 
and in 167 1, he is mentioned as being present at St. Lus- 
son's grand convention of Indian tribes at Sault Ste. 
Marie. Having received the necessary instructions, 
Joliet left Quebec on the 8th of December, 1672; arrived 
at Michilimackinac, and on the 17th of May, 1673, the 
two explorers, with one other Frenchman, and four In- 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS. 



r> 



dians, started from the mission of St. Ignatius on their 
memorable expedition. Before leaving, they made a 
map of the new country they hoped to explore, from 
information gained from the Indians, " marking down the 
rivers," says Marquette, " on which we were to sail, the 
names of the nations and places through which we were 
to pass, the course of the great river, and what direction 
we should take when we got to it." The history of their 
expedition is well known. Entering Green Bay they 



fl* MISSISSIPPI 




BAStltJ DB LA fLOrUOE 



MAKOUKI "1 E 



passed to its head, and entered Fox River. This they 
ascended, obtaining guides to lead them through the 
maze of marshes and little lakes between it and the Wis- 
consin, as they approached the portage between the two 
rivers. Sailing down the Wisconsin, the}' entered the 
Mississippi on the 17th of June, 1673. After a voyage 
of more than a week, they for the first time beheld an 
Indian trail, leading from the west bank of the river 
back to a beautiful prairie. Leaving their men with the 
canoes, Joliet and Marquette, with many misgivings as 
to what would be their fate, silently followed the little 
path until they came in sight of three Indian villages. 



One was on the bank of a river, and tin- others on a hill, 
a short distance beyond. With a prayer for protection, 
they halted and gave a cry to announce their presence. 
The astonished Indians poured from their cabins, to halt 
in turn and gaze upon the strangers. At last four old 
men came slowly and gravely toward them, with calu- 
mets of peace. Silently they advanced, and having 
reached them, paused to look upon them more closely. 
Marquette, judgingnow that their intentions were friend- 
ly, addressed them in Algon- 
quin, asking who they were. 
They replied, " We are Illi- 
nois,"* and extended the pipe 
of peace. These were the 
Peorias and Moingwenas, 
whose villages were west of the 
Mississippi, and, as laid down 
on Marquette's map, were on 
the south bank of a river sup- 
posed to be the Des Moines, 
the upper part of that river 
still bearing the name of Mo- 
ingonan (the Monk). These 
Illinois Indians treated their 
visitors with great kindness, 
and the next day a crowd of 
six hundred natives escorted 
them to their canoes, to see 
them embark. The explorers 
promised to pass back through 
this town in four moons, but 
were not enabled to keep their 
promise. They sailed down 
the clear current of the Missis- 
sippi, passed the " Ruined 
Castles," passed the monstrous 
painting on the rock, passed 
the Missouri and Ohio and 
reached the Arkansas, when 
they decided that they " had 
gained all the information that 
could be desired from the ex- 
pedition," " that the Missis- 
sippi had its mouth in Florida 
or the Gulf of Mexico," and, 
on the 17th of July, just one 
month from the time they left 
the Wisconsin, they turned 
their canoes up the river. Find- 
ing the ascent difficult, they 
entered the Illinois River, 
which Marquette says, "great- 
ly shortened their path," and 
which he describes as broad, 
deep and gentle for sixty-five 
leagues, with many little lakes 
and rivers, while meadows and 
prairies, teeming with game, 
bordered it on either side. Sailing up the river to within 
a few miles of the present site of Utica, they arrived at an 
Illinois village, called Kaskaskia, where the travelers 
were well received, and to which Marquette promised to 
return at some future time to instruct the tribe. A chief, 
with a band of young Kaskaskians, accompanied them 
thence to Lake Michigan, which they reached with little 
trouble, and paddling up its western shore, arrived at the 
mission of St. Francis Xavier, at Green Bay, during the 



FID RIDE 



*The 


rou 


itry of the 


Illinois 




formerly b 


ith 


ides of the J 


the west 


side 


extending 


,outh ne 


■ Hv 


to the] Mis 




River, and 


domain t 


tth 


■ Si. -u.n, 













HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



latter pan of September. Here the two companions 
remained together through tile winter As early as possi- 
ble in the summer of 1074. Joliet hastened to Quebec to 
report to the authorities, visiting I.aSalle at Fort Front- 
enae. on his journey. In a letter to Frontenac, written 
October 10. 1074. lie says: 

" It is not long since I returned from my' South Sea voyagd 
I was fortunate during all thai time, but on my way back, just as 
I was about to land at Montreal, my canoe capsized and 1 lost two 
men. with my chest, containing ail my papers and my journal, 
with some curiosities from those remote countries. I greatly re- 
gret a little slave ten years old who had been presented 10 me. He 
was endowed with a good disposition, full of talent, diligent and 
obedient ; he made himself understood in French, and began to 
read and write. I was saved after being four hours in the water, 
having lost sight and consciousness, by some fishermen, who never 
went in that place, and would not have been there, had not the 
lUessed Virgin obtained this grace for me from God, who arrested 
the course of nature to rescue me from death. But for this acci- 
dent, your lordship would have received quite a curious relation ; 
but nothing is left me except my life." 

He then briefly describes the result of his voyage. 
On the 14th of the following- month Count DeFrontenac 
announced to Colbert the successful issue of the expe- 
dition. 

Marquette was detained at Green Bay through the 
whole summer of 1674 by sickness. As soon as he was 
sufficiently recovered, he drew up and sent to his 
superior Father Dablon copies of his journal of the 
voyage down the Mississippi, and doubtless also the map 
known as " Marquette's map," a copy of which is here 
given * 

With the return of the flotilla from Quebec, he re- 
ceived orders to "set out for his Illinois mission. He 
started from the mission at Green Bay on the 25th of 
October. 1674, and with two Frenchman, Jacques and 
Pierre, went north as far as Sturgeon Bay, where now 
a canal connects its waters with Lake Michigan. At 
the portage he joined a party of Pottawatomies and 
Illinois, who also had started for the Kaskaskia village. 
With them he crossed the difficult portage from the 
head of Sturgeon Bay to Lake Michigan, on which they 
embarked on the 31st of October. The little fleet pro- 
ceeded up the western shore of the lake, and after many 
detentions arrived at Portage River} early in December. 
Marquette mentions the fact of passing " eight or ten 
pretty fine rivers " on his journey up the lake from one 
portage to the other. On the 19th of November he ar- 
rived at " the bluffs," where he was detained two days 
and a half. While thus detained, Pierre left him, and 
passed through the woods to a prairie twenty leagues 
from the portage. Starting from "the bluffs" about 
noon on the 21st, Marquette says: "We had hard 
enough work to reach a river." He entered the river, 
however, and found there Mascoutins, " to the number 
of eight or nine cabins." The Illinois Indians left him 
here and "passed on the prairies." 

If " the bluffs," where Marquette was detained by 
the weather, were at the present site of Milwaukee, 

* Marquette evidently - ol bis journal, ■ ..1 these was 

transmitted to France but not officially published, the Fesuit Relations being 

:d about that time by the French Government. In 1681, an imperfect 

this, or th.- original journal somewhat mutilated, ftrll into the hands of 

piler and publisher, and it appeared in a volume of 

travels ait ..-.! thai year under the titlt ol " Ri ceuil di 

having been prepared tor publication by Father 

mat deposited, together with an unfinished letter "f Marquette, 

5i ■ i n k •' d isit to the Illinois, in the archives ol thi 

1 :. 1 athet 
■.ivorof the Jesuits of that institution, when the college was 
the paper,, including Marquette's journal ami map, 
ented them to the nuns who had charge of tl,. iiot.i 1 m u a hospital 

In 1-4; they passe f Rev. 1 u irl |. mi, 

and were by him mblishcd them iii 185s 

* Man 1 1 1 1 [■ ,,, , 1 
in what he terms "Portal Rivi il, 
Desplaini 1 Hubbard 
state* (*ee Blanchard's History of Chicago , Branch ol 
the present Chicago River was called M Pot H 



where they were more abrupt and lofty, perhaps, than 
at any other point, Pierre must have passed "through 
the woods " to the present site of Racine, "twenty 
leagues from the portage," and Marquette must have 
reached the place by entering Root River. It was 
the 27th of November before Marquette again em- 
barked, being detained by the wind. Nine miles farther, 
and he was again detained "by a wind from the shore, 
immense waves that came from the lake, and the cold." 
On the 4th of December they again " started " to reach 
"Portage River." He does not say what day they 
arrived there, but they remained at the mouth of the 
river a few days, during which time his men killed con- 
siderable game. On the 12th they began to draw their 
luggage up the river, and on the 14th were settled in a 
cabin some five miles from the mouth of the river, "near 
the portage," and in the route to an Illinois village, six 
leagues further on. Here Marquette was obliged to 
remain all winter on account of a severe' illness. This 
cabin, it would seem, belonged to two French traders, 
Pierre Moreau (La Toupinei, and his companion who 
was not only a trader but a surgeon as well, and who 
were then at their winter hunting-ground, about fifty 
miles from the portage, and not very far distant from a 
village of Illinois Indians. These traders were expect- 
ing a visit from Marquette and his companions at their 
cabin at the hunting-ground, and had made due prepa- 
ration to receive them by laying in an extra store of 
provisions. Marquette says that " some 1 person in- 
formed La Toupine and the surgeon that we were here 
at the portage , and unable to leave their cabin," 
and that as soon as the two Frenchmen knew that ill- 
ness prevented his " going to them," the surgeon visited 
him, brought him provisions, and stopped with him for 
a time ■' to attend to his duties." In fact, Marquette 
says " they did and said everything that could be 
expected of them." They "gave the Indians to under- 
stand " that the cabin belonged to Marquette, and he 
remained in it through the winter unmolested. When 
the surgeon had finished his visit, Jacques accompanied 
him to his wintering ground, and returned with more 
provisions, sent by the Frenchmen to the sick priest. 
Marquette, in turn, repaid their kindness by doing all 
in his power to influence the Indians to deal fairly with 
the traders, who, he says, "do not rob them (the Indians , 
in getting furs in the country, so great is the hardship 
they experience in getting them." It is not probable 
that these were the only traders in the country of the 
Illinois at this time, or that they were the only ones who 
had crossed the portage to the interior and returned, 
bringing their furs to Lake Michigan in the spring, 
when ready to embark for their trip to the St. Lawrence. 
When Marquette went, in the spring, to the Kaskaskia 
village, he met the "surgeon," on the way, coming up 
the Desplaines with his furs, " but," he says, " the cold 
being too severe for men who have to drag their canoe 
through the water, he made a cache for his beaver," 
and turned back with Marouette toward the Kaskaskia 
village. 

Marquette continued sick in his cabin through the 
winter of 1674-75. Toward spring, through the special 
interposition of the lilessed Virgin, as he believed, his 
sickness abated, anil before March he was able to leave 
his cabin anil observe the peculiarities of the country. 
In the latter part of March the Desplaines River broke 
up and Hooded the prairie which formed the portage, 
lie describes the situation thus : 

" The north wind having prevented the thaw till the 25th ol 
March, it began with a southerly wind. The next day game began 
in appear ; we killed thirty wild pigeons, which I found better than 



EARLY EXPI.f >RATI< >\S. 



45 



those below (Quebec), but smaller, both young and old. On the 
2Sth the ice broke, and choked above us. On the 29th, the 
water was so high that we had barely time to uncabin in haste, 
put our things on trees, and try to find a place to sleep on 
some hillock, the water gaining on us all night ; but having frozen 
a little, and having fallen, as we were near our luggage, the dyke 
burst, and ice went down ; and as the waters are again ascending 
already, we are going to embark to continue our route." 

The •' portage," where Marquette passed the winter 
of 1674-75, and which he says, in his letter to Dablon, 
is the same he crossed with Joliet, eighteen months be- 
fore, "is described in a letter written by LaSalle to Fron- 
tenac, which was published by Margry, in one of his 
volumes, and republished in the Magazine of American 
History. Joliet visited LaSalle at Fort Frontenac, on 
his return to Canada from his Mississippi voyage, in the 
spring of 1674, and at that time, it is presumed, told 
LaSalle of the Checagou portage. LaSalle visited the 
same place in January, 1682, and was detained there 
several days by the snow. Joliet had affirmed, in a 
communication to the authorities in Canada, that it 
would be possible to go from Lake Erie to the Missis- 
sippi " in boats," and, " by a very good navigation," 
saying that " there would be but one canal to make, by 
cutting half a league of prairie to pass from the Lake of 
the Illinois into St. Louis River,* which empties into 
the Mississippi." LaSalle, on examining the place in 
1682, did not believe the scheme practicable. He speaks 
disdainfully of Joliet's "proposed ditch," and says he 
" should not have made any mention of this communi- 
cation " the canal spoken of , " if Joliet had not pro- 
posed it without regard to its difficulties." He thus de- 
scribes the portage mentioned by Joliet, which he calls 
the " Portage of Checagou ": 

" This is an isthmus of land at 41 degrees, 50 minutes north 
latitude, at the west of the Islinois Lake, J which is reached by a 
channel]: formed by the junction of several rivulets or meadow 
ilitches. ft is navigable for about two leagues to the edge of the 
prairie, a quarter of a mile westward. There is a little lake, di- 
vided by a causeway, made by the beavers, about a league and a 
half iong, from which runs a stream, which, after winding about 
a half league through the rushes, empties into the river Checagou, § 
and thence into that of the Illinois. This lake | is tilled by heavy 
summer rains, or spring freshets, and discharges also into the 
channel which leads to the lake of the Islinois, the level of which 
is seven feet lower than the prairie on which the lake is. The 
river of Checagou does the same thing in the spring when its 
channel is full. It empties a part of its waters by this little lake 
into that of the Islinois (Lake .Michigan), and at this season, Joliet 
says, forms in the summer time a little channel for a quarter of a 
league from this lake to the basin which leads to that of the Isli- 
nois, by which vessels can enter the Checagou and descend to the 
sea." 

Marquette remained at the portage described above 
until the 30th of March, when, as he relates, in the pas- 
sage quoted from his journal, the south wind had caused 
a thaw, the breaking up of the ice in the Desplaines, and 
the flooding of the prairie portage. On the 30th, taking- 
advantage of the high water, he had embarked probably 
on Mud Lake) and had proceeded nine miles on his 
journey by the 31st, and arrived at about the place 
where he and Joliet were obliged to leave their canoes 
and commence the portage in the fall of 1673, when the 
water was low. St. Cosme, who passed to the Missis- 
sippi by the portage of Checagou in October, 1699, gives 
a similar account of the comparative length of the port- 
age in spring and fall — nine miles in the fall and less 
than a mile in the spring. He says- 

* The Illinois, including the Desplaines. 

t Lake Michigan. 

X Our Chicago River. The Desplames or north branch of the Illinois, was 
the Checagou River of the early writers, and is so laid down on their maps. 
Later, both the Desplainesand Chicago were called the "Checagou." 

§ Desplaines. 

[Mud Lake. It is mentioned by nearly all the early writers who visited the 
locality simply as the " little lake." 



"We started from Chicago on the 29th, and put up f..r the 
night about two leagues off, in the little river which is then lost 
in the prairies. The next day we began the portage, which is 
about three leagues long when the water is low, and only a quar- 
ter of a league in tin- spring, lor you embark on a little lake that 
empties into a branch* of the river of the Illinois ; but when the 
waters are low you have to make a portage to that branch." 

Marquette, as the waters were certainly high when 
he started, must have embarked on this little lake " going 
up" to the Desplaines, "without finding any portage," 
as the waters of that river through the lake spoken of, 
were now rushing down to the Lake of Michigan. f The 
distance of "half an arpent "J which they were obliged to 
drag their canoes, might have been from the high ground 
where they slept on the night of the 29th to the place 
where they embarked on Mud Lake. 

After having passed nine miles from the point 
where he embarked, being then in the Desplaines, he 
says : " Here we 1 Joliet and himself 1 began our portage 
more than eighteen months ago." He was now in 
what he justly called an " outlet " of the Illinois, for the 
Desplaines was such in the spring until much later than 
Marquette's time. He evidently knew also of the other 
branch of the Illinois — the Teakikig of the Jesuits — by 
which he could reach the St. Joseph and the lake — and 
by which " outlet," as he calls it, he probably returned 
to Mackinac. 

Marquette was eleven days on his way to Kaskas- 
kia village, arriving on the 8th of April. He was re- 
ceived by the Indians " like an angel from heaven." 
After preparing the minds of the chiefs for what he 
wished to accomplish, he called a grand council of the 
nation in the beautiful prairie near the town.|| Five 
hundred chiefs and old men, and fifteen hundred youths 
assembled, besides a great crowd of women and chil- 
dren. He explained the object of his visit, preached to 
them and said mass. Three days later, on Easter Sun- 
day, the Indians again assembled on the prairie, when 
Marquette again said mass before them, " took posses- 
sion of that land in the name of Jesus Christ, and gave 
this mission the name of the Immaculate Conception of 
the Blessed Virgin." 

His illness not permitting him to remain among the 
Illinois, he soon left them to return to Michilimackinac, 
promising to come again to the Illinois, or send another 
to take his place. So much had he attached these sim- 
ple Indians to himself, that a large number of the tribe 
escorted him nearly a hundred miles on his return jour- 
ney, or nearly to the point at which he wished to strike 
Lake Michigan on his return to his mission, down the 
eastern shore of the lake. Sick and weary when he 
embarked, his strength rapidly failed as his journey was 
continued, and on the 19th of May he felt that death 
was near As he reached the mouth of a small river, 
he requested his companions to land, and there in a hut 
of bark, which they built for him, the good missionary 
died that night. They dug a grave on the bank of the 
river, and leaving him resting there, made their way to 
the Mission of St. Ignace. In the winter of 1676, the 
bones of Marquette were taken from the grave, by a 
party of Kiskakin Indians, carefully placed in a box of 
birch bark, and carried to St. Ignace, where they were 
buried, with solemn ceremonies, beneath the floor of the 
mission. 

Doubtless the site of Chicago had been visited by 

* The Desplaines. 

+ In the spring flood of 1S40 the waters of the Desplaines were turned into 
Mud Lake, and thence into the Chicago River, causing a terrific flood. 

(A" woodland arpent," in France, contained an area of 6, 10S square yards— 
alittle more than an English acre. The expression means that they dragged over 
a small patch of ground, half an arpent ; equivalent to about an English half- 
acre of ground. 

« Kankakee. 

II The town was near Utica, in laSalle County. 



46 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



Canadian voyageurs, and it may be that the more lawless 
courier, De Bois, had also passed to the interior by this 
route before Marquette and Joliet returned from their 
expedition to the Mississippi, in the fall of 1673, and 
for the first time gave to the world a written account of 
the route from the Illinois River to Lake Michigan by 
way of the Chicago portage.* 

It has been related,! too. that Nicholas Perrot, in 
the year 167 1. left Sauk Ste. Marie and visited " at Chi- 
cago." "Tetenchoua." the principal chief of the Miamis, 

* Prof. A. P. Hager, after long and car ful study, lias arrived at a con- 
clusion in regard to the return route of Joliet and Marquette and the locality 
where Marquette subsequently spent the "winter of 1674-75, essentially different 
from that commonly received.' His views on the subject are given at length, in 
succeeding pages of this work. The writers of this History have followed the 
accepted theory of Shea. Parkman and other acknowledged authorities on early 
Northwestern American history. They, however, acknowledge, by the inser- 
tion of Mr. Hager' s article, both the merits of his argument, and their apprecia- 
tion of the value of his new theory concerning the early settlement of the 
Northwest 

* Charlevoix. 



wlm " never moved without a guard of forty warriors, 
who kept watch, night and day, about his cabin." The 
object of this visit of Perrot was to induce this power- 
ful chief to enter into an alliance with the French. 
Fathers Allouez and Dablon met this same " Teten- 
choua," with three thousand braves, at a Mascoutin vil- 
lage in Wisconsin, in 1674 — the Miamis and the Mas- 
coutins having joined against their common enemy, the 
Sioux. 

On the death of Marquette, Father Claude Allouez 
was appointed to the Illinois mission, to which he made 
several visits ; the first in the spring of 1677, when he 
was met by an Illinois chief and eighty Indians at the 
mouth of the Chicago River, and conducted by them to 
the Illinois village. The second was made in 1678, 
when he remained until 1680. He again visited Chi- 
cago in 1684, with Durantaye, and it was probably at this 
time that the fort was built at Chicago bv the latter. 



EARLY CHICAGO, AND THE NORTHWEST. 

BY ALBERT I). HAGER, 

In the interest of historical truth, the writer pre- 
pared a paper which he read before the Chicago His- 
torical Society, in June, 1880. 

In that paper he attempted to show, among other 
things, that Father Marquette was not the first white 
man who visited the present site of Chicago, and that 
the Miami Indians never made this site their home, as 
has been usually asserted by those who have written 
concerning early Chicago. 

Additional testimony from the early explorers of 
the Northwest, in connection with early maps, corrobor- 
ated by official documents, will be here presented to 
confirm the foregoing propositions and also to contro- 
vert what the writer believes to be other erroneous state- 
ments concerning Marquette and Joliet and the history 
of the Northwest. 

Nearly every writer, who alludes to early Chicago, 
intimates that Marquette was the first white man who 
navigated the Chicago River, and some assert that he 
built a log cabin and was its " first civilized settler." 

In none of Marquette's writings, nor on either of 
his maps, does he use the word Chicago. Charlevoix, a 
Jesuit priest, who visited the Northwest in i72i,wasthe 
first writer to couple the names of Marquette and 
Chicago. He says :* "On arriving at Chicagou, on Lake 
Michigan, they separated. Father Marquette remained 
among the Miamis, and Joliet went to Quebec. The 
missionary was well received by the great chief of the 
Miamis. He took up his abode in the chief town of these 
Indians, and spent the last years of his life in announcing 
Jesus Christ to them. 

These statements were made from hearsay testi- 
mony. He had not seen the manuscript journals of 
Marquette. They were at that time in the Jesuit Col- 
lege at Quebec. f The very modest and apparently 
truthful records made in those journals by Marquette, 
disprove every statement quoted from the writings of 
Charlevoix, as will appear farther on. Joliet's journal 
and map, made for the Government of France, were 
lost, by the upsetting of his canoe in the rapids of the 
St. Lawrence, just before reaching Montreal. Mar- 
quette had died at the age of thirty-eight. His journal, 

* Shea's Charlevoix, vol. ^, pp. 181-2. 

♦ Dfgcovery aw\ Exploration -.f the Miasiflaippi Valley, p. 77. 



01 a copy of it, and a map of the trip he made with 
Joliet, were sent to France, but the Government took no 
official action in relation to them. New explorations 
were made not long after Marquette's death. Those 
belonging to the order of Recollet missionaries were 
" chosen almost always as chaplains to the troops and 
forts, and were to be found at every French post. '* 
They were " the fashionable confessors, and were sta- 
tioned at trading points. In this way they became 
involved in disputes, and, favored by and favoring Fron- 
tenac, found themselves arrayed, in a manner, against the 
rest of the clergy. A general charge, made about that 
time, seems to have been, that the Jesuits had really 
made no discoveries, and no progress in converting the 
natives."! The Recollets were more " liberal " than the 
Jesuits. A jealousy, and at times, it would seem, an 
animosity, existed between them and the Jesuits. What 
purported to be a published narrative of Marquette, by 
M. Thevenot, in Paris, 1681, was " derided, called a 
fable, or narrative of a pretended voyage," etc.J 

In most, if not all the narratives made during the 
forty years subsequent to Marquette's death, his name is 
not mentioned except by Jesuits. Joliet is but occa- 
sionally alluded to. Father Douay, a Recollet mission- 
ary who accompanied LaSalle in 1687, says: 

" It was at this place (Cape St. Anthony) only, and 
not further, that the Sieur Joliet descended in 1673. 
They were taken, with their whole party, in the Manso- 
pela. These Indians having told them that they would 
be killed if they went any farther, they turned back, 
not having descended lower than thirty or forty leagues 
below the mouth of the Illinois River. I had brought 
with me the printed book of this pretended discovery, 
and I remarked all along my route that there was not a 
word of truth in it. "g 

A copy of this " printed book " is in the library of 
the Chicago Historical Society. It is entitled, " Receuil 
de Voyages" in which there is a map of the Mississippi 
Valley. The map is wonderfully accurate, considering 
the circumstances under which it was made. It has 
been suggested by some well informed historians, that 
the map was not made by Marquette, but was the one 
which Joliet drew from memory, and sent to the French 
Government after he lost his originals. This seemed 



* Discovery and Expl 
t Ibid, p 80. 
t Ibid, p. 76. 
$ Ibid, pp. 222-3. 



uppi Valley, p. 82 



4* 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



quite plausible. It is quite unlike the map found with 
Marquette's manuscript, a fac-simile of which was first 
published by Mr. Shea, in 1852. The workmanship and 
skill in drawing, exhibited in the former, is much super- 
ior to that of the latter. The circumstances under 
which they were drawn were probably very different. 
Marquette was at the mission of St. Francis, near Green 
Bay, thirteen months after making- the first trip before 
he commenced the second. He had ample time to make 
a finished map. The one copied by Mr. Shea, evidently 
was, like his journal, unfinished, and made during his 
journey. 

The recent discovery of the original map of Joliet, 
which Frontenac sent to the French Government, a fac- 
simile of which may be seen in this book, settles the long- 
vexed question, and reflects upon Marquette the honor 
of being the author of the first published map of the 
upper Mississippi Valley — the one here re-produced. 
Mr. Jared Sparks regarded the map in Thevenot's book as 
genuine. whether it were made by Joliet or Marquette, and 
says : " It is valuable as confirming the genuineness of 
the narrative. It was impossible to construct it without 
having seen the principal objects delineated."* 

It was not till about fifty years ago that the genuine- 
ness of the narrative of Marquette, published by Theve- 
not, was established, except as above suggested. In 
the Hotel Dieu, at Quebec, thirty-seven pages of manu- 
script were found, essentially the same as the published 
narrative. By comparing these with the parish records 
made by Marquette, at Boucherville, in 1668, their au- 
thorship was established. With these manuscripts there 
were twenty-three pages more of manuscript and a map 
in the same hand-writing, that gave an unfinished account 
of Marquette's last trip to the Illinois. Mr. Shea 
published the latter in 1852. They will again be refer- 
red to. 

Father Marquette was a good, unselfish, truthful, 
modest man. " He relates what occurs and describes 
what he sees, without embellishment or display. He 
writes as a scholar, and as a man of careful observation 
and practical sense. There is no tendency to exaggerate 
nor to magnify the difficulties he had to encounter, or 
the importance of this discovery."! He had what might 
seem a morbid desire to suffer privations and endure 
hardships, and says he '' esteemed no happiness greater 
than that of losing his life for the glory of Him who made 
all."* He wished " to die m a wretched cabin amid the 
-. destitute of all human aid."§ He was born in 
France, and came to this country in 1668. The Most 
Rev. Alexander Tache, the Archbishop of Manitoba, 
and a great-grandson of Joliet, the discoverer, kindly 
sent the writer a photographic copy of the first entrv 
made by Marquette in this country, in the Boucherville, 
Canada, Parish Records, May 20, 1668. It is now in 
the library of tin- Chicago Historical Societv. 

From Boucherville, or Quebec, Marquette was sent 
> the mission on the south shore of Lake Superior. He 
soon returned from thence to Sault Ste. Marie, where a 
mission was established. This he soon left for La Pointe, 
on Lake Superior, and from thence back u< Michilimacki- 
In none of these missions did he seem contented, 
nor were his labors attended with marked success. Dur- 
ing his seven years' residence in this country, unfavor- 
able cir - and ill health seemed to wither his 
is good intention^. The last entry he 
1:1 his journal after finishing his journey with 
Joliet, is more despondent than assuring. He says : 

-.V» life <<t Mar- 

• rk«-«i Life of Marquette, p. . . 



" Had all this voyage caused but the salvation of a 
single soul, I should deem all my fatigue well repaid. 
Anil ibis I have reason to think, for, when I was return- 
ing, I passed by the Indians of Peoria ; 1 was three days 
announcing the faith in all their cabins, after which, as 
we were embarking, they brought me, on the water's 
edge, a dying child, which I baptized a little before it 
expired, by an admirable Providence for the salvation of 
that innocent soul."* 

The journals of Marquette have internal evidence of 
being more truthful and reliable than the writings of 
most of the other missionaries and explorers of the North- 
west. The latter abound in self-praise, exaggeration and 
evident misstatements. Some of the writers, as has been 
well said, " seem to tell the truth by accident, and fic- 
tion by inclination, "J 

Marquette's journals and official documents, when 
obtainable, will therefore be used to corroborate doubt- 
ful statements or establish historical facts for this 
paper. 

It would be a difficult task, if not impossible, to de- 
termine who was the first civilized explorer of the North- 
west and the discoverer of the Mississippi Valley. In 
1541, De Soto crossed the Mississippi above the mouth 
of the Arkansas, and in 1543, his successor, Moscoso, 
sailed down the great river to the opening gulf.J 

In 1639, Sieur Nicolet, after having spent ten years 
of his life with the Indians, visited the Winnebagoes, who 
then resided on and near Winnebago Lake and Fox 
River, Wisconsin, and " reached the waters of the Mis- 
sissippi. "g 

On a map in Jeffery's " Natural and Civil History 
of the French Dominions in North and South America," 
published in London, 1 761, it is said: " The Ohio coun- 
try was known early to the English, and thoroughly dis- 
covered beyond the Mississippi by Colonel Wood, from 
1654 to 1664, as also by Captain Bott, in 1670." The 
writer has found no contemporaneous evidence that cor- 
roborates these statements. 

In the vear 1670, Father Allouez visited the Winne- 
bagoes and Mascoutins, and says the Mascoutins saw 
upon the Mississippi River " men like the French, who 
were splitting trees with long knives [whip saws ?': some 
of whom had their house vessel?' on the water. | 

The first official action towards discovery and the 
establishment of the French Government over the North- 
west, of which there is a record, known to the writer, 
was in 1670. M. Talon, the Intendant of New France, 
in his report to the King, dated at Quebec, September 10, 
1670, says: " I have dispatched persons of reputation, 
who promise to penetrate farther than ever has been 
done : the one to the west and the northwest of Canada, 
and the others to the southwest and south. These 
adventurers are to keep journals, take possession, dis- 
play the King's arms, and draw up proces verbaux to 
serve as title, "^f 

Under date of November 2, 1671, he reports to the 
King as follows : " Sieur de la Salle has not returned 
from his journey to the southward of this country. But 
Sieur de Lusson is returned, after having advanced as 
far as five hundred leagues** from here, and planted 
the cross and set up the King's arms in presence of 
seventeen Indian nations, assembled, on this occasion, 
from all parts ; all of whom voluntarily submitted them- 



* Disc. Miss. Valley, pp. 51-52. 

f Ibid, p. 49. 

; Hisi Col., vol. 2. p. 108. 

§ I Mm. Mis.. Val. p. .•!-. K.I. 1639, p. 135. 

Ihid, p. 27; Rel. 1670-71, p. 172. 

• I n m h Doc., V N . Col., vol. 9, p. 44. 

** France had. until the introduction of the metric system, the "legal 
posting-league,' 1 eaual t" two and forty-two hundredths English miles. (Cbam- 
bei Encyi lopedia. 




9^ # * 







> 






l^y Ut aitt Andcb ^- 9U6 ^ 2<v»~ preJmttr ettt carte f m v eu * ^ <^' / D 

C r ,«LJfe ^"W «M Alii" A"" «>"M f «.>*"'WW»« AAA»'--*U<S! 
w ««Jif9 3**<"tl 16}}**67* /•riafrrW*! *wu '<w AnrHy/a«(*«r *■! "«„,■„«; del* nt.*tl<e fana pen, 
„„ A -frAatrMan * p-'uSo^fi"""" *,,,Uf&Z.. r »f, <■",•■■»■ »lJ»j 
Ml »« « *■ *"f ■* ^0= "*-8 ,.nti£ it fMVt" SS"*** "jf™ *"»"■**■£ 
1 ^ e 5« &a*tl t< Beljtrt* ou ft eutdlatr 3d fining t fmmt) ar**A] r.THMJ "I've; ct plitj pttnt^i,\ti 

°r . .«■, »«».' SlriSo * A/"- * "»' ■ 

Z^Otwit U Huf^u * JFj trSu ante &«« lurtflvet livnilpprS am-. ,.i«, )fci,t „ 
/7? n «w< W* jS »WoA*t ^fiwi 9wim iflwnji /( g Aff^M or aril to* «n"yyw' P.*. 
iu J"uify3«"« Jt&*a*ee*fyf lC <t<to , nt r ' J * Jnatue t"tn cantt Imrna 4,riie/ Saiyrrj , tt J,pir, 




f ^ i ^ T ^ J 





\Nrr Vermeille, 
it eat j£a- \ 

\CalifowrntA par 
ou on piut alter 
an J&TOU Ou i/apoiir 




^ "* * * *i 

^Xouuc/Ja (pui^e^ r |S 







j J ^AaaifatcW *£ 










i lax % 




A 



Joliet's Map of Nf.w France (1674).— Gabriel Gravier, President de ta Societe Normande de Geogmp/ne, who f 
earliest map, drawn by him at Montreal directly after his return from his Mississippi voyage. It was dedicated to Frontenac, ti- 
the territory between the Wisconsin and Illinois rivers— all complimentary to Canadian authorities — indicate that it was the one 
A map bearing similar names to the above is mentioned by Parkman Appendix to Discovery of the Great West, p. 410), as bei 





* * 






* *> a 

& sok® 



• \*1 * $ ^ v * * & * i 4 

A *" ft ' c-<! H $ # 

^ ' ) 

(J? I * 



published a /a: kW/« of the original map in the French Geographical Review of February, iSSo, believes this to be Joliet's 
Governor of New France, and the names, Bnade, given to the Mississippi, Outrdaise, to the Illinois, and La Frontenacie, to 

st presented to Frontenac. Joliet's later maps are dedicated to Colbert, and in them the Mississippi is named in his honor. 

the work of Raudin, Count Frontenac's engineer. 



EARLY CHICAGO AND THE NORTHWEST. 



49 



selves to the dominion of his Majesty, whom alone they 
regard as their sovereign protector." * 

The principal speaker at this convention, held June 
4, 167 1, was Father Allouez, a Jesuit missionary, who 
had a knowledge of the Algonquin language. He was 
not exempt from exaggeration, as will be seen in his 
speech, which, in part, was as follows :f 

" It is a good work, my brothers, an important work, a great 
work that brings us together in council to-day. Look up at the 
cross which rises so high above our heads. It was there that Jesus 
Christ, the Son of God, after making himself a man for the love of 
men. was nailed, and died to satisfy his eternal Father for our sins. 
He is the master of our lives; the ruler of heaven, earth and hell. 
It is he of whom I am continually speaking to you, and whose name 
and words I have borne through all your country. But look at this 
post to which are fixed the arms of the great chief of France, whom 
we call King — he lives across the sea. He is the chief of the great- 
est chiefs; and has no equal on earth. All the chiefs whom you 
have ever seen are but children beside him. He is like a great 
tree, and they are but the little herbs that one walks over and tramples 
under foot. You know Onontio, that famous chief (governor) at 
Quebec. You know, and you have seen, that he is the terror of the 
Iroquois, and that his very name makes them tremble since he has 
laid their country waste and burned their towns with fire. Across 
the sea there are ten thousand Onontios like him, who are but the 
warriors of our great King, of whom I have told you. When he 
says ' I am going to war,' everybody obeys his orders, and each of 
these ten thousand chiefs raises a troop of a hundred warriors, some 
on sea and some on land. Some embark in great ships, such as you 
have seen at Quebec. Your canoes carry only four or five men, or, 
at the most, ten or twelve; but our ships carry four or five hundred, 
and sometimes a thousand. Others go to war by land and in such 
numbers that if they stood in a double file they would reach from 
here to Mississaquenk, which is more than twenty leagues off. When 
our King attacks his enemies he is more terrible than the thunder; 
the earth trembles; the air and the sea are all on fire with the blaze of 
his cannon; he is seen in the midst of his warriors, covered over 
with the blood of his enemies, whom he kills in such numbers that 
he does not reckon them by the scalps, but by the streams of blood 
which he causes to flow. He takes so many prisoners that he holds 
them in no account, but lets them go where they will, to show that 
he is not afraid of them. But now nobody dares make war on him. 
All the nations beyond the sea have submitted to him, and begged 
humbly for peace. Men come from every quarter of the earth to 
listen to him and admire him. All that is done in the world is de- 
cided by him alone." 

In this same strain much more was said by the mis- 
sionary, and no wonder the confiding and uncivilized 
Indians " voluntarily submitted themselves " to such a 
powerful sovereign who, they hoped, would protect them 
from the Iroquois, whom they so much feared. Nicholas 
Perrot was the person who invited the various tribes to 
the convention. He was well known to the Indians. 
He was a fur-trader, interpreter for the government, and 
the discoverer of the lead mines at Galena. 

Charlevoix, corroborated by others, says: "In 167 1, 
after having visited all the northern nations" and "in- 
vited them to meet in the following spring at Sault Ste. 
Marie * * * he iTerrot"; turned south and went to 
Chicago at the lower end of Lake Michigan where the 
Miamis then were." The Miamis were invited to attend, 
but the great age of their chief, Tetenchoua, and the 
fear that a fatal accident might befall him, in case he 
left his home, and who " never marched except with a 
guard of forty soldiers," the invitation was declined. 
The Pottawatomies, were, however, empowered to act 
in behalf of the Miamis. Particular allusion is made to 
this trip of Perrot " to Chicago at the lower end of Lake 
Michigan where the Miamis are," in order to announce 
the proposition that the, Chicago there spoken of and the 
one subsequently alluded to by early writers, as the home 
of the Miamis, did not embrace the present site of Chi- 
cago. Chicago was a name applied to a tract of coun- 
try at the south end of Lake Michigan. It nowhere has 
been found by the writer located by the early writers 

* N. Y. Col., vol. 9, p. 72. 

t Parkman's Dis. Northwest, p, 44. 



upon the west side. In these investigations it will be 
shown that at least three streams bore the name of Chi- 
cago in some of its varied spellings, viz: the St. Joseph, 
the Grand Calumet and the Desplaines. Coxe, in his 
History of Louisiana, calls the Illinois the river Checa- 
gou. 

The early writers often speak of the Miamis at 
Chicago. Many old maps have been examined by the 
writer, but not one indicates that the Miamis ever 
resided where Chicago now is. On the contrary, the 
Mascoutins are shown to have been there, and the 
Miamis were invariably located on the Fox River, in 
Wisconsin, or at the southeast of Lake Michigan, on the 
St. Joseph, Wabash and Mattmee rivers. The latter 
name, a synonym of Miami, was formerly called the 
Miami River of Lake Erie, and the St. Joseph was fre- 
quently called the river of the Miamis. Le Clercq says : 
"The Miamis in 1680: are situated south by east of 
the bottom of Lake Dauphin Michigan , on the borders 
of a pretty fine river, about fifteen leagues inland, at 
41° north latitude." 

On an old French map, now in the archives at Paris, 
and lately produced by M. Margry, bearing date of 
1679-82* the Miamis are located southeast of Lac de 
Illinois Michigan', on the R. des Miamis (St. Joseph . 

And while referring to this map it will be seen that 
a stream occupying the geographical position of the 
Grand Calumet, and emptying into the extreme south 
end of Lake Michigan, bears the name of R. Chekagoue. 
This is probably the earliest map upon which a river is 
named Chekagoue, and this stream was doubtless the 
western boundary of the lands of the Miamis, J and was 
the Chicago alluded to by Little Turtle in his speech of 
July 22, 1 795. 1 It will be seen by further examination 
of this map, made a short time after Marquette's death, 
that seven streams enter the lake from the west, but 
none have the north and south branches peculiar to the 
Chicago River, and only one of them bears a name, the 
Melico Milwaukee . 

If further proof were necessary to show that the 
Miamis were located at the south and southeast of the 
lake, and not at the present site of Chicago, the follow- 
ing maps might be cited : La Hontan, Paris, 1703 ; J. 
B. Hofmann, Paris, 1702 ; G. Del Isle, Paris, 1700 and 
1703-18-22; Senex, 1710; Nicholas de Fer, Paris, 
1718-26; I. F. Bernard, Paris, 1726; Sir D'Anville, 
Paris, 1746 ; Sieur Robert de Vaugondy, Paris, 1753 ; 
Jeffery's from D'Anville, London, 1755 ; Bellin, Paris, 
1755 ; Sieur LeRouge, Paris, 1755 • Sanson, 1764 ; Fad- 
den's Atlas, London, 1767 ; Sayer cS: Bennet, London, 
1790; Samuel Lewis, Philadelphia, 1776. 

By referring to the Marquette map published by 
Thevenot, it will be seen that dotted lines indicate the 
route taken by Joliet and Marquette. It is thought by 
some that these are not properly laid down, especially 
the one leading from the villages of the Illinois to the 
Mississippi. Some think the Illinois Indians were on 
the Des Moines River near Des Moines, Iowa, and not 
on the Illinois River in the south part of Bureau and 
LaSalle counties, 111. It is said the latter points are too 
far from the Mississippi River for men to go and return 
again in five days. From Keokuk, the nearest point on 
the Mississippi, to Des Moines is one hundred and 
sixty-two miles. From Davenport to Des Moines, in a 
nearly due west course it is one hundred and seventy- 

* See map elsewhere in this volume, from Margry 's vol. 3. 

t Sir William Johnson, in his reports to the Lords of Trade, under date of 
November 13, 1763, in describing the western boundary of the Iroquois, including 
the territory of the Miamis, says: "* * To the Ohio above the Rifts, thence 
northerly to the south end of' Lake Michigan, then along the eastern shore of 
said lake," etc. London documents N. Y. Col. vol. 71, 573. 

X Am. State papers, vol. 5, p. 570. 



5° 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



five miles. By railroad from Port Byron on the Mis- 
sissippi River, to Bureau Junction on the Illinois, is 
sixty-one miles, and to Utica it is eighty-one miles. In 
Marquette's journal, on the 25th of June, he speaks of 
leaving the Mississippi River and going to the villages 
of " the Illinois." who at once recognized them, and ex- 
claimed. " How beautiful is the sun, oh Frenchman. 
when thou comest to visit us."* 

Thev were invited to visit " the great Sachem of the 
Illinois." He " went with a good retinue," the Indians 
following •• without noise, and with marks of great res- 
pect " entertained for the two men. They arrived at the 
town, where they were cordially received, and sumptu- 
ously treated. When night came he "slept in the 
Sachem's cabin." and the next day took leave of him, 
" promising to pass back through his town in four 
moons.'T They were escorted back to the Mississippi 
by the Sachem and " nearly six hundred persons," to 
where they had left their canoes with the boatmen, with 
strict instructions to keep careful watch of them until 
their return. This return route is marked by a dotted 
line, " Chonin du retour " from the " CachouachSia, 
Illinois " to the river. Marquette says, " The short stay 
I made them did not permit me to acquire all the infor- 
mation I would have desired. \ They were divided into 
several villages, some of which are quite distant from 
that of which I speak, and which is called Peouare."§ 
This village is on the west of the Mississippi River, and 
is " distant a hundred leagues from the Cascasquias."||- 

From the foregoing, it would seem that Marquette 
visited "the Illinois Indians " upon the river which re- 
ceived its name from them. He did not make a false 
promise to them to " return to their town again in four 
moons," After having descended the Mississippi to the 
mouth of the Arkansas, and " having gathered all the 
information that could be desired from the expedition " 
— that is, " to ascertain where the river emptied," they 
started on their return, July 17, 1673. In pursuance of 
the promise to the Illinois, they entered the river of the 
Illinois, upon the banks of which they lived. They found 
there the town of Kaskaskia, - ' composed of seventy four 
cabins. After Marquette had again promised to " re- 
turn and instruct them," he says, " One of the chiefs of 
this tribe, with his young men, escorted us to the Illi- 
nois Lake, whence we at last returned in the close of 
September to the bay of the Fetid Green Bay. 

A dotted line from the Illinois town to the lake, 
shows that they entered the latter between 40 and 41 
north latitude, which would be at or near the south end 
of the lake. The court house in Chicago, three blocks 
south of Chicago River, is in latitude 41 26'. It will 
be seen by referring to the map, that an inland bay or 
lake is shown upon it just north of the route they took. 
This is probably Calumet Lake. Reasons for this con- 
clusion will be given further on. 

Marquette returned to the Mission near Green Bay, 
having in about four months and a haL* traveled, as esti- 
mated two thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven 
miles.** It was a hard journey. From his second jour- 
nal it appears that ill health detained him at that mission 

• Due M --. Riv., p. 22; Thevenot, p. 18. 
t Ibid, p. 28 

t They were abv-nt from the ! >i '" the 30th inclusive. 

(Ibid. p. . :.. ! 1 ; Thevenot, p. 21.) 

§ In 'J'hevcnot's publication, >Iarquettc Bays, 'p. 29, Hist. Col. La. 288,) 

he Illinois) are divided into several villages, some of which I ha.e not 

ley live so remote from other nations that their language is entirely 

different. They call themselves Perouarca. Their language is a dialect ol 1 1 1 ■ 

Algonquin/' On toe west of the Mississippi is the word Peianea. On his last 

map. near the same place, it is written Pc8arca. 

■ P 32. 

• tten CachouachSia on his first map in Thevenot. and Kachkaskia on 

dian town : s not the Kaskaskia of later date, situated 
on the Mississippi River. 

•» Sparks's Life of Marquette. 



thirteen months. On the 25th of October, 1674, he 
started with two boatmen to return to the Illinois Indians, 
with the hope of establishing a mission there. His jour- 
nal will be often referred to in order to determine the 
route which he took. From the 25th to the 30th of 
October, they were going from the mission to Lake 
Michigan zwaSturgeon Bay. They overtook five canoes 
of Pottawatomies and four of Illinois Indians, who were 
on their way to Kaskaskia, the place to which Marquette 
was going. They agreed to make the journey together. 

Marquette had traveled the route but once. The In- 
dians were probably well acquainted with it and knew 
all the good stopping-places along the west shore of the 
lake. 

We will carefully review the route Marquette took 
and, if possible, determine where his stopping-places 
were. He had reached Lake Michigan at a point oppo- 
site Sturgeon Bay — where there is now a ship canal. 
He says, in his journal : " You meet eight or ten pretty 
fine rivers." We will name those that enter the lake 
from the west, commencing at the north, and give the 
distances between each as fo'lows : From starting 
point to Kewane River, twenty-four miles ; Twin River, 
twenty-one ; Manitowoc, five ; Sheboygan, twenty- five ; 
Black Creek, four ; Sauk Creek (Port Washington), 
twenty ; Milwaukee, twenty-four ; Oak Creek, ten ; 
Root River, (Racine), thirteen ; Pike River, ten ; Pike 
Creek ,'Kenosha',, one, and a very small creek at Wau- 
kegan fifteen miles. From Waukegan to Chicago, a dis- 
tance of thirty-six miles, no river enters the lake. Lake 
Bluff — probably " the bluffs " spoken of in Marquette's 
journal — is thirty miles north of Chicago. The entire 
distance between the points named is two hundred and 
eight miles. From Marquette's journal, it appears that 
he was traveling on the lake about nine days. This 
would make an average of twenty-three and one-ninth 
miles per day. 

He started on the lake, October 31, 1674, and says : 
" We started with pretty fair weather and stopped for 
the night at a little river." We assume that little river 
to be the Kewane, twenty-four miles south of where they 
started. 

November 1, he says : " We halted at night at a river 
from which a fine road leads to the Pottawatomies." 
Marquette locates the Pottawatomies southeast of the 
head of Green Bay. The west branch of Twin River 
rises in Brown County, Wisconsin, less than three miles 
from the head of the bay, and hence it is assumed that 
the river at the mouth of which he encamped was Twin 
River, which is twenty-one miles from the mouth of 
Kewane River. Thus in two days, they traveled forty- 
five miles. 

November 2, he says : " We traveled all day with 
fair weather." He does not speak of encamping at a 
river and probably, did not. 

November 3, he says : " As I was on land walking, 
coming to a river which I could not cross, our people 
put in to take me on board, but we could not get out 
again on account of the swell. All the other canoes 
went on except the one that came with us." 

We will assume that this was the Sheboygan River — 
too deep to ford, and thirty miles from Twin River. 
He was detained here till the 5th. On that day he 
says : " We had hard work to get out of the river. At 
noon we found the Indians in a river." We are not 
sure what this river was ; whether Black Creek, a small 
stream in Sheboygan County, or Sauk Creek, in Ozau- 
kee County ; the latter being tweaty-four miles, and 
Black Creek not to exceed five miles from the mouth of 
the Sheboygan. If the Indians stopped at the first 



EARLY CHICAGO AND THE NORTHWEST. 



5i 



stream they reached after Marquette's boat left them, 
and waited for Marquette to overtake them, it would 
have been Black Creek. This seems probable, as they 
had agreed to go on together. 

On the 6th, he says : " We made a good day's 
travel," but probably did not encamp at the mouth of a 
river. They found " foot-prints of men, which obliged 
us to stop next day" — probably for two days, as no 
entry is made on the 8th. 

On the 9th, he says : " We landed at two o'clock, 
on account of the fine cabinage. We were detained 
here five days." This is assumed to be at Milwaukee, 
which is twenty-four miles from the mouth of Sauk 
Creek, and about forty-four miles from Black Creek — 
reached in about one and a half days' travel. 

On the 15th, he says : " After traveling sufficiently, 
we cabined in a beautiful spot, where we were detained 
three days." This may have been at Root River 
;Racine\ twenty-three miles, or at Pike River, thirty- 
three miles south of Milwaukee — probably the former 
place. 

On the 20th, he says : " We slept at the bluffs, cab- 
ined poorly enough." It is assumed that 
this was at what is now " Lake Bluff," 
thirty miles north of Chicago, thirty miles 
from Racine, and twenty miles from the 
mouth of Pike River. These are the only 
noticeable bluffs on the west side of the 
lake, except those above Milwaukee. He 
says : " We are detained two days and a 
half. Pierre going into the woods, finds 
the prairie twenty leagues from the port- 
age. He also passed by a beautiful canal, 
vaulted, as it were, about as high as a 
man. There was a foot of water in it." By 
going west from the shore at Lake Bluff, 
some five or six miles, the great prairie, 
that extends south to Calumet River and 
the Desplaines, is reached. No prairie is 
found on the west of the bluffs above Mil- 
waukee, or at any bluffs on the west shore 
of the lake, except those mentioned. The 
succeeding entry in Marquette's journal 
suggests that the Milwaukee bluffs were 
not alluded to, when he says : "Having 
started about noon, we had hard enough 
work to make a river." Had it been 
those above Milwaukee, it would not have 
been a hard task to reach Milwaukee River, within five 
miles of them, or even Oak Creek, ten miles further 
south. On the other hand, it would have been a hard 
afternoon's work to row the canoe thirty miles. Not a 
creek enters the lake, between the bluffs and Chicago. 
Such a half day's journey deserved a notice in his 
journal. On the 21st of November, 1674, he says: 
"We are detained here [at the mouth of Chicago River, 
probably,] three days. An Indian having discovered 
some cabins, came to tell us. Jacques went with him 
there the next day. Two hunters also came to see me. 
They were Mascoutins, to the numbers of eight or nine 
cabins." On many of the old maps, the Mascoutins 
are located west of where Chicago now is. Marquette 
says : " Having been detained by the wind, we remarked 
that there were large sand-banks off the shore, on which 
the waves broke continually." By reference to early 
maps of Chicago, it will be seen that Chicago River 
took a short turn just before reaching the lake, and its 
mouth was about one-fourth mile further south, at, or 
near, what is now the foot of Madison Street. No 
entries are made between the 21st and 27th. 



On the 27th, he says: "We had hard enough work 
to get out of the river." It is well known that the river 
had a wide mouth, and a sand-bar crossed it, so that it 
was oftentimes difficult to "cross the bar."* 

He continues by saying: " Having made about three 
leagues" .seven and one-fourth miles, "we found the 
Indians" (of their party, and also met "three Indians, 
who had come from the village." They were detained 
there by the wind the remainder of the month. He does 
not speak of being at the mouth of a river. There is 
none after leaving Chicago, for the distance of twelve 
miles, when the Little Calumet River is reached. 

On the 1st of December the only entry made is, 
" We went ahead of the Indians so as to be able to say 
mass." No entry is made on the 2d. On the 3d he 
writes: " Having said mass and embarked, we were com- 
pelled to make a point and land, on account of the fog." 
He seems to be making very slow progress. 

On the 4th, he says: " We started well to reach Port- 
age [Little Calumet] River, which was frozen half a foot 
thick." No entry is made in his journal from the 4th to 
the 1 2th. On the latter dav he writes: "As thev be- 




SECTION OF CAREY S MAP. 

(1801.) 

gan to draw [their boats on the ice] to get to the port- 
age, the Illinois having left, the Pottawatomies arrived 
[at the portage] with much difficulty." On the 4th, 
he savs: " Being cabined near the portagef two leagues 
up the river we resolved to winter there, on my ina- 
bility to go further." This would take him up the Lit- 
tle Calumet to " Indian Ridge " and near Calumet Lake. 
" Being cabined near the portage " "two leagues up 
Portage River " and subsequently, after making a port- 
age and going up another river three leagues " without 
finding any portage," suggests that there were two port- 
ages, and therefore there must have been three distinct 
streams or bodies of water on which he traveled. Now 
it is assumed that these were the Little Calumet, the 
Grand Calumet and the Desplaines rivers. From the 
Little to the Grand Calumet there was a portage of 
about one mile, and from the Grand Calumet, in those 
days, the route was up the Grand Calumet to Stony 

* Major S. H. Long, who visited Chicago in 1823, says: " The extent of the 
sand-banks which are found on the eastern and southern shore by prevailing 
north and northwesterly winds, will prevent any important works from being 
undertaken to improve the post at Chicago." (Long's Exped. to St. Peters 
River, vol 1, p. 165.) 

t From the Little to the Crand Calumet, as will be shown presently. 



5- 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO 



Brook near Blue Island, then up Stony Brook to the 
Desplaines River, and probably by way of the " Sag " — 
an old river bed or slough that extends nearly the entire 
distance front Stony Brook to the Desplaines, and 
through which the " Feeder" now runs from the Calu- 
met to supply water for the Illinois and Michigan Canal. 
On the old maps prior to 1800 there were repre- 
sented two distinct rivers, the Grand and Little Killi- 
rnick. The Grand Calumet Killimick' took its rise 
near La Porte, Indiana, and ran a westerly course to 
near Blue Island, about forty-two miles, then turning 
north and receiving from the west a tributary, Stony 
Brook, it turned nearly east and running nearly paral- 
lel with itself, in an opposite direction, and about three 




, MORSE S MAP 

miles distant see Morse's and Carey's maps' it entered 
Lake Michigan at its extreme southern limit — near 
what is now the northeastern corner of Lake County, 
Indiana. At the mouth of this stream " Indiana City " 
was " founded." To-day the mouth is closed by drift- 
ing sands. The Grand Calumet has no outlet there ex- 
cept in high water. "Indiana City" is a thing of the 
past. There was also a Little Calumet. It was simply 
an outlet of Calumet and 'Wolf lakes, only about six 
miles in length. There is now but one Calumet river. 
Among the old papers of General Hull, who was 
stationed at Detroit from 1805 to 1812, his grandson, the 
late William H. Clark, of this city, found a manuscript 
map — a fac-simile of which is published here — on which 
the Grand and Little Killamick are delineated with a 
straight line uniting them, on which the word " Canal " 
is written ; as though the two rivers were thus united. 
The writer has visited the two streams and the " canal," 
and carefully examined them. The former are wide, 
and as a rule, very shallow near the banks, and in them 
is an abundance of aquatic vegetation, such as pond 
lilies, lotuses, water-grass, moss, etc. On the banks of 



what was the Grand Calumet there is a heavy growth of 
wood and underbrush on each side from where the 
" canal " leads from it. The " canal," which is about one 
mile in length, and much narrower than either stream, 
has abrupt banks, which appear to be washed wider each 
year. The boatman who took the writer over these 
streams was a hunter and fisherman, and had fished in 
them for over twenty-five years. He said the "canal" was 
much wider than when he first saw it. On the bottom 
of it there is neither lily, lotus nor water-grass visible its 
entire length. There are no trees or underbrush on its 
banks. It has all the appearance of being a new stream. 
All the water from the Grand Calumet now runs through 
this new stream, or "canal," into the Little Calumet, reach- 
ing the latter stream not 
far from the outlet of Cal- 
umet Lake. The slough, 
or old river bed, of what 
was once the Grand Cal- 
umet, east of this "canal," 
in times of high water, has 
a current from the east 
that finds an outlet 
through the " canal " and 
the Little Calumet. It is 
not definitely known who 
made this " canal." It 
may have been cut 
through by .the water, 
without the aid of man. 
It is the nearest point 
between these streams, 
and may have been the 
portage, over which loads 
of furs and boats were 
dragged. This travel 
may have killed the 
grass, and thus in high 
water afforded it a chance 
to cut a channel in this 
road between the high 
grass on either side. The 
banks of what was the 
Grand Calumet are sev- 
eral feet higher than 
those of the Little Cal- 
umet where the "canal" 
enters it. About the year 
1800 many canals were projected in the United States, 
and some were made. Possibly this was the one referred 
to by Major Long in his report to the Secretary of War, 
wherein he says : " The Chicago and Desplaines rivers 
are connected by means of a kind of canal, which has 
been made partly by the current of the water and partly 
by the French and Indians, for the purpose of getting 
their boats across in that direction in time of high 
water." There does not appear to have been any such 
canal made at the place named, and possibly it may re- 
fer to the " canal " under consideration. The influx of 
a body of water like the Grand Calumet into the Little 
Calumet and at nearly right angles with the stream, 
would be likely to produce changes in the latter stream. 
It has done so. The northern bank has been encroached 
upon, and the river-bed is moving north. Again, there 
i> a much greater volume of water than before. The 
outlet from Wolf Lake was formerly into the Little 
Calumet. The bed is still visible. Gurdon S. Hubbard, 
now living, subsequently to 1819 was having boats loaded 
with furs and merchandise, drawn up by men along the 
lake shore, when they were surprised to find that a " new 



EARLY CHICAGO AND THE NORTHWES' 



5.5 



river "had been made to enter the lake, which was so 
deep and the sides so steep that they could not cross it. 
It was an outlet from Wolf Lake. Colonel Hubbard 
speaks positively on this point, and says he knows there 
was no river there before the spring of that year, as he 
had previously passed over the ground. Major Long, 
in speaking of his journey on the lake shore, from the 
" BigCalamick "to the " Little Calamick," says: "There 
are near to this place two streams, one of which, named 
Pine River, was opened last year ^1822; ; the other was 
formed a short time before."* 

The excess of the water in the Little Calumet had 



Schoolcraft's map a portage is marked from Chicago to 
the Desplaines River, also from Milwaukee to Rock 
River. But up to the time of the cutting through ol 
the canal, portages marked on the old maps are at the 
south or extreme southwest end of Lake Michigan. 
For evidence of this see Le Hontan s, Du Pratz's and 
other maps. 

The last map of Marquette's suggests that the route 
was from the southwest corner of the lake, and from 
the fact that his line is continuous and nearly straight 
from the lake to the Illinois, it suggests that the 'sag " 
was then filled with water and there was a nearly con- 



Si 



m 






»*i_o~ 6 c-^^o 1 - 

yu jA"S-s- ----- ' 

,w£i~z* . _ 5 



« 



fr 



8. A*. - --- Trb 



*&* 




CM. & UL* tiy Z&~>-lit » 



OF THE COI'NTIT 

,m LduMuU.™ to tl* I Urn™ Rive 
I"r°m U. P« r «>, of Gen. W» Hull 
GovC ol WMMiu. S".» AooS to Vb\t 



evidently stopped the outflow, and raised the volume in 
Wolf Lake. The " new rivers ' were the results. By 
the abrupt turning of the Grand Calumet, about sixteen 
miles from its mouth, so that its waters reached the lake 
nearer than they would have done by following its 
original channel, the country above the outlet would, in 
a measure, become drained, and the mean height of the 
water in the stream be less than it was before such diver- 
sion was made. Stony Brook would be affected by the 
change, and the part of the stream that once filled the 
" sag '" would be drained off. The length of the port- 
age would be increased. This was probably the case, 
for since about the time of the opening of the " canal ' 
— probably about 1800 — the line of travel was changed, 
and the Chicago River was the route usually taken after 
that date. Major Long, Mr. Schoolcraft and others of 
their time went by way of the South Branch of the 
Chicago River ; and thence to the Desplaines. On 

* Major Long's Second Expedition, vol. I. p. 159. 



tinuous water communication after he had " dragged 
half an arpent "and entered the Grand Calumet. He 
represents several streams on the west side of the lake, 
but not one of them has the peculiar north and south 
"branches" of Chicago River. Nor does the one 
from the southwest end of the lake have any branches. 
Chicago River is peculiar in this respect. It does not 
exceed a mile in length. The two branches extend for 
miles north and south of the forks. 

By referring to the first map of Marquette, it will be 
seen that the 'portage" there marked is between two 
streams, both of which rnn in a southerly direction — the 
Desplaines and Stony Brook. In some old maps the 
portage between the Desplaines and the forked Chicago 
River is from the North Branch of the latter.* It would 
seems from this that the portage was not from the Chi- 
cago River of a later date, for that was made from the 



?e Sir Robert D. Vagondy, Map of 1 
e shown at the southwest part of 
map of 1725. 



where the " B. & P. de C 
lake ; Mitchell's of I 7 5S ; 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



South Branch. It would seem more probable that the 
forked river was the Calumet and Stony Brook. The 
portage from the South Branch of the Chicago River to 
the Desplaines, which some claim was the route of Mar- 
quette, would be between that stream, which runs north- 




SECTIOX OF LA HONTAN S MAP OF 1703. 

erlv, and the Desplaines, which runs in an opposite 
direction. 

We will now return again to Marquette where we 
left him in his little cabin on the Little Calumet, near 
the portage. During his sojourn he saw many Indians 
passing his cabin. On the 30th of December, 1674, he 
savs : •' Jacques arrived from the Illinois village, which 
is only six leagues from here, where they are starving." 

The next entry is made January 16, 1675. It ap- 
pears that about eighteen leagues distant some French- 
men resided, and one of them was a surgeon, who vis- 
ited Marquette. "An Indian came and brought whortle- 
berries and bread, for the men to eat. Jacques return- 
ed with the surgeon, and went on to the village of the 
Illinois which was about five miles beyond that of the 
French." On the 24th he says : " Jacques returned with 
a bag of corn and other refreshments that the French 
had given him for me. " 26th. Three Illinois brought 
us from the head men [of the Illinois] two bags of corn, 
some dried meat, squashes and twelve beavers. * * * 
They had come twenty leagues." On the 20th of Feb- 
ruary he writes : " We had time to observe the tide 
which comes from the lake, rising and falling, although 
there appears no shelter on the lake. We saw the ice 
go against the wind." These phenomena must have 
been witnessed by him from his cabin, as he looked to 
the west upon the Calumet lake. It was not upon Lake 
Michigan, for he was two leagues up the river and con- 
fined by sickness. He had previously spoken of tides 
in other inland bodies of water he had visited He was 
of opinion that there were tides in the lakes. 

" On the 28th [March] the ice broke and choked 
above us. On the 29th the water was so high that we 
had barely time to uncabin in haste, put our things on 
trees and try to find a place to sleep on some hillock, 
the water gaining on us all night; but having frozen a 
little, and having fallen a little, * * * we are going 
to embark to continue our route. ' 



"31. Having started yesterday we made three 
leagues on the river, going up [on Granc' Calumet and 
Stony Brook] without finding any portage. We dragged 
for half an arpent " [from the Little to reach the Grand 
Calumet]. ''Besides this outlet" [to Lake Michigan 
the route they went] " the river has another [outlet] by 
which we must descend." The Grand Calumet then 
emptied into the extreme south end of Lake Michigan. 
He probably did descend that stream, and finding him- 
self so far east he chose to go back to Michilimackinac 
by an unknown route along the east shore of the lake, 
rather than turn and go up the west side over a portion 
of the way he had previously traveled. Had this trip 
been by way of what is now known as Chicago River, 
it is not probable that he would have turned to the 
south upon entering the lake and gone by an unknown 
route, when his point of destination was to the north, 
over a route, which he had previously traveled. And 
that he and Joliet took the same route from the Des- 
plaines by way of what is now called " the Sag " and 
down Stony Brook to the Calumet, is evidenced by the 
following entry in his journal : " Here [on the east side 
of the Desplaines] we began our portage, more than 
eighteen months ago." April 1, he is detained at the 
same place " by a strong south wind." " We hope to- 
morrow to reach the spot where the French are, fifteen 
leagues from here." The strong south wind would im- 
pede his progress down the Desplaines River. 

" 6. The high winds and cold prevent us from pro- 
ceeding. The two lakes [Michigan and Calumet] by 
which we have passed are full of bustards, geese, ducks 
cranes and other birds that we do not know. We have 
just met the surgeon, with an Indian, going up with a 
canoe load of furs ; but the cold being too severe for 
men who have to drag their canoes through the water, 
he has just made a cache of his beaver, and goes to 
the village [the French village where the surgeon lived] 
with us to-morrow." It was on this day, the 6th of 
April, 1675, that Marquette made his last entry in his 
journal. It is said by some writers, that he reached the 
town of Kaskaskia on the 8th of April, and after having 
several times assembled the chiefs of the nation, he 
took possession of that land in the name of Jesus 
Christ, and gave the name of the Immaculate Concep- 
tion of the Blessed Yirgin, to a mission, which he estab- 
lished there. Now this may all be true, but it looks as 
though a fancy sketch had found its way into sober his- 
tory. Marquette made no mention of any such event. 
If he had been able to collect the different tribes and 
found a mission, it is likely he would have made men- 
tion of it. In just forty-two days after he made his last 
entrv, he died, at the mouth of the Marquette River, 
upon the northwestern shore of Lake Michigan. In 
that time, he had traveled from the Desplaines River to 
the Illinois town, and from thence, back to and down 
to the mouth of the Grand Calumet, and thence up the 
east side of the lake to the place of his death — where 
Ludington now is — a journey of at least four hundred 
and forty-five miles. Allouez went to " Kachkachkia " 
in 1676, and again 1677. In his journal he says :* 

"In spite of uur efforts to hasten on, it was the 27th of April 
□Wore I reached Kachkachkia, a large Illinois town. I immedi- 
ately entered the cabin where Father Marquette had lodged, and 
the Sachems, with all the people, being assembled, I told them the 
object of my coming among them, namely, to preach to them the 
true, living and immortal God, and his Son Jesus Christ. They 
listened very attentively to my whole discourse, and thanked me 
for the trouble I took for their salvation. I found this village 
much increased since last year. They lodged in three hundred 
and fifty-one cabins." 

* Disc. M»*s. Riv., p. 74, 



EARLY CHICAGO AND THE NORTHWEST. 



55 



After giving a history of the people, their manner of 
living, etc., he proceeds : 

" As I had but little time to remain, having come only to ac- 
quire the necessary information for the perfect establishment of a 
mission, I immediately set to work to give all the instruction I 
could to these eight different nations, to whom, by the help of God. 
I made myself sufficiently understood. 1 would go to the cabin of 
the chief of a particular tribe that I wished to instruct, and there, 
preparing a little altar with my chapel ornaments, 1 exposed a cru- 
cifix, before which I explained the mysteries of our faith. I laid 
the foundation of this mission by the baptism of thirty-live children 
and a sick adult, who soon after died, with one of the infants, to go 
and take possession of heaven in the name of the whole nation. 
And we, too, to take possession of these tribes in the name of 
Jesus Christ, on the 3d of May, the Feast of the Holy Cross, 
erected in the midst of the town, a cross twenty-five feet high, 
chanting the Vexilia Regis in the presence of a great number of 
Illinois of all tribes, of whom I can say in truth, that they aid not 
take Jesus Christ crucified for a foliy nor for a scandal ; on the con- 
trary, they witnessed the ceremony with great respect, and heard all 
1 had to say on the mystery, with admiration. The children even 
went to kiss the cross, through admiration, and the old earnestly 
commended me to place it well so that it could not fall. The time 
of my departure having come, I took leave of all these tribes, and 
left them in a great desire of seeing me as soon as possible, which I 
more willingly induced them to expect," 

In a letter from Father Marest, dated November 9, 
1712, he says : 

" This mission owes its establishment to the late Father Gra- 
vier. Father. Marquette was, in truth, the first who discovered the 
Mississippi, about thirty-nine years ago ; but not being acquainted 
with the language of the country, he did not remain. Some time 
afterward he made a second journey, with the intention of fixing 
there his residence, and laboring for the conversion of these people ; 
but death, which arrested him on the way, left to another the care 
of accomplishing this enterprise. This was Father Allouez, who 
charged himself with it. He was acquainted with the language of 
the Oumiamis, which approaches very nearly to that of the Illinois, 
He, however, made but a short sojourn, having the idea while there, 
that he should be able to accomplish more in a different country, 
where indeed, he ended his apostolic life. Thus Father Gravier 
is the one who should properly be regarded as the founder of the 
mission of the Illinois."* 

Having now given the reason for believing that 
Father Marquette did not 
establish the mission of 
Kaskaskia, and that he 
did not preach to the 
Miamis at the site of 
Chicago, additional evi- 
dence will now be ad- 
vanced to show that the 
Chicagou and the Chica- 
gou River of the early 
writers, did not refer to 
the location of the Chica- 
go and its river of the 
present time. In the 
early part of the eight- 
eenth century, the Eng- 
lish as well as the French, 
were endeavoring to ac- 
quire a knowledge of the 
Northwest, and secure a 
foot-hold there. English 
commissioners were ap- 
pointed to examine, and 
report upon it. In their 
report made to the King, 
September 8, 1 7 2 i,f they 
allude to the communica- 
tion between Montreal 

and the Mississippi River, and say : " From this lake 
[Erie] to the Mississippi, they [the French] have 



three different routes ; the shortest by water is up 
the river Miamis, or Ouamis [Maumee] on the south- 
west of Lake Erie,'' etc., by way of a portage on 
the Wabash, and thence down to the Mississippi River. 
" There are likewise two other passages much longer 
than this, which are particularly pricked down in Hen- 
nepin's map, and may be described in the following 
manner." These routes were round by way of the 
lakes. " From the Lake Huron they pass by the 
Strait Michillimackinack four leagues, being two in 
breadth and of a great depth, to the Lake Illinois [Mich- 
igan] ; thence one hundred and fifty leagues on the 
lake to Fort Miamis, situated on the mouth of the river 
Chigagoe [St. Joseph]. From hence came those In- 
dians of the same name, viz : Miamis, who are settled on 
the forementioned river that runs into Lake Erie [Mau- 
mee]. Up the river Chigagoe, they sail but three leagues 
to a passage of one-fourth of a league ; then enter a 
small lake of about a mile, and have another very small 
portage, and again, another of two miles to the River 
Illinois (Kankakee), thence down the stream one hun- 
dred and thirty leagues to the Mississippi."* This evi- 
dently means the St. Joseph River, and not the Chicago 
of to-day. By referring to Hennepin's map, a reduced 
copy of which is here given, it will be seen that the 
portage [draag-plaats] was between the St. Joseph and 
Kankakee rivers of the present time. The other route 
alluded to by the commissioners, was by way of Green 
Bay, Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and down the latter 
stream to the Mississippi. By reference to Hennepin's 
map, it will be seen that the portage (draag-plaats) is 
marked between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. Charle- 
voix also alludes to Chicago in 1721, as follows : 

"Fifty years ago the Miamis were settled at the south end of 
Lake Michigan, in a place called Chicagou, from the name of a 
small river which runs into the lake, and which has its source not 
far from the river of the Illinois. They are divided into three vil- 
lages, one on the River St. Joseph ; the second on another river 




hennepin's map of 1683. 



* Mr, A. Coquillard. the founder of South Bend, Ind., about the year 1837, 
at an expense of about j (5,000, had a canal or mill race dug, from the head 
waters of the Kankakee to the St. Joseph, a distance of about four miles, 
through the little lake alluded to in this description of that portage. What 
was then a series of ponds and swamps is now comparatively dry land, and 
under cultivation. 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



which bears their name and runs into Lake Krie, and the third upon 
the Ouabache (Wabash), which runs into the Mississippi."* 

That this place was at the south end of the lake, and 
not upon its west side, appears evident. The map of 
1679-82, recently found in Paris and reproduced by 
Margry, has the name of Chikagoue applied to the Grand 
Calumet. That and the St. Joseph River were evidently 
known as Chicagou River at times, prior to 1700. The 
name was also frequently applied to the Desplaines 
River, which was also called Divine River. It is named 
Chicago on the maps of DeLisle, Paris, 1 7 1 9; Sieur D' 
Anville in 1746; Jeffreys, London, 176 1 ; Franquelin, 
Paris, 16S4: Sieur De Rouge, Paris, 1755. 

The map of the L'nited States, published by W. Win- 
terbotham, in London, 1795, to accompany his history 
of the L'nited States, suggests that the Chicago of that 
date was not on the river now known by that name. 
" Little Fort " on that map marks the site of YVaukegan 
— so named from "Little Fort." South of YVaukegan 
to the Little Calumet, only one stream enters the lake — 
the Chicago River. This is shown upon the map as a 
stream with no name, while Chicago, upon no stream, is 
still further south. The same is to be seen on Cary's 
map of a later date. Both these maps show the outline 
of the Grand Calumet very correctly. 

Many references are made by early writers to Chica- 
go, but except those of recent date it is spoken of as be- 
ing the home of the Miamis, or at the south end of the 
lake, or at a place where there is a fort. Neither of 
these descriptions would apply to Chicago. 

In a translation in Magazine of American History t 
LaSalle, in one of his letters, says: "I sent M. de 
Tonty in advance, with all my people, who, after march- 
ing three days along the lake and reaching the division 
line called Checagou," etc. * * * This was the 2d and 
3d of January, 16S2. " I remained behind to direct the 
making of some caches in the earth," etc. The Checa- 
gou here spoken of is, by some, thought to refer to the 
Chicago of to-day. 

If that is so, LaSalle's people must have traveled in 
those three days, in January, 1682, one hundred and 
fifteen miles — the distance from St. Joseph to Chicago. 
It seems more probable that they traveled sixty miles to 
the mouth of the Grand Calumet, which as can be seen 
upon the map reproduced by Margry, was, in 1679-82, 
called the Chekagou. But farther on, in this letter, La- 
Salle speaks of the Checagou River in a manner that 
places beyond a doubt that he means the Desplaines. 
In speaking of the Teatiki Kankakee , he says, "It is 
found to receive on the left, in its descent, another river, 
nearly as large, which is called the river of the Iroquois 
and thence continuing * * * it receives on the right 
bank that of Checagou. This river flows from the Bay 
of Puans, and is a torrent rather than a river, although 
it has a course of more than sixty leagues," etc. 

So it appears that he referred to two Chicago rivers. 
Of the one emptying into the lake he. in speaking of 
opening the mouth of the river by the removal of the 
sand bar, says : " I doubt, even if it be a complete suc- 
cess, whether a vessel could resist the great freshets 
caused by the currents in the Checagou in the spring, 
which are much heavier than those of the Rhone. More- 
over, it would only be serviceable for a short time, and 
at most, for fifteen or twenty days each year, after which 
there wotdd be no more waters," etc. J 

This would hardly suffice for a description of the 
sluggish stream, in which there is at all times a plenti- 
ful supply of stagnant water, now called Chicago River. 

* N.V. Col., v.,1. .,. p. , 7 -. I . , Hiatoriqui . Lettre IX. 

* V"1. 2. p. 152 from vol. 2 "I Margry. 

* Ibid, p. 153. 



He speaks of a " Portage of Chicago," and says 
" This is an isthmus of land at 41° and 50' north lati- 
tude, at the west of Illinois Lake, which is reached by 
a channel formed by the junction of several rivulets, or 
meadow ditches." The latitude given would make the 
portage and isthmus north of west of the court-house 
in Chicago, which is in latitude 41 26' — too far north 
for the South Branch portage. There may have been a 
portage from the North Branch over an isthmus to the 
Desplaines, but as far as is known to the writer, no one 
has ever thought there was one. It may be that there 
is a mistake in this latitude by typographical error or 
otherwise. 

LaSalle did not like the Chicagou route to the Illi- 
nois. His first trip was by the St. Joseph and Kanka- 
kee. He did not wish to experiment with a new route. 
On the map, made in his day, and probably from data 
furnished by him or his men, the Grand Calumet was 
named Chekagoue. He would be obliged to go by boat 
sixty miles from the mouth of the St. Joseph to Grand 
Calumet, instead of going up the St. Joseph as he had 
done on his first journey. In some other earlv maps the 
name Checagou may have been applied to the forked 
river on the west side of the lake — the Chicago River of 
to-day. But no Miamis appear to have been there. The 
map-makers in the old world were doubtless as much 
perplexed to locate the Chicago of one hundred and fifty 
years ago, as an American map-maker would be to accu- 
rately locate some of the towns and rivers of unpro- 
nounceable names in Central Africa reported by Stanley 
and other explorers of that region. It seems very doubt- 
ful whether the parties at the treaty of Greenville, in 
1795, fully understood the location and history of Chi- 
cago. They described the thirty-six miles of land that 
were ceded at " the mouth of a river where a fort for- 
merly stood." There is no record, nor even tradition, 
that a fort ever stood at the mouth of Chicago River, 
prior to 1803. Tradition says one was built by a French 
trader named Garay, upon the North Branch, and that 
the branch was called Garay Creek. It is probable that 
forts, or more probably stockades, as places for the stor- 
age of furs, were erected at the mouths of many rivers 
and near portages. The earthworks around the remains 
of one of these are said to exist on the north side of the 
" sag," before alluded to, in the town of Palos, Cook 
County, and its ruins are thus described by Dr. V. A. 
Boyer, of Chicago : 

"I have many times visited, when on hunting excursions, the 
remains of an old fort, located in the town of Palos, Cook County, 
11!., at the crossing of the old sag trail, which crossed the Ausa- 
gaunashkee swamp, and was the only crossing east of the Des- 
plaines River, prior to the building of the Archer bridge* in 1S36. 
The remains of the fort, situated north of the sag and near the cross- 
ing, were on theelevated timber land, commanding a view of the sur- 
rounding country, and as a military post would well command and 
guard the crossing. * * * I have never been able to find any ac- 
count of the building of this fort in any historical works. I first 
saw it in 1833, and since then have visited it often in company with 
other persons, some of whom are still living. I feel sure that it was 
not built during the Sac War, from its appearance. * * * It seems 
probable that it was the work of French fur-traders or explorers, as 
there were trees a century old growing in its environs. It was evi- 
dently the work of an enlightened people, skilled in the science of 
warfare. * * * As a strategetic point it most completely com- 
manded the surrounding country and the crossing of the swamp 
or sag." 

The manuscript from which the above is taken, is 
in the library of the Chicago Historical Society, and 
with it is a map showing the location of the "fort " in 
the western part of Section 15 of the town of Palos. 
It is reported that near that place, and near the point 
where the sag enters the Desplaines, many relics of 

* Say bridge, ne;tr the Desplaines River, 



EARLY CHICAGO AND THE NORTHWEST. 



57 




HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



<^5 




^7 25-r/ — 27V — _=o V _"" 57^/ g?jy _ z _py r " 



E L A 

LOUIS1ANE 




/%. 



y 



-<> 



fEnl'Ainericjue Septentnonale , depuis la. 
1 Nouvelle France juf<ju ' au G olfe do 
Vlexique , oufont decris les Pays cjuele Sieurdek 
|^. X^ tS^iis a decouverts dam un grand continent A* 
VScompris depuis 50 degr. deJ'Elevatton duPolej|/ 
lufques a 2« les annees 1679. 80. 81. 82 ^/f 







EARLY CHICAGO AND THE NORTHWEST. 



59 




<w t .(fVaw*- f .-20 4 ru.%. ait%its<zt ,' £arutc £ -%\i 



6o 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



Indians and those evidently made by a more civilized 
people have been found. If the sag was the thorough- 
fare of the early French explorers and traders, it is 
reasonable to suppose that many relics of theirs will be 
found when that part of the county is settled and the 
land plowed.* It was a habit of the traders to cache 
their furs and other articles which they wished to hide 
from the view of strangers who might pass that way. 

One other point and this paper will be brought to a 
close. It is frequently asserted that Marquette was the 
discoverer of the Mississippi River. Joliet's name in 
connection with the discovery is often ignored. By- 
referring to the report of Count Frontenac to M. Col- 
bert, Minister at Paris, under date of November 2, 1672, 
it will be seen that Louis Joliet was commissioned to go 
■• to the country of the Mascoutins to discover the 
South Sea and the great river they call the Mississippi, 
which is supposed to discharge itself into the sea of 
California. He is a man of great experience in these 
sorts of discoveries; and has already been almost at that 
Great River, the mouth of which he promises to see." 

In another communication, dated November 14, 
1674, the Count writes to Minister Colbert, as follows : 

" Sieur Joliet * * * has returned three months ago, and dis- 
covered some very tine countries, and a navigation so easy through 
the beatiful rivers he has found, that a person can go from Lake 
Ontario and Fort Frontenac in a bark to the Gulf of Mexico. 
there being only one carrying-place, half a league in length, where 
Lake Ontario communicates with Lake Erie. * * * He has been 
within ten days' journey of the Gulf of Mexico. * * * I send 
you by my secretary the map he has made of it f and the observa- 
tions he has been able to recollect, as he has lost all his minutes 
and journals in the shipwreck suffered within sight of Montreal, 
where after having completed a vovage of twelve hundred leagues, 
he was near being drowned, and lost all his papers and a little 
Indian whom he brought from those countries. These accidents 
have caused me great regret. He left with the Fathers of Sault 
Ste. Marie in Lake Superior, copies of his journals ; these we can 
not get before next year. You will glean from them additional 
particulars of this discovery, in which he has verv well acquitted 
himself."^ 

In consideration of the great services Joliet had ren- 
dered the French Government he obtained a grant of 

* Since the foregoing was written the writer has received a letter from 
Alexander Reid, of Sat? Bridge P. O., who says that, about thirty-seven years 
ago when plowing a piece of land on the south side of the sag, at the depth of 
ten or twelve inches, he found, as he expresses it, " about a bushel-basket full 
of arrow flints, and I think about sixty or seventy-five stone axes, of all sizes 
* * * about three or four rods from the margin of the sag." 

t See fac-simile of Joliet's map in this work. 

i Paris Docs., N. V. Col., vol. 9, p. 121 ; also p. 793. 



the island Anticosti, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, " as a 
reward for having discovered the country of the Illinois, 
whereof he has transmitted a map to my Lord Colbert, 
and for a voyage he made to Hudson's Bay in the public 
interests."* Thus it appears that Joliet was the person 
employed and the one paid for having made the discov- 
ery so often ascribed to Marquette. That the latter ac- 
companied Joliet and saw what he saw, and that he re- 
mained in the country and took a second trip to the 
Illinois, is true. He evidently bore the same relation to 
Joliet that the army chaplain does to his superior officers. 
Many a chaplain, upon his return from the war, has 
written an account of the campaign better than the 
colonel, under whom he served, could have done. It 
may have been that Marquette was a closer observer and 
better writer than Joliet. But this has not been proved. 
The original journals of Joliet were lost. The copies 
which he left with the Fathers at Sault Ste. Marie, as 
reported by Count Frontenac, have not been made pub- 
lic. No data are at hand to enable one to determine 
the character and merits of Joliet's journals. If they 
still exist, it is to be hoped that some person, with the 
enthusiasm and industry of a Margry, will search the 
French archives and the depositories of the Jesuits ana 
other missionaries, and do for the memory of Joliet what 
has been so well done for LaSalle. 

That Joliet was the head of the expedition is clearly 
proven. Soon after his return to his native city, Quebec, 
he married Miss Claire F. Bissot, of that city, Octobei 
7, 1675. He led a very active life in attending to his 
own private business, in addition to faithfully and effi- 
ciently discharging governmental duties that were en- 
trusted to him. He died at about fifty-six years of age. 
leaving a wife and seven children, viz.: Louis, Marie 
Charlotte, Francois, Jean Baptiste, Claire, Anne, and 
Marie Geneveive. 

In closing, it may be said that the expedition of 
Joliet and Marquette was particularly disastrous. Joliet 
lost his records and maps, and Marquette lost his life. 
It was just two years and one day after Marquette 
started from Mackinac that he died. He was sick at the 
Mission of St. Francis, and in his cabin, " near the port- 
age," nearly seventeen months — leaving him less than 
eight months in which to do all his work of discover 
and missionary labors in the Mississippi Valley. 

* N. Y. Col., vol. 9, p. 668. 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS. 



EARLY EXPLORATION'S Continued). 

La Salle. — It is believed by many students of 
northwestern history, that before Joliet and Marquette 
had visited this region, another great explorer had passed 
up the Chicago River to the Illinois, if not even to the 
Mississippi. This was the famous Robert Cavelier, 
Sieur de la Salle. LaSalle was the son of a wealthy and 
aristocratic merchant of Rouen. He was born in 1643, 
and received a thorough education in his native country. 
Born a Catholic, he became early connected with the 
Jesuits. This connection, although severed in his early 
manhood, debarred him from any portion of the inherit- 
ance of his father, and at the age of twenty-three he 
sailed for Canada to seek his fortune. The little settle- 
ment of Montreal, which he had selected as his desti- 
nation, was then governed by the Seminary of St. Sul- 
pice, a corporation of priests, who held it and the sur- 
rounding country by seignorial rights. This post, being 
the most advanced settlement on the St. Lawrence, was 
in constant danger from the attacks of the neighboring 
Iroquois, and its proprietors were willing and glad to 
grant their lands, on easy terms, to any person brave 
enough to venture still farther up the St. Lawrence, and 
advance the line of settlement toward the enemy. La- 
Salle was both fearless and ambitious, and accepted a 
grant of land at the La Chine Rapids, equally danger- 
ous as a place of residence, and convenient as a place of 
trade. The divided waters of the St. Lawrence unite be- 
low the island on which Montreal is built, and form the 
Bay of St. Louis. On the southern shore of the bay 
was the seigniory of LaSalle. He at once commenced 
the improvement of his domain, which gave him an op- 
portunity of frequent intercourse with the Seneca Iro- 
quois. From them he heard of the Ohio, and also of 
another great river in the west, which he conceived must 
flow into the California Sea. After a residence of seven 
or eight years in Canada he had become thoroughly fa- 
miliar with several Indian dialects, and with the man- 
ners and characteristics of the surrounding tribes. He 
was restless and adventurous, and desired to penetrate 
farther into the magnificent country he had adopted as 
his home, and conceived the design of himself exploring 
the Ohio, and perhaps the " sea " into which the Indians 
said it flowed. Proceeding to Quebec, he gained the 
consent of Courcilles and Talon to his proposed plan, 
but no aid toward carrying it out. He accordingly sold 
his grant to raise the necessary sum, and the proprietors 
of Montreal desiring also to explore these regions, the 
two contemplated expeditions were merged in one. The 
combined party consisted of twenty-four men and seven 
canoes, with two priests of St. Sulpice as the leaders of 
the Montreal party. There were two additional canoes 
for the Senecas, who acted as guides as far as their vil- 
lage on the southern shore of Lake Ontario. These 
Seneca guides here left the party, and with one Indian 
whom they found at the head of the lake and induced 
to act in that capacity, they proceeded on their journey. 
On reaching the Indian village at Niagara they found 
Joliet, who had reached that point on his return from 
the copper mines of Lake Superior. He had made a 
map of the region he had traversed ; and his description 
of the country, of the spiritual needs of the Indians, and, 
possibly, of the influence the Jesuits were gaining over 
them, induced the two priests of St. Sulpice to change 
the direction of their voyage to the north. The party 
separated at Niagara, the priests to go to Lake Superior, 
and LaSalle to continue his journey toward the south. 
This was ir, the last of September, 1669. His move- 
ments during the following year are not clearly traced. 



From an unpublished memoir entitled " Histoire de 
Monsieur de la Salle," which is said to be a narrative of 
his explorations, as related by himself to the Abbe R.en- 
audot, at the time of his visit to Paris in 167K to lay his 
plans for proposed discovery before King Louis XIV., 
and Colbert, Prime Minister, it is inferred that he 
reached the Ohio, and descended it to the falls below 
Louisville, when his voyageurs deserted him, and he 
was compelled to retrace his route alone, returning dur- 
ing 1669. The narrative continues: 

"Sometime thereafter he made a second expedition to the 
same river, which he quitted below Lake Erie — made a portage of 
six or seven leagues to embark on that lake, traversed it toward the 
north, ascended the river out of which it flows, passed the Lake of 
Dirty Water, entered the fresh water sea, doubled the point of land 
that cuts this sea in two (Lakes Huron and Michigan), and de- 
scended from north to south, leaving on the west the Kay of the 
Puans (tJreen Hay), discovered a bay infinitely larger, at the bot- 
tom of which, toward the west, he found a very beautiful harbor, 
and at the bottom of this he found a river, which runs from the east 
to the west, which he followed ; and having arrived at about the 
280 * of longitude, and the 3yth of latitude, he came to another 
river which uniting with the first, flowed from the northwest to the 
southeast. This he followed as far as the 36th of latitude, where 
he found it advisable to stop, contenting himself with the almost 
certain hope of some day passing by way of this river even to the 
Gulf of Mexico. Having but a handful of followers, he dared not 
risk a further expedition in the course of which he was likely to 
meet with obstacles too great for his strength." 

From the passage quoted above, Pierre Margry, a 
noted French savant, has formed the opinion that La- 
Salle, in 1670, before the voyage of Joliet, entered the 
Chicago, and passed thence to the Illinois and Missis- 
sippi rivers, and that he therefore must be regarded as 
the first white man who saw the prairie and stream 
forming the site of the wonderful city of 1883. Whether 
LaSalle passed what he calls " the division line called 
Checagou," as early as 1670, is problematical, but his 
later visits to the locality, during the years of his weary 
journeys between the St. Joseph and the Illinois rivers, 
and his detailed and accurate description of the old 
" portage " as it was in 1682, have almost as thoroughly 
identified his name with the history of " Checagou " as 
with the " Rock of St. Louis " or " Crevecceur." 

In 1673, Frontenac, the Governor of Canada, re- 
solved to establish a frontier post at Quinte Bay, on 
Lake Ontario, which should not only hold in check the 
Iroquois, but also secure to its holders a monopoly of 
the fur trade of the upper lakes, which the English and 
Dutch of New York were making strong efforts to 
secure. The career of LaSalle is clearly traced from 
this period. Frontenac recognized in him the qualities 
he desired in his agents — determination, unresting energy 
and persistency. LaSalle found in Frontenac a man 
who was equally ambitious with himself, and equally 
daring in the accomplishment of his designs. The fort 
on Lake Ontario would be not only a source of imme- 
diate profit, but a step toward the Mississippi, the wealth 
of Quivira and the lands of the Cibola of the Span- 
iards. LaSalle was deputed by Frontenac to visit 
Onondaga, the principal town of the Iroquois, and invite 
the chiefs to meet the Governor at the Bay of Quinte, 
where a council should be held in regard to the pro- 
posed fort. LaSalle, believing the mouth of the Cat-' 
aragua the present Kingston ) the better site, Fron- 
tenac changed the place of the council to that locality. 
Frontenac, escorted by one hundred and twenty canoes 
and four hundred men, proceeded from Quebec to the 
appointed place, arriving July 12, 1673. The council 
was held, and resulted according to the desires and 
plans of the Governor. A palisaded fort was con- 
structed by his men, which was called Fort Cataragua ; 

* 280° east of the Island of Ferro, which was reckoned 20" west of Paris, 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



and Frontenac, leaving there a sufficient garrison, re- 
turned to Quebec. 

In the autumn of 1674, LaSalle went to France 
with letters of recommendation from Frontenac, both 
to the King and his powerful minister, Colbert. La- 
Salle petitioned the court of France for a patent of 
nobility, in consideration of his services as an explorer, 
and also for a grant of seigniory, of the fort on lake 
Ontario, which was now called Fort Frontenac. Both 
his petitions were granted, and he returned to Canada a 
noble, and proprietor of one of the most valuable grants 
in the colony. He took immediate possession of his 
domain, replaced the hastily constructed fort of pali- 
sades by a substantial stone building, well fortified and 
garrisoned. Around this grew up quite a village, com- 
posed of the cabins of the French laborers and Indian 
employe's of the proprietor, who was only strengthening 
and fortifying this post as a base for further operations, 
the exploration of the Mississippi and the countries to 
the west of it. being now the object of his desire. 
Again he sailed to France for aid, and again returned 
successful, reaching Canada early in the fall of 1678, 
with permission from the Government to pursue his 
proposed discoveries in new countries, to build forts and 
take possession of such countries in the name of 
France ; and he was also granted, for his private benefit, 
a monopoly of the trade in buffalo skins. He brought 
with him, from France, supplies, laborers and personal 
followers ; chief among whom was Henri de Tonty, his 
ever-after faithful friend and supporter. A fort at the 
mouth of the Niagara River which would command the 
upper lakes, and a vessel with which to navigate their 
waters, were the next steps to be accomplished. After 
many vexatious delays,and much and serious loss, the fort, 
or a depot of supplies, was completed. The equipment 
and stores for the vessel were carried from the foot of the 
rapids in the Niagara River, around the falls to the 
quiet water above — a portage of about twelve miles. 
This work was accomplished by the 22nd of January, 
and the carpenters set to work to build the first vessel 
that entered the great lakes of the Northwest. It is 
believed that the " Griffin " was built at the mouth of 
Cayuga Creek, and for the immediate design of carry- 
ing materials to the Illinois River, wherewith to con- 
struct another vessel for the navigation of the Missis- 
sippi to its mouth. The vessel was launched in the 
spring of 1679, Tonty having the superintendence of 
the work during the absence of LaSalle, who had been 
obliged to return to Fort Frontenac for fresh supplies, 
and who returned in August, bringing with him three 
Flemish friars ; two of whom — Fathers Membre and 
Ribourde — were, after Marquette and Allouez, the earli- 
est missionaries in Illinois. By the 7th of August the 
" Griffin " had been towed up the Niagara River to the 
shore of Lake Erie, and on that day the voyage was 
fairly commenced which brought LaSalle and Tonty to 
Crevecceur and the Rock of St. Louis. The entire 
party on board the vessel consisted of thirty-four, 
including the sailors and laborers. The capacity of the 
•• Griffin " was forty-five tons. Early in September 
they arrived at one of the islands at the entrance of 
Green Bay, where LaSalle disembarked his cargo, con- 
sisting principally of materials wherewith to build an- 
other vessel on the Illinois River ; and, reloading the 
"Griffin" with furs, wherewith to pay his creditors in 
Canada, sent her bark to the Niagara in charge of the 
pilot, with orders to bring her to the head of Lake 
Michigan, as soon as her cargo was discharged. La- 
Salle, with fourteen men, among whom were the Fathers 
Membre\ Ribourde and Hennepin, embarked in four 



heavily laden canoes, and proceeded south along the 
Wisconsin shore of Lake Michigan. They passed the 
mouth of the Chicago River, and, coasting the south- 
ern shore of the lake, reached the mouth of the St. 
Joseph, which LaSalle calls "the river of the Miamis," 
on the 1st day of November, 1679. Here they expected 
to meet Tonty, whom they had left at Michilimack- 
inac to arrange some affairs of LaSalle's, and who was 
to make his way to St. Joseph by the eastern shore of 
the lake. LaSalle remained at the mouth of the river 
twenty days before Tonty arrived, and during that time 
his men nearly completed a fort, which was called the 
"Fort of Miamis." After the arrival of Tonty, La- 
Salle still lingered at the St. Joseph, hoping and wait- 
ing for the appearance of the "Griffin." Finally, yield- 
ing to the importunities of his men, he started for the 
Illinois River, sending two of his followers back to 
Michilimackinac to gain tidings of the vessel, and leav- 
ing four in charge of the fort. On the 3d of Decem- 
ber, 1679, the party (thirty-three in all) embarked on 
the St. Joseph in eight canoes, and ascended the river to 
where now is the village of South Bend, Indiana. After 
a long search for the portage leading to the Kankakee, 
then called Theakiki, and which was about four miles 
in length, they finally reached the place. Shouldering 
their canoes and luggage, they traversed this frozen 
plain and embarked on the southern branch of the Illi- 
nois. Descending the gradually widening river, they 
passed the Indian village where Marquette and Allouez 
had already preached to the inhabitants, but which was 
now deserted, the savages having departed to their 
hunting-grounds. On the 4th of January, 1680, they 
reached the Indian camp, a short distance below Peoria 
Lake, then called Pimitouai. This encampment of Illi- 
nois consisted of about eighty wigwams. LaSalle first 
terrified the Indians, and then succeeded in establish- 
ing the most friendly relations with them. The French- 
men were invited to partake of the usual feasts 
and festivities. On explaining to them his purpose 
to build a boat to descend the Mississippi to the sea 
their jealousy awoke, and was fanned by the repre- 
sentations of a Mascoutin chief who visited the camp. 
The tales told by the Indians of the horrors and 
perils to be encountered on the Mississippi, finally so 
wrought on the fears of LaSalle's followers that six de- 
serted him utterly, and dissatisfaction and even mutiny 
were rife among those who remained. Tonty and a few 
others continued faithful, but it was dangerous to remain 
at the Indian camp, and LaSalle resolved to fortify him- 
self in a position where he could resist successfully an 
attack of hostile Indians, if such should be made. 
About the middle of January he selected a spot for a 
fort on the southern bank of the Illinois River, about a 
mile and a half below the Indian encampment. The 
fort was completed and christened Crevecceur.* It was 
enclosed by a palisade twenty-five feet high, within which 
were the huts of the men, and the cabins of LaSalle, 
Tonty and the friars LaSalle had ere this almost given 
up hope of the return of the "Griffin," which was to 
bring to him, at the head of Lake Michigan, many articles 
needed for the construction of another vessel on the Illi- 
nois River. Determined not to fail in his design, La- 
Salle concluded to return on foot to Fort Frontenac for 
the needed supplies. The vessel was commenced at 
Fort Crevecceur, and the work so hurried on by LaSalle 
and Tonty that in the course of six weeks the hull was 
nearly finished, and LaSalle started, on the 2d of March, 
1680, with five attendants, for Fort Frontenac, leaving 
Tonty in command of the fort, with a garrison of four- 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS. 



63 



teen or fifteen men. LaSalle and his men embarked in 
two canoes, but made slow progress. They were obliged 
to drag the canoes over the half-frozen ice and snow 
through the woods and marshes — the river being frozen 
sufficiently to stop their progress, but not strong enough 
to bear their weight. They passed the deserted village 
of Kaskaskia, now the site of Utica, and about a mile 
and a half above the village LaSalle's attention was ar- 
rested by the high cliff of yellow sandstone on the south 
bank of the river, now called Starved Rock. Knowing 
by this time the precarious tenure of his footing in the 
country, and the remarkable advantages of the cliff as a 
fortress, he sent word to Tonty to retreat to it if neces- 
sary and there fortify himself. On the iSth of March 
the party reached a point some miles below the site of 
Joliet, and there secreting their canoes, struck across 
the country for the fort at St. Joseph. Wading through 
marshes, and staggering over the half-frozen, half- thawed 
ground of the prairie, fording streams when they 
could, and constructing rafts when they were forced to 
do so, they at last reached Lake Michigan, and follow- 
ing its shores arrived, on the night of the 24th, at the 
fort, which had been built the autumn before at the mouth 
of the St. Joseph. Here LaSalle found two of his men 
whom he had sent to Michilimackinac to learn tidings of 
the " Griffin," and who had returned without gaining the 
slightest clue to her fate. Sending these two men to re- 
enforce Tonty, he pushed on through the wilderness and 
reached Fort Frontenac on the 6th of May, 16S0; en- 
during the hardships and exposure of this journey of 
sixty-five days, through an utterly wild and savage 
country, with undaunted courage and resolution. He 
wasted no time at Fort Frontenac, but hastened on to 
Montreal to procure the needed supplies for his post on 
the Illinois River. While LaSalle was thus braving and 
daring ever)' danger for the accomplishment of his pur- 
pose, and looking to his return to the Illinois as the 
final step to be taken before he should be fairly em- 
barked on his long delayed voyage, the hardest blow he 
had yet received fell upon him. Fort Crevecceur was 
destroyed. During a brief absence of Tonty, its faith- 
ful commander, nearly all the garrison deserted ; having 
first plundered and then destroyed the fort. The faith- 
less men, not satisfied with their work of evil at Creve- 
cceur, returned to Canada by way of the St. Joseph 
River, and also destroyed Fort Miamis, whence they pro- 
ceeded toward Fort Frontenac with the intention of 
murdering LaSalle, but were captured by the latter be- 
fore they reached their destination, and carried prisoners 
to the fort. Anxious for the fate of Tonty and his few 
remaining men, LaSalle hastened his preparations, and 
on the 10th of August embarked at Fort Frontenac, 
with a new command of twenty-five men, for the Illinois. 
He reached Michilimackinac by way of Lake Simcoe 
and the Georgian Bay, and leaving there La Forest, his 
lieutenant, with a small command and instructions to 
follow him speedily, hastened forward with twelve men 
to the St. Joseph River, where he found, as he anticipated, 
only the ruins of his fort. At St. Joseph he again divided 
his force. Leaving five men to rebuild Fort Miamis, and 
await the arrival of La Forest and the remainder of his 
party, he set out with seven followers for the Illinois, ar- 
riving at his destination by the same route he had trav- 
ersed on his first visit to the river. As he approached 
the site of the old Kaskaskia village, he looked with 
hope to the high cliff on the south bank of the river, 
which he had named the " Rock of St. Louis,"* half ex- 
pecting that Tonty had taken refuge there, according to 
the instructions he had sent him. No sign of fortifica- 

* Starved Rock, in LaSalle County. 



tion was visible, — no sign of human life. A little 
farther, and the site of the Indian village of the Kaskas- 
kias was reached. No village greeted the eyes of the 
horrified voyagers ; but the torn and mangled corpses 
which strewed the prairie, and the horrible skulls whi( h 
grinned from the charred poles of the burned cabins, 
bore silent evidence that the Iroquois had done their evil 
work, and that the friendly tribe on which he relied for 
protection and assistance was scattered, if not totally 
destroyed. Finding nothing among the mutilated re- 
mains that caused him to believe that Tonty or any white 
man was among the slain, LaSalle resolved to push on 
and rescue his faithful followers if they were still alive. 
He left three of his men secreted on an island near the 
site of the ruined village, and with the remaining four de- 
scended the river to the Mississippi, finding no trace of 
Tonty, but, all along, signs of the fearful havoc commit- 
ted by the invaders. The disappointed and almost dis- 
heartened commander rejoined his followers at the deso- 
lated village, and the united party retraced their path to 
the junction of the Kankakee with the Desplaines. He 
entered the latter river, and had proceeded but a short 
distance, when he found, in a bark cabin on its bank, a 
bit of sawed wood, and from this slight token of the pres- 
ence of civilized man, believed that Tonty must have 
passed up the stream to safety. This was true. Tonty, 
with the two friars Membre and Ribourde, the young 
officer Boisrondet, and two men of the Crevecceur garri- 
son, escaped the Iroquois massacre, and ascended the 
Illinois to the junction of the two branches. Father 
Ribourde, wandering from the rest of the party, was slain 
by a band of Kickapoos. Tonty and his companions 
continued their journey up the Desplaines until the canoe 
could be used no longer, and then crossing the " Checa- 
gou portage "to Lake Michigan, traversed its western 
shore to Green Bay, where they arrived the last of No- 
vember, and spent a part of the winter at the village of a 
friendly Pottawatomie chief, and the remainder at the 
mission of St. Francis Xavier. 

In the meantime, LaSalle, after finding a trace of the 
presence of Tonty on the Desplaines, struck across the 
northern part of Illinois, and arrived at his fort on the St, 
Joseph about midwinter, where he remained until spring, 
and during that time learned of the safety of Tonty and 
where he was, from a band of wandering Outagamies, or 
Foxes. Before spring he had formed a plan, and taken 
measures to carry it out, for uniting the western tribes in 
a common league, and of colonizing them around a French 
fort in the valley of the Illinois, which should be a center 
of trade and a safe point from which to extend his ex- 
plorations to the south and west. In May, 1 681, he went 
to Mackinac, where he met Tonty and Father Membre, 
who had already arrived there from Green Bay. Together 
they proceeded to Fort Frontenac, and once more made 
arrangements for the exploration of the Mississippi. 
It was autumn when LaSalle again reached the mouth 
of the St. Joseph, and not until the latter part of De- 
cember was he ready to leave Fort Miamis. The party 
which he gathered for this expedition consisted of twen- 
ty-three Frenchmen and eighteen Mohegans and Abna- 
kis. ten of whom took along their squaws, " to cook for 
them, as their custom is.'' There were also three children. 
Among the Frenchmen were Tonty, Membre, Dautrey, 
and Prudhomme. LaSalle sent a portion of his party 
from the St. Joseph, on the 21st of December, remaining 
himself to attend to the supplies necessarily left behind 
at the fort. Father Membre, of the advance party. 
says : 

" On the 21st of December (1681), I embarked with the Sieur 
de Tonty and a part of our people on Lake Dauphin (Michigan), 



64 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



to go toward the Divine River, called by the Indians, Checagou,* 
in order to make necessary arrangements for our voyage. The 
Sieur de la Salle joined ns there with the rest of his troops, on the 
4;h of January, 16S2, and found that Tonty had had sleighs made 
to put all on and carry it over the Checagou, which was frozen ; 
for though the winter in these parts is only two months long, it is, 
notwithstanding, very severe." 

LaSalle tells the story of the journey by way of the 
Checagou to the Illinois, but does not quite agree with 
Membre on dates. He says, in a communication to 
Frootenac : 

"I sent M. de Tonty (from the St. Joseph) in advance with 
all my people, who, after marching three days along the lake, and 
reaching the division line called Checagou, were stopped, after a 
day's march along the river of the same name, which falls into the 
Illinois, by the ice, which entirely prevented further navigation. 
This was the 2d and 3d of January, 16S2. I remained behind to 
direct the making of some caches in the earth, of the things I left 
behind. Having finished my caches, I left, the 2Sth of December, 
and went on foot to join the Sieur de Tonty, which I did the 7th 
of January, the snow having detained me some days at the portage 
of Checagou." 

LaSalle then gives a long description of the portage 
from what he calls the " channel which leads to the lake 
of the Illinois " this channel being our Chicago River), 
to the Desplaines " Checagou "), and combats the state- 
ment of Joliet, that "by cutting only one canal half a 
league through the prairie, one may pass from the lake 
of the Illinois into the St. Louis River,"f saying that 
this " may very well happen in the spring " — when the 
swollen waters of the " Checagou," through the "little 
lake on the prairie," found their way even to Lake 
Michigan — " but not in the summer," because at that 
season, he says, even the Illinois River is navigable only 
as far as Fort St. Louis. J There was another difficulty 
in the way of successful navigation, which LaSalle be- 
lieved Joliet 's "proposed ditch " would not remedy, and 
that was the " sand bar at the mouth of the channel 
which leads to the lake of the Illinois." Even the force 
of the current of the Checagou, when in the great fresh- 
ets of the spring it poured its waters into this channel, 
was not powerful enough to remove that obstacle ; and 
for these and various other reasons, LaSalle believed 
" it would be easier to effect the transportation from 
Fort St. Louis to the lakes by using horses, which it is 
easy to have, there being numbers among the savages." 
LaSalle states, in a paper written in 1682, that he 
" joined M. de Tonty who had preceded him, with his 
followers and all his equipage forty leagues into the 
Miamis' country, at the River Chekagou § in the coun- 
try of the Mascoutins, where the ice on the river had 
arrested his progress ; and where, when the ice became 
stronger, they used sledges to drag the baggage, the 
canoes and a wounded Frenchman through the whole 
length of this river and on the Illinois, a distance of 
seventy leagues." It would seem from the above quota- 
tions, that the name " Checagou," or " Chekagou," was 
applied to a certain locality which, in 1681-82, formed 
the division line between the Miamis and Mascoutins ; 
the river of that name being within the limits of, or the 
eastern boundary line of the Mascoutin country, which 
extended west to the Fox River. 

It is not within the province of this history to relate, 
in detail, the adventures of LaSalle and his followers on | 
their Mississippi voyage. It is sufficient to say that the 
party descended the Illinois River, on the sledges made 
at the Desplaines, to Peoria Lake, where open water 
was reached. Embarkipg thence in the canoes, which 

« Meaning the Desplaines. LaSalle speaks of crossing the portage ol 
Checagou and joining I onty ..u the river of the same name " which falls into 
the Illinois." 

♦ Illinois. 

J Starved fcx k. 

> LaSalle hail . handed the spelling of the name of tin- river since he wrote 



formed a part of their baggage, they reached the Mis- 
sissippi on the 6th of February, 1682, and on the 9th of 
April arrived at its mouth. Then, with solemn and 
impressive ceremonies, LaSalle took possession of the 
valley of the Mississippi in the name of France, called 
the new acquisition Louisiana, in honor of the king, 
and realized the great and all-absorbing desire of his 
life. On his return toward the Illinois, he was seized 
with a dangerous illness, and detained in consequence, 
at the Chickasaw Bluffs, where a fort had been estab- 




SECTION OF FRANQUELIN S LARGE MAP, I 



Franquelln was a young engineer, who, at the time he made the map of 
which the above is afac simile section, was hydrographer to the King, at Que- 
bec. The original map is six feet Ion*;, four and a half wide, and very elabo- 
rately executed. Upon it is exhibited all the region then claimed by France, 
under the names of New Fiance and Louisiana. The map was reproduced by 
Franquelin in i6S8, for presentation to the king, and in this the branch of the 
Illinois, marked A'. Chekagou in the above section, was removed — no such 
branch really existing. On Franquelin's large map, the Illinois is called the 
"Riviere des Ilinois, on Macopins, ' the Mississippi, "Missisipi, on Riviere Col- 
bert," and the name applied by Joliet to the Illinois, is transferred to the Ohio, 
which appears the " St. Louis, on Chucagoa." La Salle's Fort St. Louis, with 
the Indian villages around it are represented on the section given above, aisc 
Fort Crevecceur, and, as will be seen, the limit of the Mascoutin country. 

lished on the downward passage. Tonty was directed 
to hasten forward to Mackinac, and dispatch the news 
of the successful termination of the expedition to Can- 
ada. He left the bluffs on the 6th of May, arrived 
about the end of June at Chicago, and by the middle 
of July at Mackinac, where he was joined in Septem- 
ber by LaSalle. Returning to the Illinois the same 
fall, LaSalle and Tonty, during the winter of 1682-83, 
strengthened and fortified the cliff known as Starved 
Rock, encircling its summit with a palisade, and build- 
ing storehouses and dwellings within the enclosure. 
The fort was called St. Louis, and about it, at the base 
of the cliff, LaSalle gathered the surrounding Indians, 
until their log and bark cabins formed a village, con- 
taining some twenty thousand souls. At Fort St. Louis, 
French colonists also settled, who were obliged to go to 
Montreal for supplies, and that by way of the well- 
known Chicago route. Frontenac, the friend and patron 
of LaSalle, was no longer in power, and LaBarre, his 
successor, was hostile to both LaSalle and his enter- 
prise. LaSalle writes to LaBarre, from the "Chicagou 
Portage," June 4, 1683, entreating him not to detain 
his colonists at Montreal, as coureurs de bdis, when they 
came there to make their necessary purchases, some of 
which are indispensable to the safety of the fort where 
he has now " but twenty men, and scarcely a hundred 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS. 



65 



pounds ot' powder." To such lengths did LaKarre 
linally carry his enmity, that LaSalle's position at Fort 
St. Louis became unbearable, and in the autumn of 
1(18.5, leaving Tontv in possession, he repaired to Que- 
bec, and thence sailed for France, to triumph over his 
foes, and reinstate I'ontv in peaceful possession ol 
the fort on the Illinois; hut never again to return to 
fort Miamis, or the Rock of St. I.ouis, or visit with his 
motley retinue of devoted priests, brave young French- 
men and solemn savages, " Checagoti," the site of the 
great city where now a crowded thoroughfare perpet- 
uates his name, and where multitudes of people cherish 
his memory, and '' delight to do him honor." 

l.aSalle again sailed from France, August 1. 1684, 
with vessels containing supplies for founding a colony 
at the mouth of the Mississippi; entered the Gulf of 
Mexico, and discovered land on the 28th of December. 
This proved to he the coast of Texas, the captain hav- 
ing ignorantly passed the mouth of the Mississippi. 
They landed near Matagorda Bay, and erected there a 
fort, where the colony remained together about a year. 
Afterward, LaSalle made several excursions into the 
surrounding country hoping to discover the Mississippi 
and, linally, discouraged and desperate, resolved to 
find his way to Canada. One attempt was made, in 
[686, 'which resulted in defeat, and the party, after 
wandering six months, found their way back to the fort 
at Matagorda. On the 7th of January, 1687, LaSalle 
again made an attempt to '"each the north, and get sup- 
plies for his almost starving men, and, after two months' 
wandering, was assassinated by some of his discon- 
tented and faithless followers, on the 19th of March, 
16S7. After the murder, the party separated, and. 
linally. but live reached Fort St. Louis, on the Illinois, 
River, where the faithful Tonty still commanded. One 
ol these was Henri Joutel, who with his companions, • 
was detained at the fort until spring. They made one 
trip to Chicago, in the fall of 16.S7, and another in the 
spring of 1688. Joutel describes their experiences thus 
in his journal : 

"On Sunday, the 14th of September, 16S7, about two in the 
afternoon, we eame into the neighborhood of Fort St. Louis. At 
length we entered the fort, where we found and surprised several 
persons who did not expect us. All the French were under arms, 
and made several discharges to welcome us. M. de la Belle Kon- 
l.iine, lieutenant to M. Tonty, was at the head of them, and com- 
plimented us. Sieur Boisrondet, clerk to the late M. de la Salle, 
having told us he had a canoe, in which he desired to go down 
to Canada, we prepared to make use of that opportunity. Care 
was taken to gather provision for our voyage ; to get furs to barter 
as we passed Micilimaquinay. M. Cavelier* wrote a letter for M. 
I'ontv, which he left there to be delivered to him, and we repaired 
to the lake [Michigan] to embark. It wouldlbe needless to relate 
all the troubles and hardships we met with in that journey ; it was 
painful and fruitless, for, having gone to the bank of the lake in 
very foul weather, after waiting there five days for that foul weather 
lo cease, and after we had embarked — notwithstanding the storm — 
we were obiiged to put ashore again, to return to the place where 
we had embarked, and there to dig a hole in the earth to burv 
our baggage and provisions, to save the trouble of carrying them 
back to Fort I.ouis, whither we .eturned, ami arrived there the 7th 
of October, where they were surprised lo see us come back. Thus 
we were obliged to continue in that fort all the rest of the autumn, 
and part of the winter. On the 27th of October, of the same year. 
M. 'I'ontv returned from the war with the Iroquois. We continued 
after this manner till the month of December, when two men ar- 
rived from Montreal. They came to give notice to M. Tonty, thai 
three canoes, laden with merchandise — powder, ball and other 
things — were arrived at Chicagou ; that there being too little water 
in the river, and what there was being frozen, they could come no 
lower ; so that, it being requisite to send men to fetch those things, 
M. I'ontv desired the chief of the Chahouanous f to furnish him 
with people. That chief accordingly furnished forty, men as well 

* One of the party of five who reached the fort. Cavelier was a brotiier of 
LaSalle, and a priest. 

t The Shawanoes; who had their village just south of the fort. 



as women, who set nut with some I'rcm hmeu. The nonesty of the 
Chahouanous was the reason of preferring them before the Illinois, 
who are, naturally, knaves. That ammunition ami merchandise 
were soon brought, and verj seasonably, the fort being then in 
want. At length we set out, the 2ist of March, from Fori I.ouis. 
The Sieur Boisrondet, who was desirous to return to France, joined 
lis. We embarked on the river, which was then become navigable, 
and before we had advanced live leagues, met with a rapid stream, 
which obliged lis to go ashore, and then again into the water. In 
tlraw along our canoe. I had I'm- misfortune tohurt one of m\ feel 
against a rock which lay under the water, which troubled me fen 
much for a long lime. We arrived at Chicagou on the 29th ol 
March, ami our first care was to seek what we hail eoncealed .11 oui 
former voyage, having, is was there said, buried our luggage and 
provisions. We found it hail been opened, and some furs and 
linen taken away, almost all of which belonged to me. This had 
been done by a Frenchman, whom M. Tonty had sent from the fori 
during the winter season to know whether there were any canoesal 
Chicagou, ami whom he hail directed to see whether anybody had 
meddled with what he had concealed ; and he made use of that ad- 
vice to rob us. The bad weather obliged us to stay in that place 
until April. This time of rest was advantageous for the. healing of 
my foot ; and there being bill very little game in thai place, we had 
nothing but our meal, or Indian wheat, to feed on ; yel we discov- 
ered a kind of manna, which was a great help to us. It was a sort 
of tree, resembling our maple, in which we made incisions, whence 
Mowed a sweet liquor, and in it we boiled our Indian wheat, which 
made it delicious, sweet, and of a very agreeable relish. Then- 
being no sugar canes in that country, those trees supplied that 
liquor, which being boiled up and evaporated, turned into a kind 
of sugar, somewhat brownish, but very good. In the woods we 
found a sort of garlic, not so strong as ours, and small onions very- 
like ours in taste, and some charvel of the same relish as that we 
have, but different in leaf. The weather being somewhat mended, 
we embarked again, and entered upon the lake on the 5th of April, 
keeping to the north side, to shun the Iroquois." 

Tonty evidently knew Chicagou well. In his jour- 
neys to Canada, and, during the Iroquois war, to De- 
troit and Mackinac, he must have often passed the port- 
age, and descended the little river to embark on Lake 
Michigan. Durantaye, DuLhut Dultith , ami Tonty 
were conspicuous among the young Frenchmen engaged 
in the long struggle between the French and the Iro- 
quois, the latter being friendly to the English and ready 
to assist them in extending their jurisdiction to the upper 
lakes. During these years French forts were erected at 
various important points on Lake Michigan, command- 
ing the fur trade of the interior and rendering the French 
more secure against the attacks of the Iroquois or their 
western allies, the Foxes. Besides the fort of the Miamis 
at St. Joseph, there was one at Mackinac, where De La 
Durantaye, commanded, and one at Detroit, command- 
ed by " Sieur DuLhut " Duluth . 

In the spring of 1684, Tonty was informed that the 
Iroquois were gathering to attack him at Fort St. I.ouis. 
He sent to Mackinac for assistance, and M. tie la Du- 
rantaye came with sixty Frenchmen to his relief. Father 
Allouez also accompanied the party. The following 
yeat Tonty went to Mackinac to obtain news, if pos- 
sible, of LaSalle. Hearing that he was at the mouth of 
the Mississippi he resolved to go in search of him, and 
says:* 

" I embarked, therefore, for the Illinois, on St. Andrew's Day 
(30th of October, 16S5) ; but being slopped by the ice, I was 
obliged to leave my canoe, and to proceed on by land. After go- 
ing one hundred and twenty leagues, I arrived at the fort of Chi- 
cagou, where M. de la Durantaye, commanded: and from thence 1 
came to Fort St. I.ouis, where I arrived the middle of fanuary 
(i686>." 

This fort at "Chicagou," where I'ontv found Duran- 
taye in the early winter of 1685, had probably been 
erected by the latter since the spring of the preceding- 
year, when he came to the relief of the beleaguered 
Fort St. Louis. Tonty had repulsed the Iroquois before 
help arrived, but Durantaye would not remain in a coun- 
try constantly exposed to their attacks, without erecting 

* " Memoir "I the Sieur de Tonty." 



66 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO- 



some kind of ;i fort for tfie protection of his little band 
of sixty men, and to keep their return path to Mackinac 
safe. Durantaye did not long remain at Chicago. A 

vcar later he was lighting the savages, with Tonty and 
LaForest, in the vicinity of Detroit, and at the end of 

the campaign he returned to Mackinac, where he was 
stationed for several years after. 

In a reprint, by Munsell. of a book entitled " Early 
Voyages up and down the Mississippi,'' it being letters 
and reports of French Catholic missionaries, may be 
found a letter from Rev. John Francis Buisson de St. 
Cosme, addressed to the Bishop of Quebec, giving an ac- 
count of the journey of himself and companions from 
Mackinac to the Illinois, in 1699, which shows that there 
was .it that time a flourishing Jesuit mission at Chicago, 
and also a large village of the Miamis. The party left 
Mackinac in •• light canoes," September 14, 1699. De 
1'ontv, with the missionaries St. Cosme, DeMontigny, 
1 >avion and De La Source, were on their way to the lower 
Mississippi, by way of the Illinois, and DeVincennes, 
a French officer, with several companions, was to visit 
St. foseph and the country of the Miamis. It was the 
original intention of St. Cosme and party to have gone 
to the Mississippi by way of the Fox and Wisconsin 
rivers, but hostile Indians prevented, and they were 
obliged to take the " Chicagou road." On the 7th 
day of October they arrived at " Melwarik " | Milwaukee 1, 
where they found a village "which has been consider- 
able," and where they remained two days on account of 
the line " duck and teal shooting." On the 10th they 
arrived at Kipikawi (Racine 1, intending to go up the 
Kipikaui River and crossing the portage to the Fox, 
descend that river to the Illinois ; but, " as there was 
no water in it," they were " again obliged to take the 
route to Chicagou." They left the river at Racine on 
the 17th. but were so long delayed by the roughness of 
the lake that on the 20th, they were still fifteen miles 
distant. On the 21st, when within half a league of the 
place, a sudden storm sprung up and they were com- 
pelled to land, and walk the remaining distance. St. 
Cosme says: 

" We had considerable difficulty in getting ashore and saving 
our canoes. We had to throw everything into the water. This is 
a thing which you must take good care of along the lakes, and espe- 
cially on Missigan (the shores of which are very flat), to land soon 
when the water swells from the lake, for the breakers get so large 
in a short time that the canoes are in risk of going to pieces and 
losing all on board, several travelers having been wrecked there. 
We went by land, M. DeMontigny, Davion and myself, to the 
house of the Rev. Jesuit Fathers, our people staying with the bag- 
gage. We found there Rev. Father l'inet and Rev. Father Rine- 
leau,* who had recently come in from the Illinois, and were slightly 
sick. I cannot explain to you, Monseigneur, with what cordiality 
and marks of esteem these Rev. Jesuit F'athers received and 
caressed us during the time that we had the consolation of staying 
with them. The house is built on the banks of the small lake.f 
having the lake on one side, and a fine large prairie on the other. 
The Indian village is of over one hundred and fifty cabins, and one 
league on the river there is another village almost as large. They 
are both of the Miamis. Rev. Father l'inet makes it his ordinary 
residence; except in winter, when the Indians all go hunting, and 
which he goes and spends at the Illinois. We saw no Indians 
there; they had already started for their hunt. * * * On the 
24th of October, the wind having fallen, we made our canoes come 
with all our baggage; and, perceiving that the waters were ex- 
tremely low, we made a cache on the shore, and took only what 
was necessary for our voyage, reserving till spring to send for the 
rest; and we left in charge of it Brother Alexander, who consented 
N. remain there with Father I'inet's man; and we started from Chi- 

* I he Illinois Hiaion at starved Hock was in charge of father James I .ra- 
. i'-r from i'"< until he was recalled to Michilimackinac, early in 1699. He left 

Gabriel Marist i of the parent house and Fathers Bineteau and 

Pinet in charge of the branches, 

t Evidently on the east side o( Mud Lake, which Si. (Cine describes in his 
..,.1. uni of the Chicagou portage; saying that by embarking on it In the spring 
.,hen it "empties" into., branch ol the Illinois (the Desplaines), the length of 
the portage is reduu ed from three leagues to a quarter of a league. 



cagou on the 29th, and put up for the night about two leagues oil", 
in the little river which is then lost in the prairies. The next day 
we began the portage, which is about three leagues long when the 
water is low, and only a quarter of a league in the spring, for you 
(then) embark on a little lake which empties into a branch of the 
river of the Illinois; but, when the waters are low, you have to 
make a portage to that branch. We made half our portage that 
day, and we should have made some progress further, when we 
perceived that a little boy whom we had received from M. DeMuvs, 
having started on alone — although he had been told 10 wait — had 
got lost without any one paying attention to it. all hands being en- 
gaged. We were obliged to stop and look for him. All sel out. 
We fired several guns, but could not find him. It was a very un- 
fortunate mishap; we were pressed by the season, and the waters 
being very low, we saw well that being obliged to carry our effects 
and our canoe, it would take us a great while to reach the Illinois. 
This made us part company. M . DeMontigny. DeTontv and 
Davion continued the portage next day; and I, with four other 
men, returned to look for this little boy; and on my way back 1 
met Fathers Pinet and Bineteau, whow'ere going with two French- 
men and one Indian to the Illinois. We looked for him again all 
that day without being able to find him. As the next day was the 
feast of All Saints, this obliged me to go and pass the night at Chi- 
cagou with our people, who having said mass and performed their 
devotions early, we spent all that day, too, in looking for that little 
boy, without being able to get the least trace. It was very difficult 
to find him in the tall grass, for the whole country is prairies — you 
meet only some clumps of woods. As the grass was high, we durst 
not set fire to it for fear of burning him. M. DeMontigny had 
told me not to stay over a day, because the cold was getting severe. 
This obliged me to start, after giving Brother Alexander directions 
to look for him and to take some of the French who were at Chica- 
gou, I set out the 2d of November, in the afternoon; made the 
portage, and slept at the river of the Illinois." 




section of Charlevoix's map (1774). 



Pierre Francois Charlevoix, the noted French historian and traveler, passed 
down the east shore of Lake Michigan, and to the Mississippi, by way of the 
Kankakee and Illinois rivers, in 1721. In 1744 he published his Histoirc tie la 
Nouvellt France^ and with it his journal written while in America. The jour- 
nal was translated into English soon after; the history remained untranslated 
until an edition was published in English by J. (i. Shea at New Vork (1865-721. 
A map from which the above section is taken accompanied Charlevoix's History 
of New France. 

From a letter of De La Source, one of the mission- 
aries who accompanied St. Cosme to the Mississippi, it 
is learned that the boy who was lost in the tall grass of 
the prairie, after an absence of about two weeks, finally 
"made his way back to Chicagou, where Brother Alex- 
ander was." He was insane and utterly exhausted. 
The party returned to Chicago from the lower Missis- 
sippi early in 1700, and remained there until Faster, the 
letter of De La Source being written at "Chicagou." 
From the allusions made by St. Cosme to " our people " 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS. 



6? 



before whom he said mass on All Saints' Day, and with 
whom he"passed the night at Chicagou," and also from 
his direction to " Brother Alexander," who remained 
behind in charge of the cache on the shore of Lake 
Michigan, to "take some of the French who were at 
Chicagou," to aid him in his search for the lost boy.it 
must be inferred that the place had become of consid- 
erable importance, as the point of disembarkation from 
the lake, on the route from Canada to Louisiana; that 
it had become the resilience of several French traders, 
and, during a portion of the year, of the Jesuit fathers 
connected with the Miami mission. 

Soon after the opening of the eighteenth century, 
this route to the Mississippi became so dangerous that 
it was gradually abandoned, and finally almost forgot- 
ten. The long war between the Illinois and the Iroquois 
had made the Kaskaskias fearful and timid. They were 
directly in the path of the enemy from the location of 
their village, which, lying far up the river, was first 
struck by their war parties on their raids into the coun- 
try of the Illinois. 

D'Iberville had landed, and a French settlement at 
the mouth of the Mississippi was to be established. The 
Kaskaskias were eager to leave the dangerous locality 
in which they lived, and still be able to enjoy the friend- 
ship and protection of their friends, the French. Father 
Gravier, who for several years had been in charge of 
the mission of the Immaculate Conception, at the Kas- 
kaskia village on the Illinois, went to Michilimackinac 
early in 1669, leaving the parent house in the care of 
Father Marest, and its branches one of which was at 
Chicago, among the Miamis) in charge of Fathers Bine- 
teau and Pinet. He returned in the fall of 1700, leaving 
( Ihicago for the Illinois on the 8th of September. When 
he arrived at the old village of the Kaskaskias, near the 
present site of (Jtica, in LaSalle County, he found that 
all that tribe, accompanied by F'ather Marest, had de- 
serted their village and the neighboring Peorias on the 
Illinois, and departed for the lower Mississippi. Gravier 
followed his flock, promising the Peorias to return to 
them at their village at Peoria Lake. Marest was taken 
violently ill on his arrival at the present site of Kaskas- 
kia, and with his Indians halted there, where he was 
joined by Gravier, and the new Kaskaskia mission was 
founded and named also the mission of the Immaculate 
Conception, in honor of Marquette and his old mission 
on the Illinois River. 




visit the various tribes in what is now Michigan and 
Illinois, and invite them to send deputies from their 
tribes to Montreal in order to arrange terms of peai e 
with the Iroquois. DeCourtemanche reached the St. 
Joseph River December 21, 1700, and found the Miamis 
preparing to send war-parties against the Iroquois, as 
were also all the Illinois tribes, except the Kaskaskias. 
After visiting the latter tribe, he " returned to Chicago ; 
there he found some W'eas Ouyatanous), a Miami tribe, 
who had sung the war song against the Sioux and Iro- 
quois." He induced them to lay down their arms and 
send deputies to the council at Montreal, the deputies to 



•ftition 
des 
Rewards 




Sft.Ofs Haunt.* 



deplvmy 
Zr^ MasXout^ 

ouNatioTi An feu 
la 



Kicapou. 





In 1700, DeCourtemanche and two Jesuit priests 
were dispatched by the Governor-General of Canada, to 



SECTION OF OF. I. ISt.F. S MAP OF I703. 

meet him at Michilimackinac. The chief of the Miam's 
at this time was Chickikatalo, " a noble looking and 
good old man," who made a speech at Montreal, in 
which he assured the French of his friendship for them, 
and desire to promote their interests by every means in 
his power. Before the council, the Kaskaskias had de- 
parted for the Mississippi, and great dissatisfaction was 
expressed by the other tribes at their taking this step. 

Two years later, in 1702, Fort St. Louis was aban- 
doned as a military post. Then followed long and 
bloody wars between the French of Louisiana and their 
Illinois allies, with various tribes of the Northwest, 
commencing with the Foxes of Wisconsin. Charlevoix 
says of the latter, during the early part of the eighteenth 
century. "The Outagamies (Foxes) infested with their 
robberies and murders, not only the neighborhood of 
the bay Green Bay ), but almost all the routes com- 
municating with the remote colonial posts, as well as 
those leading from Canada to Louisiana." After the 
Foxes, came the Pottawatomies, who finally almost ex- 
terminated the old allies of the French, and the Chica- 
gou route, formerly so often traversed by French mis- 
sionaries and traders on their way to the Illinois and 
Mississippi, was, as before stated, forsaken, if not for- 
gotten. 

Father Julian Bineteau, who preached to the Miamis 
at Chicago, died not long after the visit of St. Cosme, 
from sickness contracted while following the Indians on 
their summer hunt over the parched and burning prairies. 
Father Francis Pinet, his companion, went to the great 
village of the Peorias, after the removal of the Kas- 
kaskias, and there founded the Cahokia mission — where 
he died soon after. Father Gravier, according to his 
promise, returned to the village of the Peorias, where 
he was dangerously wounded, and descending the Mis- 



6S 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO 



sissippi in search of medical treatment, died on the 
voyage in 1706. The labors of the French mission- 
aries, and the attempts at founding French colonies in 
Louisiana were no longer extended to the region north 
of the Illinois, and with the exception of a struggling 




I..I-.1 


in 1' 


iri- 


, Febru- 


itrut 


ted 


the 


currciil 




id cc 


adr 


-t maps, 
litted to 


nted 


tllto 


f Ill 


geogra- 



SEC I loN OF DE i. 'isle's map of i 7 1 S. 

fSuillaume tie I.' Isle was a noted Fremh lieoyrapher 
arj' 28. 1675. died January 25. 1726. In 1700 he recti 
European system of geography by the publication uf 1 
comprising representations of all the known world. In 1 
the Royal Academy of Sciences, and was afterward app< 
phy to l.ouis XV., with title of " First Geographer to the King." 
to have made 114 maps, many of which were of rare value. Thr& 
maps are in the library of the Chicago Historical Society— those of 1 

1-::. The maps <.f 1701 and 1 718. sections of which are yiveu hen-wii 
titled " Carte Uu Canada on de la France," and " Carte de la l.oulsia 
Coiirs till Mississipi." respectively. 



village at Starved Rock, even the once powerful Illinois 
had been driven by 1720, from all their villages above 
Peoria Lake. In that year Fort Chartres was built on 
the banks of the Mississippi, near the two French set- 
tlements of Kaskaskia and Cahokia — a protection to 
both. About the year 171S, the Miamis were driven 
from the vicinity of Chicago, and in 1722, the Illinois vil- 
lages at Starved Rock and at Peoria Lake were besieg- 
ed by the Foxes. Boisbriant, the commander at Fort 
( hartres. sent a force to their relief, which arrived after 
the contest had ended, leaving the Illinois victorious. 
So greatly had they suffered for years, however, from 
these constant attacks, that they returned with the 
French to the shelter of Fort Chartres, and with their 
abandonment of the river, the only protection to the 
route from Canada by way of the Illinois to the French 
settlements was taken away. Charlevoix says of their 
victory and subsequent removal to southern Illinois: 

" This success 'li'i not, however, prevent the Illinois, although 
they had only twenty men, with senile children, from leaving the 
rock ami Pimitory (Peoria Lake) where they were kept in constant 
alarm, ami proceeding to unite with iln.se <.f their brethren (the 
Kaskaskias) who hail settled upon the Mississippi. This was a 
stroke of ^raa- for most of them, the small number of mission- 
aries preventing their supplying so many towns scattered si, far 
apart: but, on the other side, as there was nothing to check- the 
raids of the Foxes along the Illinois Kiver, communication be- 
I ,ieen Louisiana and New France became much less practii abli " 



In 1725 Uoisbriant, the commandant at Fort Char- 
tres. was made acting governor of Louisiana, and M. 
DeSiette, a captain in the royal army, took his place at 
the fort. Difficulties with the Foxes ami their allies 
had been continually growing worse since the removal 
of the Illinois — the French being now more exposed to 
their attacks. The colonists were murdered almost 
under the guns of the fort, and the whole country of 
the upper Illinois was a battle-ground. DeLignerie was 
the French commandant at Green Bay, and labored 
assiduously to bring about a peace between the northern 
tribes ami the Illinois. On the 7th of June, 1726, he 
assembled the Sauks, Winhebagoes and Foxes at his 
post, and "told them from the king, that they must not 
raise the war club against the Illinois, or they would 
have reason to repent it." He was fairly well satisfied 
with the answer of the chiefs, and hoped the peace would 
be stable ; but DeSiette, at Fort Chartres, had less con- 
fidence in the Foxes, or their word, and suggested to 
DeLignerie that the best method would be to e.xtermin- 
aie them at one. DeLignerie, while believing with De- 
Siette that this would be the very best possible method, 
if it could be carried out, feared the plan would not be 
a success, and that the Foxes would " array all the upper 
nations against us," and " the French of either colony 
be unable to pass from post to post, but at the risk of 
robbery and murder." This had been the case too 
long, and the commandant at Oreen Ray advised the 
impatient DeSeitte to " cause his people the Illinois! 
if they have made any prisoners, to send them back to 
the Foxes," as he has "told the latter to do with theirs, 
if their young men bring in any from the country." 
He continues : 

"If all goes well here for a year, I think it will be necessary 
to have an interview at " Chikagou," or at the Rock (Starved Rock) 
with you and your Illinois, and the nations of the bay. We will 
indicate to them the time of the meeting, where it will probably be 
necessary to make a fort, and to fix the number of the French and 
Indians who are to be at the spot. These are my thoughts. Mo 
me the honor to give me yours. It my health will allow- I shall go 
there with pleasure, and if it shall thus happen, it will give me great 
joy to see you," 



K1KAP0US o 




SECTION of MOLLS MAI' OF '7- 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS. 



69 



This interview at '^Chikagou" was not destined "to 
thus happen," as things did n<>i "go well " between the 
French and the Foxes during the coming year, and in 
August, 17.17, M. DeBeauharnais, then commanding in 
Canada, informed M. DeSiette by letter at Fort Chartres, 
that he was determined to make war upon the Foxes the 
coming spring, and that the information was given " in 
order that lie Siette might make preparations, and give 
assistance by disposing the Illinois and the French of 
the Mississippi to join the Canadians," finishing his let- 
ter by saving, " It is reasonable to suppose that the peo- 
ple of Louisiana will come to this war with more ardor 
than the Canadians, as they are much more exposed to 



MASCOUTENS 
ou Gens (hi Feu M 




SECTION OF D ANVILLE S MAP OF 1755. 

the incursions of the Foxes, who alarm anil even kill 
them continually." 

DeSiette joined the Canadian forces at Green Bay 
the following spring, and a battle ensued at Butte des 
Morts, Wis., in which the French and their allies, the 
Illinois, were successful ; but hostilities did not cease, 
and communication between Canada and the Mississippi 
by way of the Illinois River was as dangerous as before. 
For nearly half a century the name of Chicago is not 
mentioned, and there is no record of any visit of a white 
man to the locality. DuPratz, an old French writer, and 
a resident of Louisiana from 1718 until 1734, says of the 
" Chicagou " and Illinois route in 1757 : " Such as come 
from Canada, ami have business only on the Illinois, pass 
that way yet ; but such as want to go directly to the sea, 
go down the river of the Wabache to the Ohio, and from 
thence into the Mississippi." He predicts, a.lso, that 
unless "some curious person shall go to the north of the 
Illinois River in search of mines," where they arc said 
to be in great numbers and verv rich, that region " will 
not soon come to the knowledge of the French." 

In June, 1775. William Murray, a subject of Great 
Britain, residing in Easkaskia, held a council, in the 
presence of the British officers and authorities stationed 
at the place, with the chiefs of the several tribes of Illi- 
nois Indians, in which he proposed to them, that for a 
certain consideration, they should deed to him two tracts 
of land east of the Mississippi : one of which was north 
of the Illinois River, and extended beyond the present 
site of Chicago. Mr. Murray states* that the negotia- 



tion was concluded in July, 1773, "to the entire satis- 
faction of the Indians," of whom the land was bought 
"in consideration of the sum of live shillings to them 111 
hand paid," and certain goods and merchandise. The 
boundary, or rather the mention of certain points in this 
northern tract, was as follows : 

" Beginning at a place or point in a direct line opposite to the 
mouth "I the Mississippi River; thence up the Mississippi by tin 

several courses thereof in the mouth-o( the Illinois River, al 1 six 

leagues, be the same mure or less ; and then up the Illinois River, 
by the several courses thereof, to Chicagou or (iarlick (reek, about 
ninety leagues or thereabouts, be the same more or less; then 
nearly a northerly course, in a direct line to a certain place remark- 
able, being the ground on which an engagement or bailie was 
fought about forty or fifty years ago between ihe I'cwaria and 
Renard Indians, about fifty leagues, be the same more or less; 
thence by the same course in a direel line to two remarkable hills 
close together in the middle of a large prairie or plain, about four 
teen leagues, be the same more or less ; thence a north of easl 
course, in a direct line to a remarkable spring known bylhe Indians 
by the name of Foggy Spring, about fourteen leagues, be the same 
more or less ; thence the same course, in a direct line to a great 
mountain to the northward of the While liuffaloe plain, about Id- 
teen leagues, be the same more or less ; thence nearly a southwest 
course in a direel line to the place of beginning, about forty leagues, 
be the same more or less. 

Before the consummation of this purchase, Murray 
had associated several other Englishmen with himself, 
and formed the " Illinois Land Company," which was 
re-organized as an American company, at Philadelphia, 
on the 29th of April, 1780, when a constitution for the 





l>ut.lish«l in Philadclphi 



1 ,>f ili.- Proceedings of the Illinois and Ouabache Co 



IaAJKJZ 



^ 



QUAUOOHE &« f 

So caU'd by y SitJ 'aliens ■ 

y ktlenl pfihen Territorie-i k 

H,.unds oftheirVecd if Sale to 

y t'lViruH'Britian JTOl ntniKed 

ini720 lc/744-. 



SECTION OF MITCHELLS MAP OF 1 755 

regulation of its affairs was drawn up. and a plan of 
settlement agreed upon. America was then at war with 
England, and although Mr. Murray asserts* that at the 
time settlers and purchasers were ready to contract with 
the company "and a large settlement could have been 
promoted, and possession taken of the lands, with tin 
consent of the natives," still it was deemed advisable to 
suspend all operations until the establishment of pea< <•. 
and, in the meantime, submit their claims to the con- 
sideration of Congress. For this purpose a meeting 
was held at Philadelphia, February 1, 1781, at which a 
memorial was agreed upon, and presented at the ses- 
sion of that year, setting forth the claims of the com- 



L-dingsol bin 



and Ouabai ll< I and 1 1 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



pany, and concluding with a proposal to cede all the land 

included in tlu- purchase oi the Indians to the United 
States, on condition that one-fourth should be re-con- 
veyed to the company. The report of the committee 
of the House, of which Samuel Livermore was chair- 
man, was favorable to the petitioners. The Senate 
committee reported adversely : "In the opinion of the 
committee, deeds obtained by private persons from the 
Indians, without any antecedent authority, or subse- 
quent information from the Government, could not rest 
in the grantees mentioned in such deed a title to the 
lands therein described." The report of the Senate 
committee was finally adopted and the petition dis- 
missed. 

One of the objections of the Committee of 1781 to 
granting the petition of the Illinois Land Company was 
that "one of the deeds, beginning on the north side of 
the Illinois River, contains only a number of lines, 
without comprehending any land whatever." This 
refers to the tract, extending up the Illinois to Chiea- 
gou or Garlick Creek, thence some two hundred and 
seventy-nine miles in a northeasterly course, and from 
that point by a southwesterly course of one hundred 
and twenty miles, reaching by some means a " point 
opposite the mouth of the Missouri River " — the place 
of beginning. Mr. Murray says : 

" Some doubts have been entertained concerning the accuracy 
of the courses of some of the lines mentioned in this parcel of 
land, north of the Illinois River, yet there are so many ter- 
minations of these lines, by well-known marks and stations, that 
on every equitable construction the deed will be found to close 
itself, and to comprehend a well-described tract of country. * * * 
It has a well-known place of beginning, and remarkable well- 
known corners described, proceeding round to the said beginning; 
and the rectification of an error in a course or two as to the points 
of the compass closes the survey, maintaining all the corners." 

He explains further that the Indians are only bound 
to regard " natural boundaries " and " natural corners," 
and do not regard points of the compass or estimates 
of distances, etc. 

The claims of the company were again brought 
before Congress in 1792, and yet again in 1797, but 
with no more favorable results than in 1781. 

On the 3d of August, 1795, u >' tne terms of the 




'^TOMlS 



section ok carey's map of 1S18. 

treaty of Greenville, a "piece "i land six miles square, 
at the mouth of tin | hicago River, emptying into the 

southwest end of Lake Michigan, where a fort formerly 



stood," was ceded by the Indians to the United States, 
in anticipation of its being made a military post. 

MODERN CHICAGO AND LIS SETTLEMENT. 

'• Baptiste Point DeSaible, a handsome negro, well 
educated and settled at Eschikagou : but much in the 
French interest." 

This apparently unimportant fact, recorded July .4, 
1779, by Colonel Arent Schuyler DePeyster, then Brit- 



IARE 

ILLINOIS 




SECTION OF POPPLE S MAI', 1733. 



a map from Henn 


• Poppl. 


:'s atlas. 


"Ai 


neri 


ea Septentrinnahs," 






ri3- Mr 


. C. C. 


Baldwin, 




a tr; 






1 Am 


iquit 


ieS, p. 21 


35) thes 


e maps ' 


' we 


re 1: 


ndertaken « 


ith tin 


ie Lo 


rdso 


1 Trade, 


using i 


ill the m 


aps. 


cha 


rls and ol.ser 






and 


especiall 


x- the a 


uthentic 




,rds 


and actual ; 


iurveys 




•erne 


rs uf the 


"Uritish 


plantations. 


* 


» * The 


engra- 



but the progress i< /'tickwarcis." 

ish commander at Michilimackinac, is the initial point 
from which may be traced the growth of Chicago, from 
a single rude cabin on the sand-point at the mouth of 
the river, to the magnificent city which stands to-day. 
the type of modern progressive civilization. 

What was Eschikagou in 1779, and why did this 
handsome and well educated pioneer settle here? 

Colonel DePeyster says elsewhere in the volume of 
Miscellanies, from which the above statement is quoted: 
"Eschikagou is a river and fort at the head of Lake 
Michigan." 

Possibly the fort "where Durantaye commanded," 
was alluded to, or the French under Siette might have 
built a fort at Chicago, as they desired to do, when on 
their way to join the Canadian force at Green Bay, and 
make war on the Eoxes of Fox River, in the spring of 
1729. When DePeyster wrote of Chicago and its first 
settler, the French lilies had been lowered from Fort 
Chartres, and Louisiana was in the hands of the English. 
It had been British soil fourteen years before there is any 
record of a person "curious" enough to penetrate the 
country north of the Illinois and make a home on the 
shore of Lake Michigan. The biography of Jean Bap- 
tiste Point DeSaible, the pioneer settler of Chit ago, is 
very brief. Fie was a native of Santo Domingo, "well 



MODERN CHICAGO AND ITS SETTLEMENT. 



7< 



educated and handsome." Before settling on the banks 

of the Chicago River lie had lived among the Peorias, 
with a friend named Glamorgan — also a Domingoan — 

who was reputed to be possessor of large Spanish land 
grants near St. Louis; and to the home of this friend he 
returned to die, in 1796. 

By the treaty of Ryswick, September, 20, 1607, the 
western portion of the island of Hayti was ceded to 
France, — the French colony thereafter taking the name 
of the island, while the Spanish colony, founded in 1496, 



tested English had possession of the home of the Peorias, 
and the equally detested Spaniards ruled the country 
across the Mississippi, the French colonists and all who 
remained faithful .to them, would have few favors and 
little inducement to remain. Of the two Domingoan 
friends, settled at Peoria, Glamorgan was worldly wise, 
and with many others who sought favor with the Span- 
ish Government, received his reward in lands near St. 
Louis. Baptiste Point DeSaible remained faithful to the 
French, and finally left his home to make another 




SECTION OF DU PRATZ S MAP OF LOUISIANA, 1757. 



on the eastern shore, retained its old name of Santo 
Domingo. From the time of this treaty the Spanish 
colony made little progress for half a century, while the 
Haytian colony rapidly grew rich and prosperous, soon 
becoming one of the most valuable possessions of 
France. Among its population were a large number of 
free colored people, mostly mulattoes, many of whom 
had received a liberal education in France and possessed 
large estates, although they were excluded from political 
privileges. Under this state of affairs it would be nat- 
ural for an ambitious mulatto to leave the old Spanish 
colony and seek a fortune among the French in Louisi- 
ana. Many San Domingoans had been brought as slaves 
to Fort Chart res by Renault, in 1722, and were employed 
in the mines and otherwise, and the wonderful stories 
told by French adventurers of the riches of the country, 
constantly attracted others, equally adventurous, to its 
shores. The French were beloved by the natives and by 
all who settled among them and lived their easy, cheer- 
ful life. It may easily be believed that when the de- 



among the Pottawatomies of Chicago. He built his 
cabin on the north bank of the Chicago River, where it 
turned to the south, near its mouth, and at the head of 
the point of sand which extended thence between the 
river and the lake. Here he lived until 1796 — seven- 
teen years. All that is known of his life during that 
long period is gathered from the "Recollections" of 
Augustin Grignon,* of Butte des Morts, near Oshkosh, 
Wis., and published in the third volume of the Wiscon- 
sin Historical Society's Collections. Mr. Crignon says: 

" At a very early period there was a negro lived there (t hie i- 
go) named Baptiste Point DeSaible. My brother, l'erish Grignon, 
visited Chicago about 1794, and told me that Point DeSaible was 
a large man ; that he had a commission for some office, but for 
what particular office or from what Government, 1 cannot now 
recollect. He was a trailer, pretty wealthy, and drank freely. I 
know not what became of him." 

About all that can be added to the few particulars 



* Augustus < irj 
old French and Indi; 



non was a grandchild of Si. in I hai les Del inglade, the 

.Mll.i ..I Wisconsin. Hi l.ancl.ol.- served through the 
1 War, and became a resident of Wisconsin aboul 1- 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



related above is that in 1796 he sold his cabin to one 
l.e.Mai. a French trader, and returned to Peoria, where 
he died at the home of his old friend, Glamorgan. It 

may be true, as is related, that he sought to place him- 
self at the head of the Pottawatomies as their chief. If 
true, his desire was ungratified, and Jean Baptiste 
Point DeSaibie, handsome, rich and faithful 
though he was, left his home washed by the 
waters of lake Michigan and the Cheeagou 
River, not only the first landed proprietor, but 
also the first disappointed man of Chicago. 

LeMai. the second dweller in the cabin on 
the sandpoint, made some improvements, and 
occupied it as his home and trading-house until 1804. 

During the years of DeSaible's residence in Chicago 
the place "had become well known to the Indian traders 
of Mackinac and Detroit. 

William Burnett.* a trader at St. Joseph, Michigan, 
writes, under date of May 14, 1 786, to George Meldrum, 
a merchant of Mackinac, that " if a vessel which is to 
be sent from that port is to come to Chicago, he wished 
that he may stop at the mouth of the St. Joseph River, 
that he may ship his corn, as he has not canoe nor bat- 
teau." In various letters covering the period from 1786 
to 1803. he alludes to Chicago, f and mentions names 
familiar to the early settlers of the place. May 6, 1790, 
he writes : " 1 received a letter yesterday from Chicago, 
wherein it is said that nothing is made in the Mississippi 
this year." August 24, 179S. he writes from St. Joseph 
to Messrs. Parker, Girard <.V Ogiloy, merchants of Mont- 
real : 

In the course of last winter I wrote you that it is expected 
tnat there will be a garrison al Chicago this summer, and from later 
accounts, I have reason to expect that they will be over there this 
fall : and should it be the case, and as I have a house there al- 
and a promise of assistance from headquarters, I will have 
..< . asion for a good deal of liquors, and some other articles for that 
|-..si. Wherefore, should there be a garrison at Chicago this fall, 
1 wili write for an addition of articles to my order." 



4** fo 



zzzz^ 



voting son, George; also his eldest son, Lieutenant 
William Whistler, with his young bride. This part) left 
the schooner at St. Joseph River, and came thence to 
Chicago in a row boat. Mrs. William Whistler, who 
visited Chicago in the fall of 1875, states that on her 
arrival, in 1803, there were here but four cabins, or 




J*rr>r. 



Mr. Burnett's connection with the Indian trade in 
this region lasted many years. It is stated in " Watt- 
bun " that at the time of the massacre of the Fort Dear- 
born garrison in 1812. an angry savage came to the boat 
in which were the family of John Kinzie, in search of 
•• Mr. Burnett, a trader from St. Joseph, with whom he 
had an account to settle," — probably the same William 
Burnett. 

In the summer of 1803, Captain John Whistler, U. 
S. A., then stationed at Detroit, was ordered, with his 
company, to Chicago,! to occupy the post and build a 
fort. The soldiers were conducted by kind to their des- 
tination by Lieutenant James S. Swearingen. In the U 
S. Si liooner "Tracy," came from Detroit to the mouth 
of the St. Joseph River, Captain Whistler, wife and 

• William Burnett, whose letters show that he was a St. Joseph trader as 

ltd M the wilderness of Michigan in 17c.11. Mr 

ni.irri.-fl Kaw'ker-me, sist.r ..I Topenebe, principal chief "1 tin- St. Joseph's 
hand of Pottawatomies, and tothe children of this marriage— John, [anus, 
\braham, Rebecca and Nancy Burnett— certain sections of land on fhc si. 

luacph kiw-r «.T. granted by the term* ..I I lie Ire. . Iv made al Chirac... In 1 8 ■ i . 
John and Jam.-. Ih. cider sons of William Burnett, remained in Michigan ; 111. 

falter dying near Niles in i8 ( i <.r .1. Ibraham. the v..ini K .-»t, u.-m with the 

iribetoihe Wc.i.and l.e.am. ,hie'f ..I i of the hand-, lb- village was al 

the fool of a high hill about four mile., west ..I I ..peka, on the south side ..I the 
Kansas River. This hill which is the highest elevation in eastern Kansas, is 
called " Burnett M rr of thi portly old chief, whose form was as 

familiar to the early residenl ol I'opckaa wen those ot Caldwell and Shaw- 
■.. ih. f.r.i wilier, of Chicago. 

I hicago Intiquitii |ip .-71 
Dearborn. 



J, <)c^ 



SJ^s^LJ^e-ff^*-} 



traders' huts. These were occupied by Canadian French, 
with their Indian wives.* She mentions the names of 
three : LeMai, Ouilmette and Pettell. Possibly the 
other was the "house," mentioned by William Burnett. 
In the spring of 1804, John Kinzie, then residing at Ber- 
trand, or Pare aux Vaches, near Niles, Mich., purchased 
the property of LeMai, and, with his wife and infant 
son, John H. Kinzie, came to live at Chicago. On his 
arrival, he immediately moved into the old cabin of Le 
Mai. which he gradually enlarged and improved, until, 
as years rolled by, it was transformed into a comfortable, 
hospitable home — the only home of a white settler in 
Chicago for many years. In this house, which stoodf 
on the north side of the Chicago River, where it bent to 
the south, so that from its piazza "the Indian canoes 
could be seen going down and into the lake" at the 
foot of what is now Madison Street, Mr. Kinzie lived 
until late in 1827, except during the four years, from the 
summer of 1812 to the summer or fall of 1816 — the time 
intervening between the destruction and rebuilding of 
Fort Dearborn. 

John Kinzie, justly called the "Father of Chicago." 
was born in Quebec, about the year 1763. His father 
was John McKenzie, or McKinzie, a Scotchman, who 
married Mrs. Haliburton, a widow with one daughter, 
and died while John, their only child, was an infant. 
Mrs. McKinzie subsequently married William Forsyth, a 
merchant, of a Scotch Presbyterian family, who settled 
in Blackwater, Ireland, emigrated from that place to 
New York, in 1750, served under Wolfe, in 1759, and 
afterward became a resident of Quebec. Soon after this 
marriage, the Forsyth family, including the children of 
Mrs. Forsyth by her former marriages, removed to New- 
York City, where they resided many years, and removed 
thence to Detroit. While residing in New York, John 
Kinzie was placed in a school at Williamsburgh, Long- 
Island, with two of his Forsyth half-brothers; a negro 
servant being sent from New York to take the children 
home each Saturday night. At the end of a certain 
Saturday night, the servant went, as usual, for the boys, 
but found no "Johnny Kinzie." Evidently, an adven- 
turous life was attractive, even to the lad of " ten or 
eleven years," for he had left books and studies, and 
taken passage on a sloop bound for Albany, resolved to 
find his way to his old home in Quebec, and there seek 
something to do, by which he might earn his own living. 
Fortunately, he found a friendly fellow passenger, by 
whose assistance he arrived safely at his -destination. 
Still more fortunately, in wandering around the streets 
of Quebec, in search of work, he entered the shop of a 
silversmith, and found an occupation that he fancied, 
and a chance to become apprentice to a kind master. 
He entered the service of the silversmith, and remained 
with him three years, at the expiration of which time he 
returned to his parents, who had removed in the mean- 



MODERN CHICAGO AND ITS SETTLEMENT. 



time t<> Detroit.* Young Kinzie early became an Indian 
trader, and also acquired a reputation as silversmith in 
Detroit. His early trade with the Indians was with the 
Shawnees and Ottawas, his houses being established at 
Sandusky, and on the Maumee. During these years he 
formed a marriage relation with Margaret McKenzie, a 
young girl of American parentage, who had been for 
many years a captive among- the Indians in Ohio, and 
who. doubtless, was ransomed by Kinzie, and taken to 
"I telroit as his wife. 

From the year 1775 until the surrender of Cornwal- 
lis at Yorktown, October 19, 1781, open war prevailed 
between the Virginia colonists and the British forces un- 
der Lord Dunmore, the newly appointed Governor of 
the Colony. The Virginia convention, which met at 
Richmond, March 20, 1775, to appoint delegates to the 
new Continental Congress, took measures for enrolling 
companies of volunteers in each county. Lord Dun- 
more proclaimed martial law November 7 of the same 
year, took possession of Norfolk, and continued a pred- 
atory warfare along the coast until the fall of 1776. 
During the progress of this so-called " Dunmore War," 
when the western portion of Virginia was at the mercy 
of any foe friendly to the British, Isaac McKenzie and 
his family were living in Ciles County, Virginia, near 
the Kenewha River. A band of Shawnees from Ohio, 
m one of their hostile incursions, attacked his cabin, 
which they destroyed, and murdered all his family, ex- 
cept two daughters — Margaret, a little girl of ten years, 
and Elizabeth, two years younger. Mr. McKenzie 
escaped, but the girls were carried captive to the great 
village of the tribe, at Chillicothe, where they were kept 
in charge of the chief. After about ten years' captivity, 
they were taken, or found their way, to Detroit. Mar- 
garet became the wife of John Kinzie and the mother 
of his three elder children — William, James anil Eliza- 
beth. The younger sister became the wife of a Mr. 
Clark, a Scotch trader, and the mother of his two chil- 
dren — John R. and Elizabeth. After a separation of 
many years, Mr. McKenzie, the father of the lost girls, 
also came to Detroit, and there found his daughters. 
He remained with them for a time; then returned to 
Virginia, accompanied by both his daughters, with their 
children, from whence Margaret never returned. What- 
ever might have been the cause of the separation, it was 
a final one. John Kinzie and his wife, Margaret, never 
met again. 

The count)' records at Detroit show, in May, 1795, 
a conveyance of land on the Maumee to John Kinzie 
and Thomas Forsyth of Detroit, by the Ottawa Indians; 
also by the same Indians, November, 1 797, a convey- 
ance of land by the same Indians to "John Kinzie. sil- 
versmith, of Detroit." About the year 1800, Mr. Kinzie 
removed to the St. Joseph River, Michigan, and during 
that year was married to Mrs. Eleanor 1 Lytic McKillip, 
whose former husband, a British officer, was accidentally 
killed at Fort Defiance in 1794, leaving her a widow 
with a young daughter, Margaret. The trading house 
o'l Mr. Kinzie was on the St. Joseph River. His son, 
John Harris Kinzie, was born at Sandwich, opposite De- 

* William Forsyth kept a hotel in Detroit many years, and diud there in 
i 7 uu. Robert, one of his sons, was in the service of the American ( Government 
during the Warof 1S12. Thomas, who became Major Thomas Forsyth, U.S. V. 
was born in Detroit, December;, 1771. Before the War of 1812, he was Indian 
Vgentamong the Pottawatomies at Peoria Lake. He was taken prisoner with his 
family, at the destruction of Peoria by Captain Craig, in the latter part of the 
same year, and sent with the French inhabitants of the place to St. Louis, un- 
der the supposition that the Flench had made an alliance with the Indians, and 
that he was in the league. The cruel mistake caused much and terrible suffer- 
ing, and excited the deepest indignation of Major Forsyth. After the War of 
1812, he was sent as U.S. Indian Agent among the Sanks and Foxes, with whom 
's, October 29, 1833, 



troit, July 7, 1803. The young boy was soon taken to 
the St. Joseph River, and there the family remained until 
Mr. Kinzie bought the trading house of LeMai, anil 
settled at Chicago in the Spring of 1804. 

John Kinzie came to this new location in the prime 
of his life — strong, active anil intelligent — his life 
sobered by experience, but his heart kindly and gener- 
ous. He was beloved by the Indians, and his influence 
over them was very great. He acquired the reputation 
of being, par excellence, "the Indians' friend," and 
through the most fearful scenes of danger. Shaw- 
nee-aw-kee, the Silverman, and his family, moved un- 
scathed. 

The eight years following his location at Chit ago. 
passed quietly. He attended to the business "I his 
trading-house, which rapidly increased. Before 1805 
he had visited Milwaukee, established a trading-post, 
and made many friends among the Indians there."* 
He also had a branch of the parent house at Rock 
River, others on the Illinois and Kankakee, anil one in 
the region afterward Sangamon County. This extend- 
ed Indian trade made the employment of a large num- 
ber of men at headquarters a necessity, and the Cana- 
dian voyageurs in the service of Mr. Kinzie were about 
the only white men who had occasion to visit Chicago 
during those early years. Mr. Kinzie was sutler for the 
garrison at the fort in addition to his Indian trade, anil 
also kept up his manufacture of the ornaments in which 
the Indians delighted. During the first residence ol 
Mr. and Mrs. John Kinzie in Chicago three children 
were born to them — Ellen Marion, in December. 1805 ; 
Maria Indiana,! in 1807 ; and Robert Allen, February 
8, 1S10: Margaret McKillip, Mr. Kinzie's step-daughter. 
who married Lieutenant I.inai Helm of Fort Dearborn, 
and also Robert Forsyth, nephew of Mr. Kinzie, were 
at times members of his family, the latter being the first 
teacher of John H. Kinzie. From the county records 
at Detroit,]; it appears that Mr. Kinzie and John Whist- 
ler, Jr., were partners in business in September, 1810, 
and that Thomas Forsyth was also connected in busi- 
ness with Mr. Kinzie in Chicago, during the same year. 

In the spring of 1812, Mr. Kinzie had an encoun- 
ter with John Lalime. Indian interpreter at Fort Dear- 
born, which proved fatal to the latter. The facts of 
this unfortunate occurrence as related to the writer by 
an eye-witnessg of the deed, were to the effect that an 
animosity had long existed between Lalime and Mr. 
Kinzie, but no acts of violence hail ever occurred. 
That on the day in question, Mr. Kinzie left his house 
unarmed and went across the river to the fort, on an 
errand. Having completed his business, he started to 
return and was followed by Lalime. Just as he passed 
the enclosure, and the gate was being shut for the 
night, Lieutenant Helm, who was officer of the day, 
called out to him to beware of Lalime, who was then 
close behind him. He turned, grappled with Lalime, 
and wrested his pistol from him, which was discharged 
in the struggle, but without harm. Lalime had a dirk- 
also in his belt, and while the two men were on the 
ground, this was thrust into his side, inflicting a fatal 
wound. During the excitement Mr. Kinzie was also 
wounded, and reached his home holding a bloody hand- 
kerchiel to his side. He was concealed in the woods 
until night and then taken to Milwaukee bv some of 
the Indians, where he was kept in the house of Mr. 
Mirandeau, the father of Mrs. l'orthier, until the facts 



Robe 

tors, 



.,rc 



early 



ent of Chicago, 


was 111, -,., 


1 of Mi 


of William For 


iylh, was lo, 


it in the 



I ho 



74 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



of the case were known, and it was sale for him to 

return. Mr. Lalime had warm friends at the fort, and 
until it was known that the killing was accidental and 

the struggle, on Mr. Kinzie's part, in self-defense, great 
anger was excited, and many threats were made against 
him. The verdict rendered by the officers at the fort, 
on the examination of the circumstances, was "justifi- 
able homicide." and Mr. Kinzie returned to Chicago as 
soon as his wound was healed. 

Save this affair, time passed peacefully away for 
eight years. Then came the fright of April, 1812, when 
the dwellers at " l.ee's Place" were murdered by the 
Indians, followed, on August 15, by the massacre of 
the garrison of Fort Dearborn.* 

Mr. Kinzie removed his family to the fort for pro- 
tection, at the time of the Indian outrage of April 7, and 
they were yet living there when it was evacuated on the 
15th of August. Having determined to accompany 
the troops himself, believing he could afford them some 
protection, he entrusted his family — now consisting of 
wife and four children John H., nine years of age, and 
Ellen, Maria and Robert, younger to the care of his 
clerk. John Baptiste Chandonnait, and two friendly In- 
dians upon whose fidelity he could rely, who were to 
convey them in a boat to his former home at Bertram! 
on the St. Joseph River, Mr. Kinzie left the fort with 
the garrison. The boat, leaving a little later, had been 
taken only to the mouth of the river, where now is the 
foot of Madison Street, when a message was received 
from Mr. Kinzie. ordering it to proceed no further. The 
family accordingly remained at that point under the pro- 
tection of the friendly Indians, until, after the loss of 
about two-thirds the number of the garrison, the mas- 
sacre was stayed by the surrender of the survivors, with 
the stipulation that their lives should be spared, and they 
should be delivered at some British post. It being then 
considered safer for the Kinzie family to return, they 
were taken to their home, where they remained three 
days ; saved from the fury of the Indians who had come 
from a distance to participate in the massacre, and to 
whom the family were unknown, by the strong personal 
friendship and tireless vigilance of the neighboring 
chiefs. Black Partridge, Waubansee and Caldwell the 
Sauganash, who proved in this emergency that an In- 
dian can be a faithful friend. On the 1 8th of August, 
the whole family, including Mrs. Helm.f the daughter- 
in-law of Mr. Kinzie, were safely conducted by boat to 
St. Joseph River, and remained at Bertrand until the 
following November, under the protection of the Chief 
Topenebe brother of the wife of William Burnett, the 
Chicago trader). All except Mr. Kinzie who followed 
in December were then taken to Detroit, and delivered 
to Colonel McGee, the British Indian agent, as prisoners 
of war. On Mr. Kinzie's arrival he was paroled by 
General Proctor, and the family took possession of the 
old family residence. After a short time the British 
commander became suspicious that Mr. Kinzie was in 
correspondence with General Harrison, and ordered his 
arrest. After two fruitless attempts, both of which were 
thwarted by the vigilance and energy of the Indian 
friends of Shaw-nec-aw-kcc. General Proctor succeeded 
in procuring his arrest, and sent him to Fort Maiden, at 
the mouth of the Detroit River, where he was impris- 
oned. He remained in confinement until the result of 
the battle of I.ake Erie, September 10, 1813, showed 
General Proctor that some safer place must be found for 

* s.-«: history of Fort Dearborn, foUovrine this, 

* Mm, Margaret (McKiUip) Helm wasthi daughter ••! Mrs. John Kinzie, 
by her former marriage, sh. was married in Detroii in 180! 1 Lieutenant 

• . ..t Fort Dearborn, ul the in.., ol il .. . 

■acre, and Mrs. Helm was residing ..1 the tort. They were both wounded— 
neither fatally. 



American prisoners. Mr. Kinzie was then taken to 
Quebec to be sent thence to England. The vessel upon 
which he was placed, when a few days out, was chased 
by an American frigate and driven to Halifax, and, on a 
second attempt to make the passage, sprung a-leak. and 
was obliged to return to port. Mr. Kinzie was once 
more confined in Quebec, but soon released and allowed 
to return to his family in Detroit, then the headquarters 
of General Harrison. 

While residing in Detroit, Mr. Kinzie was a witness 
to the treaty made with the Indians at Spring Wells, 
near that post, on September 8, 1815. He is on record, 
October, 1815, as a partner of Thomas Forsyth. In 
1816, John and Eleanor Kinzie conveyed several pieces 
of land, one of which, described as " where I now live, 
and have built and made improvements," is dated fune 
24, 1 816. In the same vear — probably in the autumn — 
Mr. Kinzie returned with his family to Chicago, and the 
" Kinzie House "again became his home. He engaged 
in trade with the Indians, and also resumed his occupa- 
tion of silversmith. After the reorganization of the 
American Pur Company, in 1817, although not appointed 
agent of the company, he was on intimate and confi- 
dential terms with the agents at Mackinac, and con- 
tinued to do a large business as an independent trader.* 
Writing to Mr. Kinzie, from Mackinac, June 22. 181 7, 
one week after his arrival there, as agent of the Ameri- 
can Fur Company, Ramsey Crooks says, " I am happy 
to learn your success in the late campaign, and sincerely 
hope it may continue. I look for a visit from you soon, 
but should that be inconvenient yet, for some time, any 
commands you may in the interim favor us with shall 
be duly attended to." In a letter written to Governor 
Cass, a day later, he speaks of the success of Mr. Kinzie 
in his ventures during the past year. By letters pub- 
lished elsewhere in this volume, it will be seen that Mr, 
Kinzie was actively engaged in the fur trade, after his 
return to Chicago, in 1816. In September. 1818. he 
signed as a witness, with title of sub-agent, the treaty of 
St. Mary's. Ohio. In the summer of 1818, he sent his 
son John to Mackinac, to be indentured to the American 
Fur Company. Mr. Crooks writes to Mr. Kinzie, August 
15, 1818, that John reached the place "in good 
health, which has continued ever since." It would 
seem that he sent his son in company with Mr. Chan- 
donnait, f his former clerk, as Mr. Crooks alludes to the 
fact of buying skins brought by him — the price of which 
does not meet his Kinzie's "expectations." 

On the 5th of June, 1821, Mr. Kinzie was recom- 
mended as Justice of the Peace for Pike County — ap- 
parently the first for that district, but it does not appear 
that he was commissioned 

In all the letters written by Mr. Crooks to Mr. 
Kinzie he speaks in terms of commendation of John, 
and the following letter of Mr. Kinzie — the only one 
from his pen now accessible, shows his appreciation of 
the value of meriting the confidence of the agents of 
the Company, and enables the reader to form a just 
estimate of the man. The letter is to his son, at Mack- 
inac, and is dated August 19, 1821: 

xt Dear Si'//: — I received yourletter by the schooner, Nothing 
gives me more satisfaction than to hear from you and of you. It does 
give I. "Ill myself and your mother a pleasure to hear how y. mi con- 
duct is talked of by every one that hopes you even advantage. 
Rather lei this stimulate you to continue the worthy man, for a 
good name is Letter than wealth, and we cannot be too circumspect 
in our line of conduct. Mr. Crooks speaks highly of you, and try 
1.. continue the favorite of such worthy men as Mr. Crooks. Mr. 
Stewarl and the other gentlemen of the concern. Your molherand 



ed alike 



modern Chicago and its settlement. 



75 



all of Ilit-- family are well, and send their love to you. James is 
here, and I am pleased lhat his returns are such as to satisfy the 
lirm. 

" I have been reduced in wages, owing to the economy of the 
(Jovernment, My interpreter's salary is no more, and I have but 
$100 to subsist on. ft does work me hard sometimes to provide 
for your sisters and brothers on this, and maintain my family in a 
decent manner, f will have to take new measures. I hate to 
change houses, but I have been requested to wait Conant's arrival. 
We are all mighty busy, as the treaty commences to-morrow, and 



The U. S. Indian Agency was established at Chi 
cago in 1804, and re-established in 1816, when Mr. Kin- 
zie was appointed sub-agent, under Charles Jouett. He 
served in the same capacity under Dr. Alexander Wolcott, 
and also as Indian interpreter for a short time. December 
2, 1823, he was recommended as a Justice of the Peai i 
for Fulton County, and July 28, 1825, was appointed 
Justice of the Peace for Peoria County. After the death 




THE OLD KINZIE MANSION AS IT APPEARED IN l8 5 



we have hordes of Indians around us already. My best respects to 
Mr. Crooks and Stewart, and all the gentlemen of your house. 
"Adieu. I am your loving Father." 




Mr. Kinzie's name appears as sub-agent and witness 
to the treaty of Chicago, August 29, 1821, which was 
signed in the immediate neighborhood of his residence 
— probably between his house and the agency-house, a 
little west. The accepted spelling is Kiiizie, not as above. 

Mr. Kinzie, appealed to by Governor Cass, spoke to 
the Indians, who were discontented with the annuities 
granted them, in the following words : " You must 
recollect that when I first spoke to you about the an- 
nuity at St. Mary's, I told you I could offer only two 
thousand dollars. You said it was too little. I took 
this answer to your father, who said that the annuity 
was small, because you had sold but a small tract of 
country ; but he authorized me to give a little more, 
and when I returned, I offered you five hundred dol- 
lars more, which you agreed to, and upon this the treaty 
was signed. Mr. Bertrand was also present, and can 
speak to this point." 



of John Crafts, in the latter part of 1825, Mr. Kinzie 
was appointed agent of the American Fur Company, 
and as early as the fall of 1827, with his family, he took 
his final leave of the old house as a home. One of his 
daughters, the wife of Dr. Wolcott, lived in a building 
within the walls of Fort Dearborn, then without a garri- 
son. The residence of Colonel Beaubien was close lie- 
side the south wall of the fort, and there Mr. Kinzie 
was living at the time of his death. On Monday, Jan- 
uary 6, 1828, while visiting his daughter, Mrs. Wolcott, 
he was suddenly stricken with apoplexy — his second 
attack — and died after a very brief struggle. The 
funeral services were conducted within the fort, and all 
that was mortal of the pioneer of Chicago, was buried 
on the shore of Lake Michigan near by. Subsequently 
his remains were removed to the north side of the river, 
and interred just west of the present site of the water 
works. They were again removed to the cemetery, for- 
merly on that portion of Lincoln Park near North A ve- 
nue and Clark Street, and once more to a final resting 
place at Graceland. 

The esteem in which Mr. Kinzie was held by the 
Indians, is shown by the treaty made with the Potta- 
watomies, September 20, 1828, the year of his death, by 
one provision of which they give " to Eleanor Kinzie 
anil her four children by the late John Kinzie, $3,500.00, 
in consideration of the attachment of the Indians to her 



:• 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



deceased husband, who was long an Indian trailer, and 

who lost a large sum in the trade, by the credits given 
them, and also by the destitution of his property. The 
money is in lien of a tract of land, which the Indians 
gave the late John Kinzie long since, and upon which 
he lived." 

Thi K.in/11 House. — For several years of its early 
existence. Chicago was simply Fort Dearborn, and the 
trading establishment and house of John Kinzie. " ( >nly 
this, and nothing more," save, perhaps, a few huts inhab- 
ited by half-breeds, and the wigwams of the Pottawato- 
mies. 

The cabin of LeMai was gradually enlarged and 
improved by Mr. Kinzie. until what was once a mere 
habitation became a comfortable home lor his own 
family, and a hospitable shelter for everv stranger that 
found its doors. Theold home as remembered by John 
H. Kinzie, and described by his wife in " Waubun," was 
a "long, low building with a piazza extending along its 
front, a range of four or live rooms. A broad green 
space was enclosed between it and the river, and shaded 
by a row of Lombardy poplars. Two immense cotton- 
wood trees stood in the rear of the building. A fine, 
well-cultivated garden extended to the north of the 
dwelling, ami surrounding it were various buildings ap- 
pertaining to the establishment — dairy, bake-house, 
lodging-house for the Frenchmen, and stables." 

A vast range of sand-hills, covered with stunted 
cetlars. pines, anil dwarf- willow trees, intervened between 
the house and the lake, which was, at this time, not more 
than thirty rods distant. Between the house and Fort 
Dearborn was kept up a foot ferry — a little boat swing- 
ing in the river, for the use of any passenger. Directly 
in front of its door the river bent to the south, around 
the fort, and could be seen at the point where it emptied 
into the lake. A beautiful picture of this early Chicago 
home, as described by John H. Kinzie, long years 
after it ceased to exist, is drawn in the old Chicago 
Magazine of 1857. The editor* says, speaking of Mr. 
Kinzie : 

'■ Every feature- of the old home is distinct in his recollection. 
The Lombardy poplars, which perished long ago, and the cotton- 
woods which once were but saplings planted by his own hand, and 
which have stood until the more recent days as mementoes of the 
past; the rough-hewn logs which formed the wall of his home, the 
garden and the shrubbery, the fence paling" that surrounded it, and 
the green lawn at the front of the house, gently descending to the 
water of the river; the tiny boat Moating idly at the foot of the 
walk; and. as the crowning mark of the picture, standing upon 
Ihe opposite shore, upon the highest part of the elevation, the old 
(ort, the whitewashed walls of the block-houses, the barracks and 
Ihe palisades, glistening in the bright sun, while a gentle slope of 
green grass extended from the enclosure to the very water's edge. 
It was a beautiful sight. ( her all this rose the few pulsations of hu- 
man progress, as seen in an occasional stray Indian, with his canoe 
or pony or pack of furs; a French Canadian loitering here and 
iherc; a soldier pacing his rounds about Ihe fort, or idly strolling 
over the prairies, or hunting in the woods." 

in this house, the first white child of Chicago — 
Kllen Marion Kinzie — was born in December, 1.S04. 
The little maiden played around her home, until danger 
1 ame too near, escaped it all. and returned with her par- 
ents to Chicago and her birthplace, to live in the old 
home, until on the 20th of July, 1823, she was married 
under Us roof to Dr. Alexander Wolcott,f then Indian 
Agent, became the first Chicago bride, and the Kinzie 
house- the scene of the fust Chicago wedding. Maria 
I. Kinzie, afterward the wife of General David Hunter, 
was born here in 1807. and Robert Allen, youngest son 
of John and Eleanor, on February 8, 1810. 

* I hi lab /• bin* I oilman. 

• Or. Wofcotl diedai I hicagoin 1 r.and in 1 ■ lii- widnn 1 Tied in De- 
troit, Mich., Hon Cji ' Bati it Bali died 111 Detroit, August 1, i860. 



The Kinzie house was no gloomy home. Up to the 
very time of their enforced removal, the children 
"danced to the sound of their father's -iolin," and the 
long hours of frontier life were made merry with sport 
anil play. Later, the primitive court of Justice Kinzie 
must have been held in its "spare room," if spare room 
there was. In 1829, after the old master who lived 
there so long, hail gone to his rest, it was used for a 
time as a store, by Anson H. Taylor, and later, in March, 
1831, was the residence* and probably the office of 
Mr. Bailey, the first Postmaster of Chicago. Its best 
days were past when the family of Mr. Kinzie left it, 
and after 1831 and 18^2, when Mark Noble occupied it 
with his family, there is no record of its being inhabited. 
Its decaying logs were used by the Indians and emi- 
grants for fuel, and the drifting sand of Lake Michigan 
was fast piled over its remains. No one knows when it 
finally disappeared, but with the growth of the new 
town, this relic of the early day of Chicago passed from 
sight to be numbered among the things that were. 

In 1808 Tecumseh and his brother Laulewasikau 
(Open Door , who was related on the paternal side to 
the Kickapoos, removed from the old home of the Shaw- 
nees in Ohio to a tract of land on the Wabash River 
given them by the Pottawatomies and Kickapoos. 
Tecumseh had long objected to the grants of lands 
made by the Indians to the whites, and, with his brother, 
now engaged in a systematic effort to unite the North- 
western tribes in a confederacy, by which each tribe 
should be pledged to make treaties or cede lands only 
with the consent of the league. During the year 1809, 
Tecumseh and the Prophet were actively engaged in 
this work, and they were exasperated almost to madness, 
when by the treaty made at Fort Wayne in September 
of that year, certain Western tribes, including the Pot- 
tawatomies and Kickapoos, ceded to the United States, 
through its commissioner. General Harrison, lands on 
the Wabash and White rivers, which Tecumseh claimed 
belonged to the Shawnees, of whom he was the princi- 
pal chief. Tecumseh was no party to the treaty, and 
maintained that the cession of land was illegal anil un- 
just, and that he was in no wise bound by its terms. A 
council was appointed and held at Vincennes, August 
12, 1810, to settle the difficulty if possible. It ended 
in a bitter and angry dispute between General Harrison 
and Tecumseh. 'Ihe former maintained the legality of 
the treaty of 1809, and his determination to hold and 
defend the ceded lands ; the latter, in an impassioned 
and fiery speech, denounced the whites and their aggres- 
sions, and declared that by the terms of the great In- 
dian league all lands were held in common — that all 
the tribes constituted one nation, and that without the 
consent of all no treaty of purchase and cession was 
valid. He left the council more than ever determined 
to unite the Indians against the American intruders; a 
purpose more readily accomplished by reason of ill feel- 
ing existing between Great Britain and the United 
States, now steadily strengthening through the intrigues 
of English agents and traders in the Northwest. Soon 
after the council at Vincennes, Tecumseh and the Pro- 
phet visited the various Pottawatomie bands on the Illi- 
nois anil its waters, including those of Shawbonee, 
Billy Caldwell, Senachwine, Gomo, Main Poc, Black 
Partridge. Letotirneau or the Blackbird, and others, to 
induce them to join the confederacy and pledge them- 
selves to sell no more land to the Americans. He re- 
ceived from the most of them little encouragement, but 
the visit evidently had its effect, as attacks on the white 
settlers of Illinois soon followed. 
» Sec "Waubun." 



MODERN CHICAGO AND ITS SETTLEMEN' 



77 



Tn [ulv, 1S10, the Pottawatomies of tlie Illinois 
made a raid upon a settlement in Missouri, opposite 
the month of the Gasconade, stealing property and 
murdering several settlers, among whom was Captain 
Cole. The Governor of Missouri General William 
('lark made a requisition upon Governor Ninian Ed- 
wards of Illinois, for the murderers. They had taken 
refuge with Main Poc,* the war chief of the tribe, then 
residing near Peoria Lake, but whose village was on the 
Kankakee, just above the forks. They were never re- 
covered. The following letter from General Harrison 
in relation to this affair, which has been deposited, with 
other papers belonging to Governor Edwards, with the 
Chicago Historical Society, is of interest to Chicago, as 
showing the dangerous proximity of hostile Indians, at 
the time the inhabitants believed themselves secure in 
the friendship of the neighboring Pottawatomies, at 
least. The letter is addressed to "General William 
(lark, Indian Agent, St. Louis:" 

" Vincf.nxks, loth June, xSn. 

"Dear Sir: — I have been exerting myself to rind out where the 
Pottawatomies who murdered Captain Cole and his parly were to 
he found and the best means of apprehending them, for some months 
past. 1 will now give you the result of my inquiries on the sub- 
ject. The ehiefs of the Pottawatomies all acknowledge that the 
murderers belong lo their tribe. Several of the principal ones 
were at Fort Wayne early this spring, and informed Captain Wells 
that they had put themselves under the protection of Mam Poc, 
the great war chief of the tribe, who resides npon the Illinois 
River. One of these, however, spent the last winter witli the 
Prophet. I sent Wellsf up to the town of the latter in April last, 
to ascertain whether they were there and what would be the most 
likely means of getting hold of them, and four others of the same 
tribe, who had in the beginning of that month stolen fourteen 
horses from this neighborhood. In his report Wells informed me 
that the murderers were not there; that they lived on the Illinois 
River and were only occasionally on the Wabash. I would imme- 
diately have communicated this information to you, but as I still 
had a man at the Prophet's village, I waited his return to know 
whether he would bring any further intelligence. A few days ago 
he arrived, and with him a young Indian, who formerly lived with 
me, and who is the son-in-law of Onoxa or Five Medals, a princi- 
pal Pottawatomie chief. Onoxa desired the young man to inform 
me that there was no probability of the murderers being delivered 
up. and that there was no way of getting them but by sending a 
party of men and taking them wherever they would be found, 
lirouilette, the young man above mentioned, says that a Pottawa- 
tomie was at the Prophet's town when he left it, with one of the 
horses taken from Cole, but he does not know whether he was one 
of the party that took him. I have on the 23d April written to the 
Secretary of War for particular instruction on the subject of them 
fellows, but have not yet received an answer. I think, however, 
that a formal demand had better be made of Main Poc by Gov- 
ernor FMwards, as they are certainly within his jurisdiction, and 1 
will cause the same thing to be done of the chiefs who attend at 
Post Wayne to receive their annuity. There is not, however, the 
smallest probability of their being surrendered. I have no doubt 
of the good disposition of Tupennibe.J the principal chief of the 
tribe, Onoxa and many others, but the tribe is so large and scattered 
that they have no control over the distant parts, indeed very little 
over the young men that are about them. I am therefore certain 
that there is no other mode of bringing the culprits to justice but 
by seizing them ourselves. All the information that I receive from 
the Indian country confirms the rooted enmity of the Prophet to 
the l'. S. and his determination to commence hostilities as soon 
as he thinks himself sufficiently strong. From the uncommon 
insolence which he and his party have lately manifested, I am 
inclined to believe that a crisis is fast approaching. A Frenchman 
descending the Wabash about ten days ago was robbed of his 
pirogue and some small quantity of goods ; but the most daring 
piece of insolence that they have yet ventured upon is that of seiz- 
ing the salt destined for the tribes above them. The pirogue which 
1 sent up with it returned last evening and the man who had charge 

* This chief, who ^ave the whites a great deal of trouble, is mentioned by 
the daughter of Charles Jouett, the first Indian Agent at Chicago, as visiting 
the place after the fort was rebuilt in 1816. She says her father had an encoun- 
ter with him, in which the savage brandished his scalping-knife with furious 
menaces betokening bloody violence ; but, confronting him sternly, Mr. Jouett 
ordered him to give up the knife, and he finally complied. 

t Captain William Wells, massacred at Chicago, August, 181?. 

JTopenebe, chief of the St. Joseph band, spoken of in " Watlbun," as 
" Topeeneebee. He proved a faithful friend to the whites of Chicago. In all 
the treaties spelled Topenece. 



of her reports that he stopped at the Prophet's village and offered 
him three barrels of salt intended for him, ami that In- was ordered 
to stop until a council was held, and the whole was then taken 
from him. If our government will submit I" this insolence, it will 
be the means of making all the tribes treat us with contempt. 

" I do not recollect anything of the claim of liri.im which yon 
mention in your last. 1 may perhaps have received the papers 
ami sent them 1.' Fort Wayne but 1 have forgotten it. 1 will thank 
you to slate the particulars. 

" 1 am yours sincerely, 

"WM. 'll. HARRIS! IN." 

Prior to the time the above letter was written, 
Matthew Irwin, U. S. Factor at Chicago, had given 
notice to the Secretary of War of the machinations of 
the Prophet to incite the Indians on the Illinois to hos- 
tilities against the whites. The following letter was 
written by John Lalime*, Indian interpreterat Fort Dear- 
born, to General William Clark, at St. Louis, giving in- 
formation of the thefts to which General Harrison alludes 
in his communication to General Clark. 

"Chicago, 26th May, [811. 
" Sir: — An Indian from the Peorias passed here yesterday, and 
has given me information that the Indians about that place have 
been about the settlements of Kaskaskia and Yincennes, and have 
stolen from fifteen to twenty horses. Il appears by the informa- 
tion given me that the principal actors are two brothers of the wife 
of Main Poc. lie is residing at the l'eorias. or a little above it, at 
a place they call Prairie du Corbeau. Hy the express going to Fori 
Wayne, I will communicate this to the agent. I presume, Sir, 
that you will communicate this to the Governor of Kaskaskia and 
to General Harrison. 1 am, Sir, with respect, 

Ilble. Sent, 




///,/. Interpr 



Lalime again wrote on the 7th of July, 1 S 1 1 , to 
John Johnson, U. S. factor at Fort Wayne, giving 
information of the murder of young Cox and the cap- 
ture pf his sister. The letter reads: 

" Sir: — Since my last to you we have news of other depredations 
and murders committed about the settlement of Cahokia. The 
first news we received was that the brothers in-law of Main Poc 
went down and stole a number of horses. Second, another parlv 
went down, stole some horses, killed a man, and took off a young 
woman, but they being pursued, were obliged to leave her to save 
themselves. Third, they have been there, and killed and destroyed 
a whole family. The cause of it, or in part, is from the Little 
Chief that came last fall to see Governor Harrison, under the 
feigned name of Wapewa. He told the Indians that he had told 
the Governor that the Americans were settling on their lands, and 
asked him what should be done with them He told the Indians 
that the Governor had told them they were bad people, that they 
must drive them off, kill their cattle and steal their horses, etc. 
Iieing the quarter ending with the 30th of June, I am busy with 
the factory, and have a number of Indians here paying their visit 
to Captain Heald. From those circumstances, I hope, Sir, you 
will excuse my hurry. Please give my respects to Mrs. Johnson. 
" I am with respect. Sir, 

" Your obedient servant, 

"J. LALIME." 

The murders alluded to in the letter of Mr. Lalime. 
had recently been committed. On the 2d of June, 181 1, 
the Indians surrounded the house of Mr. Cox 00 Shoal 
Creek, and finding only a young son and a daughter at 
home, killed the former and carried off the daughter a 
prisoner — and also stole horses and other property. On 

* John Lalime was of English and Indian birth. He was called an Eng- 
lishman. In an angry encounter with John Kinzie. he was accidentally killed 
in the spring or early summer of 1812. (See Biography "I John Kinzie.) 



r* 



history of early Chicago. 



the return of Mr. Cox, he assembled the settlers to the 
number of some eight or ten, and gave pursuit. The 

Indians were overtaken about fifty miles north of the 
present city of Springfield, and the girl was recovered. 
Mr. Price and Mr. Ellis, two settlers who lived where 
now is the city of Alton, were murdered the same month 
of the Cox outrage, while at work in their cornfields. 
In ord.er to induce the Indians to give up these murder- 
ers, and restore the stolen property, as well as in the 
hope of preventing such depredations in the future, a 
council was appointed by Governor Ninian Edwards, to 
be held at Peoria on the 1 6th of August, 1S11. Captain 
Samuel Levering, as representative of the Governor, 
started from Cahokia for Peoria July 25, 181 1. He 
was accompanied by Captain Herbert Henry Swearin- 
ueu and eight boatmen, who were to act as soldiers in 
case of emergency. On the 3d of August they arrived 
at Peoria, where they met Thomas Forsyth, the Indian 
Agent, who had long resided among the Indians, and 
thoroughly understood their language. He acted as in- 
terpreter. Gomo or Masseno, the principal chief of the 
Pottawatomies at Peoria, sent out his runners to summon 
the various chiefs on the river and in the surrounding 
country to the council, which was held on the 16th of 
August. Among the chiefs present were the Blackbird 

known by the French as Letourneau, and by the sur- 
rounding Indians as Mucketepennese I, Waubansee, 
Little Chief or Main Poc, Black Partridge, Senachwine 
and others. The message of Governor Edwards was 
read to them, in which he made a formal and positive 
demand that the murderers of the Illinois settlers should 
be handed over to justice, and the stolen horses be re- 
stored to their owners ; otherwise, ''Storms and hurri- 
canes, and the thunder and lightning of heaven cannot 
be more terrible, than would be the resentment of their 
Creat Father." 

The chiefs were divided as to the policy of giving 
up the murderers, as they averred that they were under 
the protection of the Prophet, or tribes hostile to the 
Americans. Gomo, whose village was at the head of 
Peoria Lake, near that of Black Partridge, thought it 
was possible to recover and give them up ; but Main 
Poc, the war chief of the tribe, who lived on the Kan- 
kakee, and who was alluded to as " Little Chief," by 
Mr. Lai i me, in his letter to the " Agent at Fort Wayne," 
declared " they were with the Shawanoe Prophet and he 
might as well kill himself as try to get them." In his 
speech, Main Poc said : 

" You astonish me with your talk. Whenever you do wrong 
there is nothing said or done, but when we do anything, you 
immediately lake us and tie us by the neck with a rope. You see 
our situation today, we the Pottawatomies, Chippewas and Otta- 
wa-. The Shawanoe Prophet blames us to-day for not listening to 
him : you do the same, and we are now on a balance which side 
to take. If our young men behave amiss, blame the Shawanoe 
Prophet for it. These young men upbraid us, for they sav, ' You 
give the Americans your hand, and some day they will knock you 
in the head.' This is the occasion of the late depredations among 
the Pottawatomies. Observe what sou said yesterday: you said 
that you would kill our wives and children for these murders. 
Them men did not go from among us, but from the Shawanoe Pro- 
phet. From here they went and done the mischief and returned 
hack again. Perhaps you never heard of the Prophet before. So 
II it to you ; since he has been on the Wabash he has told 
the young men that they will see the day that they will be ill- 
treated, and more than that, the Americans will be traitors to them. 
If you wish to make war it is altogether of yourselves. You say, 
what will become of our women and children in case of war ? on 
the other hand, what will become of your women and children ? It 
is better to avoid war. There is one horse in my village. There 
were three — two died. I will take that horse to Chicago as it is 
nearer my town. The greater part of the horses stolen, were taken 
by the Indians who stole them, to Detroit, who intend never to 
return. I -asl summer the Agent at Chicago told them not to pur- 



chase any Stolen horses, but this summer the commanding officef 
has demanded the horses, and I intend taking that one and deliv- 
ering it to him at Chicago." 

Gomo also made a speech which, though friendly, 
showed the increasing dissatisfaction of the Indians 
with the encroachments of the whites, and particularly 
with their building forts, from which they inferred that 
the Americans intended to make war upon them and 
dispossess them of their country. At the final adjourn- 
ment of the council two horses only were delivered up, — 
the murderers were not found, and the council ended 
with still more bitter feelings on both sides. 

In the fall succeeding this council on the Illinois 
River, Harrison took up his march for the Wabash. 
He had previously sent an agent to the village of the 
Prophet on the Tippecanoe River, to make one more 
effort to conciliate Tecumseh, who was there, but the 
interview ended in making the haughty warrior more de- 
termined than before, and on its termination he imme- 
diately set out for the South to secure the alliance of 
the Chickasaws, Creeks and Choctaws in the coming 
conflict which he anticipated. 

During his absence. General Harrison marched with 
a small army to the Wabash, ascended that river to 
Tippecanoe, or Prophetstown, and encamped near. He 
was attacked in November, by the Prophet and his fol- 
lowers, who were completely routed, and their village 
broken up and destroyed. When Tecumseh returned 
from the South, he joined the British at Maiden, and 
thenceforth used all his influence and power to secure 
the alliance of the Illinois tribes for his new friends, 
sending messengers with bribes to buy their friendship 
if not their active co-operation. 

The growing animosity of the Indians toward the 
Americans, and their friendliness toward the British, in- 
duced Governor F^dwards to call another council in the 
spring of 181 2. This was held at Cahokia, and was at- 
tended by all the prominent chiefs of the Pottawatomies, 
Kickapoos, Chippewas and Ottawas on the Illinois. 
The Indians were disappointed at the failure of the 
Prophet to fulfill his promises, and his defeat at Tippe- 
canoe had lessened their faith in his pretensions. Their 
professions of loyalty to the American cause were pro- 
fuse. Chiefs, who participated in the massacre at Chi- 
cago, a few months later, by their spokesman, Gomo, 
asserted, in the strongest terms, their determination never 
to join the British. They told Captain Hebert, the 
commissioner sent by the Governor, of the attempts of 
the English to induce the warriors of Main Poc's band 
to go to war against the Americans, and their resolu- 
tion to remain in peace ; of their desire to have a U. S. 
Factor at Peoria, only that " on account of the VVinne- 
bagoes, who are now raging about, he might be killed, 
and they should be blamed ; " and declared that " what- 
ever the English may do," the Americans might "rest 
assured that the four nations here, will never join them." 
At the time of this council, a description of the Illinois 
River, and the tribes residing on it and its branches, 
was prepared for Governor Edwards, from which the 
following extract, giving the tribes at and above Peoria 
Lake, is taken : 

" The Pottawatomies were divided at that time (May, 1S12), 
into several bands on the Illinois River ; that of ('■oiilb, consisting 
of about one hundred and fifty men, at the north end of Peoria 
Lake; Pepper's band at Sand River (River an Sable), about two 
leagues below the Quin-qui-quee (Kankakee), consisting of about 
two hundred men, and of different nations, Pottawatomies, Chippe- 
was and Ottawas. I.etourneau (the Blackbird),* and Mittitasse 
are of this band. Main Poc's band lies seven leagues up the Quin- 
qui-quee, consisting of about fifty men. The other Pottawatomies 



M()t)KKN CHICAGO AND ITS SETTLEMENT. 



V) 



belong to the River St. Joseph, in which river there are three or lour 
villages. In the Fox River, which empties itself into the Illinois 
River at the Charboniere (or Coalpit) about thirty-five leagues 
above Peoria, is another band of Pottawatomies, Chippewas and 
( Htawas, mixed together. Wabeesause (Waubunsee) is their leader. 
This is a small baud, about thirty. The Kee-kaa-poos are divided 
in three bands : Pamawatam's band, consisting of about one hun- 
dred men. exclusive of those at the Prophet's, lie has left the old 
village, and is now making his village on Peoria Lake. The Little 
I )eer has also abandoned their great village, and is now forming 
his village opposite Gomo's (on Peoria Lake). His band may con- 
sist of about seventy men, exclusive of those with the Prophet. 
There is, at least, fifty of this band with the Prophet, and as many 
of the Pottawatomies. At Little Makina (below Peoria Lake), the 
south side of the Illinois, is a band headed by no particular chief, 
but led generally by warriors. I.eP.ouw, or Sulky, is generally 



Chicago situated, with regard to the surrounding In- 
dians, when Captain Heald received, on the 7th ol 
August, the order to evacuate Fort Dearborn. 

FORT DEARBORN. 

In the month of August, 1795, General Anthony 

Wayne, called by the Indians "The Tempest," ter- 
minated the. war that had raged in the Northwest for a 
number of years, by a treaty of peace signed at (ireen- 
ville, Ohio. By this treaty, the Indians ceded to the 
United States a number of tracts of lands, and among 
others "one piece of land, six miles square, at the 




OLD FORT DEARBORN', ERECTED IN 1803. 



looked upon as the main chief. At the camping place of Chicago, 
liner leagues from the Lake Michigan, or Chicago fort, is a vil- 
lage of Pottawatomies, Chippewas and Ottawas, of about thirtv 
men. Co-wa-bee-mai is their chief. [On the rude map, accom- 
panying this description, Co-wa-bee-mai's village is placed at the 
point marked ' Portage, three leagues from the Chicago Fort.' 
From the junction of the Kankakee and Desplaines, is written 
' From here (the forks), to the lake twenty leagues, and is called 
Chicago.'] Leaving Chicago to go to Makina, on the south side 
of (Lake) Michigan, is a river called the ' Little Calumick.' about 
live leagues from Chicago. Here is a village consisting of about 
one hundred men. Old Campignan is their chief. He has a 
burnt hand and nose broken, but it was reported this spring that 
In- was killed in going to Niagara from Detroit. Mau-non-gai,* 
who was his second, probably now will be their chief. At the 
forks on the Ouin-qui-quee the Illinois River loses its name, and is 
called from here Chicago River to the lake, a distance of about 
twenty leagues. On the north (west) side of Lake Michigan, 
leaving Chicago Fort, and thirty leagues from Chicago is River 
Mill-waa-kee. There are, generally, several villages of Potta- 
watomies here." 

The village of Black Partridge Mtick-otev-pokee 
was on the south side of the Illinois River, opposite the 
head of Peoria Lake. Topenebe and Winnemeg were 
on the St. Joseph River. Thus were the settlers at 



mouth of the Chicago River, emptying into the south- 
west end of Lake Michigan, where a fort formerly 
stood." What this fort was or by whom erected, is 
now chiefly matter of conjecture. In 1 7 iS, James 
Logan, an agent of Governor Keith, of Pennsylvania, 
was sent to explore some of the routes to the Missis- 
sippi. Among others, he reports as to the route by 
way of the River C'hicagou, as follows: 

" From Lake Huron they pass by the Strait of Michilimakina 
four leagues, being two in breadth, and of a great depth, to the 
Lake Illinoise ; thence one hundred and fifty leagues to Fort 
Miamis, situated at the mouth of the River Chicagou. This fort 
is not regularly garrisoned." 

About this time, or shortly after, the fort was proba- 
bly entirely abandoned. At all events, at the time of 
the treaty of Greenville, the oldest Indians then living 
had no recollection of a fort ever having been at that 
place.* 

Rumors that a garrison would be stationed at Chi- 
cago were in circulation as early as 1798, but it was not 
until 1S03 that the fort was established. In July, 1803, 

* American State Papers, vol. 5, p. 562. 



So 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



a company of 

mand of Cant. 
Kivcr. ami dur 
has since been 
after General 
of War. 

Nearly all 
Fort I (earborn 
1804. bin in vi 
there appears t 

" A return > 
designating 
Decemt> 



United States soldiers, tinder the com- 
iht John Whistler, arrived at the Chicago 
in;; that summer and autumn built what 
known as the hist Fort Dearborn, named 
Henry Dearborn, at that time Secretary 

the histories which give any account of 

say that it was established in the year 
■Unite 1 j. p. 175. American State Papers, 
he following return : 

if the Army of the United State- [or the year 
every post ana point of occupancy, Dated 

Fort Dearborn Ind. Ter. 

1 Captain. 

I Second Lieutenant. 

1 Knsign. 

4 Sergeants. 

-, Corporals. 

4 Musicians. 

54 Privates. 

1 Surgeon's mate." 

'This report conclusively shows that the fort was 
named Dearborn from the beginning, and that it was 
garrisoned in 1S03. 

The tort stood on the south side of the Chicago 
kivcr. at the bend where the river turned to enter the 
lake. It had two block-houses, one on the southeast 
corner, the other at the northwest. On the north side a 
subterranean passage, leading from the parade ground 
to the river, designed as a place of escape in an emer- 
gency, or tor supplying the garrison with water in time 
of a siege. The whole was enclosed by a strong pali- 
sade of wooden pickets. At the west of the fort and 
fronting north on the river was a two-story log building". 
covered with split oak siding, which was the United 
States agency-house. ( )n the shores of the river, be- 
tween the fort and the agency, were the root-houses or 
1 ellars of the garrison. The ground on the south side 
was enclosed and cultivated as a garden. Three pieces 
of light artillery comprised the armament of the tort. 

Captain John Whistler, the builder and first com- 
mandant of Fort Dearborn, was a native of Ireland. 
He was a British soldier in Burgoyne's army, and was' 
taken prisoner at the time of the surrender of that army 
at Saratoga. After the war he married and settled in 
Hagerstown, Md., where his son William was born. He 
enlisted in the American Army and took part in the 
North western Indian war. He served under St. Clair, 
and afterwards under General Wayne. He was speedily 
promoted, rising through the lower grades to a lieuten- 
antcy in 1792, and became captain July 1, 1797. In 
1814 he was a senior captain and brevet-major, having 
command at Fort Wayne. He rebuilt the fort in 1815, 
and removed to St. Charles, Mo., in 1S17. In 1818 he 
was military storekeeper at St. Louis, and died in 1827 
at Bellefontaine, Mo. He was a brave and efficient offi- 
cer, and became the progenitor of a line of brave and 
efficient soldiers. His son, William Whistler, will be 
noticed later as one of the commandants of the fort. 
V not her son, George W. Whistler, graduated at West 
Point in 1814, and served in the army until (833, when 
he resigned. He became a distinguished engineer, and 
m 1842 was appointed by the Russian Government to 
superintend the construction of railroads in Russia. 
General J. N. < i. Whistler, a son of William Whistler, 
is now serving in the army. 

Life at the tort was dull enough during the early 
years, and little occurred to disturb the monotony of 
garrison life. An occasional band to carry away the 
lurs accumulated by the traders ; hunting and fishing ; 



the assembling of the Indians to receive their payments; 
the trailing in peltries ; the occasional birth of a baby — 
these were the events that interested the few people 
gathered together on this far Western border. In 1810 
Captain Nathan Healtl succeeded Captain Whistler as 
commandant of the garrison. He was a native of New 
Hampshire, where he was born in 1775. He entered the 
armv when voting, and was lieutenant in 1799 and cap- 
tain in 1X07. He married Rcbckah Wells, a daughter 
of Captain Samuel Wells, a noted Indian lighter of ken- 
tucky, and niece of William Wells, to be noticed here- 
after. 

The Pottawatomies were the Indians of the country. 
Signs of discontent among tht Indians throughout the 
Northwest became plainly visible. The great chiefs saw 
with alarm the continual encroachments of the whites 
and their demands for more lands, which could only be 
satisfied by the cession of all the hunting-grounds of 
the Indians. As^ early as 1806, Tecumseh and his 
brother, the I'ropaiet, had sought, and with considerable 
success, to unite all the Indians in one great confederacy 
to withstand the whites. It is probably true that Tecum- 
seh intended at the first to withstand the whites peace- 
ably. Rut he was soon dragged into war. 

The Pottawatomies did not join with him at first. 
Many of their leading chiefs, through the influence of 
John Kin/.ie and the officers at Fort Dearborn, were 
friendly with the Americans and wished to remain so. 
Among these were Black Partridge, Winnemeg, Tope- 
nebe, and others. In May. 1810, the Pottawatomies, 
Chippewas, and Ottawas held a council at St. Joseph, 
to consult as to joining the confederacy, but through 
the influence of Winnemeg, the Pottawatomies dill not 
join. The younger warriors among them, however, did 
not sympathize with the older heads, and felt the ap- 
peals to their patriotism made by Tecumseh and the 
Prophet. All the Indians, too. were largely under Brit- 
ish influence, and went' every year to Maiden, Canada, to 
receive British presents. While Tecumseh was in the 
South in 181 1, seeking to arouse the Choctaws, Chero- 
kees, Creeks, and other southern tribes to join with him, 
the Prophet precipitated hostilities by attacking Gen- 
eral Harrison's troops at Tippecanoe. The Indians 
were defeated, and had it not been for British influence, 
the confederacy would have been dissolved. Mean- 
time, more or less alarm was felt among the settlers 
around Fort Dearborn, and reports of murders of the 
whites by hostile Indians became frequent. 

A settler, named Charles Lee, had come to Fort 
Dearborn shortly after it had been built, with his family 7 . 
He took up a large farm on the South Branch of the 
Chicago River, about four miles from its mouth, at a 
point about where Bridgeport now stands. The farm- 
house was on the west side of the river. 'The farm was 
known as "Lee's place" and was afterwards called 
" Hardscrabble." Lee did not reside at the farm, but 
had a dwelling for himself and family on the lake shore, 
very near the fort. 'The farm was occupied by a man 
named Liberty White, who ' with three employes ( two 
men and a boy managed the place. On the afternoon 
of the 6th of April, 1812, a party of eleven Winneba- 
goes came to the farm house and entering, seated them- 
selves without ceremony. ( )ne of the employes, a Cana- 
dian Frenchman, named Debou, became suspicious of 
them and remarked to the others, " I do not like the 
appearance of these Indians, they are none of our 
folks. They are not Pottawatomies." One of the 
others, a discharged soldier, said to the boy. who was a 
son of Mr. Lee, " We had better get away if we can. 
Say nothing, but do as you see me do." It was nearly 





/>6c<l-<^ 



~ZA- 



PORT DEARBORN. 



Kf 



sunset, and the soldier and the boy started towards the 
canoes, telling the Indians they were going to feed 
the cattle on the other side of the river, and that they 
would then return for supper. Gaining the other side of 
the river in safety, they made some show of collecting 
the cattle, but continued to get into the woods close at 
hand, and then started for the fort. On their way they 
notified the family of Burns, whose home was on the 
north side, a short distance above the fort, and then made 
their way to the fort. They had scarcely got out of sight 
of the farm-house ere the Indians shot and scalped the 
two men who had remained behind. The family of 
Burns was now considered to be in great danger, and a 
party of soldiers under Ensign Ronau, was sent to bring 
them to the fort. This was successfullv done, and that 



I.. '1'. Helm and Ensign George Ronau. Twelve militia- 
men were also under his orders. Of the regulars, a large 
number were on the sick list. Altogether there were not 
probably forty able-bodied fighting men. With them 
were about a dozen women and twenty children. He 
received his orders on the 9th. But he trusted to Un- 
friendly reputation of the Pottawatomies, through whose 
country he must pass, and waited for six days, until 
four or five hundred warriors were assembled at the 
fort, before he moved. He was then at their mercy. 
The Pottawatomie chief who had brought General 
Hull's order was Winnemeg, a friendly Indian, who 
well knew the feelings of the Indians. He at first ad- 
vised that the fort be held, until reinforcements should 
arrive. To this Captain Heald would not agree. Win- 



IEHKDA©© 2^ mi 




night all the settlers around the fort were housed with- 
in its walls. The Indians committed no further attacks 
that time, but made off, satisfied with this exploit, with 
the two scalps obtained. The agency-house was now 
turned into a sort of a fortification for the settlers, and 
every care was taken to protect the settlement and to 
provide against surprise. Various attempts were made 
by the Indians during the next two months, but so alert 
were the whites that no damage was done, except 
the loss of a few cattle and sheep. So the 
summer passed. On the 18th of June, 1S12, the 
United States declared war against England, and on 
the 1 6th of July, Fort Mackinac surrendered to the 
British. On the 9th of August following, an Indian 
runner from General Hull, at Detroit, brought news of 
the war and the fall of Mackinac, to Captain Heald, with 
orders to evacuate Fort Dearborn and proceed with his 
command to Detroit, by land, leaving it to the discretion 
of the commandant to dispose of the public property as 
he thought proper. Within the next three days neigh- 
boring Indians came in from all quarters to receive the 
goods which they understood were to be given them. It 
might seem as if no other course was open to Captain 
Heald but to obey the orders of General Hull. His force 
was not as strong as that at Fort Mackinac. It con- 
sisted of fifty-four privates, and two officers, Lieutenant 



nemeg's next advice was instantaneous departure, so 
that before the Indians could assemble or agree upon 
definite action, and while they would be taking posses- 
sion of the goods, the force might make its escape. Mr. 
Kinzie, who had long known the Indians, approved of 
the same course. The younger officers were in favor 
of holding the fort — but Captain Heald resolved to pur- 
sue his own way. This was to assemble the Indians, 
divide the property among them, and get from them a 
friendly escort to Fort Wayne. On the 12th a confer- 
ence was held with the Indians by Captain Heald, and 
they agreed to his proposals. They would take the 
property, and furnish him a guard of safety. Whether 
they really would have done so it is impossible to know, 
but Black Hawk, who was not present at the massacre, 
but knew the Indian version of it, subsequently said 
that the attack took place because the whites did not 
keep their agreement. There were two species of prop- 
erty that the Indians chiefly wanted, whisky and ammu- 
nition. There were large quantities of both at the fort, 
and the Indians were aware of that fact. On the 13th, 
Captain William Wells, Indian Agent at Fort Wayne, 
arrived at Fort Dearborn with thirty friendly Miamis, 
for the purpose of bringing Captain Heald on his way. 
Captain Wells had lived among the Indians, and 
was cognizant of their character. He was the uncle 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



of Mrs. Heald. Born in Kentucky, he belonged to a 
Family of Indian fighters. When he was a lad of twelve, 

he- was stolen by the Miamis and adopted by Little Tur- 
tle, their great chief. He served with the Indians at 
the outbreak o\ the war in 1790, and was present at the 
battle where St. Clair was defeated. But he then be- 
gan to realize that he was fighting against his own kin- 
dred, and resolved to take leave of the Indians. He 
asked Little Turtle to accompany him to a point on the 
Mauniee. about two miles east of Fort Wayne, long- 
known as the Big Kim, where he thus spoke : " Lather, 
we have long been friends. J now leave you to go to 
my own people. We will be friends until the sun reaches 
the midday height. From that time we will be enemies; 
and if you want to kill me then, you may. And if I 
want to kill you, 1 may." He then set out for General 
Wayne's army, and was made captain of a company of 
scouts. He fought under General Wayne until the 
treaty of Greenville, after which he removed to Fort 
Wayne, where he was joined by his wife, who was a 
daughter of Little Turtle. He settled upon a farm and 
was made Indian Agent and Justice of the Peace. He 
rendered effective service to General Harrison, the 
( '.overnor. 

When Captain Wells heard of the intended evacua- 
tion of Fort Dearborn he volunteered to go there and 
act as escort to the soldiers. He arrived at the fort on 
the 13th of August, too late, however, to have any influ- 
ence on the question of evacuation. Captain Heald 
had up to this point resisted the advice of Winnemeg, 
the friendly Indians, John Kinzie and his junior officers, 
as to adopting any other course. But now after all his 
firmness came a period of irresolution. The supply of 
muskets, ammunition and liquor- was large. It was 
madness to hand over to the Indians these supplies 
with which first to excite and infuriate them, and then 
to leave them with still more abundant means of 
wreaking that fury on the garrison. This fact was 
strongly urged by both Captain Wells and John Kinzie. 
Captain Heald yielded, and on the night of the 13th 
destroyed all the ammunition and muskets he could not 
carry with him. The liquor was thrown into the lake. 
No sooner was this done than the older chiefs professed 
that they could no longer restrain their young men. 
Black" Partridge, one of the most noted Pottawatomie 
chiefs, and always friendly to the whites since the treaty 
of Greenville, had received a medal from General 
Wayne at the time of that treaty. On the evening of 
the 14th he came to the fort and entered Captain 
Heald's quarters. " Father," he said, " 1 come to 
deliver up to you the medal I wear. It was given me 
by the Americans and I have long worn it in token of 
our mutual friendship. But our young men are resolved 
to imbrue their hands in the blood of the whites. I can 
not restrain them, and I will not wear a token of peace 
while I am compelled to act as an enemy." 

The Indians held a council and resolved on the 
destruction of the garrison. And yet, with the most 
heroic fortitude and constancy, the officers made their 
final arrangements for the evacuation, sustaining and 
encouraging the men by their words and by their exam- 
ple. At nine o'clock on the morning of the 15th of 
August, all being in readiness, the gates of the fort were 
thrown open for the last time, and the march com- 
menced. In accordance with Indian custom, and in 
premonition of his fate. Captain Wells had blackened 
With fifteen of his Miami braves, whom he 
supposed to be trusty, he led the advance. The other 
fifteen brought up the rear. The women and children 
were in wagons or on horseback. Brave John Kinzie 



determined to accompany the troops, hoping that his 
presence would be the means of restraining the Indians. 
Entrusting his family to the care of some friendly In- 
dians, to be taken around the head of the lake in a boat 
to a point near St. Joseph, he marched .out with the 
troops. He was warned by several friendly chiefs not 
10 accompany the soldiers, but he was determined to do 
all in his power to bring some restraining influence to 
bear, if possible, on the savages. The strains of music, 
as the soldiers passed beyond the gates, were certainly 
not enlivening. By some strange and wierd choice of 
the band-master, who was among the killed, the " Head 
March" was played as the soldiers filed out from the 
protection of the fortifications, on to the open plain. 
Scarcely had the troops departed, when the fort became 
a scene of plundering. 

Along the lake shore ran a beaten Indian trail, which 
was the path pursued. Westward from this, at about 
one hundred yards distance, commencing perhaps a 
quarter of a mile from the fort, a sand-bank, or range 
of sand-hills, separated the lake from the prairie. When 
the troops started, an escort of five hundred Pottawa- 
tomies accompanied them, but when the sand-hills were 
reached ' the Indians struck out towards the prairie, 
instead of keeping along the beach. Concealing their 
movements behind the sand hills, they hurried forward 
and placed an ambuscade in readiness for the troops. 

The little band had marched about a mile and a 
half when Captain Wells, who had led the advance, 
came riding swiftly back saying that the Indians were 
about to open an attack from behind the sand- 
bank. The company charged up the bank, firing one 
round, which the Indians returned. The savages, get- 
ting in upon the rear, were soon in possession of the 
horses, provisions and baggage, slaughtering many of 
the women and children in the attempt. Against fear- 
ful odds, and hand to hand, the officers and men, and 
even the women, fought for their lives. 

But it was soon over. Drawing his little remnant 
of survivors off an elevation on the open prairie, out of 
range, Captain Heald > himself wounded; proceeded to 
examine the situation. The Indians did not follow, 
but after some consultation of the chiefs, made signs for 
Captain Heald to approach them. He advanced alone 
and met Blackbird, who promised to spare their lives if 
they would surrender. Upon these terms Captain 
Heald complied with the demand. 

Among the killed were Captain Wells, Ensign Ronau 
and Surgeon De Isaac Van Voorhis. The wounded 
were Captain and Mrs. Heald, Lieutenant Helm and 
his wife. Every other wounded prisoner was put to 
death. Of the whole number that had left the fort but 
an hour before, there remained only twenty-five non- 
commissioned officers and privates and eleven women 
and children. 

The number of Indians engaged was between four 
and five hundred. Their loss was about fifteen. 

The Miamis fled at the first attack, and took no 
part whatever in the fight. 

Captain Wells, after fighting desperately, was sur- 
rounded and stabbed in the back. His body was hor- 
ribly mangled, his head cut off, and his heart taken out 
and eaten by the savages, who thought by so doing some 
of the courage of the heroic scout would be conveyed to 
them. 

Mrs. Helm, the daughter of Mrs. Kinzie, had a nar- 
row escape from death. Assaulted by a young Indian, 
she avoided the blow of his tomahawk, and then seized 
him around the neck, trying to get possession of his 
scalping-knife. While struggling in this way for her 



FORT DEARBORN. 



«J 



life, she was dragged from his grasp by another and 
older Indian, who bore her struggling to the lake, where- 
in he plunged her, but with her head above the water. 
Seeing that it was not the Indian's object to drown her, 
she looked at him earnestly and found it to be Black 
Cartridge, who was thus trying to save her. After the 
firing ceased, she was conducted to a place of safety. 
When the attack was made, Mrs. Heald was riding on a 
very beautiful and well-trained bay mare, which she had 
brought with her from Kentucky, and which had long 
been coveted by the Indians. During the firing Mrs. 
Heald received six wounds, and was shortly captured. 
both she ami her husband were taken by the half-breed 
Chandonais to St. Joseph and permitted to reside with 
Mr. Burnett until they recovered from their wounds. 
Captain Heald then delivered himself to the British at 
Mackinac and was paroled. But the survivors were 
not yet safe from the hostile Indians. Lieutenant Helm 
was carried by his captors to a village on the Kankakee, 
where he remained two months before lie was discovered 
by Black Partridge, who had saved the life of Mrs. Helm. 
That chief at once informed Thomas Forsyth, half- 
brother of Mr. Kinzie who was stationed at Peoria, and 
efforts were made to secure the release of the prisoner. 
Black Partridge was provided with a ransom and dis- 
patched to the Indian village. The amount that he 
carried with him not being sufficient to satisfy the In- 
dians, he freely offered them his pony, his rifle and a 
large gold ring which he wore in his nose. This was 
accepted, Lieutenant Helm was released, and soon after- 
wards joined his wife at Detroit, where she had gone 
with her parents. 

The day following the massacre the fort and agency 
building were burned to the ground and the first Fort 
Dearborn ceased to be. The prisoners were scattered 
among the various tribes, and a large -number of war- 
riors hastened away to attempt the destruction of Fort 
Wayne. 

Among the officers of the fort who escaped the mas- 
sacre, was Quarter master Sergeant Griffith, who is men- 
tioned by Mrs. Kinzie in " Waubun " as being absent 
collecting the baggage horses of the surgeon when the 
troops left the fort, but, hastening to join the force, was 
made prisoner by the chief of the St. Joseph band, who 
was friendly to the whites. He escaped in the boat with 
the Kinzies two days later. This was William Griffith, 
afterward a captain of General Harrison's spies. He 
joined Harrison's army after his escape to Michigan, was 
placed in command of the spies, and received two 
wounds in the skirmish at the Moravian towns, a few 
days before the battle of the Thames, but participated 
also in the latter engagement. He was the son of Wil- 
liam Griffith, Sr., a farmer of Welsh descent, whose 
home was near the present site of Geneseo, N. V. His 
sister, Mrs. Alexander Ewing, removed with her hus- 
band to Michigan in 1802, and thence to Piqua, Ohio, in 
1807, from which place William Griffith probably came 
to Chicago. He died in 1824, leaving two sons and a 
daughter, and was buried near old Fort Meigs, Ohio. 

The same day that Fort Dearborn was burned, Gen- 
eral Hull surrendered Detroit to the British. 

The sources of information in regard to the massacre 
are the official report of Heald, and the narrative of 
Mrs. Juliette H. Kinzie, in "Waubun," based upon the 
statements of John Kinzie and Mrs. Helm. A narra- 
tive by Mrs. Heald was lost in the Rebellion. The 
narrative of Mrs. Kinzie has been the accepted and 
popular one, although there are some discrepancies 
in it as to dates, its censure of Captain Heald is not 
severe, and it has much of the "after the event " flavor 



about it. That the fort could have been held fur an) 
length of time against the Indians is altogether doubt- 
ful. A thousand hostile warriors would have belea- 
guered it within a very few days, as they did Fort Wayne 
shortly after, and it would have been impossible for 
General Harrison to have relieved both places. With 
out such relief it must have fallen. Instantaneous 
evacuation in conformity with the advice of Winnemeg 
might have saved the garrison, but that partook too 
much of the nature of flight to suit the mind of such a 
man as Captain Heald. Since that was not thought 
honorable, the only (nurse to pursue was to rigorously 
adhere to the agreement with the Indians, and turn over 
to them all the arms and liquor. Captain Heald was 
dissuaded by those surrounding him from adopting that 
dangerous expedient. 

But the probabilities are that no course whatever 
could have saved the ill-fated garrison. War was de- 
clared, the Indians were aroused and allied with the Brit- 
ish. Certain ones had friendships with the Americans, 
and did what could be done to save individuals, but 
they had no friendship for the United States. Tecum- 
seh was using all the influence of his powerful name to 
consolidate the Indian tribes in the British interest. 
The fall of Miehilimackinac and the peril of Detroit 
showed the Indians that England was the stronger 
power. With all these forces at work, the fall of Fort 
Dearborn and the destruction of the garrison was 
apparently but a matter of time. 

For four years the charred and blackened ruins of 
the fort remained, and the bodies of the slain lay un- 
buried where they fell. 

The war raged along the Canadian border for a 
time with varying success, until at last the British flag 
was driven from the lakes. Then came peace, and in 
1816 it was ordered that F'ort Dearborn should be re- 
built. In July of that year, Captain Hezekiah Bradley, 
with two companies of infantry, arrived at the Chicago 
River. He built a fort on the site of the former one, 
somewhat larger and on a different plan. The remains 
of the victims of the massacre were then gathered and 
buried. 

The same year John Kinzie returned with his family 
and again occupied his deserted home. Other settlers 
came straggling along, the Indian Agency was resumed, 
and soon the lake shore and the river showed signs of 
activity and life. The familiar forms of the friendly 
chiefs were seen around the homes and firesides of their 
friends, and many were the hours that were passed in 
recounting the tragical scenes through which they had 
passed, since that fatal 15th of August four years be- 
fore. All had suffered, for war possesses no discrimina- 
ting hand. The village of Black Partridge had been 
destroyed in a single day, and his people killed or scat- 
tered. The subsequent life of the settlers was quiet 
and unvaried. Cultivation of the soil furnished them 
with the necessaries of life, and the abundance of game 
added a variety that many an eastern table might have 
envied. A thrifty bartering of the surplus of products 
with the occasional vessels that came for furs, supplied 
other wants, and thus days on the frontier passed away. 
The year r8i6 was also the year of the treaty of St. 
Louis, whereby the Ottawas and Chippewas ceded to 
the United States the lands surrounding the head of 
Lake Michigan, ten miles north and ten miles south of 
the mouth of the Chicago Creek, and back to the Kan- 
kakee, Illinois and Fox rivers. The fort, as rebuilt, 
consisted of a square stockade inclosing barracks, quar- 
ters for the officers, magazine and provision-store, and 
was defended bv bastions at the northwest and south- 



«4 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



east angles. The block-house was in the southwest cor- 
ner. The officers' quarters were on the west side and 
the soldiers' barracks on the east side. It had two gates, 
one on the north and the other on the south side. A 
garrison was stationed at the fort, under various com- 
manders, until 1S23, when it was ordered to be evacu- 
ated. The frontier line had moved westward to the Mis- 
sissippi, and a garrison at Chicago was not considered 
necessary. During these years the officers in command 
were as follows : 1S16 to 1S17, Captain Hezekiah Brad- 
ley : 1 S r 7 to 1820, Major Daniel Baker; 1820 to 1821, 
Captain Hezekiah Bradley: 1S21, Major Alexander 
Cummings ; 1S21 to 1823, Lieutenant-Colonel John 
McNeil : 1823. Captain John Greene. 

In October, 1828, a garrison was again stationed at 
Chicago, under the command of Major John Fowle ; 
First-Lieutenant David Hunter subsequently General 1 . 
The troops remained until May, 1831, when they were 
withdrawn. But the time came when the affrighted set- 
tlers sought refuge in the fort. In 1832 Black Hawk 
and his warriors commenced hostilities, which will be 
found described in later pages of this work. In June 
the fort was once more garrisoned, Major William 
Whistler being assigned to the command. This officer 
had helped his father in the building of the first Fort 
Dearborn, and now after twenty-nine years of absence 
returned to be the commander of the second fort. 

On the 8th of July, 1832, General Scott, with troops, 
arrived in a steamer off Fort Dearborn.* 

In May, 1S33. Major Whistler was succeeded in 
command by Major John Fowle, who, however, re- 
mained but about one month, when he was succeeded 
by Major DeLafayette Wilcox, who commanded until 
December 18, 1833, and again from September 16, 1835, 
to August 1, 1836. Major John Bendu, Major John 
Greene and Captain and Brevet-Major Joseph Plymp- 
ton were in command at various times, until December 
29, 1836, when the troops were permanently withdrawn, 
under the following order : 

" The troops stationed at Fort Dearborn, Chicago, will imme- 
diately proceed to Fort Howard, and join the garrison at that post, 
Such public property as may be left at Fort Dearborn will remain 
in charge of Brevet-Major Plympton, of the 5th Infantry, who will 
continue in command of the post until otherwise instructed." 

And so the last morning and evening salute was 
fired; the last sentinel withdrawn, the last soldier 
marched out, and Fort Dearborn as a military post 
ceased to be. 

AFTER THE MASSACRE. 

In the year 1812, as before stated, there were five 
houses at Chicago, besides the fort and building attached 
to it. Of these, four were occupied by the families of 
Rinzie, Ouilmette, Burns and Lee. The fifth was on the 
Lee farm, on the South Branch. It has often been 
stated that all the houses in Chicago, except Mr. Rin- 
zie's, were destroyed in 1812, by the Indians, but proba- 
bly no buildings were destroyed except the fort and 
agency house. 

The house of Ouilmette was occupied by himself and 
family, who remained in Chicago. The ". Burns House " 
was afterward occupied by Mr. Jouett, when he was In- 
dian Agent at Chicago, in 1817. The cabin on the Lee 
farm was fitted up and used as a trading-house by 
John Crafts, and the house of Mr. Lee near the fort, on 
the lake shore, was evidently sold by his widow to Jean 
Baptiste Beaubien, who bought "of the rightful owner 
thereof," a "house and piece of cultivated ground " in 

1 in • ■ ■: 1 aptain Augustus Walker. 



that exact locality in 1812. Mrs. Lee escaped the mas- 
sacre, and with her infant child was carried captive to 
the village of Black Partridge. She was subsequently 
ransomed by M. DuPin, a French trader, became his 
wife, and lived in the Rinzie house during the absence 
of the family. 

Jean Baptiste Beaubien, who may be considered 
the second permanent settler of Chicago, first visited 
the place in 1804, but did not purchase property till the 
year 1S12, some time after the massacre. He then 
bought " of the rightful owner thereof"* a house or 
cabin south of the ruins of the fort and near the lake 
shore, which had been standing there since 1804.! 
Here he resided when in Chicago, and although fre- 
quently absent at his trading-houses in Milwaukee and 
(Ireen Bay, always considered the cabin in Chicago his 
home, and the home of his family, until a better house 
was bought five or six years later. 

Jean Baptiste Beaubien was, at the time he settled 
at Chicago, the third of that name in America. His 
grandfather, Jean Baptiste Beaubien, emigrated from 
France at an early day and settled on the St. Lawrence. 
The home of the second generation of American Beau- 
biens was Detroit, where lived Jean Baptiste, jr., Joseph, 
Jean, Marie, Lambert, Antoine, Genevieve, Marion and 
Susan. The names of two of these brothers i Jean Bap- 
tiste and Lambert i appear in a list of the members of a 
company of Detroit citizens, who, under the lead of 
General Cass, made a raid in 1814 upon the hostile In- 
dians in the vicinity. The names of three of the Mel- 
drums, prominent traders of Detroit and Mackinaw, also 
appear. Joseph Beaubien was the father of Jean Bap- 
tiste Beaubien of Chicago, who was born in the year 
1780, at Detroit. When a young man he pushed out 
into the Michigan woods, and became a clerk for Wm. 
Bailly, a fur-trader, on Grand River. Through Bailly's 
instruction and help Mr. Beaubien acquired the rudi- 
ments of an education, which, supplemented by native 
shrewdness and vivacity, made him quite superior to 
the ordinary French traders of the day. He married, 
for his first bride, Mah-naw-bun-no-quah, an Ottawa 
woman, who became the mother of his two sons, Charles 
Henry and Madore. He was settled as a trader in Mil- 
waukee as early as 1800, and until 1818 had a trading- 
house there. As before stated, he came to Chicago and 
bought the cabin and cultivated field south of the old fort 
in 1812. During that year he married, for his second 
wife, Josette LaFramboise, daughter of Francis LaFram- 
boise,}; an influential French trader then living on the 

* Affidavit of Madore Beaubien. 

t Captain Thomas G. Anderson, who came to Mackinaw in the spring of 
1800, and was for many vears engaged in trade with the Indians of the North- 
west, states in his " Personal Narrative." published in Vol. IX, Wis. His. Coll., 
that his first winter (1800-1801) was spent on the Mississippi, near the present 
site of Quincy, 111.; his second (1801-1802) among the Iowas on the DesMoines, 
and his third (1802-1803) among the Winnebagoes "f Rock River. Toward the 
close of 1803 he started a trading-house at " Millwackie," having LaFramboise 
and LeClaire for neighbors. Here he remained until the spring of 1806. He 
says: " During my second year at Min-na-wack, or Mill-wack ie 0804-1805) 
Captain Whistler, with his company of American soldiers, came to take posses- 
sion of Chicago. At this time there were no buildings there, except a few- 
dilapidated log huts, covered with bark. Captain Whistler had selected one of 
these as a temporary, though miserable, residence for his family, his officersand 
men being under canvas. On being informed of his arrival, 1 felt it my duty to 
pay my respects to the authority so much required in the country. On the 
morrow I mounted Kee-ge-kaw, or Swift-Goer, and the next day I was invited 
to dine with the captain. On going to the house, the outer door opening into 
the dining-room, I found the table spread, the family and guests seated, con- 
sisting of several ladies, as jolly as kittens." 

* Probably a son of either Alexander or Francis LaFramboise, traders of 
Mackinaw and Milwaukee. As earlyas 1795 Alexander LaFramboise, of Mack- 
inaw, established a house at the mouth of the Milwaukee River. After it was 
well established he returned to Mackinaw and sent his brother Francis to take 
charge of the Milwaukee house. The latter had some trouble with one of the 
neighboring chiefs, whose hostility, added to his own mismanagement, brought 
the house, and with it his brother Alexander, to ruin. Francis LaFramboise 
was afterwards murdered at a trading-house which he established among the 
Winnebagoes, in what is now central Wisconsin, and his business fell into the 
hands of his widow, Madeline LaFramboise, who, with headquarters at Macki- 
naw, managed it with prudence and great success. The children of Francis, 
who were well grown when he lived in Milwaukee, are mentioned in the early 
history of that city, as Claude, Alexis and LaFortune. The Chicago LaFram- 



AFTER THE MASSACRE. 



85 



south side of the river, not far from Beaubien's place. 
In 1 815, a short time before the rebuilding of the fort. 
an army contractor named Dean, built a house on the 
lake shore, at the mouth of the Chicago River, near 
where is now the foot of Randolph Street. In 1817, 
Mr. Beaubien purchased this house, which was a low, 
gloomy building of five rooms, for $1,000 — a large sum 
for those days. After this purchase he lived in the Dean 
house for several years, his son Alexander being born 
there. He used the old cabin after this for a barn.* 

In the fall of 1818. he was appointed Chicago agent 
of the American Fur Company, and built a small trading- 
house near his residence. 

In 1823 the fort was evacuated, and remained for 
several years without a garrison. The U. S. FaDtory- 
house, just outside the south wall, was sold to the 
American Fur Company, and again sold by the company 
to Mr. Beaubien for $500. He moved into this build- 
ing, and resided there until he left Chicago for his farm 
on the Desplaines, in or about the year 1840. During 
the winter of 1831-32, Mr. Beaubien was president of 
the village Debating Society, the meetings being held 
within the fort. It is said the presiding officer filled his 
responsible position with "much efficiency and dignity." 
During the Black Hawk troubles, he led a party of val- 
iant Chicagoans to the scene of anticipated warfare, as 
related in the history of that war in another chapter. 
Two years later when the militia of Cook County was 
organized, he was elected its first colonel, at the famous 
meeting at " Laughton's Tavern," when "The Punch 
Bowl of Ogden Avenue " sparkled with good cheer, 
and the hearts of the lively crowd with fun and 
jollity. 

The Beaubien Claim. — Colonel Beaubien made 
two pre-emption claims for the land upon which he had 
resided since the rebuilding of the fort, which were re- 
jected. Finally in May, 1835, he entered at the land 
office in Chicago, of which Edmund I). Taylor was Re- 
ceiver, and James Whitlock Register, a pre-emption 
claim to the southwest fractional quarter of Section 10, 
Township 39, Range 14 east, the quarter- section upon 
which he resided. After consulting the United States 
District Attorney for Illinois and Hon. Sidney Breese, 
afterward Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, the 
officials of the land-office allowed his claim, and Colonel 
Beaubien became the purchaser of a fraction over 
seventy-five acres of land in what was known as the 
" Fort Dearborn Reservation," for the sum of $94.61. 
Payment was made, entry recorded and certificates and 
receipts delivered to Mr. Beaubien. The following 
year 1836 , Murray McConnell, a lawyer of some 
ability residing at Jacksonville, 111., to whom Mr. Beau- 
bien had conveyed a portion of this land, brought an 
action of ejectment against Colonel DeLafayette Wil- 
cox, then in charge of United States property at Fort 
Dearborn, which stood on a portion of the land in ques- 
tion. This suit was entitled " John Jackson ex. dem. 
Murray McConnell v. DeLayette Wilcox," and was 
brought before Judge Thomas Ford of the Cook County 

boise came to this place from Milwaukee, and was doubtless the son of one of 
these brothers. The family moved to the place called " Hardscrabble," and 
lived there many years ; Francis LaFramboise or his sons being tax-payers in 
1825 and 1826. " 

* The old cabin must have come to its end in the cholera summer of 1832. 
Captain A. Walker, commander of the steamer " Sheldon Thompson," which 
arrived at Chicago with a part of General Scott's troops on the 10th of July of 
that year, says in a letter published in the Chicago Democrat in 1861 : " The 
number of buildings at that time < 18321 where your populous city now stands, 
was but five, three of which were log tenements — one of them, without a roof, 
used as a stable. We remained four days after landing the troops, procuring 
fuel for the homeward voyage, etc. The only means of obtaining anything for 
fuel was to purchase the roofless log-building used as a stable. That, together 
with the rail fence enclosing a field of some three acres near by, was sufficient 
to enable us to reach Mackinaw. Being drawn to the beach and prepared for 
use, it was boated on board by the crew, which operation occupied most of four 
days to accomplish. 



Circuit Court, at the October term of 1836. The sun 
was popularly known as "the Beaubien claim." 

The property involved, as before stated, was what 
was then known as the " Fort Dearborn Reservation," 
now Fort Dearborn Addition, and was by Government 
survey the southwest fractional quarter of Section 10, 
Township 39, North Range 14, East of the Third princi- 
pal meridian, in Illinois, containing 75.69 acres. Colonel 
Wilcox was defended by David J. Baker, United States 
District Attorney for Illinois. Waiving any right that 
may have arisen from the purchase and occupation of a 
certain claim of land at an earlier date by Colonel 
Beaubien, his attorney based his case on the purchase 
made by him from John Dean, an army contractor or 
sutler, in 1817, of ahouse near the fort, and notfarfrom 
his former residence, and for which, with its field and 
garden, he claimed to have paid $1,000. The land in 
question was not surveyed, and was therefore not open 
to pre-emption until 1821. In 1822 the United States 
Factory at Chicago was finally closed by Government, 
and during 1823, the building was sold by order of the 
Secretary of the Treasury to Wm. Whiting, who resold 
it to the American Fur Company. Mr. Beaubien bought 
it of this company for $500, and moved into it with his 
family, thus becoming by right of purchase and occu- 
pation the owner of all there was in the quarter-section 
on which he lived, except the fort and its immediate en- 
closure, still in possession of the Government. In 1824 
the Commissioner of the General Land Office, at the re- 
quest of the Secretary of War, "set apart " the whole 
of Section 10 for military uses. In 1831 the heirs of 
John Kinzie claimed pre-emption of the fractional quar- 
ter of Section 10, north of the river, at the nearest land- 
office, at Palestine, in Crawford County, which was al- 
lowed. Mr. Beaubien made a similar claim for the 
fractional-quarter-section south of the river, which was 
refused. In 1834 he again entered claim at the land- 
office at Danville, Vermillion County, which was again 
rejected, and finally in 1835, as before related, he pre- 
sented his claim at the Chicago land- office, which was 
allowed, and he bought the Fort Dearborn Reservation, 
at the regular rate of $1.25 per acre, and obtained his 
certificate, which was dated May 28, and recorded June 
26. When the suit was brought into the Circuit Court 
at the fall term of 1836, Judge Ford decided that Beau- 
bien's claim was valid, but could not be enforced 
until he procured a patent from Washington ; or, in 
technical terms, that "although Beaubien's claim 
is legal in every respect, yet he cannot assert his 
right against the United States in this form ; a 
writ of mandamus against the proper officer for the 
patent is the proper remedy." The judgment of the 
Circuit Court was approved by the Supreme Court 
of the State, and in 1839 an effort was made in the 
House of Representatives at Washington, to establish 
Beaubien's title in accordance with the decision of the 
State courts. But the Solicitor of the Treasury, Henry 
D. Gilpin, informed the committee of the House in 
charge of the claim that the Government lawyers at 
Chicago — Butterfield, Collins and Morris — had' drawn 
up a bill charging the local land-office with collusion in 
giving the original certificate to Beaubien in 1835. 
This information killed the hopes of the claimant in the 
House. Meanwhile the law suit had been carried into 
the Supreme Court of the United States, and Francis 
Peyton, attorney for Beaubien, on the last day of Feb- 
ruary, 1839, applied to the Government for certain 
maps which he deemed important, if not essential, to the 
support of his client's claim. They were not furnished, 
and in March, 1839, the judgment of the State Courts 



86 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



was reversed.* The Secretary of War ordered the land 
to be divided into blocks and lots, constituting the Fort 
Dearborn Addition to the city of Chicago, and to be sold 
to the highest bidder, except block one. and fourteen lots 
in block two. and blocks four and live reserved to the 
Government. The Government was censured by the 
opposition journal in Chicago for its "indecent haste'' 
in advertising in April, almost before the decision of the 
Court had placed on record the sale of the disputed land 
on ]une 10, 1839. It was understood that Colonel 
Keaubien desired to secure six lots in block five : and by 
general consent the citizens declined to bid against him. 
This kindness was. however, neutralized by James H. 
Collins, one of the attorneys for the Government, who 
secured five of the six, Beaubien obtaining only one lot 
ti, block five , for §225 : an advance of fourteen dol- 
lars on the highest price paid by Collins. This sale took 
place June 20, 1839. On the morning of the 21st an 
indignation meeting was held by the citizens, at which 
Win. H. Brown was president, and John H. Kinzie and 
lames Wadsworth were secretaries. Resolutions were 
passed denouncing Collins and expressing the regret 
that the Government should find it necessary to be so 
ungenerous to an old and respected citizen, who had 
been of great service to the early settlers of Chicago in 
their relations with the Indians ; but all this could not 
change court decisions. June 13, 1840, the United 
States filed a bill in the Circuit Court for Illinois, to set 
aside the receipt and certificate given to Beaubien in 
1S35. The Court decreed that he should deliver them 
up for cancellation, and they were duly surrendered by 
Beaubien, accompanied with his receipt dated Decem- 
ber 18, 1840, for the original purchase money then re- 
funded. In 1878, Win. H. Standish, a lawyer of Chi- 
cago, again, brought the case before Congress, "explain- 
ing the Beaubien title to the Lake front lands, etc." He 
went over the points above given, re-enforcing them by 
affidavits of old residents, including one of E. D. Taylor, 
the Receiver in 1835, in which he states that he and his 
colleague. James Whitlock, Register, took the advice of 
David Jewett Baker, at that time United States Attor- 
ney for Illinois, who declared that "the law made it 
their duty to let said Colonel Beaubien pre-empt this 
land, whether it hurt or benefited the United States Gov- 
ernment." and that they received the same advice from 
the Hon. Sidney Breese, who " even at that day enjoyed' 
the reputation of being an eminent lawyer." The strong 
points of the claim were that from August 15, 1812, to 
July, 1816, the land in question could scarcely be said 
to be a post of any sort in the actual possession of the 
United States, having neither Government buildings, 
nor soldiers nor agents there ; that it had not been 
formally reserved for military purposes until 1824, that 
it was therefore subject to pre-emption by Beaubien 
under the law of 1813, and that it should have been as 
open for pre-emption to him on the south side as it was 
to K. A. Kinzie on the north side of the river. To 
which it was answered by Senator Bayard, from the 
committee of Congress on private land claims. May 31, 
1878; that there was a reservation and appropriation 
for Government uses as shown by the actual occupation 
from 1804 to 1 8 1 2 ; that the non-occupation from 1812 
to 1816 "was caused by the compulsion of war,'' and 
"a citizen could not take advantages of the misfortunes 
(if his Government." This bounty of pre-emption, it 
cannot be supposed was designed to be extended to 
the sacrifice of public establishments or of great public 
3tS 1; Peters, 498). "For these and other con- 
siderations your committee," says the Senator, "report 

• 13 Pctere, 498. 



adversely upon the bill No. 773 and recommend that 
it be indefinitely postponed." The apparent similarity 
of the interest involved with that of the Kinzie family 
could furnish no solid basis for a claim against the Gov- 
ernment, as pre-emption has been decided by the courts 
to be a matter of bounty on its part and could not be 
turned into a right against it, on the part of a citizen. 
Moreover, the Government had need, or use, for the 
southern fraction which it was actually occupying when 
suit was brought, while of the northern fraction it had 
never made any use. Had the Beaubien claimants 
awaited the abandonment of the land by the Govern- 
ment it is not improbable that fhey would have succeed- 
ed. Indeed, it was rumored that the patent had been 
actually signed in favor of Beaubien when the news of 
the suit aroused the indignation of President Jackson, 
who in his impulsive wrath tore it into fragments. The 
story is somewhat open to suspicion, being such as the 
known character of the President would have given rise 
to, without any foundation in fact. Eventually Con- 
gress donated to Beaubien four or five lots in the Fort 
Dearborn Addition as a compensation for his original 
outlay: but the effort to prosecute the claim before 
Congress in 1878, was, as has been shown, resisted with 
so much firmness as to leave but little hope of its suc- 
cessful revival at any future time. 

The Fort Dearborn Addition was sold by the Gov- 
ernment under Act of Congress of March 3, 1819. 
There was also some abortive agitation about obtaining 
the contested land for county purposes, in virtue of an 
act of Congress of May 26, 1824, granting any unsold 
public lands at $1.25 an acre for such purposes. But it 
was too late, and the Beaubien Claim went into the real 
estate market, as stated, under the auspices of the Gen- 
eral Government. 

The homestead of Colonel Beaubien was where now 
is the southwest corner of South Water Street and Mich- 
igan Avenue. This was bid in at the land sale in June, 
1839, by James H. Collins, for $1,049, anc '- m tne words 
of Madore, son of the old pioneer, the " very house his 
father was inhabiting, in which his family had been born 
and reared, and around which were the graves of his 
departed children, was sold from him in his old age. 
No wonder the citizens of Chicago held an indignation 
meeting." 

Colonel Beaubien owned a farm near the place, called 
" Hardscrabble," to which he removed about the 
year 1840, and where his wife died in September. 1845. 
In 1850 he was commissioned Brigadier-General of 
militia. He returned from his farm to Chicago where 
he married, in 1855, Miss Louise Pinney. In 1858 he 
removed to Naperville, where he died January 5, 1863. 

UNITED STATES INDIAN AGENTS AND FAC- 
TORS AT CHICAGO. 

When old Fort Dearborn was built in 1803-4, an 
agency-house, for the use of the United States Indian 
Agents to be stationed at the post, was erected under 
the protection of its guns. It was situated a short dis- 
tance above the fort on the same side of the river, and 
is described as an old-fashioned log building with a 
hall in the center, and one large room on each side. 
Porches extended the whole length of the building, front 
and rear. The Chicago Agency included the Pottawat- 
omies, Sacs, Foxes and Kickapoos. All negotiation-. 
with them, all payments made to them by the United 
States, all settlements of disputed questions, were 
through the medium of the Indian Agent. 

Charles Jouett, the first Indian Agent at Chi- 



UNITED STATES INDIAN AGENTS AND FACTORS AT CHICAGO. 



87 



cago, arrived and entered upon the duties of his office 
in 1805. He was a native of Virginia, the youngest of 
nine children, and was born in 1772. His father shared 
in Braddock's defeat in 1754, and two of his brothers 

fought in the War of Independence. John Jouett and 
liis four sons were all of remarkable size and strength. 
Charles was six feet three inches in height and propor- 
tionally muscular. He studied law in early manhood, 
and practised for a short time at Charlottesville, Yu. In 
1802, he was appointed by President Jefferson Indian 
Agent at Detroit. January 22, 1803, Mr. Jouett mar- 
ried Miss Eliza Dodemead, of Detroit, who died in 1805, 
leaving a daughter, born in 1804. April 2, 1805, he was 
appointed Commissioner "to hold a treaty" with the 
Wyandotts, Ottawas and other Indians of northwestern 
Ohio, and what is now southeastern Michigan. The 
treaty was signed at Fort Industry, on "the Miami of 
the Lake," now the Maumee, July 4, 1S05. The same 
year he was appointed as Indian Agent at Chicago ; and 
was officially notified, October 26, 1805, that the Sacs, 
Foxes and Pottawatomies would be thenceforth in- 
cluded in that agency. Early in 1809 he married Miss 
Susan Randolph Allen, of Clark County, Ky., but born 
near Williamsburg, Va., in 1786. liv her he had one 
son, born in Chicago in 1809, and there deceased in 
1810; and three daughters, born in Kentucky. In 
1811* he removed to Mercer County, Ky., where he 
became a judge in 1812. He was again appointed In- 
dian Agent for Chicago, by President Madison, in 1815, 
and moved there with his family that year. He is 
charged with $1,000 salary as such agent in the nation- 
al accounts of 18 16. The Indian agencies in Illinois 
were turned over to the Territory of Illinois in 181 7, 
with a proviso that all such accounts should not exceed 
$25,000 a year. It may be owing to this change that 
Mr. Jouett severed his connection with the Indian De- 
partment a second time. He, however, signed the In- 
dian treaty of St. Mary's, Ohio, September 17, 1818, as 
witness, with the title of Indian Agent. This seems to 
have been his last service in that line ; and he soon 
afterwards returned to Kentucky. At the organization 
of the Territory of Arkansas, in 1819, he was appoint- 
ed its Judge ; but the climate proved unhealthful, and 
after a stay of six months, during which he was engaged 
in establishing the institutions of the new govern- 
ment, he returned to Kentucky. He then settled in 
Trigg County, of which he remained a resident until 
his death. May 28, 1834. He enjoyed the friendship 
and confidence of three Presidents ; and was noted for 
his integrity and fidelity to the trust imposed in him. 

Soon after the building of Fort Dearborn, the United 
States established a Factory at the post, for the purpose 
of controlling the Indian trade of the vicinity. The 
Factory system was instituted by the Government from 
motives of both philanthropy and expediency. It was 
designed to benefit the Indians by giving them a fair 
equivalent for their furs in such useful articles as their 
needs required, and to withhold from them whisky, 
which was rapidly rendering them not only useless, but 
dangerous " wards " of Government. It was believed 
that by dealing fairly and honestly with them, they 



would soon learn to consider the United States Factors 
their friends and benefactors, and gladly transfer their 

Hade from those who first intoxicated anil then (heal 

ed them, in those who came among them to better their 
condition. With this motive was also the desire of 
transferring the immense profits of the Indian trade 
from private traders or corporations to the United 
States Treasury. The svstem eventually proved a fail- 
ure. 'The gentlemen sent to the frontier to deal with 
the Indians, although men of intelligence and integrity, 
were unacquainted with the nature of those they came to 
serve, and unequal to the task of competing with old, 
acute and experienced traders, whom the Indians had 
learned to trust, and whose influence over them was 
unbounded. Before the war of 1812, the factories were 
a partial success, but after peace was declared, and they 
were re-established in 1816, they proved a complete 
failure. The American Fur Company, after its re-organ- 
ization in 1817, swept away both private traders and 
factories, anil enjoyed for a time almost a monopoly of 
the Northwestern fur trade. 

The name of the United States Factor at Chicago, 
from the time the system was established until 1810, 
has not been preserved, unless, as seems probable, 
Charles Jouett was both Indian Agent ami Factor. 

Matthew Irwin was Factor here from 1810 until the 
destruction of Fort Dearborn, August 15, 1812, and 
after the departure of Mr. Jouett, in 181 1, probably 
acted also as Agent. He was the son of Matthew 
Irwin, St\, a native of Ireland, who settled in Philadel- 
phia when quite young, and becoming a wealthy mer- 
chant assisted the United States Government during 
the Revolution by loaning it money for carrying on its 
plans. In September, 1777, he was appointed Quarter- 
master-General of Pennsylvania, and served in General 
Armstrong's division, then in the field. During 1778 
and 1779 he was engaged in fitting out privateers and 
ships against the enemy, being appointed a naval agent 
for the State in the latter year, and commissioner for 
procuring salt for the public. In 17X1 he was Port 
Warden for Philadelphia; from 1785 served for several 
years as Recorder of Deeds and Master of Rolls of 
Philadelphia, and in 17X7 was appointed Justice of the 
Court of Common Pleas. He became bankrupt in the 
latter part of 1788, partly in consequence of surety 
debts. 'The mother of Matthew Irwin, Jr., was a sister 
of Thomas Mifflin, General in the Revolution and after- 
ward Governor of Pennsylvania. His oldest brother. 
Thomas, was United States District Judge of Western 
Pennsylvania, and another brother was a merchant of 
Philadelphia. Matthew Irwin, Jr., was born, reared 
and educated at Philadelphia. 

In a written communication, given to Dr. Jedidiah 
Morse, in 1820, and published in " Morse's Report on 
Indian Affairs," Major Irwin gives the following state- 
ment of the amount of business done while he was 
Factor at Chicago : 

Amount of furs and peltries forwarded to the Superin- 
tendent of Indian trade June 30, 1S10, and in- 
voiced at S 2,972. ;n 

Amount of drafts on the Secretary of war. in favor of 

the Superintendent of Indian trade in that year.. 1,740.01 

Total amount of business done in 1S10 % 4,712.57 



Amount of furs and peltries forwarded to the Superin- 

intendent of Indian trade Sept. 25, 1S11, 5,280.50 

Amount of drafts on Secretary of War transmitted in 

favor of the Superintendent of Indian trade, 775-39 

Total amount of business done in 1S11, $ 6,055.89 



88 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



Amount of furs and peltries forwarded to the Superin- 
tendent of Indian trade July II, 1812,.. § 5,781.91 

Amount of drafts transmitted in favor of the Superin- 
tendent of Indian trade, 500.67 

Amount of articles sold for cash, S^.-t* 



Amount of business done in 1S12 



-S 6.7gS.o6 



In May. 1811, Mr. Irwin gave notice to the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury of the machinations of the Shawa- 
noe Prophet to incite the Pottawatomies of the Illinois 
River and surrounding country to hostility against the 
Government. Mr. Touett's absence left Mr. Irwin to 
discharge the duties of Agent and Factor. He again 
writes on the 10th of March. 1S12: "The Chippewa 
and Ottawa nations, hearing that the Winnebagoes and 
Pottawatomies are hostilely inclined toward the whites, 
sent speeches among them, desiring them to change 
their sentiments and live in peace with the whites ; " 
and again on April 16, 181 2: "On the 6th, a party of 
ten or eleven Indians surrounded a small farm house on 
Chicago River, and killed two men. The Indians are 
of the Winnebago tribe.*' Mr. Irwin must have left 
Chicago soon after forwarding goods July nth, or he 
would hardly have escaped the massacre of the next 
month. The goods in the factory were distributed 
among the savages, and the subsequent war put an end, 
for a time, to the factory system. Mr. Irwin was 
appointed Assistant Commissary of Purchases in the 
army May. 1813, and served until June, 1815, when 
the army was disbanded. The following spring a mil- 
itary post was established at Green Bay, and he was sent 
there as United States Factor, remaining until the office 
was discontinued in 1822. Major Irwin married, in 
1816, at Uniontown, Penn., Miss Nancy Walker, and 
his son William, born in 1817, was the first white child 
of American parents born at Green Bay. On the 
organization of Brown County, Wis., in 1818, he was 
appointed by Governor Cass its first Chief Justice and 
Judge of Probate, serving until September, 1820. Late 
in 1822 he returned with his family to Philadelphia, and 
finally settled at Uniontown, Pa., where he was em- 
ployed as merchant and Postmaster, and where he died 
about 1845, from the effects of paralysis, at the age of 
nearly seventy- five years. Major Irwin is described as 
of a little above medium height, well proportioned, 
of pleasing deportment, and interesting and popular 
address. 

On the rebuilding of Fort Dearborn in 181 6, a fac- 
tor}' was again established by Government. Jacob B 
Yarnum, of Massachusetts, was appointed Factor, with 
a salary of §1,300. The business was unsatisfactory. 
In a letter to Major Irwin at Green Bay, dated Decem- 
ber 5, 1818, a year and a half after the reorganization 
of the American Fur Company, Mr. Yarnum says: 

" The indiscriminate admission of British subjects to trade 
with the Indians is a matter of pretty general complaint, through- 
out this section of the country. There are five establishments now 
within the limits of this agency, headed by British subjects. These, 
with the large number of American traders, in every part of the 
country, will effectually check the progress of this factory. I have 
hardly done a sufficiency of business this season to clear the wages 
of my interpreter." 

The following year he writes to the superintendent 
of Indian affairs at Washington, evidently believing that 
a better day was dawning for the factories in conse- 
quence of the recent decision of the Attorney-General as 
to who should be considered American citizens, and 
granted licenses to trade with the Indians. 'The deris- 
ion was, that unless those residing within the jurisdic- 
tion of the western ports, at the time they were given 
up by the British, did absolutely go into court within 



the twelve months following the event, and declare 
themselves American citizens, they could not be con- 
sidered as such without going through the process of 
naturalization. 'The Secretary of War, John C. Cal- 
houn, immediately directed Governor Cass of Michi- 
gan 'Territory to revoke all licenses hitherto granted 
to persons thus circumstanced, and he, in turn, 
ordered the several Indian agents accordingly. 'This 
order temporarily threw out of employment many traders 
connected with the American Fur Company, which had 
retained in its service Canadians formerly British sub- 
jects, who had been licensed by the various Indian 
agents to trade, they claiming the right of citizenship 
under the provision of Jay's treaty. Following is the 
letter of Mr. Yarnum : 

" United States Factory, Chicago. June 20, 1819. 

" The exclusion of foreigners from the Indian trade, will, it is 
believed, justify the extension of the operation of this establish- 
ment. This, together with the consideration of the large supply 
of blankets and cloths now on hand, induces me to recommend a 
distribution of the goods of this factory among the adjacent villa- 
ges for trade, to such an extent as will ensure the sale of nearly all 
by the expiration of the trading season. Such a measure, I am 
well convinced, will be highly gratifying to the Indians, as a great 
number bv this means will be enabled to supply themselves with 
goods on more reasonable terms than could otherwise be done ; nor 
do I apprehend any difficulty in effecting it to the advantage of the 
Government, as gentlemen of unquestionable integrity have already 
applied for such outfits. JACOB K. VARNl'M." 

It may readily be seen that the American Fur Com- 
pany would not quietly submit to such a diminution of 
its prerogatives, and measures were immediately taken 
to prevent the present unpleasant aspect of affairs be- 
coming a permanent fact. Ramsey Crooks and Samuel 
Abbott hastened to Washington to be present at the ses- 
sion of 1819-20. That their efforts to obtain such 
terms as they desired for the company in which they 
were both interested were successful, is shown by the 
following extracts from a letter written to John J. Astor 
by Ramsey Crooks,* dated " New York, May, 1820." 
Mr. Crooks says : 

"The new-fangled obnoxious Indian system died a natural 
death, as the House of Representatives, pleading a press of much 
more important business, refused to act on the bill from the Senate, 
and from the interest our friends took in the explanations given by 
them by Mr. Samuel Abbott, who remained at Washington for the 
purpose, I have not the smallest doubt, had the bill been brought 
forward, but the monster would have been strangled. Now that 
nothing can be effected until Congress meets again. I presume the 
trade will be for this summer continued under the former regula- 
tions ; but had Mr. Secretary Calhoun carried his point in getting 
the proposed new law passed, it is no longer concealed that the first 
step was to license so few traders that the factories were sure of 
reviving ; another appeal to Congress for the increase of the public 
trade fund would no doubt have followed ; and private trade con- 
fined to a limited number of favorites, among whom I hazard but 
little in saying the American Fur Company would not have been 
found ; because we will not suffer ourselves to be trampled upon 
with impunity either by the military or any other power, and be- 
cause others, profiting by our example, have of late shown them 
their teeth." 

'The same month that the agent of the American Fur 
Company wrote thus to his principal, the Factor at Chi- 
cago, again discouraged, writes under date of " May 23, 
1820 " : 

" The Indians have been induced to come here this season by 
the facility with which they were enabled to procure whisky. In 
fact the commerce with them this season has been almost exclusively 
confined to that article. I will venture to say that out of two hun- 
dred barks (Indian boxes containing about forty pounds) of sugar 
taken, not five have been purchased with any other commodity than 
whisky. I have not been able to procure a pound of sugar from 
the Indians, but can get a supply from the traders at ten cents a 
pound." 

'The factors, from first to last, attributed the ill suc- 

vhich extracts are taken, are in the posses- 



UNITKD STATES INDIAN AGENTS AND FACTORS AT CHICAGO. 



89 



cess of the system to the licensing of British traders, 
brought up in the business, thoroughly conversant with 
the nature and desires of the Indian, and determined in 
their opposition to the factories. On the other hand, 
the private traders and the fur companies affirmed that 
the system was radically wrong, and that the Indians 
were equally cheated, and equally well supplied with 
whisky by the factories as by themselves. Major Irwin 
says in letters to the Superintendent of Indian Trade, 
during the years 1817-19 : 

" There appears a palpable incongruity in the manner of con- 
ducting the Indian trade, the factors are sent to supply the wants 
of the Indians, and the Indian agents can adopt such measures as 
to defeat all their plans to that end. It is very certain that the 
authority vested in them to issue licenses is well calculated to de- 
stroy all the benefits, that might be expected from the factories; 
particularly too when they interfere with each other's districts. 
The truth is, the factories required to be well supported before they 
can be of any utility ; one of the first measures to which should be 
the prohibition to grant licenses where the factory can supply the 
necessities of the Indians." 

On July 5, 182 1, Colonel McKenney writes from the 
'• Indian Trade Office " to Major Irwin : 

" Sir.' — I have the honor respectfully to represent, that for the 
three years last past, the two factories on the lakes, one at Chicago, 
the other at Green Bay, have been in a measure useless to the In- 
dians, and, in a pecuniary point of view, to the Government also. 
This state of things is owing entirely to the unsuitable provisions 
which exist for the regulation of the trade. . . The contination of the 
same inactivity which has hitherto characterized the business at 
these two factories, promising to make inroads upon the fund allot- 
ted for the trade, I do not feel myself authorized further to delay 
a decision on the subject, and recommend it accordingly for the 
Executive approval ; it is to break up and discontinue the two 
factories located at Chicago and Green Bay." 

In opposition to the views of the Government Fact- 
ors at Chicago and Green Bay, may be given the views 
of two gentlemen who visited them, the one in 1820 the 
other in 1822. Dr. Jedidiah Morse in his report on In- 
dian affairs, says : 

' An intelligent gentleman, who had just visited Chicago, in- 
formed me (July. 1S20), that there were goods belonging to Govern- 
ment, at that place, to the value of $20,000, which cost more at 
Georgetown than the traders ask for their goods at the post of de- 
livery ; and that the goods are inferior in quality, and selected with 
less judgment than those of the traders ; that only twenty-live dol- 
lars' worth of furs was sold by the Factor at Chicago ; that the 
Government makes no profit on its capital, and pays the superin- 
tendents, factors, sub-factors, and their clerks out of their funds. 
' The fact,' he added, ' that the Government sells goods at cost and 
carriage, and pay their own agents ; and that yet the Indians pre- 
fer dealing with the traders, is pretty conclusive evidence that the 
traders have not been exorbitant in the prices of their goods, nor 
have maltreated the Indians, who have had liberty to trade with 
one or the other as they pleased. It is evident,' he said,' that by 
some means, the Indians had not confidence in the Government, as 
fair and upright in their trade.' Nothing was said or intimated on 
this subject, by the gentleman above alluded to, which in the re- 
motest degree impeached the character or conduct of any of the 
factors. They appear as far as I have knowledge of them, to be 
upright men, and faithfully and intelligently to have discharged 
the duties of their office. This want of confidence in the Govern- 
ment, on part of the Indians, I have witnessed with solicitude in 
many other instances, and it has often been expressed by the In- 
dians in my interviews with them. Whether this prejudice has 
arisen from foreign influence, exerted to answer particular purposes, 
or from that of the traders, as is alleged in the preceding commu 
nications (from the factors at Chicago and Green Bay), or has been 
occasioned by the manner in which their lands have been obtained 
from them by the Government ; or by the inferiority in quality and 
high prices of the goods whicn have been offered them in barter, at 
the Government factories, or delivered to them in payment of their 
annuities, as other confidently assert, it is not for me to decide. It 
is my opinion, however, from all I could learn, that each of these 
causes has had more or less influence in creating and fixing this un- 
happy prejudice in their minds." 

General Albert G. Ellis, who was the first editor of 
the Green Bay Intelligencer,the pioneer newspaper of 



H isconsin, describes, in his " Recollections,"* Green Bav 
as it was on his arrival in 1822. Speaking of the United 
States factories, he says : 

" < hie had been placed at Green liav, and Major Matthew Irwin, 
of Pennsylvania, appointed to the office. We found him at Fori 
Howard in 1S22, the sole occupant of the post, in his stone build- 
ing and living under the same roof with his family, the troops hav- 
ing been removed two years before to ('amp Smith. Major Irwin 
was a gentleman of intelligence culture and integrity, and as well 
fitted for the trust as any other citizen totally unacquainted with the 
Indian country, its trade and inhabitants, could be — that is, not 
fitted at all: and, moreover, being furnished by the Government 
with goods unsuited to the Indian trade, and coming in competing 
contact with life-long, experienced, astute traders, of course tin 
effort to gain confidence, trust and influence with the Indian-, was 
a total failure. His sleazy woolen blankets, cheap calico, and, 
worst of all, his poor, unserviceable guns, were all rejected by the 
Indians, and during four years' trade he did not secure lift) dol- 
lars' worth of peltries; but the natives, as well as French inhabit- 
ants, made quantities of maple sugar — this was not current at New 
York for payment of goods, as peltries were, and not so much cared 
for by the old traders. The Indians resorted with it to the United 
States Factor, Major Irwin, who bought large quantities of it, and 
had many thousand pounds in store at the time of our arrival in 
1822. . . That fall Major Irwin closed up most of the business, 
shipped his sugar to Detroit, turned over the concern to a young 
gentleman succeeding him by the name of Ringgold, and left the 
country. Messrs. Heron and Whitney, sutlers to the troops, 
bought Major Irwin's house, and the old factory was converted 
into a hospital building for the sick of the garrison." 

The services of Mr. Varnuin as Factor at Chicago 
ended the same year. After the order for the discon- 
tinuance of the factory was issued, A. B. Lindsey, of 
Connecticut, was sent to Chicago to wind up its affairs. 
While living in Chicago, Mr. Varnum boarded in the 
old John Dean house, with J. B. Beaubien, then its 
owner. He is spoken of by Major Irwin as a gentle- 
man of well-known integrity. After the goods belong- 
ing to the United States remaining in the factory had 
been disposed of, the building, which was just south of 
the fort, was bought by a Mr. Whiting, probably Cap 
tain Henry Whiting, an ex-army officer, then sutler of 
the fort. J It was sold by Mr. Whiting to the American 
Fur Company, and by that company to Jean Baptiste 
Beaubien, whose resilience it remained until 1839. 

During the continuance of the factory, from the 
rebuilding of the fort in 1S16, to its final abandonment 
in i822-'23, there were two Indian Agents. Charles 
Jouett was reappointed in 1815, came to Chicago in 
1816, and remained two years or more. His residence, 
and the Agency-house for that period, was a log build- 
ing of two large rooms, about twenty steps from the 
river bank, on the north side, according to the testi- 
mony of his daughter, Mrs. Susan M. Callis, who came 
to the place with her parents in i8i6Jand remained 
here several years. She also says that this house, which 
was west of John Kinzie's, was built before the massa- 
cre of i8i2,g and that between it and the Kinzie house 
was another, occupied in 18 16 by a Mr. Bridges. She 
mentions also an encounter which her father had with 
Main Poc, a furious Indian, the old war-chief of the 
Pottawatomies. 

In a letter written by this lady to Hon. John H'ent- 

* Wis. Hist. Coll., vol. VII. 

t James E. Heron and Henry Whiting wire suiters at fori Dearborn in 
1821-' 22, and were both, in 1S23, at Fort Howard. Green Bay, with Captain 
Win. Whistler. Heron had been Assistant Commissarv "f Purchases in the 
army from September, 1813, until disbanded. lime 1, 1821; then sutler at Macki- 
nac for a short time— at Chicago in 1822, at Fort Howard in 182), and subse- 
quently at Fort Leavenworth and Fort Jesup until 1843. 

Henrv Whiting, of New York, was commissioned Second lieutenant ol the 
23d Infan'trv, May 1, 1812, First Lieutenant in lune, 1813; wounded in tin bat. 
tie of Niagara, July 25. 1814; Captain in September, 1814: retained on re- 
arrangement of tile armv on peace establishment, Mar. 1S1 s. as First Lieuten- 
ant of 2d Infantry with brevet; disbanded June, 1821; sutler at Chicago in 
1821-92, and subsequently at Green Bay. 

t From the description supposed to be the old " Hums House," mentioned 
in "Waubun." 

§ " Chicago Antiquities." p. 105. 



I,C 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



worth, .--he mentions otlier incidents and persons of early 
Chicago. She says : 

" My mother's oldest child was Charles Lalime Jouett, who was 
born in Chicago. October 20, 1S09, and died there September S, 
1S10. It has been said that he was the first white child born in 
Chicago.* There was a Government Factor there named Jacob I!. 
Yarnum. who had a child born there.f Possibly this child wis born 
l»efore mv brother. My mother's nurse was a half-breed French 
and Indian woman, who was bound to her until she was eighteen 
years of age. Her name was Madaline Alscum or Olscum. She 
married the day we left Chicago for the last time, Joseph ( )zier, a 
soldier from the garrison. 1 remember James Riley, | who acted 
as father's inlerorcter. My impression is that Dr. Alexander YVol- 
COtl was fathers successor as Indian Agent. Father resigned the 
agency at Chicago about l8lS-'ig and returned to Kentucky. 
There was a l>r. McMahon stationed at Chicago. There was a 
l>r. John Gale there from New Hampshire, who left before we did, 
.ini\ who died at Fort Armstrong, July 27, 1S30. I remember the 
Indian chief, 'White Hog,' who pretended he could not speak 
English. But he got drunk one day, and we then found out that 
he could speak it verv well. I also remember a tall anil powerful 
Indian chief. ' White Elk,' who was pointed out to me as the man 
who killed the children of Mrs. Susan Corbili at the massacre of 
1 -1 -\ 5 1 remember a half-breed Indian who was in the employ of 
John Kinzie, named Perish LeClerc, who used to boast of his Pot- 
tawatomie descent. I also remember Major Daniel Baker, who had 
command at F'ort Dearborn. I frequently saw an Indian called 
' Blue Earth,' because he always painted his face with a sort of 
blue clay, which gave him a ghastly appearance, fie kept princi- 
pally by himself, and it was hinted he was a white man in disguise. 
He was out of health; and I once saw the Indians dance what 
was called the ' medicine dance,' around him, in hopes of effect- 
ing a cure. There were two lieutenants in the garrison, whose 
names do not appear in any of your Chicago publications. They 
were married about the same time. They visited us frequently. 
One was Lieutenant Brooks. J The other was Lieutenant James 
Hackley, Jr., who married Rebekah Wells, of Fort Wayne, daugh- 
ter of Captain William Wells, who was killed in the Chicago massa- 
cre of 1S12, and for whom your street was named. 1] When ray 
mother first went to Chicago it was in midwinter, and she went all 
the way on horseback. This journey she often described as her 
bridal tour. Father had as guides a half-breed Indian named Rob- 
inson, and a negro named Joseph Battles. In traveling through 
Illinois they found the snow very deep and drifted on the prairies. 
They frequently heard the cries of panthers at night, who were de- 
terred from them by their camp-fires. 'The Indians were always 
very kind, and mother never felt any fear. But she became tired 
of living so far from all society, and persuaded father to move back 
to Kentucky. He lived on a farm near Harrodsburg, Ky. , where 
all his children, except the one at Detroit and the one at Chicago, 
were born. As he lived in Chicago when my brother died in (Sep- 
tember) 1S10, and at Harrodsburg the 8th of February, 181 1, when 
my sister Caroline was born, you can judge when he left Chicago 
the first time. Mother often congratulated herself that she left 
Chicago in time to escape the massacre. . . The Agency-house 
where we lived was on the north side of the river, nearly opposite 
the garrison, and John Kinzie, Sr.. lived near by on the same side. 
Mother always said that the little river (as it then was) was lined 
all along its banks with wild onions, and took its name Chicago 
therefrom; Chicago meaning, in the original Indian tongue, 
' onion.' " 

Dr. Alexander Wolcott succeeded Mr. Jouett 
as Indian Agent in 1S20, and held the position until 
his death in 1830. He was the son of Alexander and 
Lucy Waldo Wolcott, and was born at East Windsor, 
Conn., February 14, 1790. His father, who graduated 
at Yale in 1 7 7.S, and settled at Windsor as an attorney, 
was a man of distinguished ability and standing. Alex- 

» Two children had been horn to Lieutenant William Whistler, and two 
to John Kinzie, in Chicago, prior to 1809 

* Subsequent to 1816. 

; James Riley, and his brothers Peter and John, were sons ol Judg 
ectady, who was at one timea trader with the Indians'at S 
The boys were half-breeds, the mother being "f the Indian race. ("C 
Antiquities, " p. 106. » 



Riley, 

C'inaw. 

hica«o 



I See ** Waubun," p. i3i. "Chicago Antiquities,' p. 

ol Mr. (.oils: ■■ Phi house in which my" father livet 
built before the massacre of ,8u. I know this from the fact that ' White 
an Indian chief, and the tallest I ever saw, was pointed out to me as the sa 
that flashed out the brains of the I hildrcn of Suk'ey Corhin against the si 
tills very house.' 1 

Lieutenant Edward E, Brooks, of Kentucky. He was made Captain 

transferred to Detroit about 1819. Hi resit 1 I '8^7. His wife wa 

daughter of Chief Justice May, of M„ higan, and one ,,f his daughters ma 
ff \l . School, of Chicago. Mr. Broolcs died in Detroit. 

* l-i'ii- Hai promoted to a captaincy and resigned l>cce 



ander Wolcott, Jr., graduated at Yale in the class of 
1809. He was the third of four children. His oldest 
sister. Frances, married for her second husband, Arthur 
\V. Magill of .Middletown, Conn., to which place the 
Wolcott family had removed. Henry, the second child, 
was appointed Collector of the Port of Middletown by 
President Adams in [828. He removed to Chicago in 
[836, and died there April 5, 1846. Henry was the 
father of Alexander Wolcott, long the Chicago City Sur- 
veyor. Alexander, and Mary Ann, a younger sister, 
were the third atul fourth children. After Dr. Wolcott's 
arrival here he finished and resided in a building com- 
menced during Judge Jouett's incumbency. This was 
the agency-house on the north side of the river, near 
where now is the foot of North State Street, and which 
was facetiously cailed "Cobweb Castle," during his 
residence there as a bachelor, — probably from the no- 
ticeable accumulation of those terrors to good house- 
keepers during those vears. On the 20th of July, 1823, 
he was married at the residence of John Kinzie, by John 
Hamlin, J. P. of Fulton County, to Ellen Marion, eld- 
est daughter of John and Eleanor Kinzie. In 1820 Dr. 
Wolcott accompanied the expedition under (Governor 
Cass from Detroit through the upper lakes to the 
sources of the Mississippi. The party left Detroit on 
the 1st of May, performed the journey, and returned to 
Lake Michigan the latter part of August. At Green 
Bay the party divided, some proceeding to Mackinac, 
and a part — among whom were Governor Cass, Dr. 
Wolcott, Major Robert Forsyth and Henry R. School- 
craft, — coming down the western shore of the lake to 
Chicago, where they arrived August 29, and remained 
until the 31st ; when Governor Cass, accompanied by 
his secretary, Major Forsyth, Lieutenant Mackay. John 
Kinzie and others, took the old Indian trail to Detroit, 
and Schoolcraft and Captain Douglas the route by the 
eastern shore of the lake to Mackinac. Mr. Schoolcraft 
speaks of Dr. Wolcott as a gentleman "commanding 
respect by his manners, judgment and intelligence." 
On the 29th of August, 1821, a treaty was concluded 
with the Indians at Chicago, which was signed in the 
presence of Alexander Wolcott, Jr., Indian Agent, Jacob 
B. Yarnum, Factor, and John Kinzie, Sub-Agent. In 
May, 1823, the garrison was withdrawn from Fort 
Dearborn and the post and property left in charge of 
Dr. Wolcott, who moved into one of the houses erected 
for officers' quarters, and there resided until the fort 
was again occupied by United States troops in August, 
1828. He was appointed Justice of the Peace for 
Peoria County December 26, 1827, and is recorded as 
judge and voter at the special election for justice of 
the peace and constable, held at the house of James 
Kinzie in the Chicago Precinct, Jul) - 24, 1830. When 
troops arrived to re-garrison F'ort Dearborn in 1828, 
Dr. Wolcott and family returned to their old home in 
the agency-house, 'where he died late in the fall of 1830. 
By his will, dated October 18, 1830, he left all his 
property to his wife Eleanor* M. Wolcott and his 
daughter Mary Ann. The latter died in infancy, and 
his widow became his sole surviving heir. 

Mrs. Wolcott, with her mother and half-sister, Mrs. 
Helm, remained at the agency-house until the spring 
of 1831. The order having been given for the evacua- 
tion of Fort Dearborn by the troops, the household 
goods of Mrs. Wolcott were sold by auction, and she 
accompanied Iter sister, Mis. Lieutenant David Hunter 
now Mrs. General Hunter to Fort Howard, Green Bay. 
Mrs. John Kinzie and Mrs. Helm went to Fort Winne- 

» Spelled Eleanor, Loth in the will of fir. Wolcott, and in the record of her 
marriage in the " Wulcoit Memorial." She signed her name Ellen M. 



THE FU 



TRADE AND TRADERS. 



9' 



bago at the same time, with John H. IsLinzie and wife, 
who had been in Chicago on a visit. The following 
extracts from a letter written in Chicago about 1821-22 
by Dr. Wolcott to Governor Cass, in reply to certain 
queries of the latter in regard to the language and con- 
dition of the Pottawatomies, are given to show the 
sprightly and agreeable manner in which this early 
settler of Chicago expressed his ideas, and as revealing 
the pleasant humor of the man :* 

" Dear Governor: — Thank God, I can at last in part disbur- 
den my conscience of a crime that has long laid heavy upon it, 
the crime of neglecting t<> comply with your repeated requests re- 
specting vour queries. Many a time and oft, when I cast a rueful 
giance over that interminable string of 'Inquiries,' which could 
not be properly answered by a philosopher, till after at least ten 
years' study ' with all appliances and means to boot,' 1 have 
wished them at the bottom of the Red Sea, along with so many 
other wicked spirits, whose only object on earth was to disturb the 
repose of quiet, lazy people like myself. Could the necessary 
knowledge be acquired by the use of any kind of machinery, could 
it be accomplished by the use of steam it would be a matter of no 
difficulty. It is only to buy an engine, and the thing is done. But 
to find a person well acquainted with the Indian tongue who knows 
any thing about any other language on the face of the earth, or 
who can be made to comprehend its most simple principles, is a 
pretty impossible sort of an affair. Nevertheless, I have endeavored 
to do a little something to quiet certain stirrings and twitchings 
somewhere about the region of the pericardium, which have for a 
long time troubled me exceedingly ; more especially whenever my 
eyes happened to rest upon a little ugly-looking book, full of notes 
of interrogation. That I have done so little, and that I have done 
that little so imperfectly, is only to be excused from the considera- 
tion that I have worked without tools. I have been in the situa- 
tion, and met with the success, you will perhaps say, of a man who 
should attempt to polish a diamond with a wood rasp, or fashion a 
watch with a sledge hammer. That I have delayed it so long can- 
not be excused at all, unless you will accept of the true plea, that 
I was deterred by the hopelessness of the task, and you have lull 
leave to laugh when I tell you that the confusion and want of ar- 
rangement in the papers arise from want of time. But it is liter- 
allv true. Since I commenced my inquiries, some weeks ago, re- 
specting the construction of the language, 1 have kept myself at it 
night and day ; but I found such amazing difficulty at every step 
that my progress has been but slow, and it is now too late to make 
any attempt at arrangement, as Captain Whitingf is ready to start. 
All, but what relates to language, has been written for a long time, 
and a meagre account it is. But the truth is, that of all the tribes 
and nations that people this globe, the Pottawatomies have the 
least that is peculiar in their manners and customs, or interesting 
in their history. The only very prominent trait in their character 
is their universal and insatiable love of ardent spirits, and that is 
common to all tribes who are so lucky as to live in a state of fre- 
quent intercourse with Christian men.}: I suppose by this time 
you will have another book of ' queries ' under way, with which 
you will favor your friends in due time. Should you be desirous 
that I should make farther inquiries, please to signify it, and 1 
promise a more prompt attention to your request than I have given 
heretofore. And now I will not say another word on the subject 
of Indian languages except that I am as glad to escape from it as 
we were to escape from the unheard-of comforts of Sandy Lake. 
Don't you feel a horror creeping over you every time the idea re- 
curs to your memory? I never think of it, but, like the Pharisee, 
I thank God that I am not as other men — Indian-traders and dwel- 
lers on the borders of Sandy Lake." 

The widow of Dr. Wolcott married, in [836, Hon. 
George C. Bates of Detroit, and died in that city August 
1, 1860, leaving a husband and one son, Kinzie Bates, 
U. S. A. 

Colonel Thomas J. V. Owen succeeded Dr. Wolcott, 
and served as Indian agent during the years 1831-32-33. 
Gholson Kerchevaland Tames Stuart served under him 



the Ci 



al Pi.rlii 



* Letter published in Schoolcraft's " Tra 
the Mississippi Vallev." 

f Captain Henry Whiting, sutler at Fort Dearborn in 1821-22. 

% A iong account of the construction of the Pottawatomie language follows 
here. 



as sub-agents ; Billy Caldwell Sauganash . as interpre- 
ter ; David McKee as blacksmith, and Joseph Porthier 
as striker. Colonel Owen was born in Kentucky, April 
5, r8oi. He was appointed Indian agent in the winter 
of 1830-31,1)111 did not arrive in Chicago until the spring 
of [831, the sub-agent, Mr. Kercheval, attending to the 
duties of the office until that time. When the Town ol 
Chicago was incorporated in 1833, Colonel Owen was 
chosen President of its first board of trustees. He died 
at Chicago, October 15, 1835. 

THE FUR TRADE AND TRADERS, 

Before priest orexplorer found his way to the.Chicago 
River, the fur-trader was dealing with the Indians on its 
banks. Father Marquette found them — evidently not 
strangers to the soil or its savage inhabitants — when In 
the winter of 1674-75 he lay sick in his cabin on the 
prairie of the portage. They were here before him, 
were awaiting his coming, and had prepared to receive 
him hospitably when he should arrive at their wintering- 
ground below the great Indian village. When they 
found that his ill health would compel him to pass the 
winter in "their cabin " at the portage, they sent him 
supplies from their own stores, and by their influence 
with the Indians made his hard winter more safe and 
comfortable. 

Until the friendly Illinois were driven from their 
river, French traders passed freely to and fro over the 
" Chicagou route " from Canada to Louisiana, and colo- 
nists came to build their cabins around the Fort St. 
Louis. When the tribes of the Illinois were driven from 
their country, and Fort St. Louis had been abandoned 
and finally destroyed, this path became for a time too 
dangerous for even the daring voyageurs, and this route 
of the Canadians to the French settlements and to the 
interior of the country was exchanged for one more safe. 
From the first settlement of New France, the most 
lucrative business of the colonists was the traffic in furs, 
and the Canadian voyageurs were, after Nicolet, the first 
explorers of the Northwest. The fur trade on the St. 
Lawrence was licensed by the French Government, the 
paper being drawn somewhat in the form of a colonial 
commission, conferring on the holder the authority of a 
military officer over the voyageurs in his employ. The 
early French traders were sometimes by the terms of 
their licenses made Colonial agents, with power to make 
treaties with the Indians and arrange terms of commer- 
cial intercourse. Their Canadian engages were a won- 
derful class of men, maintaining by their hardihood a 
traffic in furs with the savages of the Northwest, which 
gave to the region its only great value in the eyes of the 
French Government. The patience, tenacity of pur- 
pose, courage and resolution displayed by these hardy, 
cheerful servants are almost without parallel in the his- 
tory of exploration of savage countries. With their 
packs of merchandise, or " outfits," they left Quebec 
or Montreal in their frail bark canoes, traversed lakes 
and rivers to their destined post, penetrated to the win- 
ter haunts of the savages, toiling up the streams in their 
canoes, and at each portage taking both the canoe and 
its load on their backs from one stream to another, until 
a favorable spot for a " wintering-ground " was reached 
Then, with their savage companions, they passed the 
winter in the wilderness, to secure for their employers 
the annual load of peltries. Sometimes they learned to 
love their savage life so well that they ceased to return 
to the St. Lawrence, but following the Indians in their 
wanderings, engaged in an illicit trade on their own ac- 
count, and became couriers tic boh. These fur-traders 



92 



HISTORY OK EARLY CHICAGO. 



of the woods became so numerous by the last of the 
seventeenth century that a royal declaration was issued 
against them — their vocation interfering materially with 
the profits of the licensed French traders. When French 
domination ceased in the Northwest there was an essen- 
tial change in the manner of carrying on the fur trade. 
At a later day the voyageiirs of the American F'ur Com- 
pany, and private traders were employed under written 
contracts, executed in Canada for a term of from three 
to five years — their wages from two hundred and fifty 
livres fifty dollars . to seven hundred and fifty livres 
per vear. To this was added their " outfit," consisting 
usually of a Mackinaw blanket, two cotton shirts, a cap- 
ote and a few other articles, with the necessary goods 
for their Indian customers. In the fall they left Mack- 
inac, or other headquarters of their employer, to spend 
the months until spring at their " wintering-ground." 
Their food, when with savages, consisted principally of 
salt pork, corn and tallow. The furs collected by the 
voyageurs employed by the American Fur Company 
were taken to Mackinac in the spring, and there re- 
packed for New York. The earlv population of Chicago 
was, in a great measure, made up of fur-traders. Aside 
from the military, almost every inhabitant was connected 
with this traffic, in some form or other. The first trace 
of white occupation of the site of Chicago after it be- 
came the home of the Pottawatomies, is by a F'rench 
trader named Guarie, who located on the west side of 
the North Branch of the Chicago River, near the forks. 
Gurdon S. Hubbard, whose personal knowledge of Chi- 
cago dates back to 1818, says of this trader :* 

" I'rior to 1S00, the North Branch of the Chicago River was 
called by the Indian traders and voyageurs ' River Guarie,' and the 
South Branch. ' Portage River.' On the west side of the North 
Branch a man by the name of Guarie had a trading house, situated 
on the bank of the river about where Fulton Street now is. This 
house was enclosed by pickets. He located there prior to 1778. 
This tradition I received from Messrs. Antoine Deschamps and An- 
toine Besom, who from about 1778 had passed from Lake Michigan 
to the Illinois River yearly ; they were old men when I first knew 
them in 1S1S. This tradition was corroborated by other old voya 
geurs. The evidences of this trading-house were pointed out to me 
by Mr. Deschamps; the corn-hills adjoining were distinctly trace- 
able, though grown over with grass." 

Baptiste Pointe de Saible doubtless traded in furs 
with the Indians, during his long residence on the Chi- 
cago River, but whether white traders were settled here 
during those years is unknown. Win. Burnett, a trader 
at St. Joseph, whose wintering-ground in 1790-91, was 
on the Kankakee, savs in a letter written at St. Joseph, 
May 6, 1790 : J "I received a letter yesterday from 
Chicago, wherein it is said that nothing is made in the 
Mississippi this year." February 6, 1791,11c writes: 
"The Pottawatomies at Chicago have killed a French- 
man about twenty days ago. They say there is plenty 
of Frenchmen." Whether these Frenchmen were trailers 
with headquarters at Chicago, or merely passing voy- 
ageurs, is not known ; neither is there any clew to the 
name of Mr. Burnett's correspondent. He again writes, 
in the summer of 1798, to Mr. Porthier, a merchant at 
Mackinac : \ 

" In the course of last winter I wrote you that it is expected 
(hat there will lie a garrison at Chicago this summer, and from 
late accounts I have reason to expect that they will be over there 
this fall, and should it be the case, and as I have a house there 
already, and a promise of assistance from headquarters, I will 
have occasion for a good deal of liquors, and some other articles 
for that post. Therefore, should there be a garrison at Chicago 
this fall. I will write for an addition of articles to mv order." 

On the arrival of Major Whistler to build and gar- 
rison Fort Dearborn, he found at Chicago, as the only 

* Blancbard'f " History "i Chicago/ 1 p. 757. 

* • 1 Ki. ago Intiquities," p. 57. 

X Commonly spelled Mackinaw from about 1813. 



residents in the summer of 1803, three French fur- 
trailers; LeMai, who bought the cabin of De Saible 
in 1796, and had probably been a resident since that 
time; Antoine Ouilmette, who lived near him, and a 
trailer by the name of Pettell, of whom nothing more 
is known. A year latter Le Mai sold his cabin to John 
Kinzie, and Antoine Ouilmette entered the service of 
the latter, and long remained his employe. Ouilmette's 
house was just north, and within a very short distance 
of Mr. Kinzie's. At the time of the Fort Dearborn 
massacre, it became the hiding place of Mrs. Helm, 
where she was preserved from the furious savages who 
sought her life by the courage and coolness of Mrs. 
Bisson, a sister of Mrs. Ouilmette. It was in Ouilmette's 
garden that William Griffith,* the Quartermaster at 
the fort, hid himself behind the currant bushes, and 
when discovered by the family was disguised as a Cana- 
dian voyageur and helped to escape with the Kinzies. 

After the departure of the boat containing his em- 
ployer's family, Ouilmette was left the sole white inhab- 
itant of Chicago. After the arrival of Alexander Rob- 
inson, who probably came to Chicago to live in 18 14, 
Ouilmette and he cultivated the field formerly used as 
the garden of the fort, raising there good crops of corn. 
The crop of 1816 was sold to Captain Bradley after his 
arrival to rebuild the fort. At the treaty made at 
Prairie Du Chien in 1829 with the tribe of which his 
wife was a member, Ouilmette was granted, on her 
account, a reservation at Gros Point, now Wilmette. 
'There he made a farm and remained until the Potta- 
watomies were removed to the West. He accompanied 
them with his family, and both himself and wife died 
at Council Bluffs, Iowa. His daughter FJlizabeth mar- 
ried Michael Welch, of Chicago, and after his death. 
Lucius R. Darling, of Silver Lake, Kansas. Another 
daughter, Josette, mentioned in " Waubun " married 
John Derosche, and with the other children of the fam- 
ily — Michell, Lewis, Francis, Sophie and Joseph — set- 
tled on the banks of the Kansas River, with the tribe. 

Before the rebuilding of the fort, one other trader 
settled in Chicago. 'This was M. Du Pin, who married 
the widow of Mr. Lee (the former proprietor of the 
cabin and garden on the lake shore near the fort , and 
lived in the Kinzie house during the absence of the 
family. After his removal to Chicago in 1804 John 
Kinzie became a very successful trader. His trading- 
house apparently absorbed all the rival establishments — 
except the United States Factory. A description of 
its grow and success is given in " Waubun " as fol- 
lows : 

" By degrees more remote trading-posts were established by 
him, all contributing to the parent one at Chicago ; at Milwaukee 
with the Menomonies ; at Rock River with the Winnebagoes and the 
Pottawatomies ; on the Illinois River and Kankakee with the Pot- 
towatomies of the Prairies, and with the Kickapoos in what was 
called 'Le Large,' being the widely extended district afterward 
erected into Sangamon County. Each trading-post had its super- 
intendent, and its complement of engages — its train of pack-horses, 
and its equipment of boats and canoes. From most of the stations 
the furs and peltries were brought to Chicago on pack-horses, and 
the goods necessary for the trade were transported in return by the 
same method. The vessels which came in the spring and fall 
(seldom more than two or three annually), to bring the supplies 
and goods for the trade took the furs that were already collected to 
Mackinac, the depot of the Southwest and the American Fur 
Companies. At other seasons they were sent to that place in boats, 
coasting around the lakes." 

When the fort was rebuilt in 1816, Government re- 
established the United States Factory connected with 
it. Soon after this a trading-house was established by 
Conant and Mack, wealthy merchants of Detroit, at the 



Afterward Captain Willis 



I " Spies 



THtf FUR TRADE AND TRACERS. 



93 



point formerly known as " Lee's Place " four miles up 
the South Branch from the fort. This was on govern- 
ment land, being included in the " six-miles-square 
tract," and these merchants having bought the old 
cabin where Mr. White and his man were murdered in 
the spring of i8i2,sent John Crafts with a large sup- 
ply of Indian goods, to take possession of the place 
and establish there a branch house. The location was 
directly in the path of the Indians of the interior as 
they brought their furs from the Illinois, Desplaines 
and Kankakee, and crossed the portage to the factory 
at Chicago. The establishment was a decided success. 
The Indians had no great love for United States factor- 
ies, and the house at the " portage " secured almost a 
monopoly of the furs of the region, until the American 
Fur Company decided to swallow both the factory and 
the establishment owned by Mr. Crafts. This was ac- 
complished by the close of 1822 — the factory had ceased 
to exist, and Mack and Conant had transferred their 
interests in the fur trade of the region about Chicago 
to its prosperous rival. 

The American Fur Company and its Traders 
in Chicago. — When the military possession of the 
Northwest passed from France to Great Britain in 1760, 
the Hudson's Bay Company, which had been chartered 
by Parliament as early as 1670, acquired almost an ex- 
clusive monopoly of the fur trade. Its success excited 
the envy of other capitalists, and in 1783, the North- 
west Fur Company was organized at Quebec, and estab- 
lished its posts at various points on the upper lakes and 
throughout the interior. The new company, contrary 
to the custom of the older one, employed voyageurs 
for its extended trade, and soon diminished the profits of 
the Hudson's Bay Company. Other organizations were 
formed — among them an association of British mer- 
chants called the Mackinaw Company, which became a 
successful rival to the older companies. 

In 1809, John Jacob Astor organized the American 
Fur Company, which was chartered by the New York 
Legislature — Mr. Astor being the Company. In con- 
nection with the Northwest Company he bought out 
the Mackinaw Company in 181 1, and formed the South- 
west Company. The War of 181 2 temporarily inter- 
rupted the existence of that organization, but it was re- 
vived. In 1815 Congress prohibited foreigners from 
dealing in furs in the United States and Territories. 
The Southwest Company, composed mainly of British 
merchants, sold out its interest to Mr. Astor soon after, 
and the company was known as the 'American Fur 
Company " after the spring of 1817.* 

" Having entire charge of the management of the company 
in the West were Ramsey Crooks and Robert Stuart. To William 
Matthews was entrusted the engaging of voyageurs and clerks in 
Canada, with his headquarters in Montreal. The voyageurs he 
took from the habitant (farmers); young, active, athletic men 
were sought for ; indeed, none but such were engaged, and they 
passed under inspection of a surgeon. Mr. M. also purchased at 
Montreal such goods as were suited for the trade to load his boats. 
These boats were the Canadian batteaux, principally used in those 
days in transferring goods to upper St. Lawrence River and its 
tributaries, manned by four oarsmen and a steersman, capacity 
about six tons. The voyageurs and clerks were under indentures 
for a term of live years. Wages of voyageurs $100, clerks from 
$120 to $500 per annum. These were all novices in the business. 
The plan of the company was to arrange and secure the services of 
old traders and their voyageurs, who at the ( new ) organization of 
the company were in the Indian country, depending on their in- 
fluence and knowledge of the trade with the Indians ; and as fast 
as possible secure the vast trade of the West and Northwest within 
the district of the United States, interspersing the novices brought 
from Canada, so as to consolidate, extend and monopolize as far 
as possible over the country, the Indian trade. The first two years 
they had succeeded in bunging into their employ seven-eighths of 
* Gurdon S. Hubbard, in " Chicago Antiquities." 



the old Indian traders on the upper Mississippi, Wabash and Illi- 
nois rivers. Lakes Superior ami Michigan, and their tributaries as 
far north as the boundaries of the United States extended. The 
other eighth thought that their interest was to remain independent ; 
toward such, the company selected their best traders, and located 
them in opposition, with instructions so to manage by underselling 
as to bring them to terms. At Mackinaw, the trader's brigades 
was organized, the company selecting the most capable trader to be 
the manager of his particular brigade, which consisted of from live 
to twenty batteatlA laden with goods. This chief or manager, 
when reaching a country allotted to him made detachments, local 
ing trading-houses with districts clearly defined, fur the operations 
of that particular post, and so on, until his ground was fully occu- 
pied by traders under him. over whom he had absolute authority." 
The law excluding foreigners from trading in the 
Indian country seemed designed to apply to companies 
and not individuals. The American Fur Company, 
controlled by an American, was considered an exclu- 
sively American company, and was allowed for the suc- 
cessful prosecution of its business, certain privileges 
which did not conform to the letter of the law. The 
various Indian agents at the western posts were directed 
through the Governor of Michigan Territory, to grant 
licenses to such traders as the agents of Mr. Astor 
should designate. The British traders formerly con- 
nected with the Southwest Company were familiar with 
the fur trade, and were trusted by the Indians, over 
whom their influence was unbounded. The Canadian 
voyageurs were indispensable to the successful prose- 
cution of the business, and it was not long before 
licenses were in the hands of British traders, who sent 
their engage's to every part of the Indian country, hold- 
ing that they were American citizens under the provi- 
sions of Jay's treaty, and that the form of naturaliza- 
tion was unnecessary. 

Ramsey Crooks, agent of the American Fur Company, was 
born in the town of Greenock, Scotland, January 2, 1787. When 
sixteen years of age he migrated to Canada, and was for awhile 
employed as junior clerk in the mercantile house of Maitland, 
Garden & Auldjo, in Montreal. In 1805, he engaged in the ser- 
vice of a merchant named Gillespie, and went to the then frontier 
village of St. Louis, where he remained two or three years, after- 
ward trading with the Indians on the Missouri River on his own 
account. Robert McClellan was one of his associates and friends 
while in Missouri, and the two young traders fought manfully for 
their rights against the arrogance and tyranny of the Missouri 
Fur Company, which with Manual Lisa at its head, did not scru- 
ple to instigate the Sioux to acts of violence against rival traders. 
In 1S09, John Jacob Astor conceived the design of establising a 
chain of trading-posts on the Missouri and La Platte rivers to the 
Rocky Mountains, and thence to the Pacific. Mr. Crooks relin- 
quished his business on the Missouri, and at the desire of Mr. 
Astor joined the party of traders and trappers which, starting from 
St. Louis, was to traverse the country to the Pacific, and at the 
mouth of the Columbia River establish the principal station of the 
company. After much suffering and many wanderings, the party 
reached Astoria in May. 1S12. Mr. Crooks returned to St. Louis 
in 1813, and the following year, through the capture of the station 
by the British, and the failure of our government to give protec- 
tion to the American fur-traders, Mr. Astor relinquished all opera- 
tion on the Pacific coast. In 1S17, at the re-formation of the 
American Fur Company, Mr. Crooks again joined Mr. Astor, and 
was the agent of the company at Mackinaw for the ensuing five 
years. Although his residence was in New York, he spent much 
time at Mackinaw, and was well known, and personally esteemed 
by the many traders connected with the company, at the stations 
at Chicago, Green Hay, Milwaukee and elsewhere in the North- 
west. The partnership with Mr. Astor was dissolved in 1830, 
when Mr. Crooks resumed his former position as a salaried employe 
of the company, but in 1S34, Mr. Astor, beginning to feel the 
infirmities of age, sold out the stock of the company, and transferred 
thecharter to Mr. Crooks and others, and this gentleman was there- 
upon elected president of the company. However, the business 
did not continue prosperous, and in 1S42, the American Fur Com- 
pany made an assignment and passed out of existence. In 1845, 
Mr. Crooks opened a commission house, for the sale of furs and 
skins in New York. This business, which proved very successful, 
he continued until his death, which occurred at his residence in 
New York city on the 6th of June 1S59, in the seventy-third year 
of his age. Mr. Crooks was noted for his extreme modesty and 



•M 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



imobtnisiveness, his sterling integrity, and purity of life, and the 
kindness, patience and humanity he exhibited to all those with 
whom he had to deal — both white man and red. 

Ramsey Crooks left New York to assume the duties 
of agent of the American Fur Company at Mackinaw, 
in March, 1817. Front that time he was intimately con- 
nected witli many of the Chicago traders— furnishing 
goods both to the traders connected with his company 
and those who acted independently. In a collection of 
his letters, now in the possession of Gurdon S. Hubbard, 
there is much to be found relating to the early trade 
and traders of Chicago and to the general operations of 
the company. The following extracts tire from these 
letters. On the 22d of June, 1817, Mr. Crooks writes 
from " Michilimackinac " to John Kinzie of Chicago : 

" Dear Sir: — Since my arrival seven days ago, no opportunity 
of communicating with you has presented itself. By the arrival of 
Mr. Lamorandiere 1 am happy to learn your success in the late 
campaign, and sincerely hope it may continue. I look for a visit 
from you soon, but should that be inconvenient yet for some time, 
any communication you may, in the interim, favor us with shall be 
duly attended to. 

" Enclosed is a letter to Mr. Daniel Bourassa,* who appears 
to have been shamefully imposed upon by Mr. Buisson and asso- 
ciates; however being averse to forming an opinion injurious to any 
one without proof, I have requested Mr. Bourassa to avail himself 
of the tirst conveyance! to this place, in order that on the arrival of 
these gentlemen}: a full investigation may take place, which, with- 
out his presence must be imperfect and unsatisfactory. Bourassa 
may perhaps dread the consequences of putting himself in my power, 
but his general character hitherto does not permit my entertaining 
any suspicions of his honesty, and he may come here without ap- 
prehension. Should Mr. Buisson and his friends have acted as 
basely as report says, they may possibly try to intimidate Bourassa 
so as to prevent his coming here, but I trust you will assure him 
my only wish for his presence is to state before them the circum- 
stances attending this transaction in its different stages." 

In a letter enclosed to Mr. Bourassa in the above, 
and which is written in French, Mr. Crooks says: 

" I am very sorry to learn the arrangements you have thought 
proper to make with the gcods given you by Mr. Rocheblave for 
the Southwest Company, but as I am persuaded that you have not 
been well treated in this affair, it is for your advantage to take the 
tirst opportunity to come here (Mackinaw) where, when Mr. Buis- 
son arrives, the difficulty will be settled in the most equitable 
manner." 

On the 23d of June, 1817, in a letter to Mr. Astor, 
Mr. Crooks says: 

"In Lake Michigan the complexion of our adventures are 
various — only one person we equipped (on his own account) has 
vet come in. He has done pretty well. Kinzie at Chicago is said 
to have been fortunate, but at other points report speaks a more 
equivocal language. We hear that the people in the Illinois River 
have made out tolerably." . . "Governor Cass, although 

positively instructed to be guided by the orders of the War Depart- 
ment of last year in regard to the granting of licensing to foreign- 
ers, and having no directions from Acting Secretary Graham to be- 
stow any specific indulgences on your agents, has written Major 
Huthuff (Indian Agent at Green Bay, afterward dismissed) to attend 
particularly to our wishes ; and should he act as the discretionary 
nature of his orders will allow, he can serve our purpose almost as 
effectually as if foreigners had been excluded generally and we 
had obtained the number of licenses in blank which you at one 
lime so confidently expected. With this knowledge of the disposi- 
tion evinced by the Governor of Michigan Territory for our suc- 
cess, you may well suppose no effort on our part to engage the In- 
dian Agent here (Colonel Bowyer at Mackinaw) in our cause, hut 
his not being bound to pursue any particular system will leave all 
we obtain to be acquired by our own exertions. So conflicting will 
be the claims on his indulgence, and so many stratagems will be 
tried to thwart our views, that it would be the extreme of folly to 
hazard an opinion of the result, but if he only remains true to the 
line of conduct we may prevail on him to adopt, we flatter our- 



selves with getting hold of a larger share of the trade than last 
year." 

From Michilimackinac, ,;ist July, 1817, to John 
Kinzie at Chicago : 

" Dear Sir: — Your favor of the 4th instant came duly to hand. 
as also the seventy-three Packs by Captain Barney, the freight of 
which I paid and had them safely stored where they still remain in 
the shape you sent them, as Mr. Beaubien could not possibly get a 
press, so busy have we been since his arrival here. However, I 
shall do what you wished him to execute, though from the unheard- 
of desertion of our men on the way from Montreal, we are left al- 
most helpless, and men cannot be got here on anything like reason- 
able terms. Would you believe that ordinary boatmen ask a thou- 
sand livres, many get eight or nine hundred, and those who can 
just talk enough Indian to tell their master's private business to 
the savages, will not listen to anything short of eleven or twelve 
hundred livres, with an equipment which could not be purchased 
here for less than fifty dollars. If therefore you have any idea of 
depending on this post for men, my advice would be to abandon 
every thought of the kind, and secure those you have about you. 
Mr. Beaubien sold me his skins after a residence of several days 
had given him an opportunity of becoming intimately acquainted 
with the highest value set on them by contending parties, and I am 
very sure they were well sold. He has directed me to credit you 
with $1,087-5 on his account, which has been done. Your account 
against Pensonneau has been acknowledged and passed to your 
credit. The best Indian Corn will not command above two dol- 
lars per bushel, at this time, and indeed an immediate sale at that 
price could not be effected, for cash. I cannot therefore, take 
upon myself to sacrifice your property, and prefer keeping it till 
better times. Accept my thanks for your goodness in forwarding 
my request to Bourassa, but should he not come soon, his appear- 
ance will only be an additional charge to no purpose, as Penson- 
neau will be off in a few days. Should Bourassa not be already on 
the way to this place when you receive this please say he need not 
come on my account." 

From Michilimackinac, August 15, 1818, to Mr. 
Kinzie at Chicago : 

" Dear Sir: — Being very busy at this moment, I have only 
time to say your son reached me in good health, which he has con- 
tinued ever since to enjoy with but little interruption. Mr. Dick- 
son made but a short stay here, and although I mentioned your 
desire of his arranging with me, on your part for John he was so 
entirely absorbed in the pressure of his own affairs as not to have 
an hour to bestow on the settlement contemplated . I am anxious 
that a perfect understanding should be had as to your son, with as 
little delay as the case will admit of, and beg you by the very first 
conveyance to give me at length, vour ideas on this interesting 
subject. I am inclined to think, from all I have seen of him that 
he will realize all your hopes. 1 bought M. Chandonet's skins, 
but the amount does not meet your expectations. Your several 
favors have been duly received, and with some exceptions the sums 
to be collected for you are at your credit. The accounts detailing 
everything shall be forwarded by Mr. Deschamps. who goes off in 
a few days. Messrs. Chandonet and James Kensie* are equipped 
by us. I send you a Pork-eaterf for three years. His engagement 
is enclosed, and his account with us is : 



* Daniel Bourassa 1 

the poll liit of 18:.'. and li i- 

Soulh Branch, not f;,r from the forks. 



lident and trader at Chicago. His 
idence was on the cast side of tile 
was married at Chicago, by John 



t In the enclosed letter tr. Mr. Bourassa, Mr. Crooks tells him he shall 
pect him " by the return of the ' Baltimore,' " 

; Bniason and Pensonneau, traders for Ih d Southwest Company. 



The amount, stated in American money, was $68.70. 
From Michilimackinac, September 19, 1818, to Mr. 
Jean Bte. Beaubien at " Milliwakie:" 

" Dear Sir: — Per the schooner ' Hercules' I have shipped to 
the care of Mr. John Kinzie at Chicago, according to your order, 
S Barrels Flour and 6 Barrels Whiskey containing 199 1-2 gallons 
marked J. B. B. which I hope will reach you in good order. 1 am 
glad to learn by Mr. Pertian, just arrived from Detroit, that you 
had left that place for your home without making a very long 
stay " 

On September 19, 1818, Mr. Crooks writes to Jean 
Bte. Chandonnais, Chicago| : 

* The different spellings of Kinzie and Mackinaw are unchanged by the 
editors, who sacrifice uniformity to hteralness. 

t Voyageur. 

* Chandonnais was formerly clerk for John Kinzie, and on the day of the 
Fort Dearborn massacre was instrumental in saving the life of Mrs. Captain 
Heald, afterward conducting both herself and husband to a place of safety. 
("Waubun," p. 183-191, speiled Chandonai.l In "Chicago Antiquities,' 1 the 
same person is probably alluded to on page 79, as being in the service of the 
United States during the' War of 1812, although spelled " Chandonia." He is 
also mentioned in "Fergus Series" No. 16, p. 19, (Hist. Fort Dearborn, by 



THE FUR TRADE AND TKADKRS. 



!>S 



" Dinr Sir: — By Capt. Church in the ' Hercules ' you will re- 
ceive four barrels whiskey containing 144 gallons, and 6 barrels 
Flour, which I hope will reach you in good order. To Mr. Schiiul- 
Icr 1 will deliver the barrel Flour, as you directed.. 1 cannot prom- 
ise you any more liquor, for spirits of every kind are not only dear 
but uncommonly scarce. Messrs. Mack .V. Conant have received 
the draft 1 remitted them on your account — say $1,174, bill by the 
enclosed accounts from these gentlemen it appears you are still in 
their debt. The first account they furnished showed a balance of 
$216,37 t-2 against you, but by another they made oui afterwards, 
you are their debtor only $168.87 I_2 - We enclose those ac- 
counts, and your note to Sherbal Conant cc Co. cancelled, which 
will give you all the information we possess on the subject of your 
affairs with these gentlemen. 

" 1'. S. The two barrels you left here are also in the ' Her- 
cules.'" 

Front Michilimacktnac September to,, t8i8, to |ohn 
Kinzie, Chicago : 

"Dear Sir: — Having just returned after an absence of fifteen 
days, I am as yet unable to transmit by this opportunity your ac- 
count current, but I will devote my lirst leisure moments to that 
object. We remitted to Messrs. Conant and .Mack Si, 174, on 
your account of Mr. Chandonnais, but by the papers enclosed by 
this conveyance to that gentleman, it appears that he is still in 
arrears with that house. Your letter covering remittances to them 
has been forwarded. By Capt. Church, in the 'Hercules' you 
will receive a keg of Madeira Wine, as per acc't subjoined, which 
I hope you will find good. We have not a drop of Port, otherwise 
your request relative to that article would have been attended to. 
Enclosed is Bill Lading of J. 1!. li. 14 Barrels & J. 11. C. 12 barrels, 
the former for Mr; Beaubien and the latter for Mr. Chandonnais, 
which we were directed to consign to you. We will settle with the 
Captain for the freight of these. John is in good health and writes 
by the ' Hercules.' " 

August 11, 1X19, Mr. Crooks again writes to John 
Kinzie : 

' Dear Sir : — Your several favors up to 19th ulto. have come 
to hand and their different enclosures attended to. All has been 
passed to your credit as they were severally collected, but where 
any inaccuracy existed, we made the necessary alteration, which 
you will discern in your account now enclosed ; by this the balance 
now is $220.90, which, of course, stands at your debit. The in- 
dentures of your son John, I had filled up with the intention of 
sending you an exact copy signed by me, but Mr. Robert Dickson, 
arriving here in the meantime, 1 consulted him as you originally 
proposed, and at his instance put in $125 for each of the 2 last 
years of John's apprenticeship. 1 hope this will meet your appro- 
bation. The instrument duly executed is now enclosed, a copy of 
which please execute and return me by first conveyance to this 
place. Thus far your son has behaved in a becoming manner. Mr. 
Abbott did, I believe, everything in his power last winter to im- 
prove his general knowledge, as also his scholastic knowledge ; and 
my friend Mr. Robert Stuart, in whose charge he will pass the ap- 
proaching season, will not fail to do him justice. He is attached 
to our retail store, but I now and then have him with me in the 
wholesale department, and so soon as he is eligible, he will be so 
much in the counting-house as to give him an opportunity of un- 
derstanding our general business, but in concerns of some intricacy 
and infinite detail to keep him there now would be a loss of pre- 
cious time, both to him and. the Company. You may however 
rest assured that every attention will be paid to making your son a 
man of business. With surprise and astonishment I learn the very 
questionable course Mr. Jean Bte. Chandonnait has thought 
proper to pursue ; but relying with the utmost confidence on your 
influence over him, I still flatter myself that at least a part of the 
amount he owes us would have been remitted before this time, 
more particularly as several gentlemen informed me he had in his 
possession $1,000 arising from the sale of his peltries to Mr. 
(rafts. At your recommendation I gave him credit, for without 
that I never would have trusted him a dollar, and your being on 
the spot where he resided, 1 certainly felt as safe as with the best 
man we deal with. Strange and unaccountable it is, that we have 
not received any kind of remittance, notwithstanding the extrava- 
gant conduct of this person ; but, as you introduced him to us, I 
am bound to hope, although you have not mentioned even his name 
in any of your letters this summer, that you have done, and will 
continue to do all in your power to insure the payment of our 
claim, at no very distant day. He owes us upwards of $4,000. 1 
shall impatiently wait your answer. We return you Brooks' re- 

Hon. John Wentworth) in connection with the escape of Captain Heald and 
wife after the massacre. Chandonnais was the son of Chippewague, a Potta- 
watomie woman, and was related to Mrs. Judce Fisher of Green Hay, and 
Madame Therese Schindler of Mackinaw. 



ceipt for shipping Packs, etc., for Cabanne, which M. Rolette re 
fuses to pay, as In- -.ivs Cabanne was to deliver them u> him on 
board at Chicago. 

A number of letters are written in regard to the 
difficulty with Mr. Chandonnait, both to Mr. Kinzie and 
Mr. Beaubien. 

Mr. Crooks writes from "Mackinac," September 17, 
1.S19, to John Dean, " U. S. Factor at Chicago : " 

Sir: — Finding in the note of goods returned us b) Edward 
Cphani something we had not furnished for our trade at the south 
end of Lake Michigan in 1 s 1 s, a discovery was made of his having 
bought goods of you at Chicago, on terms not now distinctly recol- 
lected. 

" L'pham was immediately ordered to designate and pin apart 
every article connected with this transaction. Mr. John F. llozcl 
accompanied him and took the account exhibited to you this morn- 
ing, in conformity to which, 1 to day delivered you 5 common calico 
shirts, ig Cotton Handkfs, 5 Snuff Boxes, 1 Skein Worsted Yarn, 
30 Strings Wampum, 62 Hawk Pells, 7s 1-2 pairs Large Square 
Ear Bobs, 117 small Double Crosses and 30 yds. Indian Calico, 
being everything put into our hands by Edward L'pham. as apper- 
taining in any manner to the purchase in question. In reply to 
your letter dated Chicago, 3d June, iSig, I have only to remark 
that the duty of Edward Upham, or any other person employed In 
the American Fur Company, in their Indian Trade, was, and is, 
solely and exclusively to exchange the goods entrusted to their 
management, for the products of the country they are placed in ; 
but neither him nor any other person ever possessed the power to 
purchase anything whatever on the Company's account, unless 
specially authorized to that effect in writing. The Cash price of 
(lood Muskrat Skins at this place during the past summer was 25 
cents per skin." 

Mackinac, 29th October, 1819, to John Kinzie, Chi- 
cago : 

" Dear Sir: — Permit me to tender you my most sincere thanks 
for the interest you took in securing that part which we received ol 
our claim against Mr. Chandonnait, and you will still add to the 
obligation by using your influence in getting anything more that 
may be practicable from him during the winter and ensuing spring. 
It is probable he will draw a good many of his credits ; and it is 
much better for us to pay him even more than the market price for 
his skins, than get nothing at all. You and Mr. Beaubien will 
therefore use your own discretion in this respect, for we have all 
confidence in your doing everything in your power for our benefit. 
If the lands he received from the Indians (either last or this year's 
treaty) are confirm'd tohim, can you not get a mortgage on them : 
pray spur the fellow to exertion, for we wholly depend on the 
vigilance of yourself and Mr. Beaubien for what may hereafter be 
procured : I will thank you to send me a few pieces of good Hick- 
ory, sufficient to make 3 or 4 dozen Axe Helves ; if you can send 
them by return of the 'Jackson,' it will be preferable. John en- 
joys good health, and will, I have no doubt, turn out a fine fellow. 
I am much pleased with his conduct and will give him even ad- 
vantage this place and his situation affords." 

From the above letters it is evident that Joint Kinzie 
was engaged largely in the fur trade after his return to 
Chicago in 1816. and was not entirely confined to his 
trade of silversmith, as has been believed. A letter 
from David Stone, agent of the American Fur Company 
at Detroit in 1825, shows that John Crafts was alive at 
that time, and the agent of the company at Chicago. 
[This letter is in the possession of the Chicago His- 
torical Society.] It was written at Detroit, June 30, 
1825, and was evidently to Ramsey Crooks. The ad- 
dress is lost. The letter is as follows : 

" Dear Sir: I understand from Coquillard,* that it is very 
important for his trade that there should be some whiskey deposited 
at Chicago subject to his order. He says Bertram! always sells 
whiskey to the Indian trade, which gives him a great advantage. 
He says the whiskey can be landed on one side of the St. Joseph 
River where it will be on United States lands, that it may be trans- 
ported all the way to his house on Government land. His house 
is also on Government land, and this he thinks a protection, If I 
understand Judge rolk's construction of the law regulating Indian 

* Alexis Coquillard was afterward the clerk of the American Fur Compan) 
at St. Joseph. In 1827 Mr. James Abbott wrote of him in .1 letter to Mr. 
Robert Stuart. "In Relation to Mr. Coquillard, it may be proper to observe 
that he is an excellent clerk but rather of a singular character, ami must have 
carte blanche, otherwise nuthinv; can be done for him. 1 shall, nevertheless, bear 
in mind your wishes regarding his outfit." 



./. 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAOJO. 



trade, this would be no protection to the property so long as the 
country is occupied by Indians. To me this seems like a forced 
construction to meet the case of Wallace & Davis's goods. (At 
llardscrabble). 1 could not say anything definite to Coquillard 
on this subject, as 1 did not know what would be done 1. how- 
ever, told him the matter would be referred to Mr. Stuart, who 
would let him know through Mr. Crafts what provision would be 
made. Coquillard savs General Tipton gave him a license last 
year, and permission to take a few barrels of whiskey. . . I believe 
a voting man by the name of Bosie has gone to Chicago or its 
vicinity for Schwartz. If Mr. Crafts has left Mackinaw, it would 
lie well to advise him of this. Schwartz does not conduct his busi- 
ness either with prudence or economy. I am told he makes great 
calculations on Kosie this season. Should he be prevented from 
doing much, 1 think he would be compelled to give tip the business 
as soon as next season." 

July 12, 1S26, Mr. Stone writes from Detroit to Mr. 
Robert Stuart, agent of American Fur Company at 
Mackinaw : 

" 1 hive found a small account against the American Fur 
Company, for a set of Cart Boxes and some Corn Baskets which 
Mr. Crafts gave David Cooper an order to purchase for the Chi- 
cago adventure. 1 have paid the same and charge the amount to 
your department and forward you the account herewith." 

John Crafts, mentioned in the above letter, remained 
at the Lee place, as trader for Conant & Mack, until 
about 1822. In the fail of 1818 Jean Baptiste Beau- 
bien was transferred from Milwaukee to Chicago, by the 
American Fur Company, as its agent. He erected a 
small trading-house at the mouth of the Chicago River 
then about the foot of what is now Madison Street ) 
anil commenced business. After a few years he suc- 
ceeded in obtaining so large a share of the Indian trade 
that Conant & Mack sold out their establishment to the 
American Fur Company, and Mr. Crafts became the 
Chicago agent with Mr. Beaubien under him. Mr. 
Crafts remained in charge of the Chicago house until 
his death in the latter part of 1825,* and John Kinzie 
was appointed his successor, but lived only about two 
years after his appointment. 

William H. Wallace had a trading establishment at 
Hardscrabble, after the post was vacated by Mr. Crafts. 
This trading-house is mentioned in one of the letters 
quoted in this chapter as " Wallace & Davis's." Mrs. 
Kinzie, in " Waubun," speaks of the trading-house of 
Ceorge Hunt and Mr. Wallace, but locates it at Wolf 
Point. t Mrs. Archibald Clybourne, in her account of 
the arrival of her father's family at Chicago in 1826, 
also mentions Mr. Wallace. William H. Wallace was a 
Scotchman, and had been connected with the American 
Fur Company since Mr. Astor attempted to found the 
Pacific station at Astoria. When the company was re- 
organized in 1 Si 7 he became one of its clerks, and had 
charge of the details of fitting out the flotillas at Mon- 
treal, arranging the crews, and assigning the clerks to 
their several boats. In 1818 he was assigned by Messrs. 
Crooks and Stuart to the lower Wabash, with head- 
quarters at Fort Harrison. In a letter to these gentle- 
men dated at Fort Harrison, December, 1818, now de- 
posited with the Chicago Historical Society, Mr. Wal- 
lace gives some interesting particulars of his journey to 
that place. He mentions his arrival at the mouth of 
the St. Joseph on the 2 2d of September and at the 
•• ''ow-pen " on the 26th, where he was detained, to his 
great indignation, by " Mr. Reame," until two of the 
party could goto Fort Wayne to show their licenses to 
the agent there ; which took twelve days. After various 
delays, and much difficulty, he arrived at Fort Harrison 
on the 4th of December, and says: •'The country is 
far beyond my expectations, and if the business is well 
conducted where Reame is, we shall do well, for there 



is plently of furs and Indians in the country." Mr. 
Wallace was on the Lower Wabash as late as 1821-22, 
ami at the same time John H. Davis was clerk for the 
American Fur Company on the Upper \Yabash. It is 
very possible that these two composed the firm of "Wal- 
lace & Davis," as there was a John ( L. ? Davis resid- 
ing here in 1830. Mr. Wallace was living in Hardseab- 
ble in the winter of 1826-27, a,K ' > s sa 'd to have died 
in Chicago. In 1822, after the abandonment of the 
United States Factory at Chicago, by Government, the 
factory building was bought by the American Fur Com- 
pany, and soon after sold to John B. Beaubien, who made 
it his dwelling house. After the death of John Crafts in 
1825, John Kinzie was appointed agent of the Com- 
pany. He moved, after the " Winnebago Scare," from 
his old home on the North Side to the house of Mr. 
Beaubien, and died soon after, having his residence there, 
although absent on a visit to his daughter in the fort at 
the time of his death. 

The Indian trade had become comparatively unim- 
portant in the region of Chicago before the death of 
Mr. Kinzie. The treaty with the Pottawatomies and 
neighboring tribes, and their consequent removal to the 
West a few years later, terminated what importance 
the place still retained as a trading station. 

The Kinzie Family. — The biography of John Kin- 
zie has already been given. In that is included the his- 
tory of Margaret McKenzie, the mother of his three 
eldest children — William, James and Elizabeth. 

William, the oldest son, accompanied his mother to Virginia, 
on her separation from Mr. Kinzie. He was there married, and 
subsequentlv removed to Indiana, where he died. 

James Kinzie, who was born at Detroit, April 21, 1793, re- 
turned to the West soon after the close of the War of 1812. As 
early as the summer of 181S he was a trader connected with the 
American Fur Company, and in 1S21 is mentioned by the United 
States Factor at Green Bay as having been " detected in selling 
large quantities of whiskey to the Indians at and near Milwalky of 
Lake Michigan ; in consequence of which the Indian agent at 
Chicago directed him to close his concerns at Milwalky in sixty 
days, and leave the place." He probably came to Chicago soon 
after this, as Mark Beaubien bought a log house of him in 1S26. 
In 1829, in company with Archibald Caldwell, he built a tavern at 
Wolf I'oinr, on the West Side, at the "forks" of the river. Mr. 
Caldwell sold out his interest to James Kinzie and the latter rented 
the house to Elijah Wentworth, who arrived at Chicago in the fall 
of 1S29 and opened the Wolf Tavern in 1830. Mr. Kinzie built, 
in 1S33, the Green Tree Tavern on the northeast corner of North 
Canal and W T est Lake streets, its name being from a solitary oak 
which stood near. This hotel, afterward called the Chicago Hotel, 
was situated, together with the dwelling of Mr. Kinzie, and the 
store of Messrs. Kinzie & Hall, on Lot 7, Block 22, original Town 
of Chicago. Mr. Kinzie's partner was his half brother, Mr. Hall, 
who formerly resided in Virginia. Mr. Kinzie was one of the 
trustees of the School Section in December, 1829 ; the first Sheriff 
appointed by the Governor for Cook County ; the first town auction- 
eer ; and one of the Town Trustees in 1825. He married his 
first wife, Leah See, daughter of William See, a preacher and 
blacksmith, who also lived at Wolf Point. Mr. Kinzie removed 
to Kacine (then Root River), Wis, as early as 1835, where his 
wife died June 22, 1835. On his removal to Racine he at first opened 
a store for white and Indian trade, and afterward engaged in mill- 
ing and farming. The second wife of Mr. Kinzie was Virginia 
Hale, who survived him. He removed from Racine to the interior 
of Wisconsin, and died in Clyde, Iowa Co., January 13, 1S66. 

Elizabeth Kinzie, sister of William and James, came to 
Chicago from Virginia, and was married by John Kinzie, her father, 
to Samuel Miller, July 29, 1826. Mr. Miller was the owner of a 
house on the North Side, at the forks, which was used as a tavern 
and known as the Miller House. He received a license as tavern- 
keeper in April, 1831, but the house had been used for that pur- 
pose several years prior to that date. In the spring of 1832, the 
Miller family, with many others, moved into Fort Dearborn, from 
fear of the Indians, and soon after that time Mrs. Miller died, and 
it is believed that Mr. Miller left Chicago the same year Mr. 
Miller had been in partnership with Archibald Clybourne, selling 
goods, in 1829, and thev were that year authorized to keep a ferry 
across the Chicago River "at the lower forks." He was one of 



THE FUR TRADE AND TRADERS. 



97 



the Commissioners of the County, and one of the tirst licensed inn- 
keepers and merchants of the town. Me removed from Chicago to 
Michigan City, where he died. 

"About the year 1S00," John Kinzie married Mrs. ELEANOR 
( Lytle) McKiLLll'. This lady had been a captive four years when 
a child among the Seneca Indians, and upon her recovery, her 
parents removed from the valley of the Alleghany, their home for 



fl/l^lsi^? 



/K^y^t 



several years, to the safe neighborhood of Detroit, settling at Crosse 
Pointe, eight miles from the former post. Eleanor here married 
Colonel McKillip, a British officer, who was accidently killed near 
Fort Defiance, in 1794, when in command at that post, leaving 
one daughter, afterward Mrs. Margaret (McKillip) Helm. After 
Mrs. McKillip's marriage to John Kinzie, about the year 1S00, 
she went with her husband to live on the St. Joseph River, in 
Michigan, where now is the town of Bertrand,and thence came to 
Chicago in the summer of 1S04. The story of her escape with 
her little children from the perils of the day of the Fort Dearborn 
massacre, and their subsequent return to re-occupy the old home 
with her family, and her hospitable kindly spirit, which made her 
house a home for every stranger, has been often told. When the 
children had left the old roof for homes of their own or to engage 
in business, and Mr. Kinzie was appointed agent of the American 
Fur Company, she went with him to the house of Mr. Beaubien, 
and after his death moved into the agency-house belonging to her 
son-in-law, Dr. Wolcott, on the North Side. In the spring of 
1S31, with her daughter, Mrs. Helm, she accompanied her son, 
John H. Kinzie, and his wife on their return to Fort Winnebago, 
travelling on horseback a large portion of the way, mounting her 
horse " in spite of her sixty years " and her incurable and terrible 
disease, " with the activity of a girl of sixteen." In the fall of 
the following year ( 1S32 ) Mrs. Kinzie was taken by her son John 
H. to Prairie du C+iien for medical treatment, the journey being 
made in an open boat from Fort Winnebago down the Wisconsin 
River to the Mississippi. Her disease — a cancer in the face — 
was incurable. After remaining some months in Prairie du Chien, 
she returned to Fort Winnebago, and thence went to New York 
City, where she died early in the year 1S34. 

At a meeting of the Chicago Historical Society, July 
11, 1877, Hon. I. N. Arnold, President of the Society, 
read the following sketch of the late Colonel John H. 
Kinzie, eldest son of John and Eleanor Kinzie, which 
he received from Mrs. Nellie 1 Kinzie) Gordon, daughter 
of John H. Kinzie, and which was written by the late 
Mrs. Juliette A. Kinzie, his wife : 

John H. Kinzie was born at Sandwich, U. C, on the 7th of 
July, 1803. It was not by design that his birthplace was in the 
British Dominions, for his mother was patriotic beyond most of her 
sex ; but having crossed the river from Detroit, the place of her 
temporary sojourn, to pass the day with her sister, Mrs. William 
Forsyth, it so happened that before evening her eldest son drew his 
first breath on a foreign soil. While still an infant he was carried 
in an Indian cradle, on the shoulders of a French engage', to their 
home, at what is now the town of Bartrand on the St. Joseph River, 
in Michigan. At one of their encampments, on the journey, he 
made a narrow escape with his life, owing to the carelessness of 
his bearer in placing him against a tree in the immediate proximity 
of a blazing fire. A spark escaping, lodged in the neck of his 
dress, causing a fearful burn, of which he carried the mark ever 
after. His father having purchased the trading establishment of 
Mons. LeMai, at the mouth of the Chicago River, removed with 
his family to the place on the following year. Some companies of 
infantry, under command of Major John Whistler, arrived at the 
same time — 4th of July — and commenced the construction of Fort 
Dearborn. At his home, on the banks of the river, nearly opposite 
the fort, the childhood of Mr. Kinzie was passed, until the break- 
ing out of the War of 1812. The frontier at that time afforded no 
facilities for education. What children contrived to scramble into 
must be acquired under the paternal roof. Mr. Kinzie loved to 
describe his delight upon one occasion, when on the opening of a 
chest of tea, among the stores brought by the annual schooner, a 
spelling-book was drawn forth and presented to him. His cousin, 
Robert Forsyth, at that time a member of his father's family, under- 
took to teach him to read, and, although there seems to have been 
but little patience and forbearance on the part of the young peda- 
7 



gogue to sweeten the task of learning, the exercises gave to the 
pupil a pleasant association with the fragrance of green tea, which 
always kept that spelling-book fresh in his mind. A discharged 
soldier was upon oni occasion engaged to take charge of him, along 
with the officer's children, but the teacher's habits of drunkenness 
and irregularity caused the school to Ik- discontinued in less than 
three months, llis best friend in these days was Washington 
Whistler, a son of the commanding officer, in after years a distin- 
guished civil engineer in his own country, and in the service of the 
Emperor of Russia. At the time of the massacre in 1812, Kinzie 
was nine years of age. He preserved a distinct recollection of all 
the particulars that came under his own observation. The discip- 
line of these thrilling events doubtless helped to form in him that 
fearlessness as well as that self-control which characterized his 
manly years. The circumstances of the massacre are familiaf to 
all. When the troops left the garrison, some friendly chiefs, know- 
ing what was in contemplation by their young men, who would not 
be restrained, took possession of the boat in which was Mrs Kinzie 
and her children, and guarded them safely till the fighting was over. 




They were the next day escorted by the Chief " Robinson," and 
other friends, in their boat, to the St. Joseph River, to the home of 
Mme. Bertrand, a sister of the famous Chief To-pee-nee-bee-haw, 
whence, after a short sojourn, they were carried to Detroit, and de- 
livered as prisoners of war to the British commanding officer, 
Colonel McKee. The family, after the father rejoined them in the 
following winter, were established in the old family mansion, on 
the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Wayne Street, Detroit. One 
of the saddest features of the ensuing winter was the spectacle of 
the suffering of the American prisoners, who were from time to 
time brought into headquarters by their Indian captors. The ten- 
derness of feeling, which was a distinguishing trait in the subject 
of this sketch, made him ever foremost in his efforts to bargain with 
the savages for the ransom of the sufferers, and many were thus 
rescued, and nursed, and cared for — sometimes to the salvation of 
their lives, though too often to merely a mitigation of the tortures 
they had undergone. Mr. Kinzie, Sr.,had been paroled by Ceneral 
Proctor, but upon a suspicion that he was in correspondence with 
General Harrison, who was known to be meditating an attempt to 
recover the city of Detroit, he was seized and sent a prisoner to 
Canada, leaving his wife and young family to be cared for as they 
might, until, after the lapse of some months, the capture of the 
place by General Harrison secured them a fast friend in that noble 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



and excellent man. The father was at length released and restored 
to his family, with one solitary shilling in his pocket. That little 
coin has always been carefully preserved by his descendants, as a 
memento of those troublous times. It so happened that in Detroit, 





as upon more remote frontiers, the advantages of education were 
extremely limited. The war had disarranged everything. During 
the four years' sojourn of the family in this place the children had 
occasional opportunities of beginning at a school which promised 
well, but which, as a general rule, was discontinued at the end of 
the first quarter. Amid such unpropitious circumstances were the 
rising generation at that day obliged to acquire what degree of 
learning they found it possible to attain. 

In 1816, the Kinzie family returned to their desolated home in 
Chicago. The bones of the murdered soldiers, who had fallen four 
years before, were still lying unburied where they had fallen. The 
troops whorebuilt the fort collectedand interred these remains. The 
coffins which contained them were deposited near the bank of the 
river, which then had its outlet about at the foot of Madison Street. 
The cutting through the sand-bar for the harbor caused the lake to 
encroach and wash away the earth, exposing the long range of coffins 
and their contents, which were afterwards cared for and reinterred by 
the* civil authorities. In the year 1818, when he was in his sixteenth 
year. Colonel Kinzie was taken by his father to Mackinaw, to be 
indentured to the American Fur Company, and placed under the 
care of Ramsey Crooks, " to learn," as the articles express it, " the 
art and mystery of merchandising in all its various parts and 
branches." This engagement was for five years, during which time 
he was never off the island, except upon one occasion, when he was 
taken by Robert Stewart, who succeeded Mr. Crooks at the head of 
the company, to visit the British officers at Drummond Island. He 
was never during this period at an evening entertainment, never 
saw " a show," except one representation by an indifferent com- 
pany, who had strayed up the lakes, of some pantomimes and tricks 
of sleight-of-hand. His days were passed from live o'clock in the 
morning till tea-time, in the warehouse or in superintending the 
numerous engages, making up outfits for the Indian trade, or re- 
ceiving the part odities which arrived from time to time. 
In the evening, he read aloud to his kind and excellent friend, Mrs. 
Stewart, who was unwearied in her efforts to supply the deficiencies 



which his unsettled and eventful life had made inevitable. To her 
explanations and judicious criticisms upon the books he read, and 
her patience in imparting knowledge from her own well-stored mind, 
he was indebted for the ambition which surmounted early disad- 
vantages, and made him the equal of many whose youthful years 
have been trained in schools. Mr. Stewart was a severe disciplin- 
arian. He believed that the surest way to make of a clerk a syste- 
matic and methodical man of business was never to overlook the 
slightest departure from the prescribed routine of duty. Upon one 
occasion, young Kinzie, out of patience with the slow-dragging 
movements of a party of his employe's, who were engaged in haul- 
ing wood in sledges across the straits from Bois Blank Island, took 
the reins from the hands of one, and drove across and returned 
with his load, to show the men how much more they could have 
accomplished if they had made the effort. Mr. Stewart's commen- 
dation was, "Ah, you have changed your occupation for that of 
hauling wood, have you ! Very well, you can continue it ; " and, 
as the young man was too proud to ask to be relieved, he actually 
drove the sledge and brought wood through the bitter winter till 
the ice gave way in May. His chief recreations throughout this 
period were trapping silver-gray foxes during any chance leisure 
hour in the winter, and learning to play on the violin, his instruct- 
ress being a half-breed woman. In 1824, being still in the employ 
of the Fur Company, he was transferred from Mackinaw to Prairie 
du Chien. He had made a visit to his parents on attaining his ma- 
jority, and had returned to Mackinaw in a small boat, coasting the 
western shore of Lake Michigan. He was the first white man who 
set foot on shore at Wau-kee-gan — at least since the days of the 
explorers. ' While at Prairie du Chien, Mr. Kinzie learned the 
Winnebago language, and compiled a grammar, as far as such a 
task was practicable. The Ottawa, Pottawatomie, and Chippewa 
dialects he had been familiar with from his childhood. He also 
learned the Sioux language, and partially that of the Sauks and 
Foxes. About this time, Colonel Kinzie received an invitation 
from General Cass, then Governor of the Territory of Michigan, 
to become his private secretary, and in 1826, he escorted a depu- 
tation of Winnebagoes to Washington to visit their Great Father, 
the President. He was at the Treaty of " Butte des Morts " in the 
summer of 1827, and accompanied the Commissioner, Colonel Mc- 
Kenny, to the Portage of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, to be 
present at the surrender of the " Red-Bird," a Winnebago chief, 
who, with his comrades, had been concerned in the murder of the 
Gaznier family at Prairie du Chien, Mr. Kinzie took a different 
view of the actual complicity of Red-Bird from what has been given 
to the public. His journal, kept at the time, is of great interest. 
He was called from his station, beside the military officer appointed 
to receive the prisoners, by Kau-ray-man-nee, the principal chief 
of the nation, to stand beside him, and listen to what was said on 
both sides at this interview, and tell him whether his speech to the 
"Big Knives " and their reply to him were rightly interpreted. 
During the time of his residence with General Cass, who was by 
virtue of his appointment, also superintendent of the Northern 
Division of the Indian Tribes, he was sent to the vicinity of San- 
dusky, to learn the language of the Wyandots, or Hurons, their 
manners and customs, legends, traditions, etc. Of this language 
he also compiled a grammar. The large amount of Indian lore 
which he collected in these various researches, was, of course, 
placed in the hands of his chief, General Cass ; and it is grea f, y to 
be regretted that as far as can be ascertained not a trace of it now 
remains extant. Mr. Kinzie rceived the appointment of Agent for 
the upper bands of the Winnebagoes in 1S29, and fixed hisresidence 
at the portage, where Fort Winnebago was in that year constructed. 
In 1S30 he married, and continued to reside among his red-chil- 
dren — to whom he was, and is still proclaimed by the oppressed 
few who remain, a kind, judicious, and watchful " father." In 
1833 the Kinzie family, having established their pre-emption to the 
quarter section upon which the family mansion had stood since I S04, 
Colonel Kinzie (such was then his title as aid to the Commander-in- 
Chief, Governor Cass,) came with his brother in-law, General Hun- 
ter, to Chicago, and together they laid out that part of the town 
since known as Kinzie's Addition. In 1834 he brought his family 
to Chicago to reside. He was first President of the village, when 
a prediction of the present opulence and prosperity of the city would 
have seemed the wildest chimera. He was appointed Collector of 
Tolls on the canal immediately on its completion. In 1841 he was 
made Registrar of Public Lands by General Harrison, but was re- 
moved by Tyler when he laid aside the mask under which he gained 
the nomination for Vice-President. In 1849, General Taylor con- 
ferred upon him the appointment of Receiver of Public Moneys and 
Depositary. His office of Collector he held until commissioned by 
President Lincoln as Paymaster in the Army, in 1861. The latter 
appointment he held until the close of the War. His labors were 
vast and wearying, for he had the supervision of Michigan, Wis- 
consin, and Illinois ; yet he was too conscientious, in the state of 
the public finances, to apply for more aid. During the four years 



THE FUR TRADE AND TRADERS. 



99 



he discharged this large amount of duty with the assistance of but 
a solitary clerk. It was too much for him ; his health gave way. 
Wheira tardy leave of absence arrived, he set out with his family 
upon a journey, in hopes that mountain air or sea-bathing would 
recruit his exhausted forces. But he was destined to reach hardly 
the first stage of his journey. While riding in the cars approaching 
Pittsburgh, and conversing with his ordinary cheerfulness, he re- 
marked a blind man approaching, and, perceiving that he was ask- 
ing alms, he characteristically put his hand in his pocket. In the 
act, his head drooped gently, and with a peaceful sigh, his spirit 
departed to its rest. 

Colonel Kinzie married, in Middletown, Conn., August g, 
1830, Miss Juliette A. Magill, daughter of Arthur Magill of that 
place. He was at that time Indian Agent at Fort Winnebago, and 
the young couple, after a brief visit in New York, set out for their 
home in the western wilderness. In the latter part of September 
they arrived at Detroit, and took passage on the steamer " Henry 
Clay," for Green Bay, via Mackinaw. Arriving there they passed 
down the Fox River to the Portage and Fort Winnebago. Colonel 
Kinzie visited Chicago in the fall of 1830, at the time of Dr. Wol- 
cott's death, and again in the spring of 1831, the latter time ac- 
companied by his wife. The family came to Chicago to reside in 
1834. St. James' parish was organized the same year, and on the 
12th of October Rev. Isaac W. Hallam arrived in the place to take 
charge of it. Mr. and Mrs. John H. Kinzie were from the first 
most influential and devoted members of St. James' Church, and 
with Gurdon S. Hubbard and Mrs. Margaret Helm may be con- 
sidered its founders. The first regular services of the Church were 
held in a room in a wooden building standing on the corner of 
Wolcott (now North State) and Kinzie streets, which was fitted up 
by Mr. Kinzie, and the lots on the southeast corner of Cass and 
Illinois streets, where a church edifice of brick was erected in 
1836-37, were donated by him. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Kin- 
zie was on the northeast corner of Cass and Michigan streets, and 
the generous hospitality of both host and hostess was proverbial. 
Mr. Kinzie left a widow, one son and two daughters. His eldest 
son (born at Fort Winnebago) was killed in an engagement at 
White River, in the summer of 1862, and he had also buried a 
daughter. Mrs. Juliette A. Kinzie died September 15, 1S70, at 
Amagansett.L. S. Her death was caused by the fatal mistake of 
a druggist, who sent her morphine, which she unfortunately swal- 
lowed instead of quinine, which she had ordered. 

Ellen Marion Kinzie, eldest daughter of John and Eleanor, 
was born in the "Kinzie House," in December, 1804, and was 
probably the first white child born in Chicago. During the resi- 
dence of the family in Detroit she attended school at that place, 
and afterward at Middletown, Ct. On July 20, 1823, she was 
married to Dr. Alexander Wolcott, then Indian Agent at Chicago. 
Her husband died at the agency-house in 1830, and the following 
year with her sister, Mrs. Hunter, she accompanied the troops, 
then vacating Fort Dearborn, to Fort Howard, Green Bay. In 
1836 she married, at Detroit, Mich., Hon. George C. Bates of that 
city. Mrs. Bates died at Detroit, August 1, 1S60, at the resi- 
dence of Bishop McCoskey, leaving a husband and one son, Kin- 
zie Bates. 

Maria I. Kinzie was born in 1807, and married Lieuten- 
ant David Hunter (now General), when he was stationed at 
Fort Dearborn, accompanying him in 1S31 to Green Bay. The 
following is an extract from a letter of General Hunter, dated May 
24, 1879, and published in the Calumet Club Reception Pamphlet : 

" More than half a century since, I first came to Chicago 

on horseback from St. Louis, stopping on the way at the log cabins 
of the early settlers, and passing the last house at the mouth of 
the Fox River. I was married in Chicago, having to send a 
soldier one hundred and sixty miles, on foot, to Peoria for a li- 
cense. The northern counties in the State had not then been or- 
ganized, and were all attached to Peoria County. My dear wife is 
still alive, and in good health ; and I can certify, a hundred times 
over, that Chicago is a first rate place from which to get a good 
wife." 

Robert Allen Kinzie was born in Chicago, February 8, 
1810. Although but two and a half years of age at the time the 
family escaped the Fort Dearborn massacre, its horrid scenes were 
indelibly imprinted on his memory — even to minor details. He re- 
turned with the family to Chicago in 1S16, and when about nine 
years of age accompanied his father on a trip to St. Louis. He 
was sent to Detroit to attend school, going by way of the lakes, 
and returning on horseback. In 1825 he went to Prairie du Chien 
and took a position there under his brother John H., who was chief 
clerk for the American Fur Company, afterward taking his brother's 
position when the latter was appointed agent of the company. In 
1827 he returned to Chicago, and the following year went to De- 
troit. In 1829 his brother John removed to Fort Winnebago as 
Indian Agent, and Robert went to that place, where he was em- 



ployed as sutler to the fort. Mrs. Kinzie mentions in, " Waubun," 
the fact of his being there when she arrived in the fall of 1830, and 
he probably accompanied his brother to Chicago a few weeks later 
on receiving intelligence of the alarming sickness of Dr. Wolcott, 
his sister's husband. He remained in Chicago when the rest of 
the family left in the spring of 1831, and early in 1832 erected a 
frame store on the West Side — the first frame store in Chicago — 
and probably the first frame building, aside from the one erected 
by Government for Billy Caldwell in 1S2S, near the junction of 
North State and Chicago Avenue. Mr. Kinzie married the daugh- 
ter of Colonel Wm. Whistler, who came to Chicago as Lieutenant 
in his father's command in 1803, and returned to the place as com- 
mandant at Fort Dearborn in 1832. In 1835 Mr. Kinzie became 
a member of the firm of Kinzie, Davis & Hyde, hardware dealers ; 
in 1840 he moved on to a farm at Walnut Grove, Illinois, where he 
remained three years. In 1845 he was at Des Moines, and thence 
went beyond the Missouri River in Kansas to trade with the In- 
dians. In May, 1861, he was appointed Paymaster in the army, 
with the rank of Major, and remained in the service to the time of 
his death. From 1861 to 1864, he was in Washington, D. C. ; 




from 1S64 to 1868 in New Mexico and afterward in Chicago. In 
person, Major Kinzie was a very powerful, as well as active man. 
His death was from heart disease, and very sudden. He seemed 
quite as well as usual in the morning, but later in the day suddenly 
became ill, and died in a few moments, at his residence on Thirty- 
fifth Street, Chicago, on Saturday afternoon, December 13. 1S73. 
The funeral services were conducted by Father Riordan, at St. 
James' Roman Catholic Church ; the interment was in Graceland 
Cemetery. It has been written of Robert A. Kinzie : "He was 
a man of sterling character and honesty. While his life presented 
no brilliant succession of great deeds, he was a man who would be 
remembered as 'Good Major Kinzie.'"* 

* For many of the facts in relation to the youngest son of John and Eleanor 
Kinzie credit is here given to Hurlbut's " Chicago Antiquities." 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



CHICAGO FROM 1816 to 1830. 

From 1S16, when Fort Dearborn was rebuilt, to 
1829-30 there was little change in the outward appear- 
ance oi Chicago. Samuel A. Storrow, of Massachusetts, 
Judge-Advocate I". S. A., in 1816-1S. made a three 
months' tour through the West in 1S1 7. visiting Fort 
Dearborn on his route. In a letter to Major-General 
Brown which was published in the Wisconsin Historical 
Society's Collections, he says : 

"On the 2d of October after walking" for three or four hours, 
I reached the River Chicago, and after crossing it entered Fort 
Dearborn, where 1 was kindly entertained by Major Baker and the 



for Fort Wayne, having provided less uncomfortable means of 
traveling than for the ten previous days." 

When Henry R. Schoolcraft visited Chicago, in 1820, 
he found four or five families living here. He mentions 
those of John Kinzie, Dr. Alexander Wolcott, John B. 
Beaubien and John Crafts, the latter being then at 
Hardscrabble. 

Two years later (1822) Charles C. Trowbridge made 
a trip from Michigan to Chicago on Government busi- 
ness. He found only " the little Fort Dearborn, one 
log house, occupied by Mr. John Kinzie, agent for Mr. 
Astor,. another by Dr. Wolcott, United States Indian 
Agent, and another by the late General Beaubien, then 




FORT DEARBORN, AS REBUILT IN l8l6. 



officers of the garrison, who received me as one arrived from the 
moon. At Chicago I perceived I was in a better country. It had 
become so by gradual amelioration. That which I had left was of 
a character far above mediocrity, but labors under the permanent 
defects of coldness of soil and want of moisture. * * * The 
Kiver Chicago (or. in English, Wild Onion River) is deep, and 
about forty yards in width. Before it enters the lake, its two 
branches unite, the one proceeding from the north, the other one 
proceeding from the west, where it takes its rise in the very fountain 
of the Plain or Illinois, which flows in an opposite direction. The 
source of these two rivers illustrates the geographical phenomenon 
of a reservoir on the very summit of a dividing ridge. In the 
autumn they are both without any apparent fountain, but are 
formed within a mile and a half of each other, by some impercept- 
ible undulations of the prairie, which drain it and lead to different 
directions But in the spring the space between the two is a single 
sheet of water, the common reservoir of both, in the center of which 

there is no current toward either of the opposite streams.. ; The 

site and relations of Fort Dearborn I have already explained. It 
has no advantage of harbor, the river itself being always choaked 
and frequently barred from tin hat] have imputed to 

the other streams of this country. In the rear ol the fort is a 
prairie of the most complete flatness, no signs of elevation being 
within the range of the eye. The soil and climate are both excel- 
lent. Traces yet rem astation and massacre com- 
mitted by the s , 1 e of thi [hum ipal pi rpe- 
trators (Nes-cbt-no-meg.)* On the 4th of October I lefl Chicago 

p. 148) thai N 110- am oi the 

• the lath. .1 BiUy Caldwell. 



a trader." So it was year after year — Fort Dearborn, 
and the houses of John Kinzie, Dr. Wolcott and Jean 
Baptiste Beaubien. William H. Keating, who reached 
Chicago, with the second expedition of Major 'Long, 
June 5, 1823, describes the village as "consisting of a 
few huts," and offering no inducements to the settler as 
a place of business for " the whole amount of the trade 
on the lake did not exceed the cargo of five or six 
schooners, even at the time the garrison received its 
supplies from Mackinaw." Ebenezer Childs, of La 
Crosse, made a trip from Green Bay to Chicago in 1821, 
and again visited the latter place in 1827. He says the 
place had not improved any since his former visit. 
John H. Fonda, of Prairie du Chien, came to Chicago in 
1 1825. He says : 

" At that time Chicago was merely an Indian Agency, it con- 
tained about fourteen houses, and not more than seventy-five or 
one hundred inhabitants at the most. An agent of the American 
Fur Company, named Gurdori S. Hubbard, then occupied the fort. 
The staple business seemed to be carried on by the Indians and 
run-away soldiers, who hunted ducks and muskrats in the marshes. 
There was a great deal of low land ; and mostly destitute of tim- 
ber. The principal inhabitants were the [Government] Agent 
1 1 >r. Wolcott], Mr. Hubbard, a Frenchman by the name of Ouil- 
mette, and John B. Beaubien." 



CHICAGO FROM 1816 to 1830. 



Chicago, at the time of Mr. Fonda's visit, was a part 
of Peoria County. He says there were some fourteen 
cabins in the place, and the assessment roll of John L. 
Bogardus, Assessor of Peoria County for the same year 
(1825) shows just fourteen tax-payers, as follows : 
Tax-Payers' Names. Valuation. Tax. 

1 Beaubien, John B _$iooo $10.00 

2 Clybourne, Jonas 625 6.25 

3 Clark, John K 250 2.50 

4 Crafts, John 5000 50.00 

5 Clermont, Jeremy, -. 100 1.00 

6- Coutra, Louis, 50 .50 

7 Kinzie, John. _. 500 5.00 

3 Laframboise, Claude, 100 1.00 

g Laframboise, Joseph 50 .50 

10 McKee, David 100 1.00 

11 Piche, Peter.. 100 1.00 

12 Robinson, Alexander, 200 2.00 

13 Wolcott, Alexander, 572 5.72 

14 Wilemet [Ouilmette], Antoine 400 4.00 

Of these tax-payers, Jonas Clybourne and John K. 
Clark, lived several miles up the North Branch, where 
now are the North Chicago rolling-mills ; the Lafram- 
boise brothers lived about an equal distance up the 
South Branch, at Hardscrabble ; John Crafts, the agent 
of the American Fur Company, had quarters with John 
B. Beaubien ; David McK.ee lived on the North Side, 
near the agency-house of Dr. Wolcott, and John Kin- 
zie and Antoine Ouilmette lived nearly opposite the 







JOHN K CLARK. 

fort. Alexander Robinson had a cabin at Hardscrabble 
but probably lived near the "forks" on the West Side, 
in 1825. Jeremy Clermont and Peter Piche were In- 
dian traders. In January, 182S, Mr. Fonda came 
again to Chicago as bearer of dispatches from Fort 
Howard to Fort Dearborn. He says there was no im- 
provement in the place since his former visit, save that 
the fort was strengthened and garrisoned. Since 1820, 
however, several permanent settlers had arrived at Chi- 



i ago, ami made homes in its immediate vicinity, promi- 
nent among whom were : — 

The Ci ybourne Family (1823-24). — Elizabeth Mc- 
Kenzie, a young girl taken prisoner by the Indians in 






"% 



m&^~ 



<- « 




i 
ARCHIBALD CLYBOURNE. 

Virginia, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, 
was released after a long captivity, and with her sister 
Margaret found her way, or was taken, to Detroit. 
Elizabeth became the wife of a trader, Clark, and the 
mother of John K. Clark, an Indian trader for many 
years in Chicago, and of a daughter named Elizabeth, 
who married William Ahert, and settled in Laporte, In- 
diana. Mr. McKenzie, the father of Elizabeth and Mar- 
garet, learning that his daughters were alive, visited De- 
troit, and on his return to Virginia was accompanied by 
both of them with their children. 

Elizabeth subsequently married Jonas Clybourne of 
Virginia, the fruit of this union being two sons, Archi- 
bald and Henley. 

Archibald Clybourne, the eldest son was born in Giles 
County, Va., August 28, 1S02, His half-brother, John K. Clark, 
came early to Chicago to seek his fortune, and Archibald followed 
him as soon as he arrived at manhood He reached Chicago August 
5, 1S23, and after remaining about one year returned to Virginia 
with John K. Clark, to bring his father and mother to the place he 
had determined to make his home. The Clybourne family, con- 
sisting of father and mother, Jonas and Henley, arrived at Chicago 
on the 23d of August, 1824. They were accompanied by John K. 
Clark and Elizabeth Kinzie, a daughter of John Kinzie, who subse- 
quently married Samuel Miller. John K. Clark had an Indian wile, 
named Madaline Mirandeau, sister of Mrs. Joseph Porthier (Victoire 
Mirandeau), who lived in Chicago both before and after the massa- 
cre, although not here at the time. A daughter of John K. Clark 
and Madaline Mirandeau, the wife through whom he received his 
land in Chicago, is still living at Milwaukee, (lark married, July 
21, 1829, Permelia Scott, daughter of Stephen J. Scott, who settled 
at Gros Point, (Wilmette) in 1.826. 

Jonas CLYBOURNE, with his wife and two sons, and their half- 
brother Clark, settled on the North Branch of the Chicago River, 
near where now are the North Chicago rolling mills — building there 
two cabins. 1 hi the tothof June, 1829, Archibald Clybourne was 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



married at the " Grand Rapids" of the Illinois River, now the 
town of Marseilles, to Mary Calloway, daughter of James Galloway, 
who had been there settled some two years. This seems to have 
been the earliest marriage of Americans recorded in La Salle 
County. 

In the summer of 1S24, James Calloway left his home in San- 
dusky. Ohio, and came on horseback to Chicago, arriving in the 
fall. He spent a year in the vicinity, trapping and examining the 
country for a favorable site for a home. During the year he bought 
the claim of a man named Weed on the Illinois River, at the point 
then known as the " Grand Rapids of the Illinois." The following 
year he returned to Ohio, and disposed of his property there, pre- 
paratory to making his home in Illinois. After various hindrances 
Mr. Galloway and his family, consisting of his wife, his daughter 
Mary, aged about fourteen, Jane nine or ten, Susan about two, and 
his son John, aged about six, started from Sandusky for Chicago in 
October, 1S26. The vessel in which the family embarked was a 
small schooner, which was to touch at Detroit and Mackinaw before 
making Chicago. Mr. Galloway, in anticipation of an extensive 
trade with the Indians, provided himself with a large assortment of 
articles suited to the business, which with his household goods were 
placed on board the schooner. The passage to Detroit and Mack- 
inaw was slow and tedious, and at both those ports the passengers 
were delaved while the captain had a "jolly time" on shore. 
Leaving Mackinaw late in the fall, in the midst of a heavy storm, 
and against the advice of all prudent people, the captain run his 
vessel aground off the island of St. Helena, about fifteen miles 
from Mackinaw, where his passengers were obliged to remain three 
or four days, and until they were picked up by a vessel belonging 
to the American Fur Company which left Mackinaw for Chicago, a 
few days later. The stranded vessel was well filled with water, al- 
though still whole, but much of its cargo was spoiled, including a 
large part of the goods of Mr. Galloway. What could be saved 
was taken on board the vessel of the American Fur Company, 
although with serious misgivings on the part of the captain as to 
the propriety of taking the goods of any trader who was not con- 
nected with the company which employed him. Communication 
was opened with the agent at Mackinaw, who would give consent 
to have Mr. Galloway's goods carried to Chicago on the vessel only 
on condition that all those appertaining to the Indian trade should 
be placed in charge of the agent at Chicago, and kept by him until 
spring, thus throwing Mr. Galloway out of a winter's work. He 
would not consent to this, and some arrangement was made with 
the captain whereby he was to be allowed to place his goods in 
some safe place, before the Chicago agent should know that he was 
authorized to claim them for the winter. The story of the experi- 
ences of the family, after reaching Chicago in 1826, as narrated by 
Mrs. Archibald Clybourne (the Mary Galloway of the story), and 
published in the Chicago Sunday Times, gives a good picture of 
the little settlement and how the people lived here at that early day. 
The following extracts are from the article : 

"There was a goodly company on board the American Fur 
Company's schooner, and its capacity was taxed to the utmost. 
Besides the two crews and the Galloway family, there were two 
carpenters, who were coming on to do some repairing at the fort, 
and a Mr. Arthur and wife from Detroit, who, like Mr. Galloway 
and family, intended to embark in a farming enterprise, There 
were still others, but Mrs. Clybourne at this late date ( 1877 ) fails 
to call up their identity. All these folk were most kindly dis- 
posed toward Mr. Galloway and swore to stand by him if the 
agent in Chicago seemed disposed to make him any trouble. 
When the vessel made a landing somewhere near the foot of Mad- 
ison Street, at a point where J. Baptiste Beaubien, as agent of the 
American Fur Company * had a rookery, which was known as a 
" warehouse ; " the captain told him to look about him for a place 
to store his goods. As soon as Mr. Galloway had gone, the cap- 
tin most treacherously turned about and handed the letter of in- 
troduction to Mr. Beaubien, and that functionary hastened to 
secure help to have the goods conveyed to the warehouse. In the 
meantime Mr. Galloway had been to the fort, standing almost un- 
occupied on the bank of the river, but as the keeper of the stock- 
ade went "snooks" with the Fur Company, he refused the new- 
comer even a room for shelter for his family, to say nothing 
for store-room for his goods. Finding himself balked at that 
point, he scarcely knew where to turn, when he was apprised of 
what was happening at the vessel, and he quickly retraced his 
steps. Such an occurrence as the arrival of a schooner, with twenty 
or thirty people on board was naturally an "event" of extraordin- 
ary moment to the settlement and, as a matter of course, everybody 
— Americans, French half-breeds and full blooded Indians for 
miles around, were on the scene, and taking a deep interest in all 
that was going on. It was well that Mr. Galloway was not an entire 
stranger to the place. During his former visit he had made a num- 
* John Kinzie wu agent of the American Fur Company a! this time; but 
Nfr. Beaubien had bought of the Company Us right to trade with the Indians 
of the vi':inity. 



berof acquaintances, not to say friends, especially in the rival settle- 
ment of Hardscrabble, and these people combined, with the two 
ship-carpenters and Mr. Arthur, were disposed to make a stand 
for him. When noses were counted it was found that Mr. Gallo- 
way's friends were decidedly in the majority and Beaubien, swear- 
ing a blue streak in execrably mixed French and English, was 
forced to desist from carrying out the behests of the agent at 




MRS. ARCHIBALD CLYBOURNE. 

Mackinaw. Failing of finding quarters at the fort, and there 
being no shelter " down town," Chief Alexander Robinson in- 
formed Mr. Galloway that he had an old log cabin at Hardscrab- 
ble, which he was welcome to occupy. The offer was thankfully 
accepted, and as the flat-boat of Mr. Wallace* of Hardscrabble, 
also a friend of the new-comers, was near, the goods were hur- 
riedly piled into it and poled up the river to the shanty, which was 
located near the west branch of the South Branch, about four 
miles from the fort. The winter that followed was terribly severe, 
and the little cabin of one room, crowded besides with barrels, 
proved a most uncomfortable place for a family of six persons to 
live in. At this period of Chicago's history, the Indian was still 
monarch of all he surveyed. Red skins were the rule and white 
ones the exception, and the cabin stood near the most frequented 
trail that led to the Desplaines and Fox River country — it having 
formerly been used as a trading-house. The cabin was the farth- 
est in the direction of the Indians, and it w'as indeed, a terrible 
ordeal for the family to be transformed, at one move, from comfort 
and civilization into the very heart of savagery. The older inhab- 
itants, most of them brought up in the midst of savages, cared no 
more for an Indian than a white man — indeed they minded him 
less — but the same indifference could not well be expected of new- 
comers, the more as the women folk were left much of the time 
alone, Mr. Galloway being about a considerable portion of his 
time on his claim near the " Grand Rapids " of the Illinois. One 
day during the absence of Mr. Gallowav, some idle rumor reached 
the cabin that the Indians on the Auxplaines had taken the war- 
path. Old settlers would have paid little attention to such a story, 
but the new comers were terribly frightened. Mr. Galloway was 
expected home in the evening, and when he did not come, the 
family took it for granted that he had been brutally massacred. It 
was a terrible night. The snow was drifting furiously ; a keen 
northwest wind was raking the prairie as with grape shot, and 
when about midnight the household was awakened by unearthly 
yells, and loud beatings on the door and windows, they concluded 
that their hour had come. The wife assumed that the husband — 



See sketch of Indian Fur-Trade 



: Chicago. 



CHICAGO FROM 1816 to 1830. 



103 



who had been detained by the severity of the storm — had been 
murdered, and that the fiends, still reeking with his blood, had 
now come to dispatch the family. It was evident that there were 
from a dozen to twenty Indians on the outside, yelling and rattling 
the door and windows. The fact was that these Indians still sup- 
posed the house to be a trading-post, and all they wanted was a 
shelter from the searching blast. Returning from an extensive 
hunting expedition nearly frozen, to be denied admission where 
they expected a warm welcome — for the fur-laden Indian was 
always a cheering sight to the trader — was a mystery to them 
which they were determined to solve. They attempted to force 
the door, but failed. Every night, before retiring, it was Mrs. 
Galloway's custom to thoroughly barricade the door, and it was so 
arranged that nothing short of utter demolition would move it 
from its place. Mrs. Archibald Clybourne ( Mary Galloway ) was 
then a girl fourteen years of age, and being the eldest, was the 
only one her mother could depend upon for assistance. There 
were two axes in the cabin. One of them the mother gave to the 
daughter, and posted her at one window ; the other she grasped 
herself, and took a position near the other window. Having made 
tins disposition of affairs, she said, " They have killed father and 
now they mean to kill us. But I am bound to kill one Indian at 
least before they do it, and you must kill another. The moment 
you see a head forcing its way by that window, strike." The two 
women stood guard the whole night, during several hours of which 
the Indians kept running round and round the cabin to keep warm, 
now and then emitting unearthly yells. Finally they gave up the 
effort to gain admittance and made their way to Lawton's ( Laugh- 
ton's ) the nearest neighbor, a trader about half a mile away in a 
southerly direction. Here they met with a ready welcome, and 
with chattering teeth told how they had fared at the other place. 
In a few words the situation was explained to them, and, as quickly 
as possible, a Frenchman was dispatched to quiet the fears of the 
women, who were still standing as guard, fearing at any moment 
the return of the howling redskins. The Frenchman did his best, 
talking through the keyhole to make them understand that no dan- 
ger was to be apprehended ; but as the folks inside surmised he 
was only an Indian imitating a Frenchman's broken English, and 
that the other red-devils were close behind him in ambush, his well 
intended mission utterly failed of its object, and the stout-hearted 
women held their post until the dawn of the morning revealed 
that the coast was clear." 

Mrs. Clybourne described the appearance of Chicago in the 
winter of 1826, as a black and dreary expanse of prairie, with 
occasional patches of timber. At the mouth of the Chicago River, 
which was then at the foot of Madison Street, stood the cabin of 
Jean Baptiste Beaubien, and his shanty warehouse, somewhat 
nearer the lake. Where the river turned to the south, at the point 
where Rush-street bridge now crosses the stream, was old Fort 
Dearborn. On the other side of the river, nearly opposite the fort 
a double log house occupied jointly by John Kinzie and Alexander 
Wolcott,* and near this the blacksmith shop of David McKee and 
Joseph Porthick ( Porthier ). At the forks of the river, on the 
South Side, a cabin used for a store, owned and occupied by James 
Kinzie and David Hall of Virginia. f At Hardscrabble there were 
five or six cabins, several of which were occupied by the Lafram- 
boises, of whom there were four : Francis Sr., Francis Jr., Joseph 
and Claude. Another was occupied by Mr. Wallace, another by 
Barney Lawton. [Bernadus H. Laughton, who married, Novem- 
ber 11, 1S30, Sophia Bates from Vermont, a sister of Mrs. Stephen 
Forbes who taught school in Chicago in 1S30.] The Galloways 
were in the cabin of Chief Robinson, and there was still another, 
but Mrs. Clybourne had forgotten the occupant. The Clybournes 
were on the North Branch — Jonas and wife, his sons Archibald 
and Henley and John K. Clark their half-brother. In the spring 
of 1827 Mr. Galloway moved his family to his claim at the "Grand 
Rapids," and there Mary became acquainted with Archibald Cly- 
bourne, whose business as drover and butcher took him often to 
that region, and on the 10th of June, 1829, she became his wife, 
the marriage taking place at the frontier cabin on the Illinois. 
They were married by Rev. Isaac Scarritt. On the 12th of June 
the young couple reached Chicago, and Mrs. Clybourne found that 
several changes and improvements had been made since she left 
the cabin at Hardscrabble as Mary Galloway. Both the "Miller 
House," and " Wolf Tavern " had been erected during her absence. 
The "Miller House," which was built as early as 1827, by Sam- 
uel Miller, was occupied by Miller and his wife as a dwelling and 
tavern, and also as the store of Miller and Archibald Clybourne 
The Wolf Tavern, which was rented to Elijah Wentworth the fol- 

* The agency-house, owned by Dr. Wolcott, was not occupied by him at 
this time. He was living at the fort, of which he had charge during the 
absence of the troops. Probably Mr. Kinzie lived at the agency-house, as his 
own was fast going to ruin. 

t This must have been the cabin bought by Mark Beaubien. James Kin- 
zie and David Hall were keeping store on the West Side at Wolf Point as late 
as 1834, and Dr. Enoch Chase, now of Milwaukee, was their clerk. 



lowing year, was occupied in the summer of 1829 by James Kinzie 
and wife, and his father-in-law, Rev. William See. Mr. and Mrs. 
Clybourne remained at the MJller House two days, and on the 
14th of June went to their home on the North Branch of the 
river, at "Clybourne Place," near the North Chicago rolling-mills, 
Archibald and his wife lived with his parents until 1835. In Sep- 
tember of that year he built a small frame house on the " Elston 
Road," now Elston Avenue, into which he moved with his family, 
then consisting of wife and three children. In 1S36 he erecled 
the main building of brick, a spacious building facing the south. 
It was described in 1S77 as standing "a veritable patriarch among 
its surroundings." " In its day it was the most pretentious resi- 
dence in the city — though it is doubtful if the limits of the corpor- 
ation extended to that point at the time — and it is now ( 1877 ) the 
oldest brick building in the city, and with one exception, an old 
rookery on the northeast corner of Lake and Canal streets, the old- 
est structure of any sort. The Clybourne mansion — so called in 
its days of glory — is a curious structure. It contains about twenty 
rooms. Toward the west it presents the appearance of a plain 
double two-story brick, with an ordinary entrance in the center. 
That which is now the front of the building facing Elston Avenue, 
was once its side, the real front of the old time facing south, 
toivard Chicago, and this has a spacious columned porch. When 
built there was neither street nor landmark to determine how the 
structure should face, except the proprietor's personal preference, 
and now ( 1877) by a freak of the surveyor, or other cause, the 
building stands in the middle of the lot, the main front facing an 
adjoining lot instead of the street. The brick for the structure 
was made near its site, and the maker was he who subsequently 
became very intimately associated with the history of Chicago, 






Hi v 



DAVID HALL. 



under the name of Hon. Francis C. Sherman, founder of the 
Sherman House, and many times elected to the honorable position 
of Mayor." 

Archibald Clybourne was the first Constable of Chicago, when 
it was a precinct of Peoria County. The following orders were is- 
sued by " Peoria County Court, September 6, 1S25." 

" Ordered : That the first precinct contain all that part of the 
County east of the mouth of the DuPage River, where it empties 
its waters into the Auxplaines River, and that the elections be held 
at the agency-house or Cobweb's Hall."* 

* " Cobweb Castle," according to Mrs. Kinzie in " Waubun." It was situa- 
ted at the southwest corner of the present North State and North Water streets. 
Dr. Alexander Wolcott occupied the house from 1820 to 1823, and from 1828 
until his death in 1830. 



104 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



At the same time ordered : " That Archibald Clybourne be 
appointed Constable in and for the County of Peoria, and that the 
Clerk of this county take his official bond." In June, lS2g, the 
month of his marriage, lie was authorized to keep a ferry in con- 
junction with Samuel Miller " across the Chicago River, at the 
lower forks, near Wolf Point, crossing I he river below the Northeast 
branch, and to land on either side of both branches, to suit the 
convenience of persons wishing to cross." It was ordered that 
" said Clybourne and Miller pay a tax of two dollars and execute a 
bond with security for one hundred dollars. The rates for ferriage 
to be one half the sum that John L. Bogardus gets at his ferry at 
Peoria." In the latter part of the same year, December S. 1S29, 
he was appointed one of the first trustees of the school section, 
Archibald Clybourne. Samuel Miller and John B. Beaubien com- 
prising the board lie was made Justice of the Peace in 1S31. 
fonas Clybourne and his son Archibald were the early butchers of 
Chicago. They furnished the garrison at Fort Dearborn, and 



the sect in Chicago, and, as a layman, ought ever to rank as one of 
the fathers of that church ; a father to whom the many who now 
hold to his faith in these latter days may point with pride, and 
whose memory may well be cherished by them with enduring affec- 
tion. 

David McKee, a settler in Chicago in 1822 or '23, was born 
in Loudoun County, Va., December 2, 1800. His parents were 
Scotch, and emigrated from their native country to Virginia, sub- 
sequently settling in Pennsylvania, and later in Ohio. At the age 
of thirteen David was placed in a blacksmith shop in Cincinnati to 
learn the trade, and was there employed until 1821, when he made 
a short visit to New Orleans. By the terms of the Indian treaty 
made at Chicago in 1S21, a blacksmith was to be kept by Govern- 
ment at the Chicago agency, for the benefit of the Indians. Mr. 
McKee, who was then in Cincinnati, was employed by Colonel 
Benjamin Kerchival, Indian Agent at Detroit, to come to Chicago 
in that capacity. According to his own recollection he arrived in 




THE CLYBOURNE HOUSE. 



sometimes extended their trade to Mackinaw. When the Black 
Hawk War, in 1S32, brought crowds of frightened settlers from the 
country to the shelter of the fort, the Clybournes and John Noble 
and sons fed nearly the entire population until the pioneers could 
return to their homes. The Clybourne family, with the rest of Chi- 
cago, took refuge in the fort until the danger was past. Mr. Cly- 
bourne lived on the old place until his death, August 23, 1872. He 
left, at that time, his widow, still living in Chicago with her 
daughter, Mrs. Parks, and ten living children : Sarah Ann (Mrs. 
Vincent Barney) born March 24, 1830, still alive ; Margaret E. 
1 Mrs. Richard Holden) born October 10, 1831, now living in Chi- 
cago ; Martha Ann, born November 18, 1833, still living in Chi- 
cago , James A., born October 14, 1835, now in the old business 
of his father, at 441 North Chirk Street ; John H., born June 27, 
1838, died September, 1875, (see his record in Military History — 
Zouaves); William H.. born April 14, 1840, now a resident of 
Chicago; Henry C, born May 2, 1842, lives at Desplaines ; Mary 
V., now wife of J. C. Parks, general manager of the North Chi- 
cago Rolling-mills, born November 16. 1844 ; Charles A., still 
living in the old house, born October 2, 1847 ; Frank, now with 
hrm of Gregory & Cooley, born April 5, 1857. They had two boys 
and one girl who died in infancy, 

Mr. Clybourne's record as an old pioneer is unclouded by any 
of the prevalent vices of the time, lie lived the life of an unselfish 
and guileless man, and went to his rest full of years and not lacking 
the full measure of honors thai honesty and a broad charity for his 
fellow-men could bring. In his religious faith lie was a member of 
the then quite unpopular and unevangelical sect known as Univer- 
salists. He was one of the earliest and stanchest supporters of 



1822, but as he accompanied from Fort Wayne to Chicago the ex- 
ploring expedition of Major Stephen H. Long, he must have left 
Fort Wayne May 29, 1823, and reached Fort Dearborn June 5 of 
the following month. Mr. McKee found but two houses on the 
north side of the river on his arrival — those of John Kinzie and Dr. 
Alexander Wolcott. The third house was built near the agency- 
house, by Joseph Porthier, and the fourth by Mr. McKee himself. 
All these houses were of logs — the agency-house being afterward 
clapboarded part way up. In June, 1827, Mr. McKee was mar- 
ried, by John Kinzie, J. P., at the residence of the latter, to 
Wealthy, daughter of Stephen J. Scott, of Gros Point, now Wil- 
mette. About the time of his marriage, or somewhat before, he 
was appointed mail-carrier for the Government between Fort Dear- 
born and Fort Wayne, and made monthly trips between those places 
during 1827-28. His route from Chicago was via Niles, Mich., 
and Elkhart, Ind. The journeys were made on horseback, carry- 
ing his mail-bag, camping equipments and lastly his rifle, upon 
which he relied for his daily food. The time of his average trip 
was fourteen days — the shortest was ten days. He resided in Chi- 
cago until 1832, at which time he owned four lots near the present 
site of the Northwestern Railroad depot. This land he sold for 
$800. and with the money purchased a farm in DuPage County, 
where he lived until 1874. Pie moved from this farm and settled 
upon another near Aurora, Kane County, where he died April 9, 
1881. 

The Mirandeah and Porthier FAMILIES. — Among the few 
houses built on the north side of the river prior to 1826, was one 
which was built and occupied by Joseph Porthier, a blacksmith 
and striker for Mr. McKee. The widow of Mr. Porthier is be- 



CHICAGO FROM 1816 to 1830. 



i°5 



lieved to be the only person, now living, who saw and remembers 
any circumstances which transpired in Chicago, prior to lite massa- 
cre of 1812. She is the fifth child of Jean Baptiste Mirandeau, 
the earliest permanent white settler in Milwaukee and a sojourner 
in Chicago in rSi I . She is now living (September, 18S3 ) at Bay 
View near Milwaukee, and retains a vivid and clear recollection of 
very early times in Chicago, which are deemed of historic value, 
as they were given at two different interviews, between which suffi- 
cient time had elapsed to test the reliability of her recollection. 
Without prompting on the part of the interviewer, she corrobor- 
ated all statements made at the first. She is the 'good Victoire," 
mentioned by Mrs. Kinzie in " Waubun " (p. 369), and the fam- 
ily servant of John Kinzie and Dr. Wolcott. Genevieve and 
lean Baptiste, with the amusing " Tomah," who accompanied 
John H. Kinzie and Lieutenant Hunter to Fort Winnebago in 
1833, were her sister and brothers. The family record kept by 
her father was destroyed after his death, and Mrs. Porthier can- 
not give the exact date of her birth, but from collateral evidence 
it is believed to have been in 1800 or 1801.* What follows is as 
given by Mrs. Porthier herself in August and September, 1883 : 

" My mother was an Ottawa woman; my father was a French- 
man. He was a good scholar, a very handsome man, and had 
many books. He taught us children to speak French, and we all 
learned to speak Indian of the tribe and mother. We had no 
schools nor education. I never learned to read or write. My 
father had his house in Milwaukee, where he traded with the In- 
dians and did some blacksmithing for them, and for other traders. 
He fixed guns and traps for them. Before the fort was burned 
( August, 1S12 ) my father was down to the fort — the year before 
— and did blacksmith work there. The family went down while he 
was there, and some of us lived in the Ouilmette house, across the 
river from the fort. My sister Madaline ( afterward the wife of 
John K. Clark ) and I saw the fight between old John Kinzie and 
Lalime when he ( Lalime) was killed. 

" The Lalime Homicide. — It was sunset when they used to 
shut the gates of the fort Kinzie and Lalime came out together 
and soon we heard Lieutenant Helm call out for Mr. Kinzie to 
look out for Lalime, as he had a pistol. Quick we saw the men 
come together; we heard the pistol go off, and saw the smoke. 
Then they fell down together. I don't know as Lalime got up at 
all but Kinzie got home pretty quick. Blood was running from 
his shoulder where Lalime had shot him. In the night he packed 
up some things, and my father took him to Milwaukee, where he 
staid till his shoulder got well and he found he wouldn't be troubled 
if he came back. You see Kinzie wasn't to blame at all. He 
didn't have any pistol nor knife — nothing. After Lalime shot him 
and Kinzie got his arms around him, he ( Lalime ) pulled out his 
dirk and as they fell he was stabbed with his own knife. That is 
what they all said. I didn't see the knife at all. I don't remem- 
ber where Lalime was buried. I don't think his grave was very 
near Mr. Kinzie's house. I don't remember that Mr. Kinzie ever 
took care of the grave. That is all I know about it. I don't 
know what the quarrel was about. It was an old one — business, I 
guess. 

" After Mr. Kinzie came back (1S16) he came up to Milwaukee 
and visited my father and took me to live with him. ( We were 
not there when the fort was burned — we had gone back to Mil- 
waukee.) I lived with him until he died, then I married Joseph 
Porthier. He was a Frenchman, and a kind of blacksmith. He 
worked for McKee." 

Victoire Mirandeau, who has partially told her own story, 
above, was married at Fort Dearborn to Joseph Porthier, by Colo- 
nel J. B. Beaubien, J. P., November 5, 1S2S. She lived in Chi- 
cago until 1S35, when Mr. Porthier, wife and three children, re- 
moved to Milwaukee, where he had bought a quarter section of 
land. Mr. Porthier died in 1875, and was buried in Milwaukee. 
His widow lives near Bay View, south of the city of Milwaukee, 
in a small house built for her by the old settlers of that city. Her 
large family of children, like her brothers and sisters, have all 
died of consumption — the last daughter during the late summer of 
18S3 — and the sorrowful old lady is indeed alone. When speak- 
ing of her early friends in Chicago — the Kinzies, Wolcotts, Beau 
biens and the many members of her tribe, her sad refrain is ever 
"dead — all gone." Her little home, though plain to poverty, is 
a model of neatness and order, and the garden, tended by her own 
hands, is bright with flowers and vines. She speaks French, En- 
glish, and several Indian dialects well. It is well said of her in 
the " Milwaukee History : " " If she could have had the advan- 
tages of an education, Mrs. Porthier would have been a remarka- 
ble woman, as her memory is almost as accurate as a written re- 
cord ; her powers of perception are wonderful, and her ideas of 
right and wrong rigidly and justly correct. But her closing years 

* The Milwaukee History, in a foot note referring to a statement of Dr. 
Enoch Chase, that she was probably born in 1 !o S , savs: " She was born in the 
winter of 1800-1801, according to her best recollection and the Kinzie family 
memoranda." 



are dreary enough — shorn as they are of relatives* and friends, 
pinched by poverty and burdened by sorrow.' It is indeed sad 
that this solitary woman, forming perhaps the only living [ink 1 mi 
necting the present with the " by-gone days" of Chicago and Mil 
waukee, should close her days in poverty and an ever present dread 
of being the recipient of public charity. 

Jean Baptiste Miuandf.au, the father of Mrs. Porthier, was 
an educated French gentleman belonging to one of the first fam- 
ilies of Quebec. He studied for the prieshood, but on the eve of 
taking orders abandoned his intention, and about the close ol the 
Revolutionary War left Quebec with John Vieux for the northwest. 
He became an employe of the American Fur Company, and traded 
some years in the Lake Superior region and afterward on the W'a 
bash. He came to Milwaukee about the year 1795, bringing with 
him his Indian wife whom he had recently married, and to whom 




MRS. VICTOIRE MIRANDEAU PORTHIER. 



he was faithful until his death, which occurred in 1820. He built a 
house in Milwaukee and around it had a well cultivated garden. f 
" He was a religious man, and had prayers in his house every 
evening. His library was quite large, and he spent all his leisure 
time in reading. He was a tall line looking man, with crisp curly 
hair. He was a great favorite of his wild neighbors, who prom- 
ised him all the land between the river and the lake as far as the 
North Point, when they made the treaty for the sale of their lands, 
but he died before that treaty, and Mr. ( Solomon ) Juneau suc- 
ceeded him as the chief white man in Milwaukee. Mis widow 
survived him until 1S3S, and was well known to many of the early 
settlers of Milwaukee . . Mr. Mirandeau was the first white 
man who ever moved here, spent his married life here, died and 
was buried here ( Milwaukee)." 

The children of Mr. Mirandeau were ten. Jean Baptiste 1st, 
was poisoned when a child, at the mouth of Rock River. Madaline 
1st, was accidentally drowned in the Milwaukee River. Madaline 
2d came to Chicago, for a time lived in the family of Lalime, the 
Indian Interpreter, and afterwards became the wife of John K. 
Clark, and died leaving a daughter who still lives at Milwaukee. 
The fourth child was Joseph ; the fifth, Victoire (Mrs. Joseph Por- 
thier). Then came Louis, Jean Baptiste 2d, Rosanne, Genevieve 
and Thomas. Jean Baptiste and Genevieve were servants in John 
Kinzie's and Dr. Wolcott's families, and Thomas the youngest was 



: The oldest resident of Chicago living. Take 



fron 



photograph 



iof Dr. Enoch Chase before Old Settlers' Club of Milwau- 
s he has known the history of the Mirandeau family thirty- 



io6 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



the *' Tomah " of " Waubun." Nearly all of the younger children 
died in Kansas. After the death of Mr. Mirandeau, his widow, 
left with no relatives or friends except among the Indians, took up 
her abode among them, and the papers and books of her husband 
were lost or destroyed Mr. Mirandeau was an intimate friend of 
John Kinzie. and probably placed his children in his family that 
they might escape, as far as possible, the influence of the Indians. 
Stephen H. Scott and family came to the West from Ben- 
nington. N. Y., a small place about twenty-eight miles from Buf- 
falo. Although the family did not settle, as a family, directly in 
Chicago, one of the sons, Willis, lived here continuously from 1S26 



to 1S32, and after removing to the neighboring town of Waukegan, 
returned again to Chicago about 1S66-67. The daughters also mar- 
ried and lived in Chicago. Stephen Scott started for the West in- 
tending to settle at St. Joe, Mich., but on arriving at that place 
concluded to cross to Chicago. The schooner, bringing his family 
and effects, arrived at Chicago August 20, 1826. After looking 
about the country in the vicinity a little, Mr. Scott decided to settle 
at Gros Point, now Wilmette. and departed for that place with his 
family, by schooner, sending word to one of his sons — Willard — who 
had remained behind with a portion of the goods at St. Joe, to bring 
them to that point The family landed at Gros Point on the 22d, 
and as soon as possible a log cabin was erected, in which the family 
lived until 1831. Willis, however, returned immediately to Chicago 
where he worked around the fort for a time as hostler for the Post- 
surgeon, Dr. Finlay. and also worked for the Clybournes. About 
the year 1829 or 1S30, Archibald Clybourne made a journey to Vir- 
ginia to get a girl strong and willing to come to Chicago and assist 
his mother, who was growing old and unequal to the tasks of 
pioneer life. He brought back with him a relative, Louisa B. 
Caldwell, sister of Archibald Caldwell, who with James Kinzie 
built the Wolf Point Tavern. Willis Scott became acquainted with 
this girl at Mr. Clybourne's, and on the 1st of November, 1830, 
she became his wife, the marriage ceremony being performed by 
Kev. William See. The Scott family remaining at Gros Point con- 
sisted of a son Willard and three daughters, all of whom were mar- 
ried while residing there. Wealthy Scott, married, January 23, 
1627. David McKee, and lived on the north side of the river near 
the foot or what is now North State Street, where their son, Stephen 
J. Scott McKee was born September 18, 1830.* 

Permelia Scott was married, July 21, 1829, to John K. Clark 
whom she survived ; Deborah, who was the widow of Munson 
Watkins when she came to the West, was married again to Joseph 
Bauskey, a Frenchman, May 5, 1828. Mr. Bauskey died of 
cholera in Chicago in 1832. Willard married Caroline Hawley, 
July 21, 1829, and was long a resident of Naperville, 111. After 
the family had lived at Gros Point five years, it was discovered that 
Mr. Scott's claim was on the reservation granted by Government to 
Antoine Ouilmette ; and he removed to Desplaines, and took 
charge of a tavern owned by the Laughton brothers, where now is 
the site of Riverside. This tavern was quite pretentious for the 
times, and a favorite resort of the Chicago people. Mrs. Kinzie, in 
that wonderful picture of early Chicago and the vicinity, "Wau- 
bun," mentions a call she made there in 1831, where she found 
carpets, a warm stove, and other luxuries not common at that day. 

Mark BEAUBIEN, a younger brother of General J. B. Beaubien, 
was born in Detroit in the year 1S00. When very young, he mar- 
ried in that city, Mademoiselle Monique Nadeau; the children of 
this union being sixteen, five of whom — Josette, Mark Jr., Oliver, 
Joseph and Emily were born in Detroit. In 1826, Mr. Beaubien 
came to Chicago to visit his brother, and de- 
cided to make the place his home. He tells 
the story of his arrival thus:f "I arrived in 
Chicago in the year of 1826, from Detroit; 
came with my family by team ; no road only 
Indian trail. I had to hire an Indian to show 
me the road to Chicago. I camped out .lours 
and bought a log house from Jim Kinzie. 
There was no town laid out ; didn't expect 
no town. When they laid out the town, my house laid out in the 
street; when they laid the town I bought two lots where I built the old 
Sauganash, the first { frame house in Chicago." The frame building 
mentioned above, and called " the Sauganash " in honor of the Chief 
Billy Caldwell, was at the southeast corner of the present Lake and 
Market streets. The old log house which Mr. Beaubien bought of 



"Jim Kinzie," formed a wing of the new building which is de- 
scribed in "Waubun" as "a pretentious, white two-story building 
with bright blue wooden shutters, the admiration of all the little 
circle at Wolf Point." Mr. Beaubien commenced hotel keeping in 
the log cabin which he bought of Mr. Kinzie, and continued the 
business in the Sauganash, remaining in the latter, which became 
a very famous house of entertainment, until 1S34. In the latter 
year he completed another house on the northwest corner of Wells 
and Lake streets, which was called the "Exchange Coffee House," 
and first kept by Mr. and Mrs. John Murphy. It seems probable 
that the Sauganash was afterwards called the "Eagle Exchange," 
as one of Mr. Beaubien's daughters, Mrs. Emily (Beaubien) Le 
Page, states that she once lived in the first frame building in Chi- 
cago, "called the Eagle Exchange on Market street, near the corner 
of Lake." Early in 1831, at a meeting of the Commissioners 
Court of Cook County, Mr. Beaubien filed his bond with James 
Kinzie as security, agreed to pay into the county treasury fifty 
dollars, and was licensed to run a ferry across the South Branch of 
the Chicago River — the first ferry in the town. All citizens of Cook 
County were to be ferried free with their " traveling apratus," 
but outsiders were to pay specified rates. A scow was pur- 
chased of Samuel Miller for sixty-five dollars, and Mark entered 
upon his duties. During that year the Canal Commissioners held 
a meeting at Chicago, and the extra ferriage on their account was 
paid by Cook County. The ferryman charged for his services 
$7.33. He was licensed as a merchant during 1831, and the com- 
bined duties of landlord and storekeeper, with occasional hours of 




* See Sketch ufluvirl McKc 
An. 



! house built for Hilly Caldwell. 



d/U/^ffl^tiA^*^ 



recreation in the way of horse-racing, caused perhaps some want 
of attention to the ferry, and the court accordingly ordered that the 
ferry should be kept running "from daylight in the morning, until 
dark, without stopping," for the accommodation of Cook County 
passengers. In the same year he received a license to keep tavern, 
and probably soon after opened the Sauganash. When Chicago 
was incorporated as a town in 1833, the first election of trustees 
was at the house of Mr. Beaubien, which was ever a favorite resort 
both for purposes of business and of amusement; the merry good- 



CHICAGO FROM 1816 to 1830. 



107 



souled landlord, and his wife, who is described as "a noble woman, 
and devoted Christian mother," making the Sauganash a place to 
be remembered by all early travelers. Mr. Beaubien married for 
his second and last wife Elizabeth Matthews of Aurora, by whom 
he had seven children. He lived in Chicago for many years, and 
was the last light-house keeper in the place, being appointed by 
President Buchanan, at a salary of $350. He was one of the lead- 
ers in the organization of St. Mary's Church, the first Catholic 
society in the city, toward the construction of which he paid liber- 
ally. He was a kind friend to the Indians, who at their treaty with 
Government in 1S34 conveyed "to their good friend, Mark Beau- 
bien " a reservation of sixty-four acres of land at the mouth of the 
Calumet, of which he received the patent signed by Martin Van 
Buren, nearly forty years later — having been unconscious of the 
gift during all those years. When Mark Beaubien came to Chicago 
he brought with him from Detroit a fiddle, which in his hands dis- 
coursed sweet music in the old days, and will always be remembered 
in connection with the old Frenchman, who, till the last, loved his 
instrument, and at his death bequeathed it to the Calumet Club of 
Chicago, where it remains, a valued possession. Mr. Beaubien is 
described as being in his prime "a tall athletic fine appearing man, 
Frenchy and polite, frank, open-hearted, generous to a fault, and, 
in his glory at a horse-race." His favorite dress on "great occa- 
sions " was a swallow-tail coat with brass buttons, and, if in the 
summer, light nankeen trousers. His quaint old song, in regard 
to the surrender of General Hull at Detroit in 1812, of which he 
was a witness, was sung with as much gusto, as Monie Musk and 
Fisher's Hornpipe were played, and the young people of the new 
generation listened to his music and stories with as much pleasure 
as did his companions in early Chicago. His last visits to Chicago 
were in 1879 and 18S0, at the time of the Calumet Club receptions 
to old settlers, where his vivacity and enthusiasm gave no token of 
the approaching end, then so near. The children of Mr. Beaubien, 
as given in the Chicago Times, in an article entitled " By-gone 
Days," March 26, 1876, were Josette, Mark, Oliver, Joseph and 
Emily, (born in Detroit), Soliston, David, George, Napoleon, Ed- 
ward, Helena, Elizabeth, Gwinny, Frances, Monique and an infant 
who died unnamed — children of Mark and Monique Beaubien; and 
Robert, Frank, Mary, Ida, Jimmy, Jesse and Slidel, children by 
his second marriage. He died on the 16th of April, 1SS1, in 
Kankakee, 111., at the house of George Mathews, who married his 
daughter Mary. 

Madore B. Beaubien, second child of General J. B. Beau- 
bien and Mah-naw-bun-no-quah, an Ottawa woman, was born 
July 15, 1S09, at Thompson's Creek, of Grand River, Mich. Be- 
fore General Beaubien became agent for the American Fur Com- 
pany and permanently settled at Chicago, in the fall of 1818, Ma- 
dore had visited Chicago where his father had again married and 
bought a house, and as early as 1813, he says, he recollects climb- 
ing over the blackened ruins of old Fort Dearborn. The business 
of General Beaubien as Indian trader required his presence at 
Mackinaw, Milwaukee and Chicago during certain portions of each 
year and in these trips he was usually accompanied by his family — 
relatives of his wife (Josette La Framboise) living in all those 
places. Madore had not been many years in Chicago, before his 
father sent him to the Baptist school established by Rev. Isaac 
McCoy, under the auspices of Government, at the place now Niles, 
Mich., then called the Carey Mission. In 1831, Madore was li- 
censed as a merchant, and soon after built a two roomed log house 
which was the first building on lot No. I, now the southwest 
corner of South Water and Dearborn streets. He brought a stock 
of goods from Detroit and opened a store in one of the rooms, 
while the other was occupied as a tailor's shop, by Mr. Anson H. 
Taylor, who had arrived in Chicago in 1829, and first opened his 
goods at the old Kinzie house on the north side of the river. In 
1S32 Mr. Taylor, assisted by his brother Charles, then landlord at 
the Wolf Tavern, built a wooden bridge over the South Branch of 

the Chicago River, near the forks — a log foot-bridge having been 
previously constructed over the North Branch. The following 
year Madore B. Beaubien was appointed one of the committee to 
contract for repairing these bridges. His store was not a success. 
Looking at the courtly old gentleman of seventy-four — erect, hand- 
some, suave and polished, it is easy to see that the young man of 
twenty-one would hardly relish any confinement to the drudgery 
of trading and bartering with Indians. So he failed in business, 
but was ready for both the sports and dangers of frontier life, and 
until the tidings of the Black Hawk War aroused him, the attrac- 
tions of the wolf hunt, the race or the dance, kept him from a 



more useful life. He was Second Lieutenant of the Naperville 
militia company during the war, and showed himself brave and 
fearless. He was later First Lieutenant in Captain Boardman's 
Chicago company. Mr. Beaubien first married, in Chicago, Maria 
Boyer, daughter of John K. Boyer, who arrived here in the spring 
of 1833. This marriage was dissolved by divorce. His second 
wife was Keez-ko-quah, an Indian woman, and on June 2, 1S54, 
he married for his third and present wife his cousin Therese (La- 
framboise) Harden, formerly Watkins, the divorced wife of 
Thomas Watkins of Chicago, and widow of Mr. Harden. This 
marriage took place at the Baptist Indian Mission, in what is now 
Shawnee County, Kan. Mr. Beaubien left Chicago with the I'ot- 
tawatomies in the fall of 1840 ; resided at Council Bluffs until 
1S47, and then with the tribe went to Kansas. For many years he 
was one of the interpreters of the Pottawatomies, and was one of 
the six commissioners employed by the Nation to transact their 
business with the United States. In November, 1S61, a treaty- 
was made with the Pottawatomies, by which those who so elected 
were given land in severalty, and those who desired to continue 
tribal relations were removed to a diminished reservation. At the 
time of this treaty Mr. Beaubien officiated as one of the " head 
men " of the tribe, but with many others, elected to become a citi- 
zen of the LInited States, and received an allotment of land on ac- 
count of his wife and mother. He now resides on a farm in Silver 
Lake Village, of which he and A. T. Thomas — afterward a resi- 
dent of Topeka, and Clerk of the United States Circuit Court — 
were the original proprietors. The first store in the village was 
started by Mr. Beaubien in connection with C. S. Palmer. Mr. 
Beaubien has three children by his third marriage — Philip IL, 
John B., and George E. 

The Lavghtons. — David and Bernardus Laughton were In- 
dian traders who early had a store at Hardscrabble on the South 
Branch, but about 1827-2S removed to the Desplaines, where 
Riverside is now. The wife of Bernardus Laughton was Miss 
Sophia Bates, of Vermont, a sister of the wife of Stephen Forbes, 
who taught the first regular school in Chicago. 

Russel E. Heacock was born at Litchfield, Conn., in the 
year 1779. While yet quite young he lost his father. He after- 
wards learned the trade of carpenter, and worked at it with but little 
intermission until he was over thirty, and occasionally in after life, 
in the intervals of a profession which never occupied his whole 
time, and largely in the improvement of his own property. He 
removed to St. Louis in 1806, where he earned liberal wages, 
making sometimes as much as ten to fifteen dollars a day. His 
health becoming somewhat impaired through the prevailing mala- 
ria, his thoughts were turned to the legal profession through the 
influence of a cousin, Russel Easton, a lawyer residing at St. Louis. 
Mr. Easton offered him free use of his library and office, and he 
entered on a desultory course of study, earning money at his trade 



^//^^^^^ 



in the more busy seasons. He was admitted to the Bar in 1816. 
Meanwhile he had become acquainted with his future wife, and was 
married, in 1816, at Brownsville, Jackson Co., 111., to Rebecca, 
second daughter of William Ozborn, a soldier of the Revolution, 
who had emigrated from South Carolina to settle with his family in 
a free state. Three sons were born to them in 1817, 1S1S, and 
1820. On the 24th of January, 1821, Mr. Heacock was licensed 
to practice by the Supreme Court of Illinois. In 1823 his fourth 
son was born, William O., now (1SS3) of Delaware, Iowa, to whom 
we are indebted for many of the facts here given. In that year, too, 
moved by the representations of a brother, Reuben B. , of 
Buffalo, N. Y., he left Jonesboro, Union Co., 111., for 
Buffalo, where he resided over three years, and where a 
daughter was born to him in 1S25. In 1S27 Mr. Hea- 
cock again turned his face westward, intending to settle 
at Fort Clark, now Peoria, 111., and arrived at Chicago, 
July 4. Here he concluded to remain, and took up his 
residence within the enclosure of Fort Dearborn, at that time 
unoccupied by the military ; and here a second daughter was 
born early in 1S2S. About May of that year he removed 
to a log cabin and claim, which he had purchased of Peter 
Lampsett. It was about the center of Section 32. Town- 
ship 39, Range 14; "about three-quarters of a mile south- 
east of the lock at Bridgeport, and one mile due south of 
Hardscrabble." At one of the elections in 1S30, he was judge and 
at another clerk ; and in 1S31, he was one of two commissioners 
appointed to lay out a road from Shelbyville to Chicago. lie was 
licensed to keep tavern, and was one of the seven justices appointed 



ioS 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



for Cook County. September 10, 1S31. He seems to have been 
one of the first justices to hold court : but :is lawyer or Justice his 
business was not large in 1831. In 1S32 it was but little better. 
Chicago's greatest interest of that year centering in the Black 
Hawk War and the Asiatic cholera; and Heacock made a living 
chiefly by his trade. About 1832 there appeared in a Buffalo paper 
several letters from him to his brother, a merchant of that place, 
describing Chicago and the territory immediately to the west, in 
glowing terms — the beauty of the country and the fertility of its 
soil. He referred to the land gTant by Congress for the construc- 
tion ot the Illinois & Michigan Canal ; and, to show the entire 
feasibility of the project, stated that in high water boats passed 
from the South Branch of the Chicago River into the Desplaines, 
and that by this means the American Fur Company transported 
their annual supplies to their trading posts on the Illinois River and 
its tributaries. At a meeting for incorporation of Chicago as a town, 
August 10,1833, of the thirteen votes cast his was the only one against 
the : ncorporation. which showed at least exceptional fidelity to con- 
viction and independence of opinion, recognized as characteristic 
of the man. At the Indian treaty of September 26, 1S33, he re- 
ceived one hundred dollars. Meanwhile in the summer of 1833, 
the Chicago school section was subdivided, and all but four of its 
one hundred and forty-two blocks sold at auction for $3S,S65, on a 
credit of one, two and three years on the petition of the inhabit- 
ants.* Several of these lots came into possession of Mr. Heacock, 
among others. Lot 7, Block 117, frontage south on Adams Street. 
which he designed for a residence. He was among the original 
subscribers to the first Chicago newspaper in November, 1833. 
That his children might be nearer school, he removed, in 1S34, 
into a house on the east bank of the South Branch, a little south 
of Randolph Street. The lands around Chicago being thrown on 
the market in 1834, Mr. Heacock became as extensive a purchaser 
as his means would permit, being one of the most sanguine men 
of his day as to the great development in store for the then insig- 
nificant town. He pre-empted the quarter section upon which his 
purchase from Lampsett was situated, going to Danville, Vermillion 
County, the nearest land-office in 1S34, for his land certificate. In 
the spring of 1S35, he built a house on what he supposed was his 
lot. only to find that he was on Monroe Street, not Adams, whither 
he proceeded to remove it on rollers. " This house," says his son, 
'-'he occupied, off and on, until his death." Here his fifth son 
and youngest child was born. Under date of August 5, 1835. we 
find him advertised as attorney, which is perhaps an indication 
that he did not seek re-election as a Justice ; and he appears as at- 
torney in the Chicago directories until 184S. Besides his profession, 
he cultivated some land at his place on the South Branch, called 
Heacock's Point, where he had been licensed to keep a tavern 
in April. 1831. His investments in real estate were large for the 
period, in accord with his anticipations of Chicago's future, and 
led to much distress of mind and financial embarrassment in the 
years succeeding the panic of 1837, It was perhaps owing to the 
pressure of this misfortune in his declining years that he was dis- 
abled by a stroke of paralysis in 1S43, from which he never com- 
pletely rallied. During the cholera epidemic of 1849. he fled with 
his family to a farm he owned at Summit, where he himself, his wife, 
and two sons were attacked, and died in quick succession between 
the 2>th and 30th of June. In the protracted discussion of the 
canal question, Mr. Heacock, with his strong individuality took an 
independent and isolated attitude in favor of a less deep and there- 
fore less expensive excavation, whence he got the mistaken nick- 
name of " Shallow Cut." With the name he received such flippant 
a:,d superficial censure from Press and platform as usually falls to 
the lot of those who dare dissent from the public opinion of the hour. 
His views prevailed, however, in the end. " As a public speaker," 
says Judge Goodrich, "he was pleasing, instructive and often elo- 
quent ; his earnest and straightforward outspokenness, his fine con- 
versational powers, his generosity and frankness of character, and 
his inexhaustible fund of narrative and anecdote made him most 
companionable." In politics he was a Jackson Democrat, but also 
a Frec-soiler, and an earnest adversary of the dominant influence 
of the Sonth in national affairs. " He was not regarded as a bril- 
liant lawyer," continues Mr. Goodrich, "and though the first on 
the ground he was -o.<n crowded out of practice by the younger 
and more active members of the profession." It is however true 
that there were always lawyers enough for all the law business that 
offered : and Heacock in those first years, 1827 to 1835, made more 
money as a carpenter than as a lawyer or justice. "He was," says 
Judge Caton, "a very fair lawyer;" and adds: "When on one 
D my youthful presumption got the better of me, the old 
man gave me the l>est dossing down I ever gut." 

THBEE FRIENDLY 'Hills AND Tilt OLDEST RESIDENT. 

Alexander Robinson (Che-che-pin-qua), a chief of the 

United Pottawatomies, Cbippewas and Ottawa-, was I">rn at Mack- 

• It received ninety-five Ngnatan of the principal citizens. 



inaw. 1762, according to popular belief, and his age as stated at the 
time of his death, although the years of his life are somewhat 
doubtful. His father was a Scotch trader who had been an officer 
in the British army, and his mother was an Ottawa woman.* He 
married at Mackinaw and moved with his wife to the St. Joseph in 
Michigan, where he became an Indian trader, and, it is said, an 
associate of Joseph Bailly, With other friendly Pottawatomies he 
did all in his power to shield the Americans from the fury of the 
hostile Indians, at the time of, and after, the Fort Dearborn mas- 
sacre. He arrived on the scene too late to do anything to prevent 
the massacre, of which he was a witness ; but, on his return to St. 
Joseph, he received and sheltered the family of Mr. Kinzie, who 
received from himself and wife "all possible kindness and hospi- 
tality for several months."! ^>°t confining their good deeds to 
the family of Mr. Kinzie, the generous host and hostess. Finding 
that Captain and Mrs. Heald, who had been brought to St. Joseph 
by Jean Baptiste Chandonnais, clerk of Mr. Kinzie, were in dan- 
ger of being recaptured and taken back to the Kankakee, he carried 
them safely in a bark canoe to Mackinaw, a distance of three hun- 
dred miles, where they were surrendered to the British command- 
ant. It is not known just when Robinson settled in Chicago, but 
he had been here, at least two seasons, and with Antoine Ouilmette 
had cultivated the field belonging to the fort, raising thereon corn, 
when Captain Bradley arrived to rebuild Fort Dearborn in 1S16. In 
1825 his personal property was assessed at S200, by the Peoria 
County Assessor. He served in 1823 and 1826 as Indian interpre- 
ter under Dr. Wolcott, at a salary of S365, during the latter year. 
He is recorded as a voter in 1S25, 1S26 and 1830, and on June 8 
of the latter year was licensed to keep tavern in Chicago. He had 
owned prior to this time, a cabin or trading-post at Hardscrabble, 
but vacated it before 1S26. On September 2S, 1826. he was mar- 
ried by John Kinzie, J. P., to Catherine Chevalier, daughter of 
Francois and Mary Ann Chevalier. Francois Chevalier was chief 
of a united band of Pottawatomies, Ottawas and Chippewas ; with 
his village at the Calumet. At his death, Robinson became chief 
of the band. At the treaty of Prairie du Chien, July, 1S29, he 
was granted two sections of land on the Desplaines ; by the treaty 
of Camp Tippecanoe, October 20, 1S32, a life annuity of S200, 
and by the Chicago treaty of September, 1S33, an additional an- 
nuity of $300. His exertions, with those of Billy Caldwell, pre- 
vented the tribe from joining the Sauks in the Winnebago War of 
1827, and Black Hawk in 1832. During the latter part of his resi- 
dence in Chicago, he lived at Wolf Point, where he had a store or 
trading-house. After the Indians were removed beyond the Mis- 
sissippi, he settled with his family on his reservation on the Des- 
plaines, where he lived until his death, which occurred April 22, 
1872. His wife died August 7, 1S60. They were both, with two 
sons and a daughter-in-law, buried on the bank of the river near the 
old home. 

Billy CALDWELL (Sauganash), one of the most conspicuous, 
as well as one of the most notable, characters identified with the 
history of early Chicago, was an Indian half-breed. He was the 
son of a Colonel Caldwell, an Irish officer in the British army 
stationed at Detroit, and was born about the year 1780. His 
mother was a Pottawatomie, and is said to have been remarkable 
for her beauty and intelligence. Billy received a good education at 
the Jesuit schools of Detroit and learned to speak and write the 
French and English languages fluently. He also acquired the 
knowledge of a number of Indian dialects. Little is known in 




detail of the events of his life, but we know that he took an active 
part against the Americans in the War of 1812. In person he was 
large and commanding, of great strength and power of endurance. 
At first his Indian name was " Straight Tree," on account of his 
fine appearance, but he is better known by the name of Sauganash, 
or the Englishman. He early fell under the influence of Tecum- 
seh, became the secretary of that warrior, and was intimately asso- 
ciated with him from 1S07 until Tecumseh's death. Very little is 
known of Caldwell's career as a warrior, for upon the subject of 
the war he was always remarkably reticent. He undoubtedly was 
engaged in most of the battles or actions in which Tecumseh was 
engaged, and he was often sent by his chief on important missions. 
He and Shaw-bo-nee, do not appear to have been present at Fort 
Dearborn before or at the time of the massacre, but we find them 



CHICAGO FROM 1816 to 1830. 



iog 



both here the next day when they were instrumental in saving the 
family of John Kinzie. It is altogether likely that they were the 
runners sent by Tecumseh to the Pottawatomies to inform them in 
regard to the fall of Fort .Mackinac and to bring them as far as 
possible in league with him. The incident of his saving the Kin- 
zie family is related in the sketch given elsewhere of the life of 
John Kinzie. Caldwell participated in the battle of the Thames, 
October 5, 1S13, where Tecumseh was killed, but what active ser- 
vice he was engaged in after that is not known. The credential he 
gave Shawbonee shows that he was a captain in the British Indian 
Department as late as 1816. That document reads as follows : 

" This is to certify that the bearer of this name, Chamblie, 
was a faithful companion to me during the late war with the 
United States. The bearer joined the late celebrated warrior 
Tecumseh, of the Shawnee nation, in the year 1S07, on the 
Wabash River, and remained with the above warrior from the 
commencement of hostilities with the United States, until our 
defeat at Moravian Town, on the Thames, October 5, 1S13. I 
also have been witness to his intrepidity and courage as warrior on 
many occasions, and he showed a great deal of humanity to those 
unfortunate sons of Mars who fell into his hands. 

"LI. Caldwell, Captain I. D. 

"Amherstburg, August, 1S16." 

At what time Caldwell took up his residence near Fort Dear- 
born is not definitely known, but probably about the year 1820. 
Chicago was still a trading post, but the fort had been rebuilt and 
an Indian Agent resided here. It was a central point where the 
Indians gathered to receive their annuities and do their trading. 
In 1S26 we find Caldwell duly appointed Justice of the Peace for 
Peoria County, but he probably was seldom called upon to act in 
his official capacity. He was a voter, and his name appears on the 
poll lists of 1826 and 1S30. He usually officiated as one of the 
clerks of the election. By the treaty with the Pottawatomies held 
at Prairie du Chien in 1S29, two and one-half sections of land on 
the Chicago River were granted to him, and by the subsequent 
treaties of 1S32 and 1S33 an annuity aggregating one thousand 
dollars was bestowed by the Government. The land was located 
on the North Branch, about six miles from the junction with the 
main river. This land he sold at an early day. There was also 
a house built for him by the Department for Indian Affairs on the 
North Side near where is now the corner of State Street and Chi- 
cago Avenue. He was always, after his removal to Fort Dearborn, 
the unchangeable friend of the whites, and his influence with his tribe 
was exerted to preserve peace. In 1S27 at the time of the threatened 
outbreak by the Winnebagoes, and when the latter were doing all 
in their power to engage the Pottawatomies in a war with the 
whites, it was the influence of Caldwell and Shawbonee that pre- 
vented it. And again in 1S32 he prevented his people from allying 
themselves with Black Hawk in his desperate raid on the white 
settlements. Caldwell was very desirous of teaching his people 
the habits and customs of the whites. He wanted them to become 
educated and civilized. When Mr. Watkins started a school in 
1832, Caldwell offered to pay the tuition artd buy books and 
clothes for all Indian children who would attend school, if they 
would dress like the Americans, but it is stated none of them 
accepted. Neither did he approve the Indian custom of polygamy, 
and he never had but one wife. He found in her however a tem- 
per sufficiently hot for several, and his cabin is said to have often 
resounded with her animated tones, when rating her liege lord. 
She is said to have been a sister of the chief " Yellow Head", and 
a daughter of Nee-scot-ne-meg, one of the principal participators 
in the massacre of 1S12. They had one son who died in youth. 
James M. Bucklin, the chief engineer of the Illinois & Michigan 
Canal in 1S30, says of Caldwell: 

" From Billy Caldwell, a half-breed, with some education and 
great intelligence, who had explored the country in every direction, 
I often procured valuable information during my explorations. It 
was he who first suggested making a feeder of the Calamic River." 

When the time came for the removal of the Indians, under the 
various treaties made with them, Caldwell's influence was exerted 
to make the removal peaceful and successful. He determined to 
leave his cherished white friends behind, and cast his fortunes with 
his people, and share their privations and trials with them. In 
1S36, under the leadership of Captain Russell the Government 
Agent, and Billy Caldwell, the Indians to the number of nearly 
twenty-five hundred assembled for the last time at Chicago, to 
receive their payments and then take up their line of march for 
their new home on the Missouri, at Council Bluffs. Through the 
influence of Sauganash the removal was accomplished with ease 
and success. He never returned again to the scenes of his youth 
and manhood. Age was coming on him, and the bustling activity 
of the ambitious young city had no charm for one whose life had 
been passed amid the wildness of nature. He seems to have taken 
some interest in public affairs and during the exciting presidential 



campaign of 1S40, he with his friend Shawbonee, published the 
following letter: 

"Council Blui-fs, March 23, 1840. 
" To General Harrison's Friends : 

"The other day several newspapers were brought to us; and 

peeping over them, to our astonishment we found thai tin I 

the late war was called a coward. This would have surprised the 
tall braves, Tecumseh of the Shawnees, and Round Head and 
Walk-in-the-Water of the Wyandolts. If the departed could rise 
again, they would say to the while man that General Harrison was 
the terror of the late tomahawkers. The lirsl time we gol ac- 
quainted with General Harrison, it was at the council-fire of the 
late Old Tempest, General Wayne, on the headquarters of the 
Wabash, at Greenville, 1796. loan that time until 1S11, we had 
many friendly smokes with him; but from 1812 we changed our 
tobacco smoke into powder smoke. Then we found General liar- 
rison was a brave warrior and humane to his prisoners, as reported 
to us by two of Tecumseh's young men who were taken in the flee! 
with Captain Barclay on the loth of September, 1S13, and on the 
Thames, where he routed both the red men and the British, and 
where he showed his courage and his humanity to his prisoners, 
both white and red. See report of Adam Brown and family, taken 
on the morning of the battle, October 5, 1S13. We are the only 
two surviving of that day in this country. We hope the good 
white men will protect the name of General Harrison. We re- 
main your friends forever. 

" in imblee [Shawbonee], Aid to Tecumseh. 

" B. Caldwell, [Sauganash], Captain." 

Caldwell did not long survive the removal, but died in his 
new home in Council Bluffs on the ^Sth of September, 1841, 
at the age of sixty-two. His most striking characteristic was his 
humanity. In this respect he resembled his great leader, Tecumseh. 
He did all in his power to alleviate the horrors of the war, and in 
time of peace did all he could to promote the feeling of friendship 
between the Indians and whites. By the first residents and settlers 
of Chicago he was highly respected, and some are still surviving 
w : ho esteemed it no small privilege to accompany him on a hunting 
excursion. ' The esteem in which he was generally held is well re- 
flected in the action of Mark Beaubien, when he named his new 
tavern. It was suggested to Mark that he should name his house 
after some great man. He could think of no greater personage 
than Billy Caldwell and so his tavern became celebrated as the 
" Sauganash." 

Shaw-BO-nee, whose name has been written in many ways, 
. among others, as Chamblie, in Billy Caldwell's certificate hereto- 
fore given, was the son of an Ottawa chief, and was born near the 
Maumee River in Ohio about the year 1775. He married the 
daughter of a Pottawatomie, and he seems thereafter to have been 
more identified with the Pottawatomies than with the 1 Ittawas, 
though these tribes were always more or less intimately associated. 
His village was on the Illinois near where the present city of Ottawa 
now stands, but he subsequently removed it to what is now known as 
Shabbona Grove in De Kalb County. Shawbonee became associated 
with Caldwell and Tecumseh about the year 1807, and was their 
firm ally in all their enterprises, until the death of Tecumseh. 
Shawbonee was present at the battle of the Thames, and was by the 
side of Tecumseh when he was killed. He always maintained that 
it was Colonel Richard Johnson who fired the fatal shot that killed 
his chief. After the war was over he gave in his adherence to the 
United States Government, and from that time forth until the end 
of his life he was a strong and constant friend to the Americans, 
and on more than one occasion risked his own life to save his white 
friend. At the time of the so-called Winnebago war, in 1827, 
there was no military force at Fort Dearborn, and it was greatly 
feared by the settlers in the neighborhood that the Pottawatomies 
would be led to join with the northern tribes in war against the whites. 
After the annual pavment was made in September of that year, 
rumors that Big Foot's band, which had their villages on Lake 
Geneva, would certainly join with the Winnebagoes, fell thick and 
fast upon the ears of the startled settlers. At this juncture Shaw- 
bonee and Caldwell used their influence to restrain their own bands, 
and also volunteered to find out what were the plans of the Winne- 
bagoes, and whether Big Foot's band really intended to join with 
them. With this purpose in view they visited Big F'oot's village, 
and by their astuteness and clever management, succeeded in pre- 
venting Big Foot's band from entering into the threatened alliance. 
The last attempt made to engage the Pottawatomies in war with 
the whites was that made by Black Hawk in 1S32. That cele- 
brated warrior, emulating the example of Tecumseh a quarter of a 
century before, sought to enlist all the Indian tribes in a general 
war. A great council was held at Indiantown in February, 1832, 
and there with great eloquence and force Black Hawk enlarged 
upon the necessity of co-operation in order to save their hunting 
grounds from the encroachments of the whites. "Let all our tribes 



no 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



unite." said the lawny orator, "and we shall have an army of war- 
riors equal in number to the trees of the forest." The appeal was 
powerful and it tequired all the influence of Shawbonee, Caldwell 
and Robinson tc overcome it. Put these men well knew the power 
and military resources of the whites, and how hopeless a war with 
them would be. Said Shawbonee in answer to Black Hawk's figure 
of speech as to their numbers, "Your army would equal in 
number the trees of the forest, and you would encounter an army 
- - numerous as the leaves on those trees." The coun- 
cil failed in uniting the Indians in a common cause and although 
I iwk made one more effort to gain Shawbonee in his cause, 
he utterlv failed. Not only did Shawbonee repel all the efforts of 
Black Hawk, but when the 'war broke out, by his personal exer- 
tions, and at the risk of his life, he succeeded in warning some of 
the frontier settlers in time to save their lives. By the treaty of 
Prairie du Chien two sections of land were granted to Shawbonee. 
ted by him at the place where for many years his vil- 
lage had been situated in De Kalb County. A survey and plat 
•rdingly, and here Shawbonee resided until his band 
was removed to the West in 1837. He accompanied them with his 
family, but unfortunately their reservation was in the neighborhood 
of that of the Sacs and Foxes. The feud which had arisen between 
the tribes on account of Shawbonee's refusal to co-operate with 
Black Hawk still existed, and culminated in the murder of Shaw- 
bonee's eldest son and nephew by some of the revengeful Sacs and 
Shawbonee himself narrowly escaped and he was induced 
to return again with his family to his old home. He resided at his 
favorite grove with his family, for a number of year;, until his 
tribe was removed to their new reservation in Kansas. This in- 
duced him to again join his red brethren, but he remained with them 

r three years, when tje again returned to his Illinois home. 
But a change had now recurred. The Land Department had or- 
dered a new survey and ignored Shawbonee's claim, holding that he 
. :ted it by removal from it. It was entered at the land-of- 
fice at Dixon for sale, and when Shawbonee returned, he found his 
favorite home in the possession of strangers. His eminent services 
in behalf of the whites in the early days were all forgotten and he 
was ruthlesslv driven from the spot he so much loved and about 
which clustered so many of his dearest recollections. A few of his 
earlv friends hearing of his circumstances, united in the purchase of 
a small tract of twenty acres near Morris. Here he lived with the 
remnants of his family until July, 1S59, when he died. His re- 
mains lie buried in the cemetery of Morris. In personal appearance 
■ ae of the finest specimens of the American Indian. Tall, 
straight, and muscular, he was said to have been a model of physi- 
cal manhood. Until late in life his habits were temperate, but the 
misfortunes of his later years often led him to the intemperate use 
of that liquor which has ever been the enemy of his race. He 
owed much to the teachings and precepts of Tecumseh, and he in 

igs endeavored to conform himself to the example of that 
great warrior. He was humane as well as courageous, and always 
exerted his influence to protect unfortunate captives from the vio- 
lence of _ - A portrait of him adorns the walls of the 
Historical Society rooms, and his name and memory are 
preserved in the records of that association. 

(it'RUoN S. Hubbard, the earliest resident of Chicago now 

alive, was born in Windsor. Vt., August 22, 1S02. He was the 

Elizur and Abigail (Sagel Hubbard. He received in his 

vouth onlv the ordinarv education afforded bv the common schools. 




/^y^^&-v^-' 



At the age of ten years he left home and went to North Bridge- 
water, Mass., where he was a pupil in the school of Rev. Daniel 
Huntington for nearly three years. In the spring of 1815 he 
returned to his parents at Windsor, and soon thereafter removed 
with thc-m to Montreal, Canada. Soon after this removal the 
youth began life on his own account. He evinced a wonderful 
aptitude and taste for trade and traffic, even at this earlv age. 
rst ventures were in the poultry trade between northern 
Vermont and Canada, which as a mere boy without capital or 
to bring him a living and something 
In the fall of 1816, he gave up the traffic and entered the 
hardware store of John Frothingham, of Montreal, as a clerk, 
where he continued until 1818. In the spring of that year, being 
then sixteen years of age, hi for five years, 

sum of I j to William W. Matthews, then tin , 

the American Fur Company. Under this new engagement, he left 
Montreal for the wilds of the great Northwest, May 13, 1S1S. 



He was one of a party consisting of thirteen clerks, and one 
hundred and twenty men besides, the latter being all Canadians. 
The party traveled in thirteen batteaux. The destination was 
Mackinac on the lakes. The route was long and the journey 
dangerous. The parly without accident ascended the St. Lawrence 
ami in due course of time reached Toronto, then called Vorktown. 
So many of the Canadian voyageurs had deserted the expedition 
tn route, that at this point Mr. Matthews the commander decided 
to change his plans, and instead of continuing to coast Lake 
Ontario, he hired teams to haul his boats and goods over the 
Young-street road to Lake Simcoe, then embarking and taking on 
board two yoke of oxen. He coasted Lake Simcoe to the point 
nearest the S'ottawasaga River, and then with the aid of the oxen 
made another portage to that river about six miles; then re-em- 
barking they proceeded to the mouth of the river and continued 
their voyage, coasting along the shores and around the islands of 
Georgian Hay and Lake Huron to Mackinac Island, which they 
reached July 4. IMS. Mr. Hubbard is the only surviving white man 
who was an inhabitant of the vast region from Mackinac to far 
south of Chicago at that early period. Young Hubbard remained 
at Mackinac, working in the company's warehouse, until the 
middle of September, when, joining the Illinois Brigade, con- 
sisting of one hundred men, under the agent, Antoine Des 
Champs ; he set out, via Lake Michigan, for the Illinois countrv. 
The party had a full stock of supplies, such as would be required 
in trade with the Indians, and the fleet consisted of twelve 
batteaux. Passing through the straits, they crept along the east 
shore of Lake Michigan, stopping only when compelled to do 
so by heavy or head winds on their voyage. On the last day 
of October or first of November, 1S1S, the party reached Fort 
Dearborn, then all there was of Chicago. Mr. Hubbard re- 
mained there three days, being the guest of John Kinzie, at his 
house on the North Side. He then, with the partv, pushed into 
the interior country. They went, via the South ISranch and 
through Mud Lake (near Bridgeport), and laboriously carrying 
their goods upon their backs, and dragging their batteaux across 
the intervening land, came to the Desplaines River, which they 
descended to the Kankakee, and thence down the Illinois River. 
Mr. Hubbard was ordered to the trading-post at the mouth of 
Bureau River, then in charge of a Frenchman named Bebeau, who 
could neither read nor write. Young Hubbard was detailed to keep 
the accounts and assist in the details of the business of this post, by 
Mr. DesChamps. lie reached his appointed post early in Novem- 
ber, but was allowed by the agent to proceed down the river to 
St. Louis, where he met his father and brother, who were on their 
way to Arkansas. On the trip he saw no white men, except 
members of his own party, until he reached Portage de Sioux, 
about eighteen miles above St Louis, then a town of =ome six 
hundred inhabitants. About the middle of November he returned 
to Bebeau's trading-post, where he remained performing his clerical 
duties until spring. At that time, the trade with the Indians 
being over, he returned bv the same weary route, in the same bat- 
teaux, now laden with furs, and manned by many of his com- 
panions and voyageurs of the downward trip, to Mackinac, the 
headquarters of the American Fur Company. From that time till 
1823, his duties during the summer months spent at Mackinac 
were to assist Mr. Matthews, who had charge of that department, 
in receiving, assorting and packing the furs and peltries of the 
American Fur Company, and shipping them to New York. John 
Jacob Astor of that city being the president of the company. He 
made trips to the interior every winter, returning to Mackinac each 
summer. During the winter of 1S10.-20, he was in charge of a trad- 
-post at the mouth of Muskegon River. The following winter 

\alamazoo, 
Chicago on his way 
to Crooked Creek, a tributary of the Illinois River, skirting the 
northern boundary of what is now Brown County, and emptying 
into the river a few miles below the present town of Beardstown. 
He spent the succeeding three winters in charge of the business 
of the company at Iroquois. 

On his second visit to Chicago he found the same inhabitants 
outside the fort as at his former visit, viz.: John Kinzie and 
family, and Antoine Ouilmette, his Indian wife and half-breed 
children. F'rom that time he became identified with the history 
of Chicago, although he did not become a permanent resident 
until many years after. For the four succeeding years he passed 
through the region now known as Chicago, and then as a geo- 
graphical point called Fort Dearborn, many times each year. 
His supplies were all brought by water navigation to that point, 
and nearly all his furs were shipped from there. Chicago 
was the objective point of the Indian trade during those years, 
ind voung Hubbard, then the most active and vigorous agent of 
the company, became known to every man, woman and child at 
the fort. Subsequent to 1822. no person lived about the mouth of 



y ^ ing-post at the mouth of Muskegon River. The followi 

s S/~rfr-/y j ^Y ne s P ent i" charge of a post near the present site of K 

^C^V is C^^l^-\^ M!ch _ ]n the ]ate fal , of lg2I he m visited Chicago c 



CHICAGO FROM 1816 to i8*o. 



Chicago River who did not know this young, brave, and vigorous 
fur-trader. 

Mr. Hubbard remained in the employ of the American Fur 
Company two years beyond the term for which he was bound — 
seven years in all — during which time he had accumulated some 
wealth, and had acquired what was better, the entire confidence of 
every man connected with the trade of the Northwest, both Ameri- 
can and Indian. Mis wages, as has been stated, were, during the 
five years of his indenture only nominal — $120 per year* — but, for 
the succeeding two years, while he remained in the employ of the 
company, he received $1,300 per year and was, during the last year 
of his engagement a special partner. He severed his connection with 
the American Fur Company in the spring of r827. During the last 
year of his engagement, he, at his own solicitation, was allowed to 
open up an inland trade, on the Iroquois, his station being at the 
site of the present town of Watseca. While there he laid his plans, 
afterwards carried out, for an immense trade all along the line of 
what afterwards became famous as Hubbard's trail. 

During the period of Mr. Hubbard's engagement with the 
American Fur Company, he made twenty-six voyages to and from 
his interior posts and via Chicago, to the headquarters at Macki- 
nac. In 1S27, having purchased of the company its franchises 
and good-will, he commenced business for himself. He no longer 
confined his trade to the water-ways as had been formerly done, 
but, scuttling his boats for safety within the South Branch of the 
Chicago River, he fitted out what at that time might be termed a 
most formidable caravan, consisting of nearly fifty heavily-laden 
ponies, which h. had bought of the Pottawatomie chief Big Foot at 
his village fifty miles away, at the head of what is now known as 
Geneva Lake, Wisconsin. With this outfit he moved south toward 
the Wabash River, and established trading-posts all along the line, 
nearly to the mouth of the Wabash, at intervals of thirty to fifty 
miles. The trail thus first marked out by Hubbard's caravan, and 
for years after traveled between his trading posts, became famil- 
iarly known as " Hubbard's trail," andwasfor fifteen years the only 
well known and constantly traveled road between Chicago and the 
Wabash country. Danville, now the shiretown of Vermillion County, 
was the principal inland depot of supplies, and there Mr. Hubbard 
made his home for several years, although his business kept him mostly 
on the trail between his various posts. Thus it happened that, al- 
though not at the time a resident of Chicago, he was present at the 
partial burning of the fort in 1827; and, during the " Winnebago 
scare " which succeeded, made his memorable ride from Chicago to 
the Wabash country for help, the particulars of which are related 
elsewhere. 

As the settlements increased along the line of trading-posts 
established, the Indian trade gradually languished, and, one after 
another, Mr. Hubbard abandoned them on the south, until, after 
the extinction of the Indian title in 1833, and the certainty that 
his Indian customers would leave the country within two years, he 
abandoned the trade altogether, and became a permanent resident 
of Chicago, transferring his wonderful energy to his new home. 
This occurred in 1834. The intimate connection of Mr. Hubbard 
with the history of Chicago since that date is apparent on nearly 
every page, and in nearly every topic. It is unnecessary to repeat. 
He stands prominent as one of the foremost merchants for the 
succeeding twenty years, during which period, besides carrying on 
one of the largest shipping, commission, packing, and forwarding 
trades in the city, he held nearly every office of trust and honor 
that his fellow-citizens could thrust upon him. It may be said 
here that he never violated any trust bestowed, and, in his old age, 
he lives among the scenes of his active and useful life, with a 
character above reproach and a reputation untarnished by the busi- 
ness vicissitudes of half a century. 

In the spring of 1831 Mr. Hubbard married Elenora Berry, 
daughter of Judge Elisha Berry, of Urbana, Ohio. They had one 
child, Gurdon S. Hubbard, Jr., who was born in Chicago, February 
22, 1S3S, and is now (18S3), an honored citizen of the town where 
he was born. Mrs. Hubbard died February 28, 1838. 

In 1S43 Mr. Hubbard married Miss Mary Ann Hubbard, 
daughter of Alhira Hubbard, Chicago, who, with her honored hus- 
band still lives after forty years of married life, the worthy wife of 
the oldest and one of the worthiest of Chicago's citizens. 

CHICAGO IN 1830-33. 

Prior to 1830 there was no town of Chicago. The 
region round-about, and the embryo settlement out- 
side Fort Dearborn, had been known by that name, 

*Mr. Hubbard's father died in 1819. Out of the very moderate pittance of 
$120 per year, during the years of his indenture, he set apart for his widowed 
mother one-half of his earnings. A letter from the ageift, January 26, 1821, to 
his mother, then at Middleton, Conn., speaks in the highest terms of her faithful 
son, and notes the inclosure to her of $75, which he had set apart for her before 
leaving for his winter trip. 



which had been applied since the time of the early 
French explorations quite indiscriminately to the Des- 
plaines River, to all the marshy district lying about its 
source, and extending to and embracing the site of the 
present city.* 

The canal commissioners f appointed by the Legis- 
lature of 1829 were empowered to " locate the canal, 
to lay out towns, to sell lots, and to apply the proceeds 
to the construction of the canal." The members of this 
board were Dr. Jayne of Springfield, Edmund Roberts 
of Raskaskia, and Charles Dunn. These commissioners 
were the official fathers of the city. They employed James 
Thompson to survey and plat the town of Chicago on 
Section 9, Township 39, Range 14. The completion of 
this survey, and the filing of the plat bearing date 
August 4, 1830, marks the date of the geographical 
location of the town, now the great city of Chicago. 

The part of Section 9, platted as above, was bounded 
as follows: Commencing at the corner of Madison and 
State streets, on the south by Madison Street to its in- 
tersection with Desplaines; on the west by Desplaines; 
on the north by Rinzie; and on the east by State Street. 
It embraced the little settlement at Wolf Point and the 
lower village on the South Side, and comprised an area 
of about three-eighths of a square mile. 

The population of the new town and suburbs, out- 
side the fort (where two companies of United States 
infantry, under command of Major Fowle, were 
stationed', numbered, including the white families, half- 
breeds, and three or four French traders, not to exceed 
a hundred. Colbert's Chicago pp. 5 and 6), gives the 
following regarding the residents of Chicago in 1829 
and 1830. 

" In 1S29, the residents of the town besides the garrison were 
the following: John Kinzie, \ residing on the North Branch; Dr. 
Wolcott, Indian Agent, and son-in-law to Mr. Kinzie, residing 
near the site of the present Galena freight depot, just east of Clark 
Street (he died in the fall of 1830) ; John Miller, keeper of a log 
tavern, near the forks of the river, at Wolf Point, North Side; 
John B. Beaubien, residing near the lake shore, a little south of the 
fort; three or four Indian traders whose names have not been pre- 
served, residing in log cabins west of the river." 

The more elaborate "directory," given by the same 
author at the date of the finishing of Thompson's plat 
of the town, shows considerable increase of the resident 
population, or that the " census " of the previous year 
was imperfectly taken. It reads as follows: 

"At this time (August 4, 1830,) the commercial strength of 
Chicago was composed and located as follows: 

"Taverns — Elijah Wentworth, north side of the river, near the 
fork; Samuel Miller, west side of the river, just north of the fork; 
Mark Beaubien, east side of the river, just south of the fork.§ 

"Indian Traders — Robert A. Kinzie, near Wentworth's 
tavern; Mr. Bourisso (Leon Bourassea), just south of Beaubien's 

* The earlier maps do not designate the present Chicago River by that 
name, although many of them mark the region about the mouth of the present 
Chicago, as "Chicagou," while on the same map the river Desplaines was 
designated as the Chicagou River. It was also recognized as a locality under 
the name of Chicago in the official records of Fulton County, then embracing 
the present county of Cook. Concerning this, Hon. John Wentworth in a his- 
toric lecture published in Fergus's Historical Series, No. 7, says : "From St. 
Clair County, what is now Cook County was set off in the new county of 
Madison; thence in the county of Crawford; in 1819, in the new county of 
Clark; and so little was then known of the northern country that the act creat- 
ing Clark County extended it to the Canada line. In 1821 we were set off in 
the new county of Pike; in 1823, in the new county of Fulton; and in 1825, in 
the new county of Peoria. I have not only caused the county records of these 
counties to be examined, but have also corresponded with their earliest settlers, 
and I can find no official recognition of Chicago until we reach Fulton County. 
The Clerk of that county writes me that the earliest mention of Chicago m the 
records is the order of an election at the term of the Fulton County Commis- 
sioners Court, September 2, 1823, to choose one major and company officers, 
polls at Chicago to be opened at the house of John Kinzie. The returns of 
this election cannot be found, if they were ever made." Chicago was also a 
voting precinct of Peoria County, an election being held there as early as 
August 7, 1826. 

t For a full account of the development of the canal project, and the prog- 



ess of the work to the time of its completit 
vhich appears elsewhere in this volume. 

t John Kinzie died Januarv 6, 1828. 

§ Wentworth's tavern was on the West Side, and Mille 



'Canal, ' 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



tavern: Log Cabin, near foot of North Dearborn Street: J, B. 
Beaubien. present site of Illinois Central depot. 

"Butchers — Archibald Clybourne.* North Branch. 

"Merchants — George W. Dole.-f 

"lames Kin.-ie and family. William See and family, and Alex- 
ander Robinson and family, resided near Wentworth's tavern. The 
old Kin/ie house, on the north side of the river and opposite the fort, 
was then unoccupied and in a dilapidated state. The Government 
agency-house, known as 'Cobweb Castle,' was left unoccupied by 
the death of Dr. Wolcott. In its vicinity were small log buildings 
occupied by the blacksmith, Mr. McKee, and Billy Caldwell, an 
Indian chief, who was also interpreter for the agency. At this 
time, or soon after. G. Kereheval and Dr. E. Harmon and James 
Harrington had arrived, and were making claims on the lake shore 
in the succeeding spring." 



List of voters at an election held at Chicago August 2, 
1S30:* 

1. Stephen J. Scott, Chicago. 

2. John B. Beaubien, Chicago. 

3. Leon Bourassea, Chicago. 

4. B. H. Laughton, six miles southwest (now Riverside). 

5. Jesse Walker, J Methodist minister, Plainfield, 111., Fox 

River. 

6. Medore B. Beaubien, Chicago; now (1883) lives at Silver 

Lake, Kan. 

7. Jean Baptiste Chevalier, Chicago. 

S. James Kinzie, Chicago ; see sketch of Kinzie family, 
g. Russel E. Heacock, Chicago ; see his biography. 

10. James Brown, unknown. 

11. Joseph Laframboise, Chicago; Indian chief by marriage. 



NOSNOMe'a andWai 















1 — 1 










1 










£ - 



















THOMPSON S PLAT. 



The poll-book used at an election held at the 
Chicago precinct of Peoria County, at the house of 
James Kinzie. August 2, 1830, gives additional informa- 
tion as to the inhabitants of Chicago and the surrounding 
country, embraced within the precinct of that time. The 
public are indebted to the Hon. John Wentworth for its 
publication. It appears in his lecture published in 
Fergus's Historical Series, Xo. 7, p. 16. The list em- 
braces the names of thirty-two voters, some of whom 
were not residents of Chicago, although living within 
the limit of the precinct t and sufficiently near to at- 
tend the election. The list is given below, with resi- 
dence so far as can be ascertained. 

• Clyhournr'« phu .- might h>- said to be a] hi outside the limits, it being 

on the west tide of the North Brant b, near . Wolf Point, He 

was, however, the botcher not only for the garrison but for the citizens, and 
might thus be counted in. Besides the wife and children of Archibald, his 

family included his father J. mas. an. I a half-brother, |..l,i, K. ( lark. 

• The name of George W. Dole is erroneously inserted in the above list. 

■ arrive until Ma; thor, p. 5. 

: I • limits of the pri , ,.,.d all that part of 

leDu Pa. I'i < f , .-. !i . H . mpl . - it ... ., I , , ., 
into the Desplaint 
although not extending to its present western 



12. John L. Davis, Chicago ; Welch tailor, afterward went fa 

Milwaukee ; lived there in 1882. 

13. William See. Chicago ; minister and blacksmith. See 

biography. 

14. John Van Horn, unknown. 

15. John Mann, unknown. 

16. David Van Eaton, unknown. 

17. Stephen Mack, Chicago ; clerk of American I'm Company. 

18. Jonathan N. Bailey, Chicago (first Postmasterl ; lived in 

part of old Kinzie house. 

19. Alexander McDale, unknown. 

20. John S. C. Hogan, Chicago. 

21. David McKee, Chicago ; blacksmith Born in 1S00; moved 

to Aurora, 111. 

22. Billy Caldwell, Chicago. 

23. Joseph Thibeant, Chicago. 

* Two other poll lists have been published (see appendix to second historic 
lecture of Hon. John Wentworth, Fergus's Historical Series, No. 7, pp. 54, 55) 
One is of the voters at a special election for Justice of the Peace at the Chicago 
precinct, of Peoria County, at the house of John Kinzie on Saturday, July 24. 
1830, which contains fifty-six names; the other is for a special election at John 
Kinzie's house for Justice of the Peace, for Peoria County, November 25, 1830. 
on which twenty-six names appear. At the latter election Stephen Forbes was 
elected, receiving eighteen voles, against eight votes cast for Rev. William See 
The full particulars .,f th.se earlv elections are recorded in the article on politia 
in this volume. 

nissionary work from Peoria to Chicago (Hurlbut, p 
1832 t Hurlbut, p. 502, note.) 



2 

H 
n 

»\ 



» 3 

ss 

<*< 

to a> 
0D3 

SB O 
3 3 

a< 
_ s> 

co° 



— a 

o I! 

IS 

s» a 
?? 

3 » 



TOWNSHIP 39 NORTH 

.WEVfjsSHT."" 



?3 

o " 



a s 



co 
a 3 



?3 



<B 3 



„ - 
o J 

- 3 




TOWNSHIP 40 NORTt 



&(,»» In/frr 



— --?o> — — 



J 

^S 

& 



■Joticr/, Clifton 



t^/eJ-astt/erJffln/e 















r ^ ^l^ar # 




CHICAGO IN 1830-33. 



U3 




H4 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



24. Peter Frique. Chicago. 
»5_ Mark Beaubien, Chicago. 

26. Laurant Martin. Chicago. 

27. Jean Baptiste Secor, unknown. 
2?. Joseph Bauskey. unknown. 

29. Michael Welch, Chicago. 

30. Francis Ladusier, Chicago ; single, died at Archibald Cly- 

bourne's. 

31. Lewis Ganday, unknown. 

3a. Peresh Leclerc, Chicago ; Indian interpreter. 

The French names are mostly of Indian traders who 
ever followed the Indian tribes with whom they had be- 
come allied, first in the interest of their trade, and later 
from family or tribal relations which had come from 
intermarriage. Most of them had Indian wives. 

A few not shown in the foregoing list were, at that 
date, living in Chicago. Among them was Stephen 
Forbes, who taught a private school in what was known 
as the " Dean house " during the spring months of 
1S30. He went to Ohio during the summer of that 
year, returned with a wife in September, and they to- 
gether re-opened his private school. The following 
sketch of the Forbes family is taken from Hurlbut's 
" Chicago Antiquities : " 

"Stephen Forbes was born in Wilmington, Vt., 26th July, 
1797 : his parents were John and Anna (Sawyer) Forbes. He 
married in Xewburgh, Ohio, 25th March, 1830, Elvira (born in 
Moncton, Vt., 30th November, 1S06), daughter of Noble and 
Aurilla (Booth) Bates. Mr. Forbes first came to Chicago in the 
summer of 1S29, and returned to Ohio the ensuing fall ; came 
back to Chicago in the spring of 1830, and taught school three 
months, and then went to Ohio again, and returned here with Mrs. 
Forbes in the month of September, of that year. They lived in the 
Dean house, so called, just by the outlet of the river. The boats, 
which unloaded the vessels, turned in there just by this house. The 
house was a block or timber-built one, being of logs hewed on two 
sides, with two main rooms, with an addition of one room. The 
school was kept in this house, Mrs. Forbes and her class occupy- 
ing one room, and Mr. F. and the boys the other. Of the chil- 
dren of this school, a boy and girl came from the garrison; the girl, 
whose name was Julia Shuttleworth, was the daughter of an En- 
glishman, a soldier in the fort. The other scholars were mostly 
French or half-breeds. Late in 1S31, Mr. F. removed to where 
Riverside is now, or near there, where the Laughtons lived, but 
returned to Chicago in 1832, in consequence of the Indian troubles. 
David and Bernardus H. Laughton were Indian traders, and a 
few years before had a store at Hardscrabble, on the Chicago 
South Branch. The wife of the last-named gentleman was a sister 
of Mrs. Forbes. Mr. Forbes returned to live at Laughton's, and 
when both those gentlemen died within a few weeks of each other; 
he helped to bury them. Mr. F. was the first Sheriff of Cook 
County elected by the people, 1832. These items, with others, 
we received from Sir. F. at an interview on his eighty-first birth- 
day, July 26, 1878. The above portraits were copied from photo- 
graphs taken about 1S6S ; the autograph signature of Mr. F. is 
the same as the one which accompanies his letter ; that of Mrs. F. 
was written in her seventy-second year. Mr. F. had a paralytic 
attack some years since, but continued to walk out frequently in 
pleasant weather. He died suddenly of apoplexy, in Chicago, at 
the house of his son-in-law, Nathan S. Peck, on Tuesday evening, 
nth February, 1879." 

Religious Germs. — As a whole, the Chicago of 
1831 could not have been considered a pious town.* 
There was no church edifice, and outside the fort, with 
the exceptions of the ministrations of the Jesuit 
priests among the Indians, and the visits of McCoy, 
Scarrett, and Walker on the part of Protest- 
ant missions, it does not appear that the 
preaching of the gospel had been an el- 
ement in the life of the town. Wil- 
liam See, a Methodist exhorter, occa- 
sionally essayed to preach. He was a 
blacksmith, and worked for Mr. McKee. Mrs. Kin- 
zie heard him preach in the spring of [831. He 
preached in what she termed the "little school-house" 
at Wolf Point. It does not appear, however, that his 
ministrations were rewarded with a religious awakening 

* See Religious History. 



sufficient to result in an organization of the few devout 
persons who heard him preach. He was a man of unblem- 
ished character, and, as a faithful servant of his Master, 
did what he could to prepare the way for the more effi- 
cient, though not more meritorious, work done by his 
immediate successors, with whom he continued to co-op- 
erate in religious labor after their arrival. He is entitled 
to the distinction of being the first ordained resident 
preacher of the modern Chicago. " Chicago Mission " 
was designated in 1831 as a point in the Sangamon 
District of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the 
Rev. Jesse Walker, then living at Plainfield, forty miles 
distant, was appointed to the charge. He paid his first 
visit after his appointment in- company with Rev. 
Stephen R. Beggs. Mr. Beggs held his first meeting in 
Dr. Harmon's room, in the fort, on the evening of June 
15, 1831. On the following day he preached in the log 
school-house at Wolf Point, where William See had 
occasionally preached before. The meeting resulted in 
the formation at that time of a Methodist class, and 
the permanent establishment of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church in Chicago. The venerable pioneer of Meth- 
odism, Mr. Beggs, in an address before the Calumet 
Club in Chicago, May 27, 1879, forty-eight years after, 
spoke of the formation of the class and its members 
as follows : 

" My next ( second ) service was in the log school-house north 
of what is now Washington Street, on the first block west of the 




Wl 



y^u^^M»^^xr 



river, upon or near what is now Canal Street, and near Wolf Point. 
I invited all to come forward who wished to enroll themselves in 
the Methodist Church. Ten responded. Among them were: 
William See, who was made class-leader, who moved to Racine, 
Wis., and died there ;* Elijah Wentworth, Jr., the first Coroner of 
* Hurlbut— see "Antiquities." p 373— states that See died in Iowa County, 



CHICAGO IN 1830-33. 



"5 



Cook County, who died at Galesburg, 111., on the iSth of November, 
1875 ; his mother, Lucy (Walker) Wentworth, who died at Chi- 
cago, of cholera, July, 22, 1849, and his two sisters, Mrs. Charles 
Sweet, now of St. Joseph, Mich., and Mrs. Elijah Estes, of 
Milwaukee, Wis., whose daughter is now the wife of Rev. 
Isaac Lineburger, at Dixon, in this State. This same log school- 
house afterwards served as chapel and parsonage for the itinerant 
clergyman. Here were his kitchen and parlor. At the Methodist 
Conference held at Indianapolis the 4th of October, 1S31, I was ap- 
pointed to Chicago, and held my first quarterly meeting in January, 
1S32, being the first ever held here, and there was also the first Meth- 
odist communion service. T. B. Clark, of Plainfield, carried pro- 
visions on an ox-sled to sustain the people through the quarterly 
meeting." 

Mrs. Zebiah (Wentworth) Estes is still living (1883) 
at Bay View, near Milwaukee, and is believed to be the 
only surviving member of the class. Her sister, Mrs. 
Susan (Wentworth J Sweet, died at St. Joseph, Mich., 
March 25, 1882. 

No other efforts to establish stated religious services 
in Chicago were made until the following year. As 
auxiliary to the religious movement above mentioned, 
weekly prayer meetings were begun in the fall, at the 
house of Mark Noble, Sen. (the old Kinzie house). Mr. 
Noble, his two daughters, and Mrs. R. J. Hamilton, all 
Methodists, were the originators and zealous supporters 
of this first Christian prayer meeting of Chicago. 

The first Post-office was established at the town 
of Chicago in the spring of 1831, and Jonathan N. 
Bailey appointed Postmaster. He was, at that time, 
living in the old Kinzie house, opposite the fort. It is 
probable that the mails were first opened and distrib- 
uted at his dwelling. The mail facilities at the time the 
post-office was established were not of the best. There 
were no post-roads. The mail was received once in 
two weeks from Niles, that being the nearest distribut- 
ing post-office. 

The village did not grow rapidly during the first year 
after the survey was made. A few men came in to swell 
the permanent population, but not sufficient to give it any 
decided certainty of being the leading city of the West. 
The sale of lots by the land commissioners was made 
largely to speculators or to the few residents who took 
a local interest in the embryo town. The prices real- 
ized were by no means extravagant when compared 
with those of to-day. As showing the first market value 
of city lots in Chicago, the following partial list of pur- 
chasers of 1830, and the prices paid or promised to be 
paid, is given : 

PARTIAL LIST OF PURCHASES OF CANAL LOTS AND LAND SUR- 
VEYED AND BROUGHT INTO .MARKET IN 1830. 



■ Name. 


Description. 


Price, Etc 


J. B. Beaubien - 


Lots 1 and 2, block 17 


$100 


Mark Beaubien 


Lots 3 and 4, block 31 


102 


William Belcher 


Lots 5 and 6, block 29 


109 


Wilson A. Bell 


Lots 4 and 5, block 34 


48 


Lvon Bourissa — — 


Lots 1 and 2, block 44 


114 


Archibald Clybourne, 


Lots 4 and 5, block 5 


42 








John Evans 


.Lot 5, block 33 


21 


Clement A. Finley 


Lots 5 and 6, block 31 


101 












50 




Also 80 acres west half of 




northeast quarter Section 


1-55 per 




(9?)-- ---- •- 


acre 


John S. C. Hogan. .. 


Lots 1, 2, 5 and 6, block- . 


116 




Lot 7, block 8 




Gurdon S. Hubbard.. 


Lots 1 and 2, block 19 


75 


William Jewell __ 


Lots 5 and 6, block 28 


21 


Benjamin Kercheval-. 


So acres, west half of north- 








1.25 per 
acre 












Edward Keyes 


Lots 5 and 6, block 8 


47 



Name. 


Description. 


Price, Etc- 


Paul Kingston 

fames Kinzie. 

John II. Kinzie . 
William Lee (See ?) .. 
Stephen Mack 


Lot 7, block 20 

Lots 5, 6, 7 and 8, block.. 


27 

76 for 4 lots 

37 

64 

130 
100 


Lots 3, 4 and 5, block 23 . . 
Lots 7 and 8, block, 43 .. 


Peter Menard, Jr 


Lots 4, block 29 


George M iller 

Samuel Miller _. 

Jonathan H. Pugh 


Lots 5 and 6, block 36 

Lots 3, 4, 5 and 6, block 
M - 


63 
no 

24 

45 
138 
42 




Alexander Robeson.. 
Thomas Ryan 


Lots ; and 2, block 29 

Lot 2, block 14 


[ohn Wellmaker 

John P. Wilburn .... 
Alexander Wolcott 

Jedediah Woolsey, Jr. 


Lots 1 and 2, block 14 


54 
60 


Eight lots in block 1, also 
east half of northeast 
quarter, Section 9, Town 
39, Range 14, 80 acres. - 

Lot 9, block 44 


i.f>2'/i per 
acre 
50 



The changes in the resident population during 1831' 
mentioned by the early chroniclers, were as follows : 

The troops in garrison were removed in June to 
Green Bay, and the Government property left in charge 
of Indian Agent Colonel T. J. V. Owen, assisted by his 
brother-in-law, Gholson Kercheval. 

Among those who became citizens of the town were : 
Colonel R. J. Hamilton, who came April 9 ; George W. 
Dole, May 4 ; P. F. W. Peck, who brought with him a 
small stock of goods in the schooner " Telegraph," 
which arrived in July ; Rev. Stephen R. Beggs, June, 
1 83 1 ; R. N. Murray, July, 1831 ; J. W. Pool, October, 
1 83 1 ; Mark Noble and family, August, 1831 ; Dr. 
Elijah D. Harmon, who came in 1 831, as appears in 
Mrs. Kinzie's " Waubun," p. 205. He lived in the fort, 
but is entitled to a place among the early settlers of 
Chicago. Of him Mrs. Kinzie wrote : 

" When we chose the path across the prairie toward the south, 
we generally passed a newcomer, Dr. Harmon, superintending the 
construction of a sod fence, at a spot he had chosen, near the shore 
of the lake. In this inclosure, as the season advanced, he occu- 
pied himself in planting fruit stones of all descriptions, to make 
ready a garden and orchard for future enjoyment. We usually 
stopped to have a little chat. The two favorite schemes of the 
Doctor were horticulture and the certain future importance of 
Chicago." 

The accounts are quite unanimous in the statement 
that many emigrants were temporary sojourners in the 
fort, and the buildings surrounding, during the summer 
and fall, but it does not appear that many of them 
remained permanently. Most of them went beyond to 
the Fox and Rock River countries and made settlements 
there. 

Colbert, p. 5, states : " The same vessel (the ' Tele- 
graph ' brought a number of families who, however, did 
not settle here. Emigration set in largely in the fall, 
and by September the fort was filled with emigrant 
families, the occupants numbering some four hundred 
souls." 

Governor Bross, " History of Chicago," p. 18, says: 

" The ' Telegraph,' which arrived in July, and the 'Maren- 
go,' were the only arrivals during the season, except the one that 
transported the troops to Green Bay.* The principal part of the 
population of Chicago during the winter of 1831-32 occupied the 
quarters in the garrison, and were ministered to, in the way of 
creature comforts, by our estimable citizen George W. Dole, who 
was the only merchant then in Chicago, except Mr. R. A. Kinzie, 
at Wolf Point." 

* The " Napoleon," Captain Hinckley, 



n6 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



Mr. Colbert chronicles the arrival of P F. W. Peck 
on the " Telegraph," " with a small stock of goods," 
and states that " he built a small log store near the fort," 
thus making an important addition to the trade of Chi- 
cago. If the statement is correct. Mr. Peck doubtless 
took his share of the trade with Messrs. Kinzie and 
Dole.* 

There is no mention of any building being done 
during the year, except the store of Peck, before men- 
tioned. 

Chicago becomes a County Seat. — The act 
creating Cook County was passed by the General As- 
sembly of Illinois, and approved January 15, 1831. By 
the same act the town of Chicago was made the county 
seat. Section 1 of the act read as follows: 

" He it enacted by the people of the Slate of Illinois, repre- 
sented in the General Assembly, That all that tract of country, to 
wit: commencing at the boundary line between the states of Indiana, 
Illinois, at the dividing line between towns thirty-three and thirty- 
four, north; thence west to the southwest corner of townthirtv-four 
north, of range nine, east; then due north to the northern boundary 
line of the State; thence east with said line to the northeast corner 
of the State; thence southwardly with the line of the State to the 
place of beginning, — shall constitute a county to be called Cook, f 
and the county seat thereof is hereby declared to be permanently 
established at the town of Chicago, as the same has been laid out 
and defined by the land commissioners." 

Section S directs that an election beheld "at Chi- 
cago, in Cook County, on the first Monday in March 
next, for one sheriff, one coroner, and three county com- 
missioners. " 

Section 10 locates the public buildings at Chicago 
'• on the public square, as laid off by the Canal Com- 
missioners, on the south side of the Chicago River," and 
in the succeeding section the County Commissioners 
were authorized " to sell the same whenever they may 
think it best, and apply the proceeds thereof to the erec- 
tion of a court-house and jail." 

Section 13 established a ferry at the "seat of justice." 
The County Commissioners were without delay to pro- 
vide a suitable boat, or other water craft, and hire a ferry- 
man at their discretion as to terms. The ferry was to 
be free to the inhabitants of the county; others to be 
ferried at such rates as should be reasonable and just. 

In March, 183 1, Cook County was organized. It 
then embraced, besides its present limits, all of what 
are now the counties of Lake, McHenry, DuPage, and 
Will. The only voting place in the county was Chi- 
cago, at the first election. No general election was 
held until the following year, before which time the 
county had been divided into three precincts. The 
tir^t 1 ommissioners were Samuel Miller, Gholson Kerche- 
val, and James Walker, who, on March 8, held their 
first court in Chicago, and took the oath of office be- 
fore Justice of the Peace J. S. C. Hogan. William See 
was appointed Clerk and Archibald Clybourne, Treas- 
urer. With the exception of Walker, who lived on the 
DuPage River, the governing power of Cook County 
sted in residents of Chicago. During the first 
■ >f the court, which lasted two days, the follow- 
ing proceedings were made matter of record: 

" An order was pa 1 thai the southwestern fraction of Sec- 
tion 10. Township i). Range 14, east, be entered for county pur- 
poses. The Treasurer was authorized to borrow one hundred 
dollars with which to make the entry, at a rate of interest not to 
( p<r cent. Jesse Walker was appointed as agent to enter 
the land in behalf oi the county. \ 

• Robert A. Kinzie, Samuel Miller, Alexander Robinson, John B. P.eau- 
bien, Mai and Mark Beaubien had all b.-.n lion.,, d to sell goods 

at this time. Perhaps the five last mentioned traded exclusively with Indians. 
honorol rion. Daniel H.F.Cook, who as a mem- 
ber of Congress, had been chiefly instrumental in procuring the passage of the 
canal bill and land grant of 1827. 

t The project failed Mr. Walker at a subsequent meeting (June 6) re- 
ported that be had been refused permission to make the entry, and returned the 
money. 



" Jedediah Wooley was nominated for appointment by the Gov- 
ernor as County Surveyor. 

" Three voting precincts were established and their boundaries 
defined, designated as the Chicago precinct, the Hickory Creek 
precinct and the DuPage precinct. 

" Grand and petit jurors were selected, and other unimportant 
business transacted after which, as was recorded, ' the court ad- 
journed until court in course. '" 

April 13. 1831, a special term of the Court of 
County Commissioners was held in Chicago — present, 
Samuel Miller and Gholson Kercheval, the two Chicago 
members. At this session considerable business was 
transacted relating especially to the history of Chicago. 
It was ordered that a tax of one-half per cent be 
levied on the following description of property, to wit: 
" On town lots; on pleasure carriages; on distilleries; 
on all horses, mules, and neat cattle above the age of 
three years; on watches, with their appurtenances; and 
on all clocks." 

The first two tavern licenses were granted by Cook 
County to Chicago landlords — Elijah Wentworth, for 
$7, and Samuel Miller, for $5. 

Following the granting of these licenses, the records 
show that it was — 

Ordered that the following rates* be allowed to tavern keep- 
ers to wit: 

Each half pint of wine, rum, or brandy $.25 

Each pint do 37^ 

Each half pint of gin 185^ 

Each pint do 31X 

Each gill of whisky <&% 

Each half pint do 12^ 

Each pint do ^H 

For each breakfast and supper 25 

For each dinner 2/1% 

For each horse fed 25 

Keeping horse one night 50 

Lodging for each man per night 12^ 

For cider or beer, one pint °6/^ 

For cider or beer, one quart 12^ 

During the same session, Russel E. Heacock was 
licensed " to keep a tavern at his residence,"! and Rob- 
ert A. Kinzie, Samuel Miller, and B. Laughton,J were 
licensed to sell merchandise. James Kinzie was duly 
licensed as an auctioneer. 

Action was had for the establishment of a ferry 
across the branches of the Chicago River at the forks. 
The people of Cook County, " with their traveling ap- 
ratus," were to be passed free ; all others were to be 
charged for ferriage as per a schedule of rates then 
adopted. Whoever should be appointed ferryman would 
be required to file a bond in the sum of $200 for the 
faithful performance of his duty, and to pay into the 
county treasury the- sum of $50. A ferry scow was 
purchased of Samuel Miller for $65. At the next term 
of court [June 6, 1831) Mark Beaubien was duly ap- 
pointed ferryman of Chicago, having filed the required 
bond, with James Kinzie as surety, and entered into an 
agreement to pay into the county treasury the required 
sum of $50. 

The Clerk, being empowered to do certain acts 
necessary to keep the wheels of government in motion, 
during the vacation of the court, granted permits to 
sell goods to Alexander Robinson, John B. Beaubien, 
and Madore B. Beaubien. 

The second regular session of the Court was held 
June 6. 

* At that time dimes and half dimes were not in circulation, and the com- 
putation of all small transactions, involving less than one dollar, was based on 
the Spanish coin, valued at 13^ cents, known in New York as the "York shil- 
ling,' and in New England as a " nine pence." 

t Mr. Heacock, who had been licensed by Peoria County, June 3, 1830, 
lived up the South Branch some five miles from the present court-house. His 
place was known as Heacock's Point — his claim was on Section 32, Township 
39, Range 14 

\ Barney H. l.aughton kept his store at what is now Riverside, some miles 
southwest of the village. One authority says " three miles up the South 



CHICAGO IN 1830-33. 



117 



At that session Mark Beaubien, O. Newberry,* and 
Joseph Leflenboys were licensed to sell goods in 
Cook County. Subsequent records show that, during 
1 83 1, in addition to those before mentioned, merchants' 
licenses were granted to Brewster, Hogan & Co., Peck, 
Walker & Co., Joseph Naper, and Nicholas Boliveu. 

First County Roads. — The initiatory steps were 
taken during this session for the establishment of two 
country roads. The first was to be located " from the 
town of Chicago to the house of B. Lawton, from 
thence to the house of James Walker, on the DuPage 
River, and so on to the west line of the county." The 
viewers appointed were Elijah Wentworth, R. E. Hea- 
cock, and Timothy B. Clark. The second was to run 
" from the town of Chicago, the nearest and best way to 
the house of Widow Brown, on Hickory Creek." James 
Kinzie, Archibald Clvbourne, and R. E. Heacock were 
appointed viewers. These two highways were intended 
to open communication with the southern and western 
parts of the county, and between the voting places in 
the three precincts established. The projected road to 
Widow Brown's was laid out from the town of Chicago 
on what is now State Street and Archer Avenue. 
The DuPage road ran essentially on the line of Madi- 
son Street to Ogden Avenue, thence on said avenue 
to Lawton's, near what is now Riverside. 

The first report of the viewers of the last-named 
road does not appear to have been satisfactory to the 
court as the record says : " the report is rejected and 
the viewers shall have no pay for their services." The 
court perhaps transcended its authority in thus cutting 
off the pay of the derelict viewers, but, as there is no 
record to the contrary, it is believed that the punish- 
ment was meekly borne by the luckless trio, and that no 
attempts were made on their part to obtain redress. 
Thus early in history did the county fathers frown upon 
undesirable practices in the civil service, whether cor- 
rupt or otherwise. Slight lapses from the inflexible 
integrity of the early court have since occurred, and 
the practice of depriving officials of the emoluments of 
office when under clouds of suspicion has long ago 
fallen into disuse. 

First Public Land Sale. — The Canal Commis- 
sioners deeded Cook County a tract of ten acres 
including what is now the court-house square. 

It was decided by the commissioners to sell off by 
public auction a part of the land. The sale occurred 
July 1831, James Kinzie being the auctioneer. The 
county records show that the rate of commissions al- 
lowed him were two and one-half per cent for the first 
$200, and one per cent for all over that sum. For his 
services he received a county order for the sum of 
$14.53-^. Computing from the amount of the auc- 
tioneer's commissions, it would appear that the gross 
amount of sales was $1,153.75. 

An Indian Payment. — The last occurrence wor- 
thy of note in the annals of Chicago for the year 
1 83 1, was the gathering of nearly 4,000 Indians to 
receive their annuities, which were disbursed by Colonel 
Owen, assisted by Kinzie and Gholson Kercheval. 
The payment occurred during the latter part of Sep- 
tember, and was the occasion of no little anxiety on 
the part of the whites, as it was known that there were 
emissaries from the Sacs of Black Hawk's band, who 
had but recently reluctantly moved to the western 
banks of the Mississippi, attempting to incite the tribes 
gathered to make common cause with them against the 
whites, and to inaugurate a general war for the exter- 
mination of the settlers and the repossession of their 

* Oliver Newberrv was then a merchant of Detroit, 



old hunting grounds. It was known that the counsels 
of the Pottawatomies were far from unanimous for 
peace. Black Foot, leader of a powerful band, having 
his home at the head of Big Foot, now Geneva Lake, 
was ready to put on his war paint, as were most of his 
braves. His influence was, however, not sufficient, 
against the strenuous opposition of Billy Caldwell 
(Sauganash) who was the stanch friend of the whites, 
to carry the tribe into the proposed warlike alliance; and 
much to the relief of the whites the plot fell through, 
and the payment ended in a bloodless orgie of drunk- 
enness, after which the various tribes returned to their 
villages, some evincing surly disappointment that blood 
had been averted. The sentiment of the tribes as a 
whole was not reassuring for a lasting peace. Although, 
through the firmness of Colonel Owen and the influence 
of the friendly chiefs, no hostile alliance had been 
effected, it was quite generally believed that in case of 
any attempt on the part of the Sacs to repossess their 
lands about Rock Island, the Pottawatomies would at 
best be only neutral as a tribe, while Big Foot's band 
might prove secret allies so far as to give aid and com- 
fort to the enemy. 

Early Amusements. — During the winter of 1831-32 
the settlement, almost shut out from the outside world, 
found amusement, pastime and profit within the nar- 
row range of its own resources. There were dances at 
Mark Beaubien's. A " debating society " was organ- 
ized at the fort, J. B. Beaubien being the president. A 
chronicler states that he presided with " much efficiency 
and dignity." Although not very conversant with 
Jefferson's Manual, he had no occasion to use it, as 
every member was disposed to be orderly and behave 
himself, and each and all seemed bound to contribute 
as much as possible to the general sum of knowledge 
and usefulness. Here Chicago oratory was first 
fledged, and the ever-recurring questions of debate on 
such occasions were for the first time debated, if not 
settled, on the western shore of Lake Michigan. 

Mark Noble and family, Mrs. Hamilton, the Went- 
worths, Mr. See and wife, Rev. Stephen R. Beggs and 
family and other religious souls, if such they were, held 
weekly prayer meetings, either at Mr. Noble's house or 
at the fort. Thus, the grave, the gay and the intellect- 
ual found sources of enjoyment in this far-off hamlet 
of the West. The monotony of the short winter days 
was broken by an occasional scrub-race on the ice be- 
tween one of Mark Beaubien's horses (he had two) and 
any other that could be found to score with him. An 
occasional wolf hunt within the present city limits also 
helped to while away the time until the warm spring 
should bring the expected arrival of more emigrants, 
and the consequent renewal of business, which had been 
quite brisk with passing emigrants till cold weather 
set in. 

An Unexpected Set Back. — The spring came, and 
with it came rumors which blighted all hopes of a re- 
newal of the tide of emigration early in the season. 
They were to the effect that Black Hawk,* with his band, 
although unsuccessful in his attempts at an alliance with 
the Pottawatomies the fall before, had recrossed the 
Mississippi in violation of his treaty, and with the ap- 
parent intent of re-occupying his old village and the ter- 
ritory along the Rock River which he had so recently 
left. The alarming rumor was confirmed on the arrival 
of Hon. Richard M. Young, at Fort Dearborn. He 
was at that time one of the circuit judges of the State. 
He was accompanied by Benjamin Mills, Esq., a lead- 

* For fuller account concerning the Black Hawk War, see article on Fort 
Dearborn and the Military History. 



nS 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



ing member of the Illinois Bar, and Colonel Strode. 
They had come from Galena, by way of Dixon, and re- 
ported that the Indians at the latter point showed evi- 
dent signs of their hostile intentions. Later arrivals 
confirmed their statements. The aggressive march of 
the band up the Rock River, their meeting with Still- 
man's force, their subsequent breaking up into small 
bands to prey upon the defenseless settlers, the massa- 
cre at Indian Creek, and the general panic which en- 
sued, has all been told elsewhere. The tidings of the 
campaign as it progressed came daily to Chicago, and 
created, as may well be imagined, a consternation and 
excitement which overshadowed all other interests for 
the time. The nearest, and in fact the only place of 
refuge for the settlers on the Desplaines and vicinity, 
was Fort Dearborn. The settlers were warned by Shaw- 
bonee, a friendly Pottawatomie chief, through scouts 
sent by him to the various settlements to inform them 
of the impending danger.* By the last week of May 
Fort Dearborn was a crowded caravansary of frightened 
fugitives numbering more than five hundred persons. 
The quarters were crowded, a single room often being 
occupied by two families. As the fort overflowed, the 
later comers made temporary homes in rude huts and 
shanties hastily and rudely put together for the emer- 
gency, from such materials as the place afforded. Noth- 
; n g was thought of or talked of except the war and the dan- 
ger that menaced the whites. Although no great fear was 
entertained for the safety of those within the garrison from 
Black Hawk's band, a vague fear, an undefinable dread 
lest other tribes might, at any time, without warning, 
take sides with the hostile band and join them in their 
murderous raid, gave the settlers a continued anxiety, 
known only to those who have experienced it. The 
anxiety was increased by information given to Colonel 
Owen by Billy Caldwell that the hostile chiefs were 
still tampering with the Ottawa, Pottawatomie and 
Chippewa Indians who belonged to the Chicago agency, 
and who had thus far refused to make common cause 
with them ; that the young men and some of the older 
chiefs had become exasperated at the conduct of Still- 
man's men in needlessly beginning the war, and had 
gained courage, which gave them hope of success from 
the subsequent victory of Black Hawk's warriors over 
the whites who first fired on them. To if possible avert 
the danger, an informal council was called of the chiefs 
of the various bands having lodges nearest the fort.f 
At this council Colonel Owen addressed the Indians. 
He pointed out the absolute folly of any alliance with the 
hostile tribe ; he showed them the certainty of ultimate 
defeat, and the disastrous results to them which would 
follow should they needlessly take up arms in a cause 
not their own — a loss of their annuities, probably fol- 
lowed by the destruction of their tribes or their forcible 
removal to beyond the Mississippi. Big Foot addressed 
the council, detailed the common grievances of the In- 
dians, told of the many instances of injustice and faith- 
lessness on the part of the Government which his tribe 
had suffered, and gave it as his conviction that the 
present was a favorable time to make common cause in 
seeking with knife and tomahawk redress for their cum- 
ulated wrongs. His speech was favorably received by 
many of the young men, but the stanch opposition to 
the foolhardy stroke for vengeance proposed by Big 
Foot was made by both Robinson and Caldwell. Their 
influence in the tribe, backed by their eloquence, to- 
gether with the decided and fearless talk of Colonel 

• Shawbonee wan an Ottawa by birth, and became a chief of a Pottawato- 
mie band See hi* biography. 

t The exact date of this council is not known— it was probably about 



Owen, who represented the Government, decided the 
council in favor of peace, much to the chagrin of Big 
Foot and his immediate followers. Subsequent to this 
council many of the Pottawatomies did good and faith- 
ful service as spies and scouts, in watching and report- 
ing the whereabouts of the enemy, and in protecting 
the growing crops which the fleeing settlers had left 
behind. 

The few residents of Chicago labored to their ut- 
most to feed and shelter the fugitives. Shelter, such 
as it was, was provided once for all, but the food had 
to be replenished daily. Archibald Clybourne, the only 
butcher, found it impossible to furnish the meat for a 
community suddenly increased five-fold beyond that 
usually looking to him for supplies. He did his best, 
but short rations on meat would have been declared, 
had not theNoble boys ( John and Mark ) have driven 
in their stock which they had been raising in the San- 
gamon district — some one hundred and fifty head. Their 
timely arrival averted a meat famine. An early chron- 
icler says : 

" In this emergency, it was fortunate that the Nobles had con- 
cluded to go into stock-raising. Archibald Clybourne was the 
Government butcher for the Pottawatomies, and used to do a little 
in the same line for settlement, but he had no adequate supply for 
the population that he now found suddenly on his hands,* and, as 
soon as the one hundred and fifty head arrived from the south, the 
Nobles turned butchers and fed the population and the troops 
until the last steer had bit the dust." 

The following extracts from a letter, written by 
George W. Hoffman, a member of the company of 
Michigan volunteers, gives some light on the subject : 

" Detroit, 5th April, 1879. 

1 ' My Dear Sister: I received your letter three or four days ago 
and was real glad to hear from you, as I always am, and I should 
have answered sooner but I have been looking out for our Adjutant- 
General to get from him some dates relating to the Black Hawk 
War, and only met him yesterday and was surprised to find that he 
has nothing in his office relating to the subject. 

" My recollection is that in May, 1832, there was received at 
Niles a letter from Major Owen (Indian Agent at Chicago whose 
name I cannot call to mind), calling for help on account of the ap- 
proach towards Chicago of Black Hawk and his warriors, who were 
killing and plundering all in the way of their march through Illi- 
nois and Michigan to Canada, their destination. As northern Indi- 
ana and southwestern Michigan were then but sparsely settled, there 
was great fear and a panic among the farmers and in the small 
villages along the supposed route of the Indians. 

" Colonel Haston, of the regiment (24th, I think), including 
Bemin and Cass counties, immediately called them into service and 
in the course of two or three days had three or four hundred men at 
Niles, very poorly equipped for such an emergency. Indeed they 
had only such rifles and shotguns as they happened to have for 
hunting purposes, with but very little ammunition of any kind. 
Some had powder-horns with a few bullets, and some had neither. 

" Volunteers were called for to be hurried to Chicago, and after 
a day or two some fifty or sixty men, some on foot and some on 
horseback started, for Chicago, and got some five or six miles in the 
woods north from the Door Prairie, in Indiana, and toward Baillezs 
(Baze), who lived on the Calumet River on the route towards Lake 
Michigan, and the shore of which was the only road to Chicago. 
Early in the morning, when about to have a camp, a carrier from 
Chicago arrived announcing that no danger was now apprehended 
at Chicago. We at once started on a return to Niles, and on the 
next day had arrived at Teneconpe Prairie, about twelve miles from 
Niles, when we were again overtaken by a carrier, with more alarm- 
ing reports than before, and the officers determined to turn and face 
again toward the enemy ; but most of the men became mutinous, 
and we proceeded toward Niles, and when within four or five miles 
were met by an officer sent by General I. R. Williams, who had ar- 
rived at Niles with a company of minute-men from Detroit, with 
orders for us to turn back towards Chicago. Here again our men 
were disposed to disobey, but as General Williams had quite a large 
number of men at Niles, one or two other regiments from as far 
east as Tecumseh and other towns having arrived, our boys con- 

* During the early part of May, so soon as rumors of danger reached 
Michigan, a company of volunteers was sent to Chicago to help defend the 
place, the fort at that time being ungarrisoned by United States troops. They 
were quartered in the fort with the fugitives, and did patrol duty while there. 



CHICAGO IN 1830-33. 



119 



eluded at least to halt and wait further developments. One officer 
and myself rode on to Niles, and when we arrived at the river I St. 
Joseph) were confronted by a sentinel, who said he had orders to 
prevent any one from returning to the east side of the river. We 
said all right, and turned back and rode down to the ford and 
crossed over and reported to General Williams. The next day we 
again started for the seat of war, General Williams and his minute- 
men only going with us. The other militia were sent back to their 
homes. When we arrived at the Door Prairie, four miles west of 
the now city of LaPorte, we took possession of a stockade that the 
farmers had thrown up, and remained there a week or ten days, but 
I cannot remember why, unless that we were waiting for further 
news from Chicago. The farmers about the region of the Door had 
all left their homes and fled to the more southern settlements. From 
the Door we went to Chicago, in June * (I think), and took posses- 
sion of old Fort Dearborn. The few inhabitants of Chicago had, 
before our arrival, felt their heads every morning to make sure that 
their scalp-locks were still there ; but there were not many there 
then, and the Indians would have obtained but few trophies of that 
kind, had they taken them all. Besides the fort there were two 
frame houses on the North Side, and the old Kinzie house, which 
stood close by the river and almost directly opposite the fort. On 
the South Side were two or three small farm houses ; and on the 
West, the Kinzie store at the forks, as we then called the North and 
South branches, and there was Mark ISeaubien's tavern on what is 
now Michigan Avenue, about where the Exposition building now 
stands. f There a few officers lived. I myself 'put up' with 
Mark, and some of the refugees from the country who were in the 
fort thought we were a reckless set of fellows who deserved to be 
scalped, because while there was so much danger from the dreadful 
Indians, Mark would play his fiddle and we boys would dance. One 
day there came a report from Naper's settlement that the Indians 
had been seen in that region, and the inhabitants were in great 
alarm, and wanted troops sent from Chicago to escort them safely 
from their homes to the fort. Volunteers were called for, and some 
sixty or seventy of us, well mounted, left Chicago in the afternoon 
and rode all night, arriving at Xaper's the next morning, and went 
into camp, as our commander, Colonel Edward Brooks (formerly of 
the army), had particular orders from General Williams not to look 
after the Indians, as our force was so small ; but to offer escort to 
all who were disposed to flee to Chicago. We remained in camp 
that day and night, and as there was no one needing our attention 
and the alarm of a day or two previous having passed away, we 
started on our march back to Chicago. On the afternoon of the 
day we left them, three men went out with a wagon and pair of 
horses to a grove of timber to get long shingles to cover a block- 
house, and as they entered the woods, Indians rose up and fired at 
them, killing two of the men, and taking with them the horses. 
One of the men escaped, and on his giving the alarm, the Indians 
were followed, but not seen nor overtaken. In the early morning 
before our arrival at Naper's, Robert Kinzie called the attention of 
Dr. Winslow, H. Redfield and myself to objects near this same 
grove, and said he believed they were Indians ; and if we stopped 
and turned our horses toward them, if they were Indians they 
would disappear, as they were no doubt watching us. We dropped 
to the rear of the command, and were hardly separated from them 
before they were gone out of sight; Kinzie reported to Colonel 
Brooks, and we proposed to take ten or fifteen men and go to the 
grove to see whether they were Indians or not, but the Colonel said 
he had strict orders not to leave the road or divide his small force. 
After hearing of the killing of the two men, we had no doubt the 
Indians had seen us and watched our return toward Chicago. We 
remained in the fort until the arrival of a part of the second divi- 
sion, under Colonel William Whistler, when your good hus- 
band found me at battalion drill, to which duty I had been as- 
signed, being the only one (except Colonel Brooks) who knew any- 
thing about such matters. You will very well remember the arrival 
of General Scott, with troops, soon after (in July), on board of 
steamer boats, when the startling news (much more alarming than 
Indian depredations) came on shore, that the Asiatic cholera was 
aboard, when you and other ladies and children ran to the open 
prairie and at last found shelter under some boards in the fence 
corners, to get rid of exposure to that terrible disease. 

"When in Chicago, now I can hardly realize that my horse, 
with fifty or a hundred others, found wild, uncultivated pasture 
where now stands the court-house; in the midst of a great and 
beautiful city, once destroyed, but now more grand and beautiful 
than in its former greatness ; when there was not a house between 
the fort and the woods, as we then said, a distance of three or four 
miles, except Mark Beaubien's tavern, where now are such splendid 
streets and magnificent buildings. So much for the Black Hawk 
War. I have often wished I had kept a diary of events then, with 
reference not only to the war but the Western country, as we then 
called it." 



Mrs. Mary A. Penrose, wife of the then Second 
Lieutenant James W. Penrose, to whom the above letter 
was written, was one of the women who came with 
Whistler's command with her husband. Her reminis- 
cences of those times were given to Rev. H. C. Ken- 
ney, February 28, 1879, and are here published for the 
first time: 

" In the year 1832, probably in May, my husband, Lieutenant 
James W. Penrose, who was then Lieutenant of the 2d Infantry 
Regular Army, was ordered from Sackett's Harbor to Chicago, 
with several other companies of the same regiment, under Colonel 
Whistler. At what point we took the sailing vessel I do not 
remember, but it was probably at Buffalo. On arriving at Chica- 
go, the troops were first landed in little boats. Then the officers' 
families were sent on shore. A storm having arisen, it was three 
days before Colonel Whistler's family and the wife of Major Kings- 
bury were able to land. 

" There were in Chicago at that time about twelve houses. I 
think that all of these were made of logs. Our quarters were in 
the fort. The troops took possession of the fort, relieving a com- 
pany of militia from Michigan. About six weeks after our arrival, 
our little company was increased by the arrival, on a steamer, of 
General Scott, with several other companies. These had been sent 
to Chicago to proceed to Rock Island to fight the Indians there. 

" The boat brought not only the troops but also the cholera. 
At twelve o'clock A. M., Lieutenant Summer (afterwards General 
Summer of the War of the Rebellion) came to the fort and ordered 
all the families in the fort to leave before sunrise, stating that at 
that time the troops down with the cholera would be moved into 
the fortification. 

" I had then a little babe who is now Brevet Brigadier-General 
William H. Penrose of the 3d Infantry U. S. A. 

" I remember the names of the members of the following 
families : Colonel Whistler, Major Kingsbury, Captain Johnson, 
Lieutenant Day, Lieutenant Long, and my own. In my own 
family was, besides the before-mentioned babe, my husband's 
mother and two sisters. Four of these families, finding the house 
of Mark Beaubien vacant (its owner having left an hour before, 
without taking anything with him), with joy went into that build- 
ing. Mrs. Johnson and I, with my family were, however, not so 
fortunate, for even the four-roomed house of Mr. Beaubien could 
only hold four families. Going on about a mile we came to the 
house of a butcher, containing but one room. Exhausted, I threw 
myself on my mattress, which the soldiers had carried down from 
the fort, and there I laid during the night. 

" The next morning in vain did we seek for a house. A rail 
fence was, however, in sight. Into one corner I moved. A few 
boards made the floor. A carpet kept off the wind from our heads 
and backs. Other boards formed a far from water-proof roof. 
Here we remained three days and three nights, cooking on the 
ground. My companions in misery were Mrs. Johnson and 
family. 

" After three days Captain Johnson and my husband secured 
a lot of green lumber. In sight of our fence stood the frame of a 
house. To this the green boards were soon nailed and a temporary 
partition put in. Here our two families moved. Mr. Penrose's 
mother and sister nightly crawled up a ladder to their beds. 

" General Scott, who from the steamer had gone to the hotel at 
the Point, after five days made his appearance. Every day he would 
ride up to our house and, looking up to the open end of the frame, 
would talk with the ladies, invariably dwelling upon the fact that 
they were in more comfortable quarters than Mrs. General Scott, 
who was then at West Point. Our cooking had to be done in the 
open air. Generally we got more sand than salt in our food. 

" After remaining in these quarters, the house of the Indian 
Agent, Colonel Owen, having been vacated through fear of the 
before-mentioned disease, we obtained permission to move into it, 
on the condition of permitting the Colonel to remain with us. 
This house stood on the North Side, and contained four or five 
rooms on a floor. The family of the Colonel had left even their 
dishes, and had gone to Springfield. 

" I should have stated that on the same night that General 
Scott arrived, the troops that were in the fort before the arrival of 
the steamer were marched along the lake shore and were encamped 
in tents about eight miles from the fort. There they had remained 
from that time. Several of their number, as well as many of the 
later arrived officers and soldiers, took the cholera and died. As 
soon as the disease abated the rest of the soldiers, excepting a 
small garrison, were ordered to Rock Island. 

" I remained in the house of the Indian Agent, until Colonel 
Owen's family returned. I then had to seek for other quarters. 
My sister and myself got into a log canoe and, paddling across the 
Chicago River, called on the officer in charge (Colonel Whistler) 
and requested from him permission to again take up our abode in 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



the fort. After a little perseverance we succeeded in obtaining two 
rooms. About six weeks afterward the troops that had been in 
Rock Island returned to Chicago, and from thence were sent to the 
posts from which they had been collected. In all I remained in 
Chicago about eighteen months." 

" I was born at New York, ray maiden name Mary A. Hoff- 
man, mv father was Colonel William Hoffman, 6th Regiment, 
C. S. A. 

" I was married at Sackett's Harbor, to James \V. Penrose. 
For nineteen years I lived in soldiers' garrisons. 

" My husband died from disease contracted in the Mexican 
War. Mrs. Mary A. Penrose. 

" Joliet, February 27, 1S79." 

Under the protection of the fort and the militia, 
and with the encouraging rumors that Black Hawk's 
bands were moving up the Rock River toward the 
Winnebago country, and away from Chicago and the 
outlying settlements, the panic abated somewhat, al- 
though a wholesome fear still kept all non-combatants 
within the crowded precincts of the fort, or within re- 
treating distance of its protecting inclosure. The men 
■organized scouting parties,* composed in part of friendly 
Pottawatomies, and made frequent tours of observation 
to the deserted settlements. No hostile Indians were 
seen after the raid was over that had caused the first 
alarm, although signs were not lacking of their presence 
in the vicinity. 

The inconvenience and suffering borne uncomplain- 
ingly by the fugitives in camp were great. Food, not 
at all times in good supply, cooking conveniences of the 
crudest kind, crowded room, added to the entire lack 
of anything like retirement, privacy, or quiet, rendered 
what to the well was inconvenient to the sick almost 
unbearable hardship. Under these unfavorable condi 
tions the population was increased by the arrival of 
fifteen who had not fled to Chicago through fear of the 
Indians. Rev. Stephen R. Beggs, in his book, vouches 
for the truth of the above. He says: 

" The next morning (after a severe tempest, during which the 
room in which he and his family were quartered was struck by 
lightning) our first babe was born, and during our stay fifteen ten- 
der infants were added to the number. One may imagine the con- 
fusion of the scene — children crying and women were complaining 
within doors, while without, the tramp of soldiers, the rolling of 
drums, and the roar of cannon added to the din." 

The Wolverine soldiers certainly conducted them- 
selves in an unhandsome manner if, as the reverend 
gentleman intimates, they made any unnecessary noise 
during this protracted series of interesting events. 

On June 17 Major Whistler arrived at Fort Dearborn 
with his command, and, in accordance with his orders 
proceeded to garrison the fort. He humanely allowed 
the families to remain in the garrison until quarters 
could be provided for them outside. The Michigan 
volunteers were, however, obliged to evacuate, in order 
to make room for the newcomers; which they did, not 
without considerable murmuring, and went into camp 
at ( irosse Point, near where Evanston now stands. Major 
Whistler immediately set about preparing new quarters 
for the soon-expected arrival of General Scott's forces, 
and the anxiety of the sojourners as to their future was 
increased, as it was well known that when they came 
their quarters would have to be given up. On the even- 
ing of July 10, f the steamer "Sheldon Thompson," 
Captain A. Walker, arrived from Buffalo, having on 
board General Scott, his staff, and four companies of 
troops. The news of their arrival was accompanied 
with the intelligence that the dreaded scourge of Asiatic 
cholera was on board, in such violent type as to have 
already decimated the troops on the voyage. It required 

• See Military History. 

t Blanc-hard's History, p. 170, puts the Hat*; of Scott's arrival on the even- 
ing of the 8th of July. Captain Walker states positively that it was on the 
loth. 



no direct orders from either General Scott or Major 
Whistler to make room in the garrison for the newly 
arrived troops. The sojourners who, a few weeks be- 
fore, had fled from the Indians, now fled with more 
precipitate haste and terror from the deadly pestilence 
that had entered their place of refuge. The residents 
also, with few exceptions, left with their families. Some 
went to Laughton's, some to Grosse Point, some to 
Wentworth's place; anywhere to get away from the 
plague-stricken garrison. By the 12th the village was 
virtually depopulated and given over to the sick, the 
dying, the dead, and those whom duty compelled or 
humanity urged to remain to minister to them. The 
garrison became a hospital. There was no thought on 
the part of General Scott to make any aggressive move 
or to take any part in the campaign against Black Hawk 
until the disease should cease its ravages. Eight days 
later (July 18) the steamer "William Penn" arrived 
with Government stores, and a further detachment of 
cholera-stricken soldiers. The flight of the inhabitants 
and sojourners confined the ravages of the pest to the 
soldiers and the officers with their families. It is im- 
possible in words to depict the horror of the time. A 
few old letters and reminiscences have preserved all that 
will ever be known of it. 

A. Walker, captain of the "Sheldon Thompson," on 
which General Scott was embarked at Buffalo and ar- 
rived at Chicago, July 10, 1832, wrote a long account 
of the voyage and the ravages of the cholera during the 
passage. The letter appears in Fergus's Historical 
Series, No. 16, Appendix (L), pp. 72-76. The letter is 
addressed to Captain R. C. Bristol, and is dated Buffalo, 
October 30, i860. Extracts relevant to the Chicago 
history are given below: 

" It will also be remembered, as stated in my former communica- 
tion, that four steamers, the 'Henry Clay,' 'Superior,' 'Sheldon 
Thompson,' and ' William Penn,' were chartered by the United 
States Government for the purpose of transporting troops, equip- 
ments, and provisions to Chicago, during the Black Hawk War, 
but, owing to the fearful ravages, made by the breaking out of the 
Asiatic cholera among the troops and crews on board, two of those 
boats were compelled to abandon their voyage, proceeding no fur- 
ther than Fort Gratiot. The disease became so violent and alarm- 
ing on board the ' Henry Clay,' that nothing like discipline could 
be observed, everything in the way of subordination ceased. As 
soon as the steamer came to the dock, each man sprang on shore, 
hoping to escape from a scene so terrifying and appalling. Some 
fled to the fields, some to the woods, while others lay down in the 
streets, and under the cover of the river bank, where most of them 
died, unwept and alone. There were no cases of cholera causing 
death on board my boat until we passed the Manitou Islands 
(Lake Michigan). The first person attacked died about four o'clock 
in the afternoon, some thirty hours before reaching Chicago. As 
soon as it was ascertained by the surgeon that life was extinct, 
the deceased was wrapped closely in his blanket, placing within 
some weights secured by lashing of small cordage around the 
ankles, knees, waist, and neck, and then committed with but little 
ceremony, to the deep. This unpleasant though imperative duty 
was performed by the Orderly Sergeant, with a few privates de- 
tailed for that purpose. In like manner twelve others, including 
this same noble Sergeant, who sickened and died in a few hours, 
were also thrown overboard before the balance of the troops were 
landed at Chicago. The sudden and untimely death of this 
veteran Sergeant and his committal to a watery grave, caused a deep 
sensation on board among the soldiers and crews, which I will not 
here attempt to describe. The effect produced upon General Scott 
and the other officers, in witnessing the scene, was too visible to be 
misunderstood, for the dead soldier had been a very valuable man, 
and evidently a favorite among the officers and soldiers of the regi- 
ment. 

" There was one singular fact — not one of the officers of the 
army was attacked by the disease, while on board my boat, with 
such violence as to result in death, or any of the officers belonging 
to the boat, though nearly one-fourth of the crew fell a prey to the 
disease on a subsequent trip, while on the passage from Detroit to 
Buffalo. 

" We arrived at Chicago (as stated in the former communica- 



CHICAGO IN 1830-33. 



tion) on the evening of the 10th of July, 1S32. I sent the yawl- 
boat on shore soon after with General Scott and a number of the 
volunteer officers, who accompanied him on his expedition against 
the hostile tribes, who, with Black Hawk, had committed many 
depredations (though, perhaps, not without some provocation), 
compelling the whites to abandon their homes in the country and 
flee to Chicago, taking refuge in the fort for the time being. Be- 
fore landing the troops next morning, we were under the painful 
necessity of committing three more to the deep, who died during 
the night, making, in all, sixteen who were thus consigned to a 
watery grave. These three were anchored to the bottom in two- 
and-a-half fathoms, the water being so clear that their forms could 
be plainly seen from our decks. This unwelcome sight created 
such excitement, working upon the superstitious fears of some of 
■the crew, that prudence dictated that we weigh anchor and move a 
distance sufficient to shut from sight a scene which seemed to haunt 
the imagination, and influence the mind with thoughts of some por- 
tentious evil. 

" In the course of the day and night following, eighteen others 
died and were interred not far from the spot where the American 
Temperance House* has since been erected. The earth that was 
removed to cover one made a grave to receive the next that died. 
All were buried without coffins or shrouds, except their blankets, 
which served for a winding sheet ; there left, as it were, without 
remembrance or a stone to mark their resting-place. During the 
four days we remained in Chicago, fifty-four more died, making 
an aggregate of eighty-eight who paid the debt of nature. 

"On approaching Chicago, I found quite a fleet of sail ves- 
sels at anchor in the offing, where we also came to, near them. 
As soon as it was ascertained that cholera was on board, no time 
was lost in communicating from one vessel to the other the intelli- 
gence, which induced them to weigh anchor at once, and stand out 
to sea, hoping to escape the pestilence, which, at that time, was 
considered contagious. In the morning some of them were nearly 
lost in the distance, though in the course of the day they mostly 
returned and re-anchored near by, in hailing distance. Among the 
fleet were some vessels belonging to Oliver Newberry, Esq. , of 
Detroit, that were employed in transporting provisions and stores 
rfom the Government to that port. 
, " It is proper in this connection to state that all the mattresses 

and bedding belonging to my boat, except sufficient for the crew, 
were taken by order of Gen. Scott for the use of the sick, giving 
his draft for the purchase of new bedding, which was not only a 
deed of mercy to those suffering ones, but a matter of favor to me, 
in procuring a fresh outfit, so necessary after that disastrous voy- 
age. There was no harbor accessible to any craft drawing more 
than two feet of water, hardly sufficient to admit the batteau in 
which the troops were landed. But little else was seen besides 
the broad expanse of prairie, with its gentle undulated surface, 
covered with grass and variegated flowers, stretching out far in the 
distance, resembling a great carpet interwoven with green, purple, 
and gold; in one direction bounded only by the blue horizon, with 
no intervening woodland to obstruct the vision. The view, in 
looking through the spy-glass from the upper deck of our steamer, 
while lying in the offing, was a most picturesque one, presenting a 
landscape interspersed with small groves of underwood, making a 
picture complete; combining the grand and beautiful in nature, far 
beyond anything I had before seen. The Chicago River, at that 
time, was a mere creek, easily forded at its mouth, while it wended 
its way along the beach, flowing into the lake a small distance 
south of the present locality of Lake Street. The provisions and 
stores brought by the sail-vessels were landed on the beach of the 
lake, near the mouth of the river, where now are seen the extensive 
railroad improvements. 

" We remained four days after landing the troops, procuring 
fuel for the homeward voyage, etc. The only means of obtaining 
anything for fuel was to purchase the roofless log-building used as 
a stable. That, together with the rail fence inclosing a field of 
some three acres near by, was sufficient to enable us to reach 
Mackinaw. Being drawn to the beach and prepared for use, it was 
boated on board by the crew, which operation occupied the most of 
four days to accomplish. After getting the fuel on board, I was 
detained some six hours, waiting the arrival of a gentleman whose 
name I think was Chamberlain. I had dispatched a messenger for 
him, he residing some fifteen miles in the country. At length he 
arrived, and engaged to accompany me as far as Detroit and act in 
the capacity of physician, having some knowledge in preparing 
medicine, being a druggist by profession. During this protracted 
stay, in waiting for the doctor, the crew became quite uneasy to get 
under way, and leave behind them a scene fraught with associations 
of the dead and dying, which they had witnessed so frequently, 
until they became almost mutinous. But as soon as orders were 
given to get under way, the celerity with which the yawl was 
hoisted to the stern was a scene of exciting interest, as the duty 
* Northwest corner of Lake Street and Wabash Avenue. 



was performed with a will and a spirit of cheerfulness, accompanied 
with a hearty song of 'Yo-heave-ho'. As they hove at the wind- 
lass, they seemed almost frantic with joy when the anchor came in 
sight and her prow turned homeward. We had no cases of cholera 
on our passage to Detroit. The physician returned across tin- 
country, after receiving the stipulated sum for his services, which I 
think was some two hundred dollars, besides the stage-fare, which 
was one of the items in the stipulation." 

During the ten days succeeding General Scott's 
arrival a hundred dead soldiers were silently carried 
without the gates of the garrison and hastily laid to 
their final rest, in a common grave, without coffin, or 
other shroud than the soldiers' blanket in which each 
had gone to his last sleep. 

About the 20th of July, General Scott moved his 
soldiers, such as were able, out to the Desplaines River, 
and encamped at the present site of Riverside, where 
they remained ten days, their health rapidly improving 
meantime. Thence by easy stages they commenced 
their march toward the enemy's country. General 
Scott, with twelve men and two baggage wagons, were 
a few days in advance. The main body advanced 
under the command of Colonel Cummings. The train 
consisted of fifty baggage wagons, in which were carried 
the supplies and such sick or convalescent soldiers as 
were unable to march. Judge Robert N. Murray, then 
a lad of seventeen, living with his parents, who had 
recently settled at Naperville, served as one of the 
teamsters. The route taken was through Gilbert's 
Grove on the DuPage River ; thence crossing the Fox 
River three miles below Elgin, and through the Pigeon 
woods to the present site of Belvidere ; thence to an old 
Indian village near the present site of Beloit, Wis., 
where, perhaps owing to the fatigue of the march, the 
cholera again broke out with such virulence as to ren- 
der it necessary to go into camp for rest. Here they 
remained for a week, during which time several more 
deaths occurred. While still in camp at this place news 
was brought that the war was at an end. August 2, the 
final battle had been fought between Black Hawk's 
forces and the militia under General Dodge, assisted by 
a detachment of United States troops under Colonel 
Zachary Taylor, near the mouth of Bad Axe River in 
what is now Vernon County, Wis. The commanding 
officer was ordered to proceed with his force to Fort 
Armstrong (R.ock Island), and, on renewing the march, 
the train turned south over the prairies to the present 
site of Rockford, and thence down the Rock River to 
Fort Armstrong, where the march ended. The route 
took the troops through the most beautiful and fertile 
region of the then unknown Northwest, embracing the 
northern counties of the present State of Illinois, a 
part of southern Wisconsin, and the beautiful Rock 
River Valley from Rockford to its mouth. The cam- 
paign, although fruitless from a military point of view, 
was fraught with events of great importance, not only to 
Chicago, but to the whole region over which the soldiers 
marched. 

On their return to the East their glowing accounts 
of the beauty and fertility of the hitherto unoccupied 
country, so soon as it was believed that it was open to 
pre-emption, created a perfect furor of emigration 
from the East to the lands described. Their first point 
of destination, prior to pushing beyond to the promised 
land, was Chicago. So it happened, that the tide of 
emigration which set in in the fall of 1832, and con- 
tinued in increasing volume for the succeeding four 
years, brought to Chicago a floating population from 
which she constantly added to her permanent resident 
population, such as saw in her future brighter prospects 
than in the allurements of the country beyond. 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



The fall of 1S32 saw peace restored and Chicago a 
busy mart of trade for immigrants that had begun to 
arrive in vast numbers. They came in every form and 
in all sorts of conveyance — in families and singly — on 
foot, on horseback, in carriages — with money or sup- 
plies — w ith neither. Many only stopped at Chicago 
temporarily, and pushed out further west for a settle- 
ment, while a few remained to swell the population of 
the embryo city. 

The picture of Chicago at the close of 1832 wouid 
have shown little outward improvement. A score of 
permanent residents had been added to the population, 
and a dozen new buildings, mostly of a very primitive 
kind, had been erected during the year. There was, how- 
ever, a strong faith awakened that Chicago was, from 
its geographical position and its natural advantages as 
a harbor, destined to become the emporium of a yet 
undeveloped and uncivilized country : and, inspired by 
this, many of the new-comers remained to the close of 
life.* 

The fall witnessed quite an accession to the per- 
manent settlers, among whom were John Bates, Dr. 
Phillip Maxwell. G. W. Snow, Philo Carpenter, J. S. 
Wright, Dr. E. S. Kimberly. 

During the summer George W. Dole built what was 
probably the first frame building used for business pur- 
poses in Chicago. It stood at the southeast corner 
of Water and Dearborn streets where it remained 
until 1S55. Mr. Peck, during the fall commenced the 
erection of a frame building at the southeast corner of 
Water and LaSalle streets, which was completed and 
occupied the following May. The two above named 
were certainly the first frame business structures built 
in Chicago. Of the first named, the Democratic Press 
of April 23, 1855, said : 

" The first frame building erected by George W. Dole for a 
warehouse, in the summer of 1832, and occupied early in the fall 
of that year, which had stood for nearly twenty-three years on the 
southeast corner of Water and Dearborn streets, is being moved 
southward." 

It is stated on reliable authority f that George W. 
Dole commenced the slaughtering of beeves and hogs 
and the packing for market of beef and pork, and that he 
slaughtered and packed during the fall of 1832, in the rear 
of the building he had erected," close to the present site of 
the Tremont House," two hundred cattle and three 
hundred and fifty hogs." Clybourne, the Noble brothers, 
and Gurdon S. Hubbard had driven in and slaughtered 
large droves of hogs and cattle before that time, but it 
is not believed that any provisions had been packed for 
the mercantile trade of the lakes prior to the fall of 1832, 
and the first so packed was by George W. Dole. J He 
was the father of the provision, the shipping, the ware- 
house, and the elevator business of Chicago. 

The early spring brought a most tremendous tide of 
emigration. The town doubled its population during 
the spring and early summer months. The test of resi- 
dence was not, however, severe. Any man who remained 
in Chicago long enough to pay his board by the week 
was considered a resident, and if, in addition, he had 

• Of those living I August, 1883) in Chicago who came here prior to Jan- 
uary, 1833, are : John Bates, Philo Carpenter, Gurdon S. Hubbard, A. D. Taylor. 
■'. History, p. 7. 
X Colbert, p. 45, alluding to Mr. Dole's inauguration of beef and pork pack- 
ing in Chicago lays: ■' In October of that year 0831') he slaughtered and 
?icked one hundred and fifty head of cattle for Oliver Newberry, of Detroit, 
he cattle were purchased by Mr. Dole from Charles Reed, of Hickory Creek, 
at *2-75 per one hundred pounds — the hides and tallow being thrown in for the 
slaughtering." They were slaughtered by John and Marl: Noble on the prairie 
near the lake, the beef packed in Mr. Dole's warehouse, and shipped to Detroit. 
In December Mr. Dole killed, " in the back yard of his warehouse " three 
hundred and thirty-eight hogs, bought of John Blackstone, who had driven 
them in from ti.e Wabash Valley. This pork was shipped to Detroit and New 
Vork the following spring. 



bought a lot, or put out his sign as a lawyer, doctor or 
a real estate dealer he was recognized as a permanent 
inhabitant. There were built during the spring and 
summer of 1833 nearly one hundred and fifty frame 
buildings, mostly on the north and south sides of the 
Chicago River below the forks. 

The arrivals of emigrants who came to Chicago 
during the season and made the place their home were 
too numerous to be named in detail. Several events 
transpired during the year, which combined went far 
to increase the prosperity and brighten the future pros- 
pects of Chicago. 

Harbor Improvements Begun. — Up to 1833 
Chicago could not be said to have had a harbor. The 
bar across the mouth of the river, as it is now, made it 
impracticable for any laden vessel to enter it, and, ex- 
cept as a roadstead where ships might anchor off shore 
and be lightened of their cargoes, it had no claims to be 
called a harbor. The canal project, calculated to open 
a water-carriage from the lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, 
by way of the projected Michigan & Illinois Canal 
had been already inaugurated by favorable Legislative 
grants, by the preliminary survey of some of the town 
sites, and by the sale of lots and lands sufficient to es- 
tablish the belief that the work would be speedily be- 
gun and ultimately finished. Chicago, as the lake ter- 
minus of the proposed canal, must necessarily have a har- 
bor, and Congress having already shown favor to the canal 
scheme, could do no less than to render it feasible by 
improving the harbor. An appropriation of $25,000 
was accordingly made March 2, 1833, and work com 
menced on the improvement July 1. Major George 
Bender was the superintendent. His subordinates were 
Henry S. Handy, assistant superintendent ; Samuel 
Jackson, foreman of construction ; A. Y. Knicker- 
bocker, clerk. Joseph Chandler and Morgan L. Shap- 
ley had executive charge of the work, Jones & Mc- 
Gregory being contracters for the wood work. Under the 
direction of these men, and with a large force of labor- 
ers the building of the present magnificent harbor was 
begun.* During the summer and fall some five hun- 
dred feet of the south pier was finished, and in the sub- 
sequent spring the north pier was extended a like dis- 
tance, cutting off the old tortuous channel to the south, 
and making a straight cut for the river across the bar into 
the lake. Little dredging was done, but a heavy freshet 
in the spring of 1834 cleared the new channel so that 
vessels of large burden came up the river for the first 
time during the summer of that year.f 

The Great Indian Treaty of 1833. — The close 
of the Black Hawk War had resulted in the final ex- 
tinguishment of the title of the Sac and Fox Indians 
to all their lands east of the Mississippi. September 
15, 1832, a treaty was concluded at Fort Armstrong, 
whereby the Winnebago nation ceded all their lands to 
the United States " lying south and east of the Wiscon- 
sin River and the Fox River of Green Bay." The 
Chippewas, Ottawas, and Pottawatomies still held their 
title to the land of northeastern Illinois and southern 
Wisconsin, besides large tracts not very definitely de- 
fined in Indiana and Michigan. It was necessary, 
in order to open up to civilization the lands ceded by 
the other tribes lying west and northwest, that the In- 
dian title to this vast tract of land lying aiong the 
western shore of Lake Michigan should be extinguished. 
For Chicago, it was a vital necessity, as the town was 
girt on all sides and for many miles north and west by 

• See article entitled Harbor and Marine for full history. 

+ On Saturday, July II, 1834, the schooner "Illinois," the first large vessel 
that ever entered the river, sailed into the harbor amid great acclamations. 
Colbert's History, p. 46. 



CHICAGO IN 1830-33. 



123 



the lands of the United Nation of Chippewa, Ottawa, 
and Pottawatomie Indians.* 

In September, 1833, a grand council of the chiefs 
and head men was called to meet at Chicago to nego- 
tiate a treaty whereby the lands might be peaceably 
ceded, and the Indians removed therefrom, to make 
way for the tide of white emigration which had begun 
to set irresistibly and with ever increasing volume to 
the coveted region. It wasa most important matter for 
both the Indians and the Government; but to the 
former most momentous, since it involved the extinction 
of not only their title to the land which had been their 
home during a period which only their traditions could 
dimly measure, but the obliteration of all associations 
dear to them in their tribal or family relations. Black 
Hawk's ill-starred campaign, followed by the subsequent 
treaty made by his tribe, showed them the inevitable 
result which must follow resistance. They knew quite 
well that they had no alternative. They must sell their 
lands for such sum and on such terms as the Govern- 
ment agents might deem it politic or just or generous 
to grant. The result of the treaty was what might have 
been expected. The Indians gave up their lands and 
agreed for certain considerations, the most of which did 
not redound to their profit, to cede all their lands to the 
Government, and to leave forever their homes and the 
graves of their fathers for a land far toward the setting 
sun, which they had never seen and of which they knew 
nothing. 

Charles J. Latrobe, an English traveler, gave a very 
graphic description of the gathering of the Indians to 
the grand council, how the negotiations were conducted 
to a conclusion, and a description of Chicago as it ap- 
peared to him, crowded with adventurers who had been 
drawn thither to prosecute their claims against the In- 
dians, or to reap such harvest from them as duplicity 
and knavery might gather from the drunken orgies that 
were the inevitable concomitants of every gathering of 
Indians where they met the whites, whether in trade or 
council. The account reads as follows: 

"When within five miles of Chicago, we came to the first 
Indian encampment. Five thousand Indians were said to be col- 
lected around this little upstart village for the prosecution of the 
treaty, by which they were to cede their lands in Michigan and 
Illinois. 

" I have been in many odd assemblages of my species, but in 
few, if any, of an equally singular character as with that in the 
midst of which we spent a week at Chicago. This little mushroom 
town is situated upon the verge of a perfectly level tract of 
country, for the greater part consisting of open prairie lands, at a 
point where a small river (whose sources interlock in the wet season 
with those of the Illinois) enters Lake Michigan. It however 
forms no harbor, and vessels must anchor in the open lake, which 
spreads to the horizon to the north and east in a sheet of unbroken 
extent. The river, after approaching nearly at right angles to 
within a few hundred yards of the lake, makes a short turn, and 
runs to the southward parallel to the beach. Fort Dearborn and 
the light-house are placed at the angle thus formed. The former 
is a small stockaded inclosure, with two block-houses, and is gar- 
risoned by two companies of infantry. It had been nearly aban- 
doned, till the late Indian war on the frontier made its occupation 
necessary. The upstart village lies chiefly on the right bank of the 
river, above the fort. When the proposed steamboat communica- 
tion between Chicago and St. Joseph's River, which lies forty miles 
distant across the lake, is put into execution, the journey to 
Detroit may be effected in three days, whereas we had been up- 
wards of six on the road. We found the village, on our arrival, 
crowded to excess; and we procured, with great difficult)', a small 
apartment, comfortless and noisy from its close proximity to oth- 
ers, but quite as good as we could have hoped for. The Pottawa- 
tomies were encamped on all sides — on the wide, level prairie 
beyond he scattered village, beneath the shelter of the low woods 
which chequered them, on the side of the small river, or to the 
leeward of the sand hills near the beach of the lake. They con- 

* These Indians, had, by treaty at Prairie du Chien, July 29, 1829, ceded 
all their lands in the northwestern part of Illinois. 



sisted of three principal tribes, with certain adjuncts from smaller 
tribes. The main divisions are the Pottawatomies of the Prairie 
and those of the Forest, and these are subdivided into district 
villages under their several chiefs. The General Government of 
the United States, in pursuance of the scheme of removing the 
whole Indian population westward of the Mississippi, had empow- 
ered certain gentlemen to frame a treaty with these tribes to settle 
the terms upon which the cession of their reservations in these 
states should be made. A preliminary council had been held with 
the chiefs some days before our arrival. The principal commis- 
sioner had opened it, as we learned, by stating that as their Great 
Father in Washington had heard that they wished to sell their land, 
he had sent commissioners to treat with them. The Indians 
promptly answered, by their organ, ' that their Great Father in 
Washington must have seen a bad bird which had told him a lie; 
for, that far from wishing to sell their land, they wished to keep 
it.' The commissioner, nothing daunted, replied, ' that neverthe- 
less, as they had come together for a council thev must take the 
matter into consideration.' He then explained to them promptly 
the wishes and intentions of their Great Father, and asked their 
opinion thereon. Thus pressed, they looked at the sky, saw a few 
wandering clouds, and straightway adjourned sine die, as the 
weather is not clear enough for so solemn a council. However, as 
the treaty had been opened, provision was supplied to them by- 
regular rations; and the same night they had great rejoicings — 
danced the war dance, and kept the eyes and ears of all open by 
running, howling about the village. Such was the state of affairs 
on our arrival. Companies of old warriors might be seen sitting 
smoking under every bush; arguing, palavering, or pow-wow-ing, 
with great earnestness; but there seemed no possibility of bringing 
them to another council in a hurry. 

" Meanwhile, the village and its occupants 'presented a most 
motley scene. The fort contained within its palisades by far the 
most enlightened residents in the little knot of officers attached to 
the slender garrison. The quarters here, consequently, were too 
confined to afford place of residence for the Government Commis- 
sioners for whom, and a crowd of dependents, a temporary set of 
plank huts were erected on the north side of the river. To the 
latter gentlemen, we, as the only idle lookers on, were indebted for 
much friendly attention; and in the frank and hospitable treatment 
we received from the inhabitants of Fort Dearborn, we had a fore- 
taste of that which we subsequently met with everywhere under 
like circumstances during our autumnal wanderings over the fron- 
tier. The officers of the United States Army have, perhaps less 
opportunities of becoming refined than those of the Navy. They 
are often, from the moment of their receiving commissions after 
the termination of their cadetship at West Point, and at an age 
when good society is of the utmost consequence to the young and 
ardent, exiled for long years to the posts on the Northern or 
Western frontier, far removed from cultivated female society, and in 
daily contact with the refuse of the human race. And this is their 
misfortune, not their fault; but wherever we have met with them, 
and been thrown as strangers upon their good offices, we have 
found them the same good friends and good company. But I was 
going to give you an inventory of the contents of Chicago, when 
the recollection of the warm-hearted intercourse we had enjoyed 
with many fine fellows, whom probably we shall neither see nor 
hear of again, drew me aside. Next in rank to the officers and 
commissioners may be noticed certain store-keepers and merchants, 
residents here, looking either to the influx of new settlers establish- 
ing themselves in the neighborhood, or those passing yet farther to 
the westward, for custom and profit, not to forget the chance of 
extraordinary occasions like the present. Add to these a doctor or 
two, two or three lawyers, a land agent, and five or six hotel-keep- 
ers. These may be considered as stationary, and proprietors of the 
half hundred clapboard houses around you. Then for the birds 
of passage, exclusive of the Pottawatomies, of whom more anon, 
and emigrants and land speculators, as numerous as the sand, 
you will find horse-dealers, and horse stealers, — rogues of 
every description — white, black, brown, and red ; half-breeds, 
quarter-breeds, and men of no breed at all; dealers in pigs, poultry, 
and potatoes; men pursuing Indian claims, some for tracts of land, 
others like our friend ' Snipe,'* for pigs which the wolves had eaten; 
creditors of the tribes, or of particular Indians, who know that 
they have no chance of getting their money if they do not get it 
from the Goverment Agents; sharpers of every degree; pedlars, 
grog-sellers; Indian Agents and Indian traders of every descrip- 
tion, and contractors to supply the Pottawatomies with food. The 
little village was in an uproar from morning to night, and from 
night to morning; for during the hours of darkness, when the 
housed portion of the population of Chicago strove to obtain repose 
in the crowded plank edifices of the village, the Indians howled, 

* A sobriquet applied to a late fellow, passenger, " on his way to Chicago, 
to be present at the impending treaty, with a view to prefer certain claims to 
the Government commissioner for the loss of hoys, which, doubtless, the wolves 
had eaten; but which, no matter, the Indians might be made to pay for." 



124 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



sang, wept, yelled, and whooped in their various encamp- 
ments. With all this, the whiles seemed to me to be more 
pagan than the red man. You will have understood that the 
large body of Indians collected in the vicinity consisted not merely 
of chiefs and warriors, but in fact the greater part of the whole 
tribe were present; lor where the warrior was invited to feast at 
the expense of the Government, the squaw took care to accompany 
him: and where the squaw went, the children followed, or pa- 
pooses, the ponies, and the innumerable dogs followed, and here 
thev all were living merrily at the cost of the Government. 

" All was bustle and tumult, especially at the houses set apart 
for the distribution of the rations. Many were the scenes which 
here presented themselves, portraying the habits of b.>th red men 
and the demi-civilized beings around them. The interior of the 
village was one chaos of mud, rubbish, and confusion. Frame and 
clapboard houses were springing up daily under the active axes 
and hammers of the speculators, and piles of lumber announced 
the preparation for yet other edifices of an equally light character. 
Races occurred frequently on a piece of level sward without the 
village, on which temporary booths afforded the motley multitude 
the means of 'stimulating,' and betting and gambling were the 
order of the day. Within the vile two-storied barrack, which, dig- 
nified as usual by the title of hotel, afforded us quarters, all was in 
a state of most appalling confusion, tilth, and racket. The public 
table was such a scene of confusion that we avoided it from neces- 
sitv. The French landlord was a sporting character, and everything 
was left to chance, who, in the shape of a fat housekeeper, fumed 
and toiled round the premises from morning to night. 

"Within there was neither peace nor comfort, and we spent 
much of our time in the open air. A visit to the gentlemen at the 
fort, or prairie, filled up the intervals in our perturbed attempts at 
reading or writing indoors, while awaiting the progress of the 
treaty. 

"I loved to stroll out, towards sunset, across the river, and 
gaze upon the level horizon, stretching to the northwest over the 
surface of the prairie, dotted with innumerable objects far and near. 
Not far from the river lav manv groups of tents constructed of 
coarse canvas, blankets, and mats, and surmounted by poles sup- 
porting various painted Indian figures dressed in the most gaudy 
attire. 

" Far and wide the grassy prairie teemed with figures; warriors 
mounted or on foot, squaws, and horses. Here a race between 
three or four Indian ponies, each carrying a double rider, whooping 
and yelling like fiends. There a solitary horseman with a long 
soear, turbaned like an Arab, scouring along at full speed; groups 
of hobbled horses; Indian dogs and children; or a grave conclave 
of grav chiefs seated on the grass in consultation. It was amusing 
to wind silently from group to group, here noting the raised knife, 
the sudden drunken brawl quashed by the good-natured and even 
playful interference of the neighbors; there a party breaking up 
their encampment, and falling, with their little train of loaded 
ponies and wolfish dogs, into the deep, black, narrow trail running 
to the north. 

" It is a grievous thing that Government is not strong-handed 
enough to put a stop to the shameful and scandalous sale of whis- 
kv to these poor, miserable wretches. But here lie casks of it for 
sale under the very eye of the commissioners, met together for pur- 
poses which demand that sobriety should be maintained, were it 
only that no one should be able to lay at their door an accusation 
of unfair dealings, and of having taken the advantage of the help- 
less Indian in a bargain whereby the people of the United States 
were to be SO greatly the gainers. And such was the state of 
things day by day. However anxious I and others might be to ex- 
culpate the United States ( lovernment from the charge of cold and 
selfish policy toward the remnant of the Indian tribes, and from 
that of resorting to unworthy and diabolical means in attaining pos- 
of their lands— as long as it can be said with truth that 
drunkenness was no! guarded against, and that the means were fur- 
nished at the very time of the treaty and under the very nose of the 
commissioners — -how can it be expected but a stigma will attend 
every transaction of this kind ? 

"Bui how sped the treaty? you will ask. Day after day 
It was in vain that the signal-gun from the fort gave no- 
tice of an assemblage of chiefs at the council lire. Reasons were 
always found for its delay. One day an influential chief was not 
in the way; another, the sky looked cloudy, and the Indian never 
performs any important business except the sky be clear. At length, 
on the 2tst September, the Pottawatomies resolved to meet the 
commissioners. We were politely invited to be present. 

" The council-fire was lighted under a spacious open shed on 
the green meadow on the opposite side of the river from that on 
which the fort stood. From the difficulty of getting .ill together it 
was late in the afternoon when they assembled. There might be 
twenty or thirty chief: ited al the lower end of tin- in- 

closurc, while the commissioners, interpreters, etc., were at the 



upper. The palaver was opened by the principal commissioner. 
He requested to know' why he and his colleagues were called to the 
council. An old warrior arose, and in short sentences, generally of 
five syllables, delivered with a monotonous intonation and rapid 
utterance, gave answer. His gesticulation was appropriate, but 
rather violent. Rice, the half-breed interpreter, explained the sig- 
nification, from time to time, to the audience; and it was seen that 
the old chief, who had got his lesson, answered one question by 
proposing another, the sum and substance of his oration being 
that the assembled chiefs wished to know what was the object of their 
Great Father at Washington in calling his red children together at 
Chicago! This was amusing enough, after the full explanation 
given a week before at the opening session, and particularly when 
it was recollected that they had feasted sumptuously during the in- 
terval at the expense of their Great Father; it was not making very 
encouraging progress. A young chief arose, and spoke vehemently 
to the same purpose. Hereupon the commissioner made them a 
forcible Jacksonion discourse, wherein a good deal which was akin 
to threat was mingled with exhortations not to play with their 
Great Father, but to come to an early determination whether they 
would or would not sell and exchange their territory; and this 
done, the council was dissolved. One or two tipsy old chiefs raised an 
occasional disturbance, else matters were conducted with due grav- 
ity. The relative positions of commissioner and the whites before 
the council-fire, and that of the red children of the forest and 
prairie, were to me strikingly impressive. The glorious light of 
the setting sun, streaming in under the low roof of the council- 
house, fell full on the countenances of the former as they faced the 
west, while the pale light of the east hardly lightened up the dark 
and painted lineaments of the poor Indians, whose souls evidently 
clave to their birth-right in that quarter. Even though convinced 
of the necessity of their removal, my heart bled for them in their deso- 
lation and decline. Ignorant and degraded as they may have been 
in their original state, their degradation is now ten-fold after years 
of intercourse with the whites; and their speedy disappearance from 
the earth appears as certain as though it were already sealed and 
accomplished. Your own reflection will lead you to form the con- 
clusion, and it will be a just one, that even if he had the will, the 
power would be wanting for the Indian to keep his territory; and 
that the business of arranging the terms of an Indian treaty, what- 
ever it might have been two hundred years ago, while the Indian 
tribes had not, as now, thrown aside the rude but vigorous intel- 
lectual character which distinguished many among them, now lies 
chiefly between the various traders, agents, creditors and half- 
breeds of the tribes, on whom custom and necessity have made the 
degraded chiefs dependent, and the Government Agents. When 
the former have seen matters so far arranged that their self- 
interest, and various schemes and claims, are likely to be fulfilled 
and allowed to their hearts' content, the silent acquiescence of 
the Indian follows, of course; and till this is the case, the treaty 
can never be amicably effected. In fine, before we quitted Chi- 
cago on the 25th, three or four days later, the treaty with the Pot- 
tawatomies was concluded — the commissioners putting their hands, 
and the assembled chiefs their paws, to the same." 

The commissioners on the part of the Government 
were: G. B. Porter, Thomas J. V. Owen, and William 
Weatherford; on the part of the Indians all the chiefs 
and the leading men of the United Nation that could 
be gathered — a most motley crowd, of whom only one 
out of seventy-seven signed his name to the treaty with- 
out " his X mark," and probably not over half a dozen 
understood the provisions of the treaty, except as ex- 
plained to them imperfectly by interpreters, few of 
whom were themselves passable English scholars. 

The treaty consummated at this time was signed on 
September 26, 1833, and ratified by the Senate, after 
some unimportant changes, May 22, 1834. Its pro- 
visions and terms were as follows: 

Article 1 ceded to the United States all the lands 
of the United Nation of Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potta- 
watomie Indians "along the western shore of Lake 
Michigan, and between this lake and the land ceded to 
the United States by the Winnebago nation, at the treaty 
of Fort Armstrong, made on the 15th of September, 
1832: bounded on the north by the country lately 
ceded by the Menominees, and on the south by the 
country ceded at the treaty of Prairie du Chien, made 
on the 29th of July, 1829, supposed to contain five mil- 
lions of acres." This cession completely extinguished 



CHICAGO IN 1830-33. 



I2 5 



all the title to lands owned or claimed by the United 
Nation east of the Mississippi, and left the whole North- 
west, with the exception of some minor and unimportant 
reservations, open to the settlement of whites who, hence- 
forth, could look to the United States to protect them 
under its laws in any legal title they might acquire by 
pre-emption or purchase. 

The considerations for thus yielding up their whole 
country were stated in Articles 2 and 3, and were : 

1 A tract of land of like extent as that ceded, five 
million acres, situated on the east bank of the Missouri 
River, between the mouth of Boyer's River on the 
north and the mouth of Nandoway River on the south ; 
the eastern and northern boundary being the western 
State line of Missouri and the western boundary of 
the reservation of the Sacs and Foxes, north to a point 
from which, if a straight line be drawn to the mouth of 
Boyer's River, the whole tract inclosed by the said 
boundaries should comprise five million acres.* 

A deputation consisting of not more then fifty In- 
dians, accompanied by five agents of the United States, 
were to visit the lands granted previous to the removal 
of the tribes, at the expense of the Government, and, 
on the ratification of the treaty by the United States, 
the tribes living within the boundaries of the State of 
Illinois were to remove to the new reservation imme- 
diately : those living further north, in the Territory of 
Wisconsin, to remain, if they desired, three years 
longer, unmolested and under the protection xif the 
United States Government, and were to receive sub- 
sistence on their journey, and for one year after their 
arrival at their new homes. 

2 Further payments in money and goods were to 
be made as follows : $100,000 to satisfy sundry indi- 
viduals in behalf of whom reservations were asked, 
which the commissioners refused to grant ; and also to 
indemnify the Chippewa tribe, who are parties to this 
treaty for certain lands along the shore of I.ake Michi- 
gan, to which they make claims, which have been ceded 
to the United States by the Menominee Indians. The 
manner in which the sum was paid is set forth in 
schedule A, further on : $150,000, to satisfy claims 
made against the said United Nation, " which they have 
here admitted to be justly due, and directed to be paid." 
Who got this money appears in schedule B, hereafter : 
$100,000 to be paid in goods and provisions, a part to 
be delivered on the signing of the treaty, and the resi- 
due during the ensuing year ; $280,000, to be paid in 
annuities of $14,000 per year for twenty years ; 
$150,000 for the erection of mills, houses and shops for 
agricultural improvements, the purchase of agricultural 
implements, and the support of physicians, millers, 
farmers, blacksmiths and such other mechanics as the 
President of the United States may see fit to appoint ; 

* These were the boundaries as defined in the treaty. An amendatory 
treaty, made October 1, and signed by the United States Commissioners and a 
minority of the chiefs and head men of the tribes numbering only seven, of 
whom Caldwell was one, changed the boundaries for a consideration of $10,000, 
for the benefit of the nation, and the further sum of $2,000 " to be paid to 
Gholson Kercheval for services rendered the said United Nation of Indians 
during the late war between the United States Government and the Sacs and 
Foxes," and $1,000 to George E. Walker, " for services rendered the said 
United Nations in bringing Indian prisoners from west of the Mississippi River 
to Ottawa, I.aSalle Co., 111., for whose appearance at the Circuit Court of said 
county said nation was bound." 

The boundaries were, for the above consideration, changed as follows: 
" Beginning at the mouth of Boyer's River ; thence down the Missouri River, 
to a point thereon from which a due east line would strike the northwest corner 
of the State of Missouri ; thence along said east line to the northwest corner of 
said State ; thence along the northern boundary of said State of Missouri till 
it strikes the line of the lands of Sacs and Fox Indians: thence northwardly 
along the said line to a point from which a west line would strike the sources of 
the Little Sioux River ; thence along said west line till it strikes the soi 
said river; thence down said river to its month; thence down the IV 
River to the place of b -ginning: Provided, the said boundary shall 
five million acres, but should it contain more, then said boundaries are to be 
reduced so as to contain the said five million acres. 1 ' 



$70,000 for educational purposes, to be applied at the 
discretion of the President of the United States. 

(3) Individual stipends were granted as follows: Billy Cald- 
well, S400 per year for life ; Alexander Robinson, $300 per year 
for life ; in addition to annuities before granted them ; $200 per 

year, each, for life, to Joseph Laframboise and Shawl :e 

§2,000 to Wah-pon-eh-see and his band ; and $1,500 to Awnkote 
and his band for nineteen sections of land, granted them al the 
treaty of Prairie de Chien, which were to be given up. 

Article 4 provided for an equitable distribution of the annui- 
ties to the various bands'. 

Article 5 confirmed as grants in fee simple to all individuals 
to whom reservations had been ceded by previous treaties, all such 
lands, to their heirs and assigns forever. 

The close of the important document and the signatures an- 
nexed read as follows : 

" In testimony whereof, the said George B. Porter, Thomas 
J. V. Owen, and William Weatherford, and the undersigned chiefs 
and head men of the said nation of Indians, have hereunto set 
their hands at Chicago the said day and year (September 26, 1S33). 
G. B. Porter 
Th. J. V. Owen 
William Weatherford 
To-pen-e-bee, his x mark 
Sau-ko-noek 

Che-che-bin-quay, his x mark, 
Joseph, his x mark 
Wah-mix-i-co, his x mark 
Ob-wa-qua-unk, his x mark 
N-saw-way-quet, his x mark 



Me-am-ese, his x mark 
Shay-tee, his x mark 
Chis-in-ke-bah, his x mark 
Mix-e-maung, his x mark 
Nah-bwait, his x mark 
Sen-e-bau-um, his x mark 
Puk-won, his x mark 
Wa-be-no-say, his x mark 
Mon-tou-ish, his x mark 
No-nee, his x mark 



Puk-quech-a-min-nee, his x mark Mas-quat, his x mark 



Nah-che-wine, his x mark 
Ke-wase, his x mark 
Wah-bou-seh, his x mark 
Mang-e-selt, his x mark 
Caw-we-saut, his x mark 
Ah-be-te-ke-zhic, his x mark 
Pat-e-go-shuc, his x mark 
E-to-wow-cote, his x mark 
Shim-e-nah, his x mark 
O-chee-pwaise, his x mark 
Ce-nah-ge-win, his x mark 



Sho-min, his x mark 
Ah-take, his x mark 
He-me-nah-wah, his x mark 
Che-pec-co-quah, his x mark 
Mis-quab-o-no-quah, his x mark 
Wah-be-Kai, his x mark 
Ma-ca-ta-ke-shic, his x mark 
Sho-min, (2d) his x mark 
She-mah-gah, his x mark 
O'Ke-mah-wah-ba-see, his x mark 
Na-mash, his x mark 



Shaw-waw-nas-see, his x mark* Shab-y-a-tuk, his x mark 

Mac-a-ta-o-shic, his x mark Quah-quah-tan, his x mark 

Shab-eh-nay, his x mark Ah-cah-o-mah, his x mark 

Squah-ke-zic, his x mark Ah-sag-a-mish-cum, his x mark 

Mah-che-o-tah-way, his x mark Pa-mob-a-mee, his x mark 



Cha-ke-te-ah, his x mark 
Ce-tah-quah, his x mark 
Ce-ku-tay, his x mark 
Sauk-ee, his x mark 
Kee-new, his x mark 
Ne-bay-noc-scum, his x mark 
Naw-bay-caw, his x mark 
O'Kee-mase, his x mark 
Saw-o-tup, his x mark 
Me-tai-wav, his x mark 



Nay-o-say, his x mark 
Sho-bon-nier, his x mark 
Me-nuk-quet, his x mark 
Ah-quee-wee, his x mark 
Ta-cau-ko, his x mark 
Me-shim-e-nah, his x mark 
Wah-sus-kuk, his x mark 
Pe-nay-o-cat, his x mark 
Pay-maw-suc, his x mark 
Pe-she-ka, his x mark 



Na-ma-ta-way-shuc, his x mark Shaw-we-mon-e-tay, his x mark 
Shaw-waw-nuk-wuk, his x mark Ah-be-nab, his x mark 
Nah-che-wah, his x mark Sau-sau-quas-see, his x mark 



/« Pre 
Wm. Lee D. Ewing, Secretary to 

Commission 
E. A. Brush 
Luther Rice, Interpreter 
James Conner, Interpreter 
John T. Schermerhorn, Commis- 
sioner, etc. , West. 
A. C. Pepper, S. A. R. P. 
Gho. Kercheval, Sub-agent 
Geo. Bender, Major 5th Regt. Inf. 

D. Wilcox, Capt. 5th Regt. 
I. M. Baxley, Capt. 5th Inf. 
R. A. Forsvth, U. S. A. 

L. T. Jamison, Lieut. U. S. A. 

E. K. Smith, Lieut. 5th Inf. 



«*» of 

Daniel Jackson, of New York 
Jno. H. Kinzie 
Robt. A. Kinzie 
G. S. Hubbard 

J. C. Schwarz, Adjt. Gen. M. M. 
Jn. B. Beaubien 
James Kinzie 
Jacob Beeson 
Saml. Humes Porter 
Andw. Porter 
Gabriel Godfroy 
A. H. Arndt 
Laurie Marsh 
Joseph Chaunier 
John Watkins 

* The names of neither Alexander Robinson nor Billy Caldwell, both lead- 
ing chiefs of the Pottawatomies, appear among the signers of the treaty. They 
were both able to write their names. Robinson's Indian name was Che-chee- 
bing-way or, as one historian spells it, " Che-che-pin-gua." The "Che-che- 
bin-quay " signature attached to the treaty was probably Robinson's. " Shaw- 
waw-nas-see " was pro',) ibly the signature of Hilly Caldwell iSaug.inashi. To 
each of these signatures is attached the mark (x) of illiteracy. They could 
both write, but their signatures do not appear except in the above forrq, 



126 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



P. Maxwell, Asst. Surgeon B. B. Kercheval 

T. Allen, Lieut. 5th Inf. Jas. W. Berry 

I. F. Simouton, Lieut. I". S. A. Win. French 
George F. Turner, Asst. Surgeon Thomas Forsyth 

t". S. Army Pierre Menard, Fils 

Richd. I. Hamilton Edrad. Roberts 

Robert Stuart Geo. Hunt 

lona. McCarthy Isaac Nash 

•The fund of §100,000, provided for "sundry indi- 
viduals " in behalf of whom reservations had been asked 
and denied, was distributed as follows : 

SCHELH'LE A. 

(Referred to in the treaty containing the sums payable to in- 
dividuals in lieu of reservations.) 

Te«e Walker $15°° 

Henry Cleavland 800 

Rachel Hall 600 

Sylvia Hali 600 

Joseph Laframboise and children 1000 

Victoire Porthier and her children 700 

Jean Bt. Miranda, I ~| . . 300 

Jane Miranda, J for each q{ whom Tohn I . . 200 
Mrs. \ an Kosetta i H K - ■ ■ - >.. 

Miranda, • . 3°° 

Thomas Miranda, [ J . . 400 

Alexander Muller, Gholson Kercheval, trustee 800 

Paschal Muller, " " " 800 

Margaret Muller 200 

Socra Muller 200 

Angelique Chevallier 200 

Josette Chevallier 200 

Fanny Leclare, (Captain David Hunter, trustee)... 400 

Daniel Bourassa's children 600 

Nancy Contraman, \ f h f whom f B ) 

Sally Contraman. i c bell is trust e e . \ 6 °° 

Betsey Contraman, f r ; 

Alexis Laf rambois 1 800 

Alexis Laframbois' children 200 

Mrs. Mann's children 600 

Mrs. Mann (daughter of Antoine Ouilmet) 400 

Geo. Turkey's children (Fourtier), Th. J. V. Owen, 

trustee 500 

Jacques Chapeau's children, (Fourtier), Th. J. V. 

Owen, trustee 600 

Antonie Roscum's children 750 

Francois Burbonnais' senior children 400 

Francois Burbonnais' junior children 300 

John Bt. Cloutier's children, (Robert A. Kinzie, 

trustee) 600 

Claude Laframboise's children 300 

Antoine Ouilmet's children 300 

Josette Ouilmet, (John H. Kinzie, trustee) 200 

"Mrs. Welsh, (daughter of Antoine Ouilmet) 200 

Alexander Robinson's children 400 

Billy Caldwell's children 600 

Mo-ah-way 200 

Madore B. Beaubien 300 

Charles H. Beaubien 300 

John K. Clark's Indian children, (Richard J. Hamil- 
ton, trustee) 400 

Mrs. Sol. Josette Juno and her children 1000 

Angelique Juno 300 

Josette Beaubien's children 1000 

Ma-go-que's child, (James Kinzie, trustee) 300 

Esther, Rosene and Eleanor Bailly 500 

Sophia, Ilortense and Therese Bailly 1000 

Rosa and Mary, children of Hoo-mo-ni-gah, wife of 

Stephen Slack 600 

Jean Bt. Rabbu's children 400 

Francis Chevallier's children 800 

Mrs. Nancy Jamison and child 800 

Co-pah, son of Archange 250 

Martha Burnet, (Rt, Forsyth, trustee) 1000 

[sadore Chabert's child, <G S. Hubbard, trustee).. 400 

Chee-bee-quai, or Mrs. Allan 500 

Luther Rice and children 2500 

John Jones IOOO 

Pierre ( orbonno's children 800 

Pierre Chalipeaux's children IOOO 

Phoebe Treat and children 1000 

Robert Forsyth, of St. Louis, Mo 500 

Alexander Robinson *ioooo 

Billy Caldwell *ioooo 



Joseph Laframboise 300 

Nis-noan-see, (B. B. Kercheval, trustee) 200 

Margaret Hall 1000 

James, William, David and Sarah, children of Mar- 
garet Hall 3200 

Margaret Ellen Miller, Mont- ( For each of whom | 

gomery Miller, and Filly) Richard J. Ham- I „ 
Miller, grand-children of ] ilton, of Chicago, j 
Margaret Hall, [is trustee. 

Jean Letendre's children 200 

"Bernard Grignon 100 

Josette Polier 100 

Joseph Vieux, Jacques Vieux, Louis Vieux, Josette 

Vieux, each 100 

Angelique Hardwick's children 1800 

Joseph Bourassa and Mark Bourassa 200 

Jude Bourassa and Therese Bourassa 200 

Stephen Bourassa and Gabriel Bourassa 200 

Alexander Bourassa and James Bourassa 200 

Elai Bourassa and Jerome Bourassa 200 

M. D. Bourassa 100 

Ann Rice and her son, William M. Rice and 

nephew, John Leib 1000 

Agate Biddle and her children goo 

Magdaline Laframboise and her son 400 

Therese Schandler 200 

Joseph Dailly's son and daughter, Robert and Therese 500 

"Therese Lawe and George Lawe 200 

David Lawe and George Lawe 200 

Rebecca Lawe and Maria Lawe 200 

Polly Lawe and Jane Lawe 200 

Appototone Lawe 100 

Angelique Vieux and Amable Vieux 200 

Andre Vieux and Nicholas Vieux 200 

Pierre Vieux and Maria Vieux 200 

Madaline Thibeault 100 

Paul Vieux and Joseph Vieux 200 

Susanne Vieux 100 

Louis Grignon and his son Paul 200 

Paul Grignon, Sr. and Amable Grignon 200 

Perish and Robert Grignon 200 

Catist Grignon and Elizabeth Grignon 200 

Ursul Grignon and Charlotte Grignon 200 

Louise Grignon and Rachel Grignon 200 

Agate Porlier and George Grignon 200 

Amable Grignon and Emily Grignon 200 

Therese Grignon and Simon Grignon 200 

William Burnett, (B. B. Kercheval, trustee) ... . . 1000 

Shan-na-nees 400 

Josette Beaubien 500 

For the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Pottawatomie stu- 
dents at the Choctaw Academy. The Hon. R. 

M. Johnson to be the trustee 5000 

James and Richard J. Conner 700 

"Pierre Duverny and children 300 

Joshua Boyd's children, (George Boyd, Esq., to be 

trustee) 500 

Joseph Baily 4000 

R. A. Forsyth 3000 

Gabriel Godfroy 2420 

Thomas R. Covill 1300 

George Hunt 750 

James Kinzie 5000 

Joseph Chaunier 550 

"John and Mark Noble 180 

Alexis Provansale 100 

One hundred thousand dollars Si°°,°oo 
Originally $150,000 was provided for the payment 
of claims acknowledged as justly due, and by a supple- 
mentary treaty $25,000 additional. Schedule B, follow- 
ing, shows that $175,000 was apportioned to claimants 
sufficiently numerous to constitute nearly a complete 
census of the white male population of the Northwest. 
It is not believed that these claims were audited on the 
part of the Indians, although they acknowledged them 
to be justly due by the formality of accepting the treaty 
of which the schedule formed a part. It was an ap- 
portionment of the ready money of the tribes among all 
the whites who could bring a claim against an Indian. 
The honest debtor and the unjust and dishonest claim- 

* Cut down by the U. S. Senate to $5,000 each. 



CHICAGO IN 1830-33. 



127 



ant absorbed the fund. How large a portion of it repre- 
sented robbery, theft, and perjury will never be known 
until the great book is opened at the last day. The list 
of names and amounts apportioned is as follows : 



SCHEDULE I). 



( Referred to in the treaty containing the sums payable to indi- 
viduals on claims admitted to be justly due, and directed to be 
paid.)* 



Brewster, Hogan & Co $343 

John S. C. Hogan 50 

Frederick H. Contraman.. 200 
Brookfield & Bertrand.... 100 

R. E. Heacock 100 

Geo. W. McClure, U.S.A. 125 

David McKee 180 

Oliver Emmell 300 

George Hollenbeck 100 

Martha Gray 78 

Charles Taylor 187 

Joseph Naper 71 

John Mann 200 

James Walker 200 

John Blackston 100 

Harris & McCord 175 

George \V. Dole 133 

George Haverhill 60 

Wm. Whistler, U.S. A.. 1000 
Squire Thompson 100 

C. C. Trowbridge 2000 

Louis Druillard 350 

Abraham Francis 25 

D. R. Bearss & Co 250 

Dr. E. Winslow 150 

Nicholas Klinger 77 

Joseph Porthier 200 

Clark Hollenbeck 50 

Henry Enslen 75 

Robert A. Kinzie 1216 

Joseph Ogie 200 

Thomas Hartzell 400 

Calvin Britin 46 

Benjamin Fry 400 

Pierre F. Navarre 100 

C. H. Chapman 30 

James Kinzie 300 

G. S. Hubbard 125 

Samuel Godfroy 1 20 

John E. Schwartz 4800 

Joseph Loranger 5008 

H. B. and C. W. Hoffman 350 

Phelps & Wendell 660 

Henry Johns 270 

Benjamin C. Hoyt 20 

John H. Kinzie, intrust for 

the heirs of Joseph Mir- 
anda, deceased 250 

Francis Burbonnais, Sr... 500 
Francis Burbonnais, Jr. . . . 200 
R. A. Forsyth, in trust for 
Catherine McRenzie. . . .1000 

James Laird 50 

Montgomery Evans 250 

Joseph Bertrand, Jr 300 

George Hunt goo 

Benjamin Sherman 150 

W. and F. Brewster, assig- 
nees of Joseph Bertrand, 

Sr 700 

John Forsyth, in trust for 
the heirs of Charles Pel- 
tier, deceased goo 

William Hazard 30 

James Shirby 125 

Jacob Platter 25 

John B. Bourie 2500 

B. B. Kercheval 1500 

Charles Lucier 75 

Mark Beaubien 500 

Catherine Stewart 82 

Francis Mouton 200 

Doctor William Brown . . 40 



Jacque Jenveaux $150 

John B. DuCharme 55 

John Wright 15 

James Galloway 200 

William Marquis 150 

Louis Chevalier, adm'r of 
J. B. Chevalier, dec'd.. 112 

Solomon McCullough 100 

Joseph Curtis 50 

Edward E. Hunter go 

Rachel Legg 25 

Peter Lamseet 100 

Robert Beresford 200 

G. W. and W. Laird 150 

M. B. Beaubien 440 

Jeduthan Smith 60 

Edmund Weed 100 

Philip Maxwell, U. S. A.. 35 

Henry Gratiot 116 

Tyler K. Blodgett 50 

Nehemiah King - 125 

S. P. Brady 188 

James Harrington 68 

Samuel Ellice 50 

Peter Menard (Maumee). . 500 

John W. Anderson 350 

David Bailey 50 

Wm. G. Knaggs 100 

John Hively 150 

John B. Bertrand, Sr. ... 50 

Robert A. Forsyth 3000 

Maria Kercheval 3000 

Alice Hunt 3000 

Jane C. Forsyth 3000 

John H. Kinzie 5000 

Ellen M. Wolcott 5000 

Maria Hunter 5000 

Robert A. Kinzie 5000 

William Huff 81 

Stephen Mack, in trust for 
the heirs of Stephen 

Mack, deceased . 500 

Thomas Forsyth 1500 

Felix Fontaine 200 

Jacques Mette 200 

Francis Boucher 250 

Margaret Helm 2000 

O. P. Lacy 1000 

Henry and Richard G. Con- 
ner 1500 

James W. Craig 500 

R. A. Forsyth, Maumee.. 1300 
Antoine Peltier, Maumee.. 200 
R. A. Forsyth, in trust for 

Mau-se-on-o-quet 300 

John E. Hunt 1450 

Payne C. Parker 70 

Isaac Hull 1000 

Foreman Evans 32 

Horatio N. Curtis 300 

lea Rice 250 

Thomas P. Quick 35 

George B. Woodcox 60 

John Woodcox 40 

George B. Knaggs 1400 

Ebenezer Read 100 

George Pomeroy 150 

Thomas K. Green 70 

William Mieure, intrust for 

Willis Fellows. . . 500 

Z. Cicott 1800 

John Johnson roo 

Antoine Antilla 100 



• The Senate in ratifying the treaty provided for a board of coi 
to examine the claims, and if found fraudulent or unjust, to re-adju 



R. A. Forsyth, in trust for 

heirs of Charles Guion. 200 

Joseph Bertrand, Sr 652 

Moses Rice 800 

James Conner 2250 

John B. DuCharme 250 

Coquillard & Comparat . . . 5000 

Richard J. Hamilton 500 

Adolphus Chapin 80 

John Dixon 140 

Antoine Ouilmet $800 

John Bt. Chandonai, (one 

thousand dollars of this 

sum to be paid to Robert 

Stuart, agent of the 

American Fur Company, 

by the particular request 

of John B. Chandonai). .2500 

Lawrin Marsh 32go 

P. & J. Godfroy 2000 

David Hull 500 

Andrew Drouillard 500 

Jacob Beeson & Co 220 

Jacob Beeson goo 

John Anderson 600 

John Green ■ 100 

James B. Campbell 600 

Pierre Menard, jun., in 

right of G. W. Campbell 250 

George E. Walker 1000 

Joseph Thebault 50 

Gideon Lowe, U. S. A. . . 160 

Pierre Menard, jr 2000 

John Tharp 45 

Pierre Menard, jr., in 

trust for Marie Tremble, 500 

Henry B. Stilman 300 

John Hamblin 500 

Francois Page 100 

George Brooks 20 

Franklin McMillan 100 

Lorance Shellhouse 30 

Martin G. Shellhouse 35 

Peter Belair 150 

Joseph Morass 200 

John I. Wendell 2000 

A. T. Hatch 300 

Stephen Downing 100 

Samuel Miller 100 

Moses Hardwick 75 

Margaret May 400 

Frances Felix 1100 

John B. Bourie 500 

Harriet Ewing 500 

David Bourie 500 $175,000 

The above claims have been admitted and directed to be paid 
only in case they be accepted in full of all claims and demands up 
to the present date. G. B. Porter. 

T. J. V. Owen. 
William Weatherford. 

Of the $100,000 to be paid in goods and provisions, 
the following record and receipt for delivery appears: 

Agreeably to the stipulations contained in the third article of 
the treaty, there have been purchased and delivered at the request 
of the Indians, goods, provisions and horses, to the amount of 
sixty-live thousand dollars, (leaving the balance to be supplied in 
the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, thirty-five 
thousand dollars). 

As evidence of the purchase and delivery as aforesaid, under 
the direction of the said commissioners, and that the whole of the 
same have been received by the said Indians, the said George B. 
Porter, Thomas J. V. Owen, and William Weatherford, and the 
undersigned chiefs and head men, on behalf of the said United 
Nation of Indians, have hereunto set their hands, the twenty-sev- 
enth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
hundred and thirty-three. 

G. B. Porter, Tshee-Tshee-chin-be-quay, 

Th. J. V. Owen, Joseph, his x mark, [his x mark, 

William Weatherford, Shab-e-nai, his x mark, 

Jo-pen-e-bee, his x mark, Ah-be-te-ke-zhic, his x mark, 

We-saw, his x mark, E-to-won-cote, his x mark, 

Ne-kaw-nosh-kee, his x mark, Shab-y-a-tuk, his x mark, 
Wai-saw-o-ke-ne-aw, his x mark, Me-am-ese, his x mark, 



John Baldwin 500 

Isaac G. Baily 100 

James Cowan 35 

Joseph D. Lane 50 

J. L. Phelps 250 

Edmund Roberts 50 

Augustus Bona 60 

E. C. Winter & Co 1S50 

Charles W. Ewing 200 

Carolina Ferry 500 

Bowrie & Minie $5°o 

Charles Minie 600 

Francis Minie 700 

David Bourie 150 

Henry Ossum Read 200 

Francoise Bezoin 2500 

Dominique Rosseau 500 

Hanna & Taylor 1570 

John P. Hedges 1000 

Francois Chobare 1000 

Isadore Chobare 600 

Jacob Leephart 700 

Amos Amsden 400 

Nicholas Boilvin 350 

Archibald Clybourne 200 

William Connor (Michigan) 70 

Tunis S. Wendall 500 

Noel Vassuer 800 

James Abbott, agent of the 

American Fur Company, 2300 
Robert Stewart, agent of 
the American Fur Com- 
pany 17000 

Solomon Juneau 2100 

John Bt. Beaubien 250 

Stephen Mack, jr 350 

John Lawe 3000 

Alexis Larose 1000 

Daniel Whitney 1 3SO 

P. & A. Grignon 650 

Louis Grignon 2000 

Jacques Vieux 2000 

Laframboise & Bourassa. .1300 
Heirs of N. Boilvin, de- 
ceased 1000 

John K. Clark 400 

William G.and G.W.Ewingsooo 

Rufus Hitchcock 400 

Reed & Coons 200 

B. H. Laughton 1000 

Rufus Downing 500 

Charles Reed 200 

Nancy Hedges 500 



128 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



Ne-see-waw-bee-tuck, his x mark, Wah-be-me-mee, his x mark, 
Kai-kaw-tai-mon, his x mark, Shim-e-nah, his x mark, 
Saw-ko-nosh, We-in-co, his x mark. 

In presi 

Wm. Lee D. Ewing. sect'y to Andw. Porter, 

the commission. Joseph Bertfand, jr. 

R. A. Forsyth. U. S. A , Jno. H. Kinzie. 

Madn. F. Abb James Connor, interpreter, 

Saml. Humes Porter, j. E. Schwarz, Adjt.-Gen. M. M. 

It is not now essential to the object of the historian 
or to the interest of the reader to know how the sixty- 
five thousand dollars of goods was paid, or in what the 
goods consisted, nor whether the chiefs who signed the 
receipt knew anything of the value thereof, nor whether 
they were drunk or sober when they signed. 

The treaty was consummated — the Indian title to 
lands in Illinois was extinguished. After two more 
annual payments to the Pottawatomies who lingered in 
Wisconsin, the tribes disappeared from the region, and 
with them went many of the earlier settlers who had 
intermarried and thus become identified with them. 
The Bourassas, Laframboise, Madore B Beaubien, the 
Bourbonnais the Mirandeaus all but Victoire — Mrs. Por- 
thier , some of the Clark Indian children, a part of the 
Juneau family — in fact nearly all the half-breed families 
moved west with the Indians with whom they had become 
allied, and their descendants are to-day leaders in the 
tribe in the Indian Territory and Kansas, or, having 
severed their tribal relations, have become leading citi- 
zens of Kansas.* 

Incorporation as a Town. — Anticipating the 
results of this, which was quite sure to extinguish the 
Indian title in the vicinity of Chicago, the citizens felt 
that the time had come to take upon themselves cor- 
porate powers and to assume the functions of self- 
government as the statutes provided. Heretofore the 
residents of the Chicago settlement had been, legally, 
only citizens of Cook County, having no peculiar cor- 
porate powers outside those vested in the "County 
Board, or Court of Commissioners. 

In accordance with the provisions of the statutes, a 
preliminary meeting of the citizens of Chicago was 
held, August 5, 1833, to decide by vote whether or not 
they would assume the functions of an incorporated 
town. There were cast at this meeting twelve votes 
" for incorporation," and one "against incorporation."! 
The single vote in opposition was cast by Russel E. 
Heacock, he living at that time beyond the extreme 
southern border of the proposed town, although having 
his business and professional interests at the settlement. 
He moved into the town the following year. 

The first election of Town Trustees was held at the 
house of Mark Beaubien, August 10. It is believed 
that every legal voter of Chicago cast his vote on that 
occasion. They numbered twenty-eight. The follow- 
ing were elected Trustees: T. J. V. Owen, 26 votes; 
(ieorge W. Hole, 26 votes; Madore B. Beaubien, 23 
votes; John Miller, 20 votes; E. S. Kimberlv, 20 
votes. 

The first meeting of the new board was held 
August 12, at which little was done except to organize. 
Thomas J. Y. Owen was chosen president, and Isaac 
Harmon was appointed clerk. It was agreed that 
the meetings should hereafter lx- held at the house 
of Mark Beaubien. 

At the session of September 3, George W. Dole 
was appointed Town Treasurer; and another free ferry 



* For farther 
history in this vol 

♦for voter*' 1i 
corporate history. 



'ottawatomies, see the preceding Indi; 
rtber details concerning the early town elections, s 



established across the Chicago River at Dearborn 
Street. Charles H. Chapman was appointed ferryman. 

The limits of the new town were, on November 6, 
extended so as to embrace not far from seven-eighths 
of one square mile. The boundaries were : Jackson 
Street, on the south; Jefferson and Cook streets, on 
the west; Ohio Street, on the north; and north of the 
river, by the lake, and south of the river, by State 
Street, on the east. 

November 7, Benjamin Jones was appointed Street 
Commissioner, and Isaac Harmon, Collector, his fees 
to be "ten per cent on all money put into the treasury." 

December 4, the corps of town officials was com- 
pleted by the appointment of George Snow as As- 
sessor and Surveyor, and John Dean Caton as Corporate 
Attorney. 

Chicago from 1833 to 1837. — The close of the 
year 1833 found Chicago a legally organized town. Its 
population at the time has been variously estimated at 
from one hundred and fifty to one thousand. No record 
of any enumeration of the inhabitants is extant, and 
all statements as to the actual population at that time 
are estimates, based on the whims, impressions, or 
rumors of the time. It required a population of 150 
to form a corporate town organization, and it is not 
probable that Chicago had more than the required 
number. Based on the number of voters (twenty-eight) 
at the first election, and allowing a population of five 
to each voter, the resident population was 140 in 
August, 1833, at the time the first election was held. 
The influx drawn in during the Indian treaty, in 
September, added largely to the permanent population 
of the town, as many who came here at that time re- 
mained. The population on January 1, 1834, was not 
far from 250. 

The new town of Chicago as organized in the fall of 
1833, although as small in population as the law would 
allow, had all the required elements of civilization within 
itself. 

The village was built along the south side of Water 
Street and westerly toward the settlement at the forks. 
There were scattered shanties over the prairie south, 
and a few rough, unpainted buildings had been impro- 
vised on the North Side between the old Kinzie house 
and what is now Clark Street. All together it would, in 
the light of 1883, have represented a most woe-begone 
appearance, even as a frontier.town of the lowest class. 
It did not show a single steeple nor a chimney four feet 
above any roof. A flagstaff at the fort, some fifty feet 
high, flaunted, in pleasant weather and on holidays — a 
weather-beaten flag, as an emblem of civilization, patri- 
otic pride, national domain, or anything else that might 
stir hearts of the denizens of the town. The buildings 
of the fort were low posted, and none of them exceed- 
ing two low stories in height. Approaching the village 
by land from the south, one would see on emerging 
from the oak woods, near Twenty-third Street, a good 
stretch of level grass, the lake on the right, woods along 
the borders of the main river, and, lying on the back- 
ground of the green woods, only a thin cloud of smoke 
from the shanty chimneys, a line of almost indefinable 
structures, and the flag over the fort, if perchance it was 
flying. A brown path, where the grass had been trod- 
den out, led to the fort, and another, better trodden and 
wider, led across the prairie towards the forks where 
the Sauganash Hotel then flourished. A letter from 
Charles Butler, a brother-in-law of William B. Ogden, 
written from New York December 17, 1881, is here 
given as relevant to a description of the town at this 
time. The letter somewhat anticipates the history as 



CHTCAGO TN 1833-37. 



129 



regards its subsequent growth and development, and 
brings Hon. William B. Ogden upon the stage before 
his time, but is given entire, nevertheless. It reads as 
follows : 

" In the winter of 1832-33 I was spending some time with my 
friend Arthur Bronson in New York as his guest. Among other 
topics we discussed that of a visit to the Western country the fol- 
lowing summer for information and pleasure. The recent occur- 
rence of the Black Hawk War (which took place in 1832, the 
previous summer) had directed attention to that region of country 
west of Lake Michigan (where it had taken place) in the northern 
part of Illinois and southern portion of the then Territory of Wis- 
consin. . We decided on the plan of a journey to Chicago, the 
ensuing summer. My residence was then at Geneva, in Ontario 
County, in the western part of the State of New York, and it was 
arranged that Mr. Bronson would leave New York in June follow- 
ing and I would join him at Geneva. Having settled upon this 
plan, we directed our attention to obtaining some information in 
regard to that region of country and the methods of traveling. 
General Scott, who had charge of the campaign against the Black 
Hawk Indians,* and who had but recently returned from the West, 
was a friend of Mr. Branson's and he applied to him for informa- 
tion on the subject. General Scott had been very much impressed 
by his visit, with the extent, beauty and attractions of that portion 
of the United States, and he expressed the opinion to Mr. Bronson 
that Chicago in the future settlement of the country, would be 
likely to become an important town. In further prosecution of his 
inquiries he was advised to apply to Mr. Daniel Jackson, then a 
leading merchant of this city (New York), who was engaged in the 
business of furnishing Indian supplies, and Mr. Bronson had re- 
course to him. On going to the store and stating the object of his 
visit to Mr. Jackson, the latter responded to his application with 
interest, and said that he would then introduce him to a man from 
Chicago, who at that moment happened to be in his store making 
purchases of Indian goods. This was Robert A. Kinzie, and Mr. 
Bronson was introduced to him. The result of this interview with 
Mr. Kinzie (from whom Mr. Bronson obtained all the information 
needed for the journey) was a voluntary offer on the part of Mr. 
Kinzie to Mr. Bronson, that, if the latter and his friend had in view 
the purchase of any property in the West, or if they should desire 
to purchase any when there, he had an interest in some land in 
Chicago which he would sell to us, and he gave Mr. Bronson a 
description of the property, stating the quantity, terms, etc., with 
the privilege of considering it and of deciding whether he would 
take it or not, after we should have seen it. The land thus offered 
was one-fotuth interest in the ncrth fractional half of Section ten! 10), 
in common and undivided, on which Kinzie's addition to the town of 
Chicago was afterwards laid out — Mr. Robert A. Kinzie as one of 
the heirs at law of his father being entitled to one-fourth part 
thereof. 

" In the summer of 1833, in accordance with the arrangement 
previously made in the winter, as above stated, Mr. Bronson and I 
proceeded on our Western journey. We stopped at Niagara Falls, 
to which place we were accompanied bv our respective families, 
from whom we parted there, and went on to Buffalo, where we took 
a steamer for Detroit. We duly arrived at Detroit, where we 
remained some time. Arrangements were then made for the jour- 
ney to Chicago. The country between Detroit and Chicago was 
then a comparative wilderness, and the route to Chicago was by 
what was known as the Indian Trail, which traversed the southern 
portion of the Territory of Michigan in a southwesterly course 
from Detroit through Ypsilanti to White Pigeon Prairie, where it 
approached the northern boundary line of the State of Indiana, and 
passing through South Bend and LaPorte Prairie (the Door prairie) 
to Michigan City. Preparatory to the journey, we provided a 
wagon and pair of horses and two saddle horses, and arranged 
with a young man, named Gholson Kercheval, who was familiar 
with the route, having been connected with the Indian agency at 
Chicago, to accompany us all the way from Detroit to Chicago; we 
laid in supplies, provisions and groceries, such as we thought 
might be needed on the way. The journey occupied several days. 
On arriving at White Pigeon Prairie, where there was a settlement, 
we were so attracted by the beauty of the country that we stopped 
several days there and made short excursions in the vicinity. At 
LaPorte they were just then establishing the site of the county 
town, now the city of LaPorte, and a Government agency for 
the sale of lands. It was about this time that this portion of the 
State of Indiana was brought into market by the Government for 
sale. 

" We arrived at Michigan City late in the evening. There 

was but a single house there at which we could stop. It was kept 

by General Orr. We there met with Major Elston, of Crawfords- 

* It is well known that General Scott did not reach the ground until hos- 



ville, who had become the purchaser of the section of land on 
which Michigan City was laid out, and he had just then completed 
a survey and map of the town, which he exhibited to us, and offered 
to sell us lots. It was a great novelty to us, this map of Michigan 
City, and in the morning, when daylight came, and we could look 
out upon the land around us, the novelty was still more striking, 
for a more desolate tract of sand and barren land could hardly be 
conceived of. There was scarcely a tree or shrub to distinguish it, 
much less any houses ; it was literally in a state of nature. Major 
Elston had been attracted to it by the fact that it was the only 
place on Lake Michigan, within the territory of the State of Indi- 
ana, where it might be possible at some future time to establish a 
commercial port in connection with the navigation of the lake; and 
this distant vision of possibilities attracted his attention at this early 
day, and the first step towards its realization had now been taken 
by him in the survey and map just then completed of Michigan 
City. 

" From Michigan City to Chicago, a distance of about sixty 
miles, the journey was performed by me on horseback. There 
was but one stopping place on the way, and that was the house of a 
F'renchman named Bayeux, who had married an Indian woman. 
At Calumet River, which was crossed on a float, there was an en- 
campment of Pottawatomie Indians. There were some trees on 
the westerly bank of the river, and in some of these the Indians 
had hammocks. In making the journey from Michigan City to 
Chicago I followed the shore of the lake nearly the whole distance. 

" I approached Chicago in the afternoon of a beautiful day, 
the 2d of August, (1833) ; the sun setting in a cloudless sky. Or. 
my left lay the prairie, bounded only by the distant horizon like a 
vast expanse of ocean ; on my right, in the summer stillness, lay 
Lake Michigan. I had never seen anything more beautiful or 
captivating ill nature. There was an entire absence of animal 
life, nothing visible in the way of human habitation or to indicate 
the presence of man, and yet it was a scene full of life ; for there, 
spread out before me in every direction, as far as the eye could 
reach, were the germs of life in earth, air and water. I approached 
Chicago in these closing hours of day, ' So calm, so clear, so 
bright,' — and this was the realization of the objective point of my 
journey. 

" But what was the condition of this objective point, this Chi- 
cago of which I was in pursuit, to which I had come ? A small 
settlement, a few hundred people all told, who had come together 
mostly within the last year or two. The houses, with one or two 
exceptions, were of the cheapest and most primitive character for 
human habitation, suggestive of the haste with which they had 
been put up. A string of these buildings had been erected with- 
out much regard to lines on the south side of the Chicago River 
(South Water Street). On the west side of the South Branch, near 
the junction, a tavern had been improvised for the entertainment 
of travelers, erected by James Kinzie, but kept by a Mr. Crook (?) ; 
and there we found lodgings. On the north side of the Chicago 
River at that time, there was but a single building, known as the 
Block House. I crossed the river in a dug-out canoe about oppo- 
site to it. My recollection is that the house which had once been 
occupied by Mr. Kinzie. the Indian Agent, on the North Side, near 
the lake shore, had been previously destroyed by fire. The Gov- 
ernment had just entered upon the harbor improvement of the Chi- 
cago River ; the work was under the charge of Major Bender. 
Fort Dearborn was a military establishment, and just at this time 
there was a transfer of a company of United States troops from 
Green Bay or Sault Ste. Marie to Fort Dearborn, under the com- 
mand, I think, of Major Wilcox, accompanied by the Rev. Jere- 
miah Porter, as chaplain, to whom I had a letter of introduction. 
On the morning after my arrival, in walking out, I met a gentle- 
man from whom I inquired where he could be found, and on ex- 
hibiting my letter, he said he was the person and that he was then 
on his way to attend the funeral of a child, and he asked me if I 
would accompany him as it was near by, which I did. On going 
to the house, which was one of the kind I have described, new and 
cheap, we found the father and mother ; the dead child lay in a 
rude coffin. There was no one else present except the parents, 
Mr. John Wright, Dr. Kimball, Mr. Porter and myself, and it be- 
came a question how the remains of the child should be conveyed 
to the cemetery, which was on the west side of the North Branch 
of the river. I recollect that while we were attending this simple 
service, we were interrupted by the noise of a hammer of a work- 
man outside, who was engaged in putting up a shanty for some 
new-comers, and Mr. Porter went out and secured the assistance 
of this workman. We acted as bearers in conveying the remains 
of this poor child from the house to the grave and assisted in bury- 
ing it. 

" Emigrants were coming in almost every day in wagons of 
various forms, and, in many instances, families were living in their 
covered wagons while arrangements were made for putting up 
shelter for them. It was no uncommon thing for a house, such as 



*3° 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



would answer the purpose for the time being, to be put up in a few 
days. Mr. Bronson himself made a contract for a house, to be 
put up and finished in a week. There were, perhaps, from two to 
three hundred people in Chicago at that time, mostly strangers to 
each other. In the tavern at which we staid, the partitions were 
chieflY upright studs, with sheets attached to them. The house 
was crowded with people — emigrants and travelers. Many of them 
could onlv find a sleeping-place on the floor, which was covered 
with weary men at night. 

" The east window of my bed-room looked out upon Lake 
Michigan in the distance, Fort Dearborn lying near the margin of 
the lake ; and, at this time, there was nothing, or very little, to 
obstruct the view between the inn and the lake, the fort and the 
buildings connected with it being the principal objects ; and those 
buildings were very low structures ; and I could, from my window, 
follow the course of the river, the water of which was as pure as 
that of the lake, from the point of junction to its entrance into the 
lake. 

" A treaty was to be held in September, at Chicago, with cer- 
tain tribes of Indians of the Northwest, by Governor Porter, of 
Michigan, as commissioner on behalf of the Government, for the 
extinguishment of the Indian title to that region of country now 
forming that part of Illinois north of Chicago, and the adjacent 
territory now included in the State of Wisconsin. Preparatory to 
this, the Indians were gathered in large numbers at Chicago, and it 
was a curious spectacle to see these natives in groups in their wig- 
wams scattered about on the prairie, in and around the town, 
chiefly near the junction of the branches of the river, some on the 
west side and some on the east side of the North Branch. This 
treaty was held in September, and by it the Indian title to all that 
region of countrv was extinguished, and the lands were subject to 
survev, and were afterwards (in May, 1835,) brought into market. 
The line of Indian territory, to which their title had been previously 
extinguished, extended about twelve miles north of Chicago. But 
these lands, including Chicago, had not yet been brought into 
market by the Government, and were not, therefore, subject to 
purchase by emigrants. They could only acquire a pre-emptive 
right by actual settlement, and it was in this way that the title to 
what is now called Kinzie's addition, was acquired. At this time, 
the patent for it had not been obtained, and the land lay in a wild 
state. 

" It was on this visit to Chicago with Mr. Bronson, that we 
spent some time, and made the acquaintance of the principal men 
of the place. Among these, as I now remember, were Mr. Richard 
J. Hamilton, the Kinzies (John H. and his brother Robert A.) and 
James Kinzie (the latter a half-brother to the former), Mr. John 
Wright, Dr. Temple, Gurdon S. Hubbard, Colonel Owen, and 
George W. Dole. 

" The present condition and prospects of Chicago, and its 
future, and that of the country around it, was, of course, the 
subject of constant and exciting discussion. At this time, that 
vast country lying between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi 
River (which then seemed to be the natural boundary of the West,) 
and the country lying northwest of it, which now includes Wiscon- 
sin, Minnesota, and Iowa, lay in one great unoccupied expanse of 
beautiful land, covered with the most luxuriant vegetation — a vast 
flower garden — beautiful to look at in its virgin state, and ready for 
the plow of the farmer. One could not fail to be greatly impressed 
with this scene, so new and extraordinary, and to see there the 
germ of that future, when these vast plains would be occupied and 
cultivated, yielding their abundant products of human food, and 
sustaining millions of population. Lake Michigan lay there, four 
hundred and twenty miles in length north and south, and it was 
clear to my mind that the productions of that vast country lying 
west and northwest of it on their way to the Eastern market — the 
great Atlantic seaboard — would necessarily be tributary to Chicago, 
in the site of which, even at this early day, the experienced ob- 
server saw the germ of a city, destined from its peculiar position 
near the head of the lake and its remarkable harbor formed by the 
river, to become the largest inland commercial emporium in the 
United States. 

"Michigan was then a territory with a population of about 
twenty thousand people, occupying the eastern portion of the 
State. Its western half was a comparatively unoccupied wil- 
derness. 

" Northern Indiana was in the same condition, and northern 
Illinois, including the country between Chicago and the Mississippi 
River, contained only a sparse population, confined to small set- 
tlements on the western water-courses. 

" With this feeling of inspiration with regard to the future of 
Chicago, which pervaded in common the leading spirits of the 
place, we entered into plans to promote its future development, 
and among these the most important which was at that time dis- 
cussed was a project for the construction of a canal or railway to 
connect Lake Michigan at Chicago with the Illinois River at 



Ottawa or Peru, a distance of about eighty or one hundred miles. A 
grant had been made by Congress to the Territory or State of 
Illinois, at an early day, of each alternate section of land in aid of 
the construction of a canal between Lake Michigan at Chicago 
and the Illinois River, but no steps had been taken to avail of this 
grant. 

" New Orleans at this time was regarded as a market for the 
valley of the Mississippi, as it could be reached by the Mississippi 
River and its tributaries, so the construction of such a canal be- 
tween Lake Michigan and the Illinois River would secure to 
Chicago the benefit of this western outlet to market by a continu- 
ous water communication, and this was regarded as an object of 
great importance for the future development of the country. The 
leading men of Chicago were anxious that we should interest our- 
selves in the prosecution of this work; and so enthusiastic had we 
become in our views of the future of this region of country and of 
Chicago as its commercial center, that we entered into their views, 
and it was agreed that an application should be made to the Legis- 
lature to incorporate a company for the construction of a canal or 
a railroad between Chicago and the Illinois River, to which com- 
pany the State should convey its land grant, coupled with condi- 
tions for the construction of either a canal or a railway within a 
certain time, and upon such conditions as might be imposed bv the 
Legislature; and that certain persons who were then present at 
Chicago, of whom Lucius Lyon (afterwards the first Senator in 
Congress from the State of Michigan), Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Kinzie, 
and Dr. Temple, I think, as a committee, were to take charge of 
this memorial and submit it at the next session of the Legislature 
of the State of Illinois. A memorial to the Legislature and a 
letter of instructions to the committee were carefully prepared by 
Mr. Bronson and myself, embodying our views and suggesting 
the terms and conditions upon which the company should be 
incorporated. 

" The committee were to proceed to Jacksonville with the 
memorial at the next session of the Legislature. Whether this 
proposition was ever formally submitted to that body or not I am 
not able to state, but it is certain that the discussion caused by it 
had the effect to stimulate the Legislature at the session of 1S34-35 
to avail of the liberal and yet dormant grant made by Congress for 
the purpose, and a bill was passed at that session authorizing a 
loan for the construction of the canal as a State work; and the 
work was soon after commenced and, though retarded by embar- 
rassments which overtook the State and for a time prostrated its 
credit, it was finally completed and remains to this day a monu- 
ment not only of the enterprise of the State, but of its integrity in 
the fulfillment of its pecuniary obligations to its creditors. 

" It may not be amiss to say in this connection that, when the 
State of Illinois, in common with several of the Western States, 
failed to meet the obligations it had incurred in its efforts to carry 
out prematurely, having respect to its population and ability, a 
vast system of internal improvement — that the question, What can 
be done to arrest the ruin and retrieve the credit of the State ? be- 
came one of vital importance not only to its citizens but to all who 
had any interest in the State. Of course Mr. Bronson and myself 
were deeply interested, and gave to it a good deal of time and 
thought — the result of which was the suggestion that the only 
feasible plan would be for the State to ask of its bondholders, who 
were chiefly in Europe, to make a further advance of money suffi- 
cient for the completion of the canal, for the payment of which 
the canal, its lands and revenues should be pledged, backed by the 
faith and credit of the State; and upon this basis the arrangement 
was finally made by the State which insured the completion of the 
canal. 

" I am happy to avail myself of this occasion to record this 
brief tribute to the memory of my friend, Arthur Bronson, to re- 
mind the citizens of Chicago of one who was a friend of their 
State and city at that most eventful period in their history. No 
one but he who then lived, and fully understood the situation, can 
rightly appreciate the value of such aid and influence as Mr. 
Bronson rendered, affecting the hpnor and prosperity of a State. 

" While at Chicago our attention was directed to the property 
which Robert A. Kinzie had offered us, viz.: his quarter interest as 
one of the heirs-at-law of his father, in the north fractional half of 
Section 10. This purchase was declined after a careful reconnois- 
sance of the land by me in person, accompanied by a surveyor, 
mainly because the remaining three-quarters, being owned by other 
persons, their co-operation in the disposition of the property would 
be essential to a satisfactory management. It was ascertained that 
Major-General Hunter, then and now in the United States Army, 
had become the owner of one-half interest in the same property and 
that he also owned eighty acres in the adjoining Section No. 9, 
that is to say, the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 9, 
now known as Wolcott's addition; and as the result of our consid- 
eration on the subject we concluded to open a negotiation with him 
for the purchase of his entire interest in Chicago. This negotiation 



CHICAGO IN '833-37. 



'3» 



was begun by correspondence with him. His engagement in the 
service of the country at remote military stations rendered com- 
munication with him difficult and slow, and the negotiation with 
him, though commenced in the fall of 1S33, was not consummated 
until late in the summer of 1S34, when a proposition was received 
from him offering the property, viz.: the half of Kinzie's addition 
and the whole of Wolcott's addition (and Block No. 1 in the 
town of Chicago, lying on the north side of the river) for the price 
of §20,000, at which sum it was purchased by my friend Mr. 
Arthur Bronson and his associates in the fall of 1S34, and the 
title to it was taken in the name of his brother, Mr. Frederic Bron- 
son. For private reasons I took no interest in the purchase, al- 
though the negotiations up to the final offer of Major Hunter had 
been conducted in accordance with the original suggestion, for our 
joint account and interest. In the month of May following 
I purchased of Mr. Bronson the same property for the con- 
sideration of $100,000. While the title was in Mr. Bronson, 
arrangements had been made for an auction sale of the 
property in the month of June, following simultaneously with 
the Government sale of lands, which had been advertised to 
take place at Chicago in May, 1S35 — the first of the kind 
in that portion of the United States, the surveys for which had 
been completed and the Indian title to which had been ex- 
tinguished. It was expected that this would attract a very large con- 
course of people to Chicago, as it did, for it brought into notice 
and offered for sale lands in the most attractive and fertile portion 
of the United States. The sale of the lots in the property, which 
I had acquired by purchase from Mr. Bronson, was to follow after 
the sale of public lands; all the preliminary steps to effect it 
had been taken, and Frederic Bronson was then on his way to 
Chicago to superintend the sale. Of course all these proceedings 
were now subject to my control, and the disposition to be made by 
me in regard to it was under consideration. In making the pur- 
chase I had contemplated this condition, and had in view my brother- 
in-law, William B. Ogden, as the best person to take charge of the 
whole business. He was then a member of the Legislature of this 
State, from the county of Delaware, during the memorable session 
of 1S35. I wrote to him requesting that he would terminate his 
labor there at the earliest possible moment, and go to Chicago to 
take charge of this property. This he consented to do, and in 
May, 1S35, he went to Chicago and there met Frederic Bronson, 
who turned the property over to him as my agent. This was Mr. 
Ogden's introduction to Chicago, and his first visit to the country 
west of Niagara. He had been born at Walton on the Delaware 
River, in "Delaware County, and had lived there up to this period 
of his life. His father, who had been a successful business man 
engaged in manufacturing industry and in the lumber trade, had 
been stricken down by paralysis and disabled from active business, 
when William, his eldest son, was about seventeen years of age; 
and in consequence, the responsibilities of the family and the con- 
duct of business had devolved mainly on him. 

" It was in May, 1S35, that Mr. Ogden went to Chicago for 
the purpose above stated. The spring had been one of unusual 
wetness, and on his arrival at Chicago to take charge of the prop- 
erty committed to his care, his first impressions were not at all 
favorable. The property lay there on the north side of the river 
an unbroken field, covered with a course growth of oak and under- 
brush, wet and marshy, and muddy fromathe recent heavy rains. 
Notning could be more unattractive, not to say repulsive in its sur- 
face appearance. It had neither form nor comeliness, and he could not 
at first sight in looking at the property, in its then primitive condi- 
tion, see it as possessing any value or offering any advantages 
to justify the extraordinary price for which it had been bought. He 
could not but feel that I had been guilty of an act of great folly in 
making the purchase, and it was a cause of sad disappointment and 
of great depression. To him it was a new experience ; it was novel 
and different from anything that he had ever been engaged in. 
But Mr. Ogden had gone there for a purpose and to execute an 
important trust. A great deal of work had to be done to prepare 
this wilderness field for the coming auction. It had to be laid out 
and opened up by streets and avenues into blocks and lots, the 
boundaries of which must be carefully defined, maps and plans 
must be made, surveys perfected and land marks established. Mr. 
Ogden addressed himself to this work with energy and brought to 
it his extraordinary ability in the handling of all material interests. 
The work that he accomplished on this property in a short time, 
under circumstances discouraging and depressing, was wonderfully 
effective. He conceived what would be required in order to attract 
the attention of purchasers, so that by the time the auction sale 
approached he could exhibit it in business form. It will be remem- 
bered that the tract covered 131 acres, exclusive of the half belong- 
ing to the Kinzies, which lay in mass with it, say fifty-one acres, 
which, added to my purchase represented by Mr. Ogden, made a 
tract of 182 acres. The Government sale of lands had brought 
together a large collection of people from all parts of the country, 



particularly from the East and Southeast, and tins, wen then 
when Mr. Ogden offered the property on the North Side. 1 he- 
result of the auction was a surprise to him, for the sales amounted 
to more than one hundred thousand dollars and included about 
one-third of the property. This result, although it was astonish- 
ing to him, seemed yet to fail of making the impression on his 
mind of the future of the town which was to become the scene of 
his after life, and in the development and growth of which he him- 
self was to become an active and most important factor. 

" As he expresssed himself to me in giving an account of the 
transaction, he could not see where the value lay nor what it was 
that justified the payment of such prices. He thought the people 
were crazy and visionary. Having completed the sales, he left ' 1 i- 
cago in the summer and did not return there until the summer follow- 
ing ( 1836 ). But he was not long, after this experience, in grasp- 
ing the idea of the future of that portion of the United Mates, 
and of the natural advantages which Chicago offered as the site of 
a commercial town, which in the future growth of the country 
would become so important. As the result of this agency and the 
care of this large property interest, regarding it as an occupation, 
he gave his mind to the consideration of the whole subject, and it 
determined him in the end to make his home in the West and iden- 
tify himself with the fortunes of Chicago. It was a field suited 
to his taste and to his habits, and for which his previous life and ex- 
perience in his native country had trained him, although that life 
and experience had up to this time been narrow as was the boundary 
the Delaware River on which he had been teared. Now, his mind 
and his energies were directed to the development of the vast and 
boundless prairies of the West. He had been reared in a country 
of dense forests, and surrounded on every side by mountain scenery, 
and now he was in a field where there were no forests and no 
mountains. 

" It was not long before Mr. Ogden became imbued with an 
enthusiastic appreciation of the capabilities and attractions of this 
new country. His descriptions of it were poetic and inimitable. 

"And from this time onward up to the close of his life he 
gave to Chicago the full benefit of his rare talents and ability; and 
he has left in the city of his adoption the distinctive marks of his 
life work, as well as through the West and Northwest, where 
the great railways which he projected and promoted to comple- 
tion will remain ever as monuments of his genius and his enterprise. 
No man exercised a more magical influence in stimulating all 
around him to acts of usefulness and improvement in the interest 
of intellectual, social and material progress, and the development 
of the country ; and few men were capable of accomplishing so much 
useful work in so short a time. He was comprehensive and broad 
in his views as the country in which he lived. The later years of 
his life were devoted largely to the extension of lines of railways to 
the Pacific coast, and especially the Northern Pacific, which is now 
approaching completion. Mr. Ogden had always regarded this 
route as one of the most important, and the country which it trav- 
ersed — and which by its completion would be opened to settlement 
— as one of the most attractive and richest in its soil productions 
of any of the projected lines connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific 
coast. 

" During all this period, from 1835 to 1S65, my house was 
Mr. Ogden's home when in New York. As memory sweeps back 
over these most active years of his life — associated as they are indis- 
solubly with Chicago and the West — and reproduces the picture 
mellowed by time, of what he was as a man, and of what he was 
doing and what he did do ; the charm of his influence is'still felt, 
fragrant with sympathy for his fellow-men in all conditions of life — 
one on whose tombstone might be appropriately inscribed, ' Write 
me as one who loves his fellow-men.' 

" And the citizens of Chicago do but honor themselves by 
placing in their Historical hall the portrait of him whose name 
should ever be cherished as one of their foremost and most notable 
citizens." 

John Bates, a settler of 1832, in an interview October 
15, 1883, said: 

" In 1833 the settlement of the new town, so far as buildings 
showed, was mostly on what is now Water Street. There was noth- 
ing on Lake Street, except perhaps the Catholic church begun on 
the northwest. corner of Lake and State. Up and down Water 
Street, between what is now State and Wells streets, now Fifth 
Avenue, all the business houses and stores were built. Also nearly 
all the cabins for dwellings. You could, from every store and 
dwelling, look north across the river, as there were no buildings on 
what is now the north side of that street. At that time a slough 
emptied into the river, at what is now the foot of State Street, and 
was a sort of bayou of dead water through which scows could be 
run up as far as Randolph Street, near the corner of Dearborn, and 
there was a dry creek up as far as where the Sherman House now 
stands. There was a foot-bridge of four logs run lengthwise across 



«3^ 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



the creek near the mouth of the creek. At that time there was no 
bridge across the main river, and never had been. There was a 
sort of bridge built the year before by Anson Taylor across the 
South Branch near Randolph Street — a log-bridge, quite near the 
water, over which teams could pass. Hall & Miller had, in 1833, 
a large tannery on Wolf Point. There was no foot-bridge across 
North Branch, that I remember, at that early day. At the Wolf 
Point Hotel there was a sign-post up ; perhaps there was at one 
time a sign of a wolf on it, but if so, it was a temporary charcoal or 
chalk sign put up by the boys. I don't remember it." 

The population numbered not far from two hundred 
and fifty at the close of the year. It comprised six 
lawyers — Russel E. Heacock, who had come in 1827 ; 
Richard J. Hamilton, 1831 ; and Giles Spring, John 
Dean Caton, Edward W. Casey and Alexander N. Ful- 
lerton. who had put out their signs in 1833. There 
were also eight physicians : Elijah D. Harmon came 
May. 1830 : Valentine A. Boyer, May 12, 1832 ; Ed- 
mund S. Kimberly, 1832 ; Phillip Maxwell, February, 
1 83 3 : John T. Temple, spring of 1833 ; William Brad- 
shaw Egan, fall of 1833 ; Henry B. Clark, 1833 ; and 
George F. Turner, Assistant-Surgeon U. S. A., at the 
garrison. 

There were at that time four religious organizations 
holding stated sendees at places, and with pastors as 
follows : 

St. Mary's Catholic Church, near the southwest cor- 
ner of Lake and State streets, Rev. J. M. L. St. Cyr. 

The Presbyterian, in the Temple Building, at the 
southeast corner of Franklin and South Water streets ; 
Rev. Jeremiah Porter, pastor. 

Baptist, in the same building; Rev. Allen B. Freeman, 
pastor. 

Methodist, in the same building; Rev. Jesse W^alker, 
pastor. 

The Temple Building, where most of the Protestant 
religious services of the town were held, was built 
through the agency and efforts of Dr. John T. Temple, 
who had arrived early in July, 1833, with his family, 
consisting of a wife and four children. He was a pious 
and earnest Baptist Christian, and came to Chicago 
from Washington, D. C, armed with a contract to carry 
the mails from Chicago to Fort Howard, Green Bay. 
His contract gave him a surety of a living, so that his 
surplus energy could well be used in the services of the 
Lord, as he understood it. Through his efforts, he, 
heading the subscription paper with $100, found funds 
to build a two-story building at the corner of Franklin 
and South Water streets, which was the earliest struct- 
ure dedicated especially to religion and education 
erected in Chicago. The lower story was a hall for 
religious services, the upper floor was a school-room, 
where Granville Temple Sproat kept one of the first 
public schools. Miss Chappel 'Mrs. Jeremiah Porter), 
Miss Sarah Warren Mrs. Abel E. Carpenter), and S. L. 
Carpenter were at different times teachers in schools 
held in this building.* 

The Temple Building did not derive its name from 
its dedication to sacred uses, but from the fact that Dr. 
Temple built it and rented it to such societies, religious 
or otherwise, as could pay the rent. The name of the 
builder gave to the building itself a double sanctity that 
its subsequent career could not sustain. 

There were four hotels : The ol 1 Wolf Point Tavern, 
formerly kept by Caldwell & Wentworth, then by 
Chester Ingersoll, who had re-christened it "The Trav- 
elers' Home ;" the Sauganash, on the south side of 
what is now Lake Street, near the forks of the river, 
still kept by the original proprietor, Mark Beaubien ; 
the Green Tree Tavern, just built by James Kinzie, 



and leased to David Clock, who was the landlord; the 
Mansion House, where are now numbers 84 and 86 
Lake Street. It was at that time an unpretentious log 
tavern kept by Dexter Graves, and according to some 
authorities had no name, being on the site of the build- 
ing which was afterwards known by the above-mentioned 
name. Besides this there were several boarding-houses 
where transients were fed and lodged, if there was room, 
which depended upon how particular the regular board- 
ers might be as to the number or character of the said 
transients who had to be stowed away in their rooms, 
either as bed-fellows, or on the floor. Mrs. Rufus Brown 
kept one of the first-class boarding houses. 

In addition to the ministers, lawyers, doctors, land- 
lords and others before named, a fair assortment of 
druggists, merchants, butchers, carpenters, blacksmiths, 
and other artisans were settled in the town. There was 
also a score of adventurers, comprising moneyed specu- 
lators and prospectors, as yet undecided whether to stay 
at Chicago or go on. 

The following is an imperfect list of the denizens of 
the town in the fall of 1833, not before named : Philo 
Carpenter, still living in Chicago, druggist, who came in 
July, 1832 ; Peter Pruyne, druggist, early in 1833 ; 
George W. Dole, merchant ; P. F. W. Peck, merchant ; 
Madore W. Beaubien, merchant ; John Bates, Jr., still 
living in Chicago, auctioneer, who came in 1832; Alan- 
son Sweet, 1832 ; Augustin Taylor, builder, still living in 
Chicago, arrived June, 1833 ; J. B. Beaubien, merchant ; 
the Kinzies, John and Robert A., merchants ; T. J. Y. 
Owen, who came in 1831 ; John Watkins, school-mas- 
ter, came in 1832; James Gilbert, came in 1833 ; Charles 
H. Taylor, came in 1832 ; John S. C. Hogan, Post- 
master, came in 1832 ; William Ninson, came in fall of 

1832 ; Hiram Pearson, came in spring of 1833 ; George 
Chapman ; John Wright ; Mathias Smith, came in 1833; 
David Carver, seaman and lumber merchant, came in 

1833 ; Eli A. Rider, came in 1832 ; Dexter J. Hapgood, 
came in 1832 ; George W. Snow, came in 1832 ; Ghol- 
son Kercheval, Government Agent and clerk, came in 
1831, died in California ; Stephen F. Gale, from New 
Hampshire ; Captain DeLafayette Wilcox, in the garri- 
son ; Lieutenant Louis T. Jamison, in the garrison ; 
Enoch Darling, W. H. Adams, C. A. Ballard, Captain 
J. M. Baxley, came June, 1833, and remained until April, 
1836 ; Lieutenant J. L. Thompson, came June 20, 1833, 
and remained until December, 1836 ; Jabez K. Bots- 
ford, speculator and capitalist ; Morris Bumgarden, 
came in 1832 ; Henry and Samuel L. Brooks ; Stephen 
Rexford, came July 27, 1833 ; Charles Wisencraft, came 
in 1833; John S. Wright, then a minor, afterward 
editor of Prairie Farmer, and one of the most merito- 
rious pioneers of Chicago, came in 1832 ; John Wright, 
came in 1832, a merchant ; Timothy and Walter Wright, 
came in 1833; Patrick Welch, in 1833; John Calhoun, 
printer and editor of the first newspaper published in 
Chicago, arrived in November, 1833, and issued the first 
number of the Chicago Democrat November 26, 1833 ; 
Tyler K. Blodgett, came in the spring of 1 833, and started 
the first brickyard, between Dearborn and Clark streets, 
on the North Side ; Oscar Pratt and Beckford, printers, 
were in the employ of Mr. Calhoun at that time ; E. H. 
Mulford, watch-maker, came in 1833 ; Lemuel Brown, 
blacksmith, came in 1833 ; Joseph Meeker, carpenter 
and builder, came in the summer of 1833 ; Major 
Handy, bricklayer and mason ; E. K. Smith ; L. D. 
Harrison ; Archibald Clybourne, butcher, came in 1823, 
then living north of the town limits, and not a voter in 
the new village ; John K. Clark, half-brother of A. 
Clybourne, then living with him; Nelson R. Norton, 



CHICAGO IN 1833-37. 



l i3 



ship-carpenter, and builder of the first draw-bridge over 
the main river, at Dearborn Street, in March, 1834, came 
November 16, 1833 (he also built the first sloop, the 
"Clarissa," launched May 12, 1836); Anson H. and his 
brother, Charles Taylor, came in 1832 ; John Miller, 
brother of Samuel, the landlord, came in 1831, and run 
a tannery just north of Miller's tavern ; Benjamin Hall, 
tanner, a partner of John Miller, who came in 1832 ; 
Martin D. Harmon ; Willard Jones ; Ashbel Steele, 
plastered Calhoun's printing office in November, 1833 ; 
S. B. Cobb, a minor, came June 1, 1833. 

Many of these names are not on the list of voters for 
1833, for the reason that they had not been in Chicago 
a sufficient time to gain the right under the law to vote. 
They are, nevertheless, entitled to a place in the list of 
actual residents of the new town of Chicago, as organized 
in 1833. 

As appears from the above list there were besides, 
four churches, a newspaper, a private school, and a job 
printing office ministering to the higher wants of the 
community ; and besides the taverns enumerated, a half 
dozen stores and a butcher, to minister to the physical 
necessities of the citizens. There was not at that time 
a single dram shop or what would in these later days be 
denominated a saloon, where the sale of spirituous liquors 
was the only ostensible business. That was carried on 
in connection with the stores and hotels, the tavern- 
keeper being by the terms of his license allowed to sell 
liquors to his guests, and not forbidden to sell to others. 

The bridges were quite primitive, and consisted of a 
rude foot-bridge crossing the North Branch above the 
Wolf Tavern; and a log bridge across the South Branch, 
between Randolph and Lake streets, nearer Randolph. 
The latter is stated- to have been build by Anson H. 
Taylor and his brother Charles, in 1832. Its total cost, 
as stated in Hurlbut's Antiquities, p. 556, was $486.20, 
of which sum the Pottawatomie Indians contributed 
$200. The bridge is frequently mentioned by the early 
comers of 1833. It was, prior to 1834, the only 
bridge across the river or its branches over which teams 
could pass. At a meeting of the Town Trustees December 
4, 1833, both these bridges were reported as "needing 
repairs," as the historian says, " probably because, in 
contravention of the law, their bulk had been lessened, 
for the building of fires ; the said bridges being nothing 
more nor less than piles of rough wood thrown into the 
channel." 

The only manufactory established at that early day 
was the rude shed called a tannery, near the Miller 
tavern, where John Miller and Benjamin Hall were tan- 
ning a few hides into a rough but endurable leather. A 
saw-mill was in operation on the North Branch, below 
Clybourne's, at the mouth of a slough just south of Di- 
vision Street.* At that time there was but one street 
running to the lake, described by Jedediah Wooley, who 
surveyed it April 25, 1832, as extending "from the east 
end of Water Street (at the west line of the Reservation) 
in the town of Chicago, to Lake Michigan. Direction 
of said road is south 88^° east ; from the street to 
the lake eighteen chains and fifty links." The street 
was fifty feet wide, and was reported by the viewers as 
"a road of public utility, and a convenient passage from 
the town to the lake. It was only staked out and 
marked by the travel from the town to the fort. There 
was a rough bridge thrown across the slough at State 
Street to make the highway available. 

At this time, although the work of making a harbor 
had been begun by building the first section of the south 
pier, which shut off the current of the river through the 

* John Bates says there was no mill there. 



old mouth, there was no harbor, only a roadstead, where 
craft might find fair anchorage and safe landing by 
boats or lighters in any but the most tempestuous 
weather. 

The close of the year 1833 saw the town, above im- 
perfectly described, fairly born and in its corporate 
swaddling clothes. Its past history or present condition 
did not warrant, at that time, the extravagant hopes that 
its citizens had in its future development. Its subse- 
quent history has transcended the wildest prophesies of 
its early friends. 

The Town, 1833 to 1837 — The history of the town of 
Chicago covered a period of nearly four years — from Au- 
gust io, 1833, to March 4, 1837. On the latter date the act 
incorporating the city was passed, and the election of the 
first city officers under the act was held on the first 
Tuesday of the May following. The annals of the town 
of Chicago, for the period of its existence show a niost 
wonderful growth in population, commerce and trade. 
During this era the tide of immigration set in vigorously 
to the lands of the Pottawatomies just acquired. Its 
principal route to the region, by land, lay through Chi- 
cago, which became the portal to the coveted territory, 
and through which, with increasing volume, it flowed 
until suddenly checked by the general financial collapse 
of 1837. This disaster for a time retarded all business, 
checked immigration and brought the town itself to 
such a sudden stop in its headlong career of prosperity 
as to seriously dampen the ardor, and still more seriously 
deplete the pockets, of its enterprising and over-sanguine 
citizens. As the entrepot of this vast westward moving 
and endless caravan, Chicago could but increase its 
own population from the ever-changing throng of so- 
journers. This was the era of the wildest speculations 
in land ever known in the country, and Chicago became 
the western center of the "craze which began in 1835, 
developed in 1836, culminated in the early part of 1837, 
and finally burst into thin air in the fall of the latter 
year. 

The sale, by public auction, of the school section 
(16) occurred October 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24, 1833, was 
made under R. J. Hamilton, commissioner, and by John 
Bates, auctioneer, and realized prices quite beyond ex- 
pectations. The section embraced the square mile be- 
tween State and Halsted streets on the east and west, 
and Madison and Twelfth on the north and south. It 
was divided into one hundred and forty-four blocks, 
the area of each being not far from four acres, not in- 
cluding the streets. All but four of the lots were sold, 
and brought in the aggregate the sum of $38,865, or 
an average of $6.72 per acre. The land was sold 
mostly on credit of one, two and three years at ten per 
cent interest. No such favorable chance for purchasers 
of limited means to become possessed of land near the 
village occurred again until after the financial revulsion 
of 1837. These blocks, afterward cut up into lots, to- 
gether with the canal lots in Section 9, were the original 
lots on which the trading and speculation was begun, 
which, as the mania increased, was supplemented by 
various "additions " to the town, which were platted on 
paper, and the lots thrown into market.* 

The Great Land Craze. — Early in the spring of 
1834 emigration from all parts of the East, even to the 
hitherto extreme western settlements, set for the lands 
just open to occupation by the treaty made at Chicago 
the previous September. By the middle of April, the 
van had arrived in Chicago, and by the middle of May 
there was no room for the constant crowd of incomers, 

* An advertisement by the Collector of lots to be sold for delinquent taxes 
October t, 1836, mentions the original town (Section 9) Section 16, Wolcott's ad- 
dition, North Branch addition, and Wabansia addition. 



*34 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



except as buildings were hastily put up for their accom- 
modation, or as sojourners, leaving the town, made 
room for them. The hotels and boarding houses were 
always full; and full meant three in a bed sometimes, 
with the floor covered bes.des. Many of the emigrants 
coming in their own covered wagons had only them or 
a rude camp, hastily built, for home or shelter. All 
about the outskirts of the settlement was a cordon of 
prairie schooners, with tethered horses between, inter- 
spersed with camp tires, at which the busy house-wives 
were ever preparing meals for the voracious pioneers. 

The price of real estate in Chicago was not long in 
evincing signs of what in later times would have been 
styled "a boom." Over one hundred and fifty houses, 
stores and shanties were put up, mostly on the canal 
section g during the spring and early summer. 
Lots which had sold at $20 to S50 at the first sale of 
canal lots, and for two years thereafter had been 
bandied about by the luckless owners, and swapped and 
bartered in regular horse-jockey style, suddenly assumed 
the true dignity of real estate, and had a price and a 
cash valuation. Many an old settler discovered that he 
was, if not rich, the possessor of possible wealth in 
what he had before deemed a possible incumbrance at 
tax-paying time, and, to strangers from the East seek- 
ing to invest, began to put on the airs of a landed 
proprietor. It was not long before land-agents became 
plenty in Chicago, and their offices the most crowded 
business resorts in the city. 

At first the purchases were what might be termed 
legitimate : a lot for cash on which the purchaser would 
erect a dwelling or store. The legitimate demand soon 
absorbed the floating supply and prices began to 
advance under the competition of anxious buyers. Lots 
purchased one day for §50 were sold the next for $60, 
and resold in a month for $100. It did not take long 
under such circumstances to develop a strong specula- 
tive fever, which infected every resident of the town and 
was caught by every new-comer. At the close of the 
year 1834, the disease had become fairly seated. What- 
ever might be the business of a Chicagoan, or however 
profitable, it was not considered a full success except it 
showed an outside profit on lots bought and sold. The 
next year was but a continuance of the trade, enlarged 
by the constantly increasing number of speculators who 
now bought, not so much for investment, and with less 
regard to" actual value, as the increasing number of 
purchasers made a quick turn at a large profit apparently 
sure. 

The excitement was greatly increased during the 
summer and early fall of 1835 by the opening of the 
Government Land-Office, which occurred May 28, where 
the sales continued, with some intermissions, until Sep- 
tember 30. The sale brought to the town, not only 
thousands of the bona JiJc settlers who came to secure a 
title to the lands they had already entered, but a crowd of 
adventurers and speculators who saw visions of untold 
wealth in the lands now for the first time offered for 
sale. The order in which the sales were made, and the 
sums realized, was stated in the American, October 10, 

Lands entered under pre-emption laws, from May 

•ne 30 '.. $ 33.066 90 

* At public sale, from June 15 to 30, inclusive 354,278 57 

By private entry, from August 3 to 31, inclusive 61,958 57 

By private entry, from September 17 to 30, inclusive 10,65471 

$459,958 75 

• These sales by auction were made in a building on the west side of 
Dearborn Street, near Water street. The building was erected by John Bates, 
and afterwards occupied by him in his business as an auctioneer. 



As the interior became settled the mania for land spec- 
ulating spread throughout the newly settled country, and 
Chicago became the mart where were sold and resold 
monthly an incredible number of acres of land and 
land-claims outside the city, purporting to be located in 
all parts of the Northwest. It embraced farming lands, 
timber lands, town sites, town lots, water lots, and every 
variety of land -claim or land title ever known to 
man. The location of the greater portion of property 
thus sold was, as a rule, except so far as appeared in the 
deed, unknown to the parties to the trade ; and, in 
many cases, after the bubble had burst, the holders of 
real estate, acquired during the excitement, on investi- 
gation failed to find the land in existence as described. 
Town lots were platted, often without any survey, all 
over Wisconsin and Illinois, wherever it was hoped that 
a town might eventually spring up, or wherever it was 
believed that the lots could be floated into the great tide 
of speculative trade. 

The following are a few of the many paper towns 
advertised in the Chicago papers during 1836 : Lots in 
Warsaw; in Michigan City; in Koshkonong, Wis. ; in 
Macomb, McDonough County ; in Winnebago, on Rock 
River ; in Oporto, opposite Dixon's Ferry ; in New 
Boston, Mercer County ; in Liverpool, Ind. ; in Oquaka ; 
in Concord — fifty lots ; in Calumet , in Rockwell ; an 
addition to the town of Stephenson ; lots in Sheboygan, 
Wis. ; in Wisconsin City,* now Port Washington, Wis. ; 
also Ottawa Canal lots, which the American, November 
19, 1836, stated were sold at $21,358, being $3,266 in 
excess of the valuation ; also canal Port lots in Vienna, 
Will County. 

The leading advertisers were: John Bates, Jr.; 
Thompson & Wells ; Higgins, Montgomery & Co. ; R. 
K. Richards, agent of Chicago and New York Land Com- 
pany office, in July, 1836, over the drug store of W. H. & 
A. F. Clarke, corner Lake and Clark streets ; A. Garrett, 
auction room, on Dearborn Street. Mr. Garrett's room 
was the most popular resort of the speculating crowd. 
The American, October 31, 1835, stated that during the 

* The following description of " Wisconsin City," and what became of it, 
is given as the probable history of nearly all the paper towns and cities platted 
and sold during those exciting times. " They [the proprietors] forthwith laid 
out the town and named it ' Wisconsin City.' The original plat was on the 
north side of Sauk Creek, along the lake shore, on the site of the present village 
of Port Washington. 'I he streets were laid out north and south, and east and 
west from the bluffs to the lake, all except Lake Street, which ran diagonally in 
a northeasterly direction along the shore. The street nearest the creek, destined 
for docks and wharves when the dredging was completed, was named Canal 
Street. The parallel streets in order, going north, were Main, Washington 
and Jackson, each having a width of sixty-six feet, except Main, which was 
eighty feet in width ; Lake Street intersected Canal Street at its foot and ran 
along the lake front, City Street starting at the intersection of Lake and Canal 
streets ran due north and south, intersecting Main, Washington and Jackson 
streets ; west and parallel came in order Franklin, Wisconsin. Milwaukee, Mont- 
gomery and Clay streets, all of the regulation width of sixty-six feet except 
Wisconsin, which was eighty feet wide. The public square was in the block 
bounded by Washington on the south, Wisconsin on the east, Jackson on the 
north and Milwaukee on the west. Alleys twenty feet in width running north 
and south, intersected each block. The lots were 60x120 feet in size. The 
names of the proprietors of this embryo city, as appears in the recorded plat, 
were Solomon Juneau. Morgan L. Martin, G. S. Hosmer, Allen O. T. Breed. 
Wooster Harrison. Calvin Harmon, G. S. Hosmer, Thomas A. Homes and 
William Payne, all non-residents except General Harrison. The land seems to 
have been ceded by the Government to Harrison and sold to his partners, whom 
he let into the speculation on easy terms. Some sixteen acres of land were 
cleared and several buildings erected ; a tavern, two stores, and several dwelling- 
houses, among them that of the " father of the city," General Harrison, which 
is still (1881) standing. A dam was built on the creek some distance from the 
city and a saw-mill erected. The first transfer of property by deed appearing 
on the records was a part of this tract. It bears date December 1, 18^5, and 
conveys to Thomas A Homes an undivided half of about eleven acres, the con- 
sideration being $too. In lanuarv, 1S36, Holmes sold about four acres of this 
lot to Solomon Juneau for $500. In February, 1836, Levi Mason bought two 

" Prices went up rapidly but culminated in the crash of 1837. The highest 
point was reached in August of that year. On the 3d of that month Solomon 
and one-half acres of a tract adjoining the town plat for $600 per acre, 
luneau sold to one Jasper Bostwick one ' city lot' (Lot 12, Block rg) for 
$300, equivalent to nearly $1,810 per acre. 

" The decadence of Wisconsin City was as sudden as its growth had been 
rapid. The crash, of 1837 brought it to a dead halt, and it was abandoned 
entirely except by Harrison, who remained there when not in Milwaukee, to 
look after the ruins of what had been the darling hope of his life. The present 
village of Port Washington, after forty-five years, is built on the old plat, and 
along the streets then laid out, and, in its beauty, is the counterpart of the Wis- 
City that poor Harrison built on paper and in his fancy so many vears 



ago. Not until 1 



npt made to revive the deserted village.' 



CHICAGO IN 1833-37. 



135 



ten months of the year he had sold $1,800,000 of prop- 
erty, real and personal, and that he had fitted up a large 
room, "equal to any in New York or Philadelphia." A 
single advertisement of R. K. Richards, July 2, 1836, 
offered for sale lots in Chicago, Joliet, Fenn, Dorchester, 
Tremont, and Pekin ; also lots in Dearbornville, Con- 
stantine, Mottville Mills, St. Joseph and Milwaukee. 

The American, July 2, 1836, said, "The rapidity 
with which towns are thrown into market is astonishing. 
Houses are born in a night, cities in a day, and the 
small towns in proportion." 

The speculative mania was not confined to Chicago 
or the West. A superabundance of paper money, issued 
under divers State laws, had flooded the whole country, 
in volume far in excess of the requirements of legiti- 
mate trade, and was seeking outside investment in all 
quarters. In the great money centers of the East, New 
York, Boston, and Philadelphia, a furore of speculation 
in all commodities and in real estate was at its height, 
before the Western mania was fairly started. The rumor 
of the fortunes made in a day at Chicago in the pur- 
chase of Western lands soon reached New York, where, 
among capitalists, the excitement became but little less 
intense than at home. There a new speculative demand 
grew up which proved an outlet for the avalanche of 
new towns that were being thrown into market. But 
for this, the craze might have spent itself sooner ; as it 
was, Eastern capitalists, after once embarked in the 
trade, became the most reckless and wildest speculators 
and held the excitement at fever heat until the collapse, 
which began at the East, forced them to take an obser- 
vation, which resulted in a sudden and complete stop- 
page of monetary supplies from that source. The trade 
was thrown back upon its own resources, and fell into a 
state of languishment at once, from which it went into 
a rapid decline, ending before the close of the year in 
absolute death. Although innumerable fortunes were 
made, few survived the wreck, and no class suffered 
more in the final crash than the non-resident speculators, 
who, in fact, were about the only ones who ever put 
much real capital into the business. 

The first historic lecture ever delivered in Chicago 
was by Joseph N. Balestier, before the Chicago Ly- 
ceum, January 21, 1840. Speaking of the "Land 
Craze," he said: 

" The year 1835 found us just awakened to a sense of our own 
importance. A short time before, the price of the best lots did not 
exceed two or three hundred dollars; and the rise had been so 
rapid, that property could not, from the nature of things, have 
acquired an ascertained value. In our case, therefore, the induce- 
ments to speculation were particularly strong; and as no fixed 
value could be assigned to property, so no price could, bv any 
established standard, be deemed extravagant. Moreover, nearly 
all who came to the place expected to amass fortunes by speculat- 
ing. The wonder then is, not that we speculated so much, but 
rather that we did not rush more madly into the vortex of ruin. 
Well indeed would it have been had our wild speculations been 
confined to Chicago; here, at least, there was something received in 
exchange for the money of the purchaser. But the few miles that 
composed Chicago formed but a small item among the subjects of 
speculation So utterly reckless had the community grown, that 
they chased every bubble which floated in the speculative atmos 
phere; madness increased in proportion to the foulness of its ali- 
ment; the more absurd the project, the more remote the object, the 
more madly were they pursued. The prairies of Illinois, the for- 
ests of Wisconsin and the sand-hills of Michigan, presented a 
chain almost unbroken of supposititious villages and cities. The 
whole land seemed staked out and peopled on paper. If a man 
were reputed to be fortunate, his touch, like that of Midas, was 
supposed to turn everything into gold, and the crowd entered 
blindly into every project he might originate. These worthies 
would besiege the land offices and purchase town sites at a dollar 
and a quarter per acre, which in a few days appeared on paper, laid 
out in the most approved rectangular fashion, emblazoned in 
glaring colors, and exhibiting the public spirit of the proprietor in 



the multitude of their public squares, church lots, and school lot 
reservations. Often was a fictitious streamlet seen to wind its ro- 
mantic course through the heart of an ideal city, thus creating 
water lots and water privileges. But where a real stream, however 
diminutive, did find its way to the shore of the lake — no matter 
what was the character of the surrounding country — some wary 
operator would ride night and day until the place was secured at 
the Government price. Then the miserable waste of sand and fens 
which lay unconscious of its glory on the shore of the lake, was 
suddenly elevated into a mighty city, with a projected harbor and 
light-house, railroads and canals, and in a short time the circumja- 
cent lands were sold in lots, fifty by one hundred feet, under the 
name of ' additions.' Not the puniest brook on the shore of Lake 
Michigan was suffered to remain without a city at its mouth, and 
whoever will travel around that lake shall find many a mighty 
mart staked out in spots suitable only for the habitations of wild 
beasts. 

" If a man were so fortunate as to have a disputed title, it 
made no great difference where the land lay, or how slender was his 
claim, his fortune was made; for the very insecurity of the purchase 
made it desirable in the eyes of the venturous. A powerful auxil- 
iary to the speculative spirit was the sale of lands by auction. 
When bodies of men, actuated by a common motive, assemble 
together for a common object, zeal is apt to run into enthusiasm; 
when the common passion is artfully inflamed by a skilful orator, 
enthusiasm becomes fanaticism, and fanaticism, madness. Men 
who wish to be persuaded are already more than half won over, 
and an excited imagination will produce almost any anticipated 
result. Popular delusions have carried away millions at a time; 
mental epidemics have raged at every period of the world's history, 
and conviction has been ever potent to work miracles. Now the 
speculating mania was an epidemic of the mind, and every chord 
struck by the chief performers produced endless vibrations, until 
the countless tones of the full diapason broke forth in maddening 
strains of fascination. The auctioneers were the high-priests who 
sacrificed in the Temple of Fortune; through them the speculators 
spread abroad their specious representations. Like the Sibyls and 
Flamens of old they delivered false oracles, and made a juggle of 
omens and auguries. 

" But the day of retribution was at hand; the reaction came — 
and the professional speculator and his victims were swallowed up 
in one common ruin. Trusting to the large sums due to him, the 
land operator involved himself more and more deeply, until his fate 
was more pitiable than that of his defrauded dupes. 

"The year 1837 -will ever be remembered as the era of pro- 
tested notes; it was the harvest to the notary and the lawyer — the 
year of wrath to the mercantile, producing, and laboring interests. 
Misery inscribed its name on many a face but lately radiant with 
high hopes; despair was stamped on many a countenance which 
was wont to be 'wreathed in smiles.' Broken fortunes, blasted 
hopes, aye, and blighted characters', these were the legitimate off- 
spring of those pestilent times. The land resounded with the 
groans of ruined men, and the sobs of defrauded women, who had 
entrusted their all to greedy speculators. Political events, which 
had hitherto favored these wild chimeras, now conspired to hasten 
and aggravate the impending downfall. It was a scene of woe and 
desolation. Temporary relief came in the shape of Michigan 
money — but like all empty expedients, it, in the end, aggravated 
the disease it pretended to cure — it seemed a sovereign panacea, 
but it proved a quack specific. Let us turn from this sickening 
spectacle of disaster and ruin. Mad as her c tizens had been, Chi- 
cago was Chicago still. Artificial enterprises had failed, but nature 
was still the same. There stood Chicago ' in her pride of place ' — 
unmoved and immovable. Though mourning and desolate, she 
could still sustain an active population. Need I add that she has 
done IT?" 

The delinquent tax-list, published in the American, 
October 1, 1836, showed a large number of lots owned 
by non-residents. The taxes levied and remaining un- 
paid were ridiculously small, in comparison with the 
high market valuation then current. Doubtless many 
of the visionary owners, who counted their wealth in 
these lots by thousands had not the wherewith in ready 
money to pay the taxes on their possessions, small as 
they were. Of two hundred and twenty lots advertised 
in Section 16, one hundred and fifty-five were taxed less 
than one dollar each ; forty-two, from $1 to $5 ; ten, 
from $5 to $10 ; twenty-two, from $10 to $25 ; and one 
at $39. In Wolcott's addition, one lot was taxed $10.50; 
three, from $7.50 to $10; and others at less than $7 
each. In North Branch addition, no single lot adver- 
tised was taxed as high as one dollar. In Waubansia 



l 3 6 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



addition, the three lots advertised were assessed, re- 
spectively, $2.50, §3. 50 and $7.50. In the original 
town, Section 9, the lots were assessed — one for $50. 50; 
two for $30, one for $19, thirteen from $17 to $10, and 
eighteen for less than $10. At that time it is apparent 
that the most valuable property, in the practical eyes of 
the assessors, was on the old town plat. 

The following extracts, letters and personal reminis- 
cences, more or less relevant, will give the reader a 
more distinct idea of the occurrences, and the people, 
while the excitement was at its height, than could be 
obtained from an unbroken narrative. 

The incipient stages of the disease, as it began to 
show in old residents, is told in a short letter, dated 
August 18, 1883, from Dr. Horace Chase, now a resi- 
dent and a leading citizen of Milwaukee. He writes : 

"Soon after the sale of lots in Chicago, in 1S33, I think, 
Robert Kinzie. on his way to Detroit, stopped at Marsh's trading- 
post, near Coldwater. There happened to be several of us pres- 
ent, and Bob, finding an audience he took for green-horns, began 
to boast about Chicago, and what a great city it would become. 
' Why,' said he, ' I bought some of the best lots in Chicago for 

twenty dollars apiece, and, by G , those lots are worth sixty 

dollars apiece to-day. ' It seemed to us utterly absurd that a lot 
should be worth sixty dollars, when two hundred dollars would buy 
one hundred and sixty acres of land of the best quality, and in 
1S33 there were tens of thousands of such chances in Michigan. 
Not a single person in the crowd believed Bob's yarn." 

John S. Wright,* in his most valuable book, "Chi- 
cago : Past, Present, and Future," gives his own experi- 
ence during the speculative era. He died in Philadel- 
phia, September 26, 1874. His remains rest in Rose 
Hill, Chicago. From his autobiographical sketch, pp. 
2S9, 290, the following interesting extracts are taken : 

" In 1832, at the age of seventeen, my father took me to Chi- 
cago with a stock of merchandise. The town then contained some 
one hundred and fifty people (exclusive of the garrison), two framed 
stores and no dwellings, except those built of logs. After remain- 
ing a few weeks, examining the country south and west, and satis- 
fying myself that he had made the right location, he left me to shift 
for myself. In 1834 he removed his family to Chicago and lived 
until 1S40, having his first convictions strengthened year by year 
that it was rapidly to become one of the largest cities of the country, 
and of the world. 

" Though a mere boy, I, too, became impressed with the ad- 
vantages of the point which was the western extremity of the great 
lake navigation, with a certainty of its connection by canal with 
the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, and which was the natural com- 
mercial center of a country so fertile, and so easily tilled, and so vast 
in ettent. In the winter of 1833 and 1834, I induced a wealthyuncle 
to take some purchases which I had made, expecting to share in the 
profits. He took them, and has made out of those and other opera- 
tions, through me, several hundred thousand dollars, but all the 
benefit to me, directly or indirectly, has been $100. He came to 
Chicago in the spring of 1835, and the next day after his arrival 
said, if I would sell his lot — one of those which I had bought fifteen 
months previously for $3. 500 — for 815,000, he would give me one 
hundred dollars ! I sold the lot that day for cash and the $100 was 
reckoned into my credit in our final settlement in 1838. * * * 
In 1 -'34 I began to operate in real estate on my own account, and 
in February, 1 S35 , went to Xew York to buy merchandise, and 
sold for $10,000 an eighty-acre tract which had cost $4,ooo, the 
profits of which more than paid for all my other purchases. There- 
after increasing my operations, I sold in the spring of 1836, to 

• The extracts here given might, in the absence of other information, lead 
to a misapprehension concerning the character of Mr. Wright. Although a 
born trad-rand a br»ld speculator, he was a man of rare virtues, and during his 
long residence in Chicago was id'-ntiti-.-d with nearly every enterprise and meas- 
ure calculated to prom ,te its prosperity or elevate the educational, mental, 
moral, or religious standards of the city. The benefactions of this wonderfully 
energetic citizen permeated nearly every channel "I Chicago life, and showed 
in every phase of her early growth. The building of the early railroads, the 
development of manufactures; the first Presbyterian Church, Sabbath schools, 
and the common school system of the State, in.- Press- to .ill these he devoted 
his energies, and gave of his means in no stinted measure. Frequent mention 
of htm appears cl-sewhTe in this volume—see church history, schools, railroads, 
manufactures, the I'ress, etc. An old friend, Rev. J. Ambrose Wight, at the 
close of a long letter, dated February 1, 1876. deservedly eulogistic of him, 
thus sums up his business character: "Chicago — old Chicago— knew Mr. 
Wright's peculiarities well enough. He saw further into a subject in the begin- 
ning than most men. Bui once in it, he seemed to lose his ability to handle it, 
and often his interest in it ; and the outcome sometimes threw undeserved oblo 
quy on the whole undertaking. Had he been able to carry things through as he 
began them, he had probably been a millionaire, and alive to-day." 



various parties in New York, real estate for over $50,000, receiving 
about two-thirds of the pay cash in hand, and giving my individual 
obligations to make the conveyance when I came of age, the July 
following. My father would have been my heir, in the event of my 
death, and they knew he would fulfill my contracts. I had, then, 
in 1S36, acquired a property of over $200,000, without any assist- 
ance even from my father, never having used his money for my 
operations, the store being his, and for conducting it only my ex- 
penses had been paid. My uncle was the only relative who could 
have aided me, and he never would, even temporarily. So far from 
it, he was in my debt continuously from 1834 to our final settlement 
in 183S. But 1S37 brought ruin to me, as it did to nearly all who 
owed anything ; though it was not so much speculation in real 
estate as engaging in mercantile business that involved me. At 
that age it seemed desirable every way to have regular occupation 
to promote good habits, and in accordance with my father's wishes, 
I purchased in 1S36 a warehouse and dock-lots, to engage in the 
shipping business, which cost $23,500. My whole indebtedness 
was about $25,000. I had nearly $20,rco due to me, which was 
supposed to be well secured, it being chiefly the final payments on 
property of which over half the cost had been paid. To provide 
ample means for business, I sold in the autumn of 1836 a tract ad- 
joining the city for $50,000, quick pay. This trade was unfort- 
unately broken up bv the merest accident, and thereafter I had no 
opportunity to sell at what was deemed a fair price. I came in 
possession of the warehouse May I, 1837 ; and though having 
small cash resources, I thought best to commence business, hoping 
there would soon be a favorable turn. But all went down, down, 
and I was soon inextricably involved. The meney used to buy 
those lots for business, not speculation, would have carried me 
through. By 1840, my property had all gone ; cne piece that had 
been worth $100,000, went for $6, coo; another that had been worth 
$12,000 went for $900, and so on." 

J. D. Bonnell, a young man of far more ardent hope 
than his financial condition would warrant, came to 
Chicago in 1837. He subsequently found a safe haven 
in Lake City, Minn. From that place he wrote to the 
Chicago Times a letter dated March 15, 1876, from 
which the following is quoted : 

"My first entry into the city of Chicago was forty years ago, 
August 25, 1S35, approaching the city on foot from the south. On 
emerging from the oak openings, I came upon the hotel of Hollis 
Newton, and on entering the house I found the landlord at home, 
and alone. Asking him how far it was to Chicago, he informed 
me it was three miles, and in answer t© whether there was any 
house on the way, he said yes — that Mr. Clarke's house was about 
half way. On his asking where I came from and for what I came, 
I answered that I had made a claim in Thorn Grove for my parents, 
who were soon coming on, with ox teams, from Ohio, and that I 
was going into the town to learn what I could find to do. He im- 
mediately proposed to sell me his tavern stand with the forty-acre 
lot upon which it stood, for $500, so that he could goon to a farm, 
for he was ' d — d sick of keeping tavern on that sandy beach, where 
his eyes were constantly full of sand.' But I declined to make any 
bargain with him, and jogged along over the sand hills for Fort 
Dearborn and Chicago, where I arrived in the evening, having 
walked from Thorn Grove via Thornton, thirty-three miles, to Chi- 
cago, that day ; which, if taken into consideration, away back in 
those days, when there was scarcely a road at all, was a good day's 
walk. And yet, by the Hoosiers on the Chicago & Cincinnati 
road, there was much teaming in 'prairie schooners,' in bringing 
corn-meal and bacon to the Chicago market, and loading back with 
salt. 

" On arriving at Chicago I stopped over night at the Mansion 
House. In the morning I commenced looking over the town and 
prospecting for a boarding-place, and to learn what I could find to 
do. The hotels were all pretty full, and their prices ranging too 
high for my finances, I walked across the street, where the first 
thing that attracted my attention was the sound of a violin. On 
entering a small wooden stucture, their stood behind a rudely con- 
structed counter Mr. Dalton, a recent arrival from Columbus, Ohio, 
a former tailor there, but who had now opened a liquor shop, and 
played the fiddle to attract customers. 

" Passing east, toward the mouth of the river, was the Lake 
House in course of construction, east of which was the residence 
of Dr. Kimball, who was a partner of Mr. Pruyne in a drug store 
on South Water Street. Mr. Pruyne was State Senator. Opposite 
Dr. Kimball's was Hunter & Hinsdale's warehouse. Adjoining 
on the west was Newberry & Dole's warehouse, and on one part 
of the latter building was the hat store of McCormick & Moon, 
of Detroit, Mr. Moon being the partner of the Chicago store. In 
the back part of the store was Jesse Butler's tailor shop. In turn- 
ing the corner of Dr. Kimball's residence, away to the northeast, 
among the sand-hills, close by the lake shore, stood a small yellow 



CHICAGO IN 1833-37. 



'37 



house, occupied by Parnick Kelsey as a boarding-house, ostensibly 
run by Eve, Parnick's wife, for Mr. Kelsey was a sub-contractor 
in removing stumps and grubs, preparatory to the grading of the 
street on the North Side, through the swamps and bogs, which at 
that time rendered traveling almost impossible. But as Mrs. Kelsey 
had all the boarders that she could accommodate, I was obliged to 
seek other quarters. 

" Dearborn Street at the time I write was the " lively " street, 
for Garrett's auction-room was located there, on the west side of the 
street, close to Cox & Duncan's clothing store, just opposite to 
which were Mr. Greenleaf's auction-rooms. To the latter place 1 was 
wont to go of evenings and bid off town and city lots, having the 
next day in which to secure a purchaser, and in case I failed to 
sell for an advance of my purchase I returned at night and paid 
Mr. Greenleaf a dollar and the property was offered again for sale. 

" The winter of 1835-36 was a gay one for Chicago. Mr. 
Jackeax had a dancing-school at the New York House once a week, 
which called out the elite of the city. Lincoln's coffee-house was 
the popular drinking place, situated, I think, on the corner of St. 
Clair and Wells streets. Mr. Lincoln had a favorite horse, an iron 
grey, and quite fleet on foot, particularly so when in pursuit of a 
prairie wolf. Many a time in the winter of 1835-36 I have seen 
Mr. Lincoln mount his horse when a wolf was in sight on the 
prairie toward Bridgeport, and within an hour's time come in with 
the wolf, having run him down with his horse and taken his life 
with a hatchet or other weapon. 

" In 1833, Mr. Kingsbury, the original owner, offered all the 
land, and a great deal more than is now included in the Kingsbury 
estate to Captain Joseph Naper, for $900. Fortunately for the 
heirs the doughty Captain couldn't see the bargain, and Mr. Kings- 
bury was constrained, much against his will, to hold on to what he 
had. The land thus offered for $900 included a good portion of the 
four blocks that surrounded the court-house square, including the 
Kingsbury and Ashland blocks. 

" The most historic lot in Chicago undoubtedly is the one oc- 
cupied by the Tremont House. It has been in the ' raffle-box,' 
swapped for ponies, refused for a barrel of whisky, and when an 
old settler wants to give you an idea of the city when he first stuck 
his brogans in the mad, he will somehow associate the price of the 
Tremont House lot with it ; and any old settler will tell the 
year of your arrival by giving him the value of the lot at that 
particular time. One old codger will tell you, ' When I came 
here I could have bought the lot the Tremont House stands on for 
a cord of wood.' That means 1831. Another puts the value, 
with the preliminary remark, at a pair of boots. That means 1S32 
A third fixes the price at a barrel of whisky. That means 1833. 
The fourth adds a yoke of steers and a barrel of flour. That 
means 1834. A fifth talks about $500. That means 1S35. A 
year or two afterward it was worth $5,000, and now it is nearer 
$500,000. In 1833 Captain Luther Nichols refused to give Bap- 
tiste Beaubien forty cords of wood for it, and wood was then worth 
$1.25 per cord. 

"John Noble still has in his possession the original deed, 
signed by the County Commissioners, conferring on him a title to 
the lot occupied by the ' Tivoli,' on the southwest corner of Clark 
and Washington streets, for the sum of $61 in lawful money. The 
deed is dated June 14, 1832. Many regard this as the most valua- 
ble lot in the city, and is worth in the neighborhood of $3,000 a 
front foot." 

The following description of the metes and bounds 
is as appears in a deed of a piece of property situated on 
Chicago Avenue, adjoining the river, conveyed by John 
Noble to James B. Campbell and George E. Walker. It 
reads as follows : 

"The following described tract or parcel of land, situated, 
lying and being in the county of Cook, in the State of Illinois, and 
being the one equal and undivided half of a lot or parcel of land 
transferred by Mark Noble, Sr., and wife, to James B. Campbell 
and George E. Walker, by deed bearing date the 2Sth day of 
August, 1S33, and the said lot or parcel of land is bounded by the 
following metes and bounds, to-wit : Beginning at a hickory stake 
on the east side of the road on the North Branch of the Chicago 
River, on the dividing line between Section 4 and river, in Township 
39 north, Range 14 east, thence east along said line two chains and 
twenty links to a hickory stake cornered and running from a large 
basswood with three hacks, south eighty-five, west twenty-two 
links ; thence north eight chains eighty-one links ; thence west 
crossing a sluice to a white oak standing on the river bank, blazed 
on the south side, nine chains ninety-two links ; thence southeast 
along the shore of said river to the place of beginning, containing 
10.04 acres, more or less." 

Gurdon S. Hubbard, the oldest living settler, still a 



resilient of Chicago, was, in those days, a bold and suc- 
cessful land speculator. 

At the first sale of canal lots in 1829 in Section 9, 
he bought two lots, one on the northwest corner of Lake 
and LaSalle streets, and the other on the southwest 
corner of LaSalle and South Water streets. They were 
eighty by one hundred feet in size, and were bought for 
$33.33 each. In 1836 the lots would have found ready 
purchasers at $100, oco. Mr. Hubbard disposed of a 
part of the property during the excitement, and the re- 
maining portion after the crash, on a falling market ; 
nevertheless, he realized in the aggregate, $80,000 on 
his investment of $66.33. 

A chronicler in the Sunday Times, October 24, 1875, 
tells the following story concerning another large and 
successful operation, which illustrates how the mania 
raged in New York, and how that Eastern "bonanza" 
was worked by local operators in Chicago: 

"Early in the spring of 1835, about the month of March, Mr. 
Hubbard purchased, with two others, Messrs. Russell and Mather, 
what has since been known as Russell & Mather's addition to 
Chicago. This tract comprised eighty acres, and was bounded on 
the south by Kinzie Street, on the east by the river, on the north 
by Chicago Avenue, and then ran west to Halsted Street and be- 
yond. For these eighty acres they paid $5,000. At that time one 
section of the prospective city was as desirable as another, but time 
has developed that this particular eighty acres was one of the most 
undesirable within the entire territory now embraced within the city 
limits. A few months after the purchase Mr. Hubbard had occa- 
sion to visit New York City, and to his surprise found the rage for 
Chicago real estate at a point where it might be called 'wild.' 
Having sought and received the consent of one of his partners, 
who lived in Connecticut, he looked up an engraver, gave him 
such a sketch of the lay of the land as he could call up from 
memory, had a plat prepared, and from this plat, without any actual 
subdivision of the land, sold half of it at public auction for the 
sum of $80,000. This within three or four months after paying 
$5,000. News of this transaction reached Chicago in the course of 
stage-coach time, but it was generally discredited, until Mr. Hub- 
bard returned with the positive confirmation : and the — well, then, 
every man who owned a garden patch stood on his head, imagined 
himself a millionaire, put up the corner lots to fabulous figures, 
and, what is strange, never could ask enough, which made him 
mad because he didn't ask more." 

William S. Trowbridge, now a resident of Milwau- 
kee, came West in 1835. He was a land surveyor and, 
during the excitement, made Chicago his headquarters, 
surveying lands in the region round about. Early in 
1836 he was sent up to survey and plat the city of She- 
boygan, which embraced a section. Having completed 
his work he entered for himself an adjoining section in- 
tending to settle there. On his return he found the ex- 
citement at fever heat. So soon as it was known that 
he had secured this claim on suburban property, di- 
rectly adjoining the city which he had just built on 
paper, anxious buyers appeared, and in less than one 
week he had sold out his claim at a profit of $1,500. He 
immediately returned to Sheboygan and entered another 
section, adjoining the city on another side, with which 
he returned to Chicago, and which he readily sold out 
on better terms than the first. As he stated, he thus 
continued the business until he had " Sheboygan cor- 
nered." Out of this peddling of wild land he realized 
what, to him, then a quiet young man of an unspecula- 
tive turn of mind, seemed an independent fortune. L'n- 
like most young men of the time he withdrew with his 
modest gains, and settled in the town of Milwaukee, 
where he has since lived the quiet life of moderate 
affluence which comes to the few whose judgment is not 
obscured or warped by sudden and unexpected fortune 
thrust upon them. 

A correspondent to the New York Evening Star 
wrote from Chicago in January, 1837, as follows : 



138 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



" I am now in a large hotel, in a large city ; for Chicago con- 
tains a population of 6,000 souls, I have just returned from a 
stroll to the lake shore, where two years ago I so gladly landed 
after a Ion,; and perilous voyage. 1 can scarcely recognize it as 
the same spot Where I then walked over the unbroken prairie, 
the spacious avenue is now opened, crowded with carts and wagons, 
and occasionally a showy family rolling and dashing in the hurry 
of trade or the pomp of native 'sucker,' stumbling, as I do, over 
bales and boxes on the sidewalks, or gaping at the big signs and 
four-story brick houses. 1 am boarding at the United States 
Hotel, where 1 pay only two dollars per day for self, and a dollar 
and a half for horse. There is one noble ship (the ' Julia Palmer' ) 
and two others, four brigs, and I know not how many steamboats 
>ners, regularly plying between this and Buffalo. A lot I 
| ; at my first visit (1S34) has now upon it a 
splendid forwarding and commission store, and sold this spring 
(the naked lot) for $).ooo." 

From the files of the same paper, May 27, 1837, the 
following extracts from letters to the Star, written from 
Chicago, in the fall of 1S30, are taken : 

" Well, we have arrived at this place, or city that is to be — 
this nest of emigrants, merchants and speculators — where nearly 
all the Western towns are hatched, and from which their brood mi- 
grates to every part of the Union, in the shape of town and village 
lots. Men make fortunes here in less time than I could box the 
compass — I say men, for there is a melancholy disproportion of 
numbers between the sexes. Harry is now suffering under the ef 
fects of his dinner parties. He there caught the disease of specu- 
lation, which I fear will terminate in a collapse of his pocket before 
he gets back. Strange indeed for one who entered this climate so 
pure in thought and purpose ; but so it is. He thinks and talks of 
nothing but emulating the virtues and enterprises of a certain 
great modern D. D., by hunting up a town site equal to ' Marion 
City ' ! ! or of the hundred and one great towns at the mouth of 
Maumee River! ! and selling the lots out to his friends at the 
East at a profit of $200,000. He seems determined, and wishes 
me to say that if you will speak well of the place he will name a 
street after you." 

Two items from the Chicago American show the 
price of real estate when the excitement was at its 
height. August 15, 1835, it said: "Fractional Block 
No. 7 sold last June for §1,300; August 1 it was sold 
for Si, 950. Lot Xo. 1, Block No. 2, sold in June for 
$5,000, and was resold in August for $10,000. Lot No. 
8, in Block Xo. 16, sold in June for $420, and was re- 
sold in August for $7°°-" October 17, 1835, the 
American announced the sale of a lot fronting on Dear- 
born Street, next the corner of Water, about fifty-five 
feet deep, for $1 1,000. 

In a letter from Charles Butler, published in the 
American, September 3, 1836, it is stated that in the 
year 1833 one-fourth of Kinzie's addition was offered 
to him for 35,500, then 1836 worth $100,000; another 
tract of land in Chicago of forty acres, worth in 1833 
$400, was then worth $200,000; and that the Hunter 
property (so-called was purchased in the spring of 1835 
for $20,000, resold during that year for $100,000 and 
was worth, at the time he wrote, $500,000. 

The Milwaukee Advertiser, July 14, 1836, had the 
following editorial squib, illustrative of the Chicago 
craze: " I say," said one gentleman to another, in 
Chicago, "what did you give for your portrait?" 
•• Twenty-five dollars, and I have been offered fifty for 
it." 

The end of the excitement came unheralded. An 
-ed by Congress, June 23, 1836, "regulating the 
deposits of the public money, made it the duty of the 
Secretary of the Treasury to discontinue the use, and 
di- redit the issues of such banks as should at any time 
refuse to redeem their notes in specie. This was a 
death-blow to wild-cat banking, and resulted, in the 
following May, in a general suspension of specie pay- 
ment throughout the country and the total failure of 
mo-,t of the Western banks which had run thus far, and 
floated their bills entirely on credit.* All payments to 

* See History of Hanking in this volume. 



the Government, under the law, were to be made in 
specie or bank notes redeemable in specie, on demand. 
It followed that, with credit greatly extended and prices 
already enhanced a hundred-fold above what could be 
measured by the entire amount of specie in the country, in 
the process of adjustment to the arbitrary conditions of 
the law, a collapse in prices occurred sufficient to bring 
the valuation of all property to aspeciestandard. Unfort- 
unately, the debts of the sanguine speculators did not 
shrink proportionately, with the sudden decrease in the 
value of their securities. Prices of lots valued in 
Chicago in 1836 at a thousand dollars suddenly fell to 
the specie value of three years before — perhaps fifty 
dollars; while the note that the last speculative buyer 
had given for it remained $1,000, as before. Wide- 
spread ruin was the consequence, and the bubble burst 
May, 1837. When the town of Chicago became a city, 
many of its inhabitants, who had reveled in suppositi- 
tious wealth for past years, were in sackcloth and ashes, 
mourning over city lots from which all value had de- 
parted, or bewailing the existence of notes of appalling 
magnitude, which were the only reminders of the glori- 
ous times gone by, which the law had not rendered 
valueless. 

Minor Annals of the Town. 

The following letter, written by Enoch Chase, from 
Milwaukee, dated August 2, 1883, is of historic value, 
showing, as it does, something of the geography of the 
surrounding country and concerning the town itself 
from 1834 to 1836. 

" In July, 1831, I arrived in Detroit, Mich. From Detroit to 
Tecumseh there were two lines of stages — the Pioneer and the Op- 
position. From Tecumseh to Niles there was a tri-weeklv line of 
mud-wagons. From Niles to Chicago the mail was carried on 
horseback. During the winter of 1831-32 the line of mud-wagons 
hauled off and the mail was carried weekly from Tecumseh to Chi- 
cago on horseback. Early in the spring of 1S32 Mr. Savary of 
White Pigeon put on a daily line of post coaches from Tecumseh 
to Niles, and the travel was brisk from the opening of navigation 
on Lake Erie till the Sac war broke out (about the middle of May) 
which put a damper on emigration for that year. 

" In May, 1832, the Michigan Militia was called out to prevent 
the Indians from passing through Michigan to Detroit. But when 
we rendezvoused at Niles, an express met us with the information 
that the Indians were retreating to the north and that our services 
were not needed. We were, therefore, disbanded and returned 
home. The inhabitants of Branch and Hillsdale counties consti- 
tuted a battalion of three companies under the command of Major 
B. lones — less than eighty men in all; and not a half dozen able- 
bodied men left at home in the two counties. 

" In the month of October, 1834, I made my first visit to Chi- 
cago. The country along the Chicago road from Coldwater to 
Michigan City was tolerably well settled. The travel from the lat- 
ter place to Chicago was along the beach of the lake, and after a 
northeast storm, when the sand was packed by the waves, the drive 
was just splendid; but when the sand was dry and loose, it was just 
horrible. A good team would make the distance in six hours when 
the way was all right, and it was a six days' good drive when the 
way was all wrong. 

" The first hotel west of Michigan City was some ten miles out; 
the second was Bennett's, about ten miles farther; the third was 
Denis Hard's; the fourth was the Widow Bangs's; the fifth, Maur's, 
at the Calumet, and the sixth, Mr. Merrick's, about half way between 
the Calumet and Chicago. 

" The beach of the lake took the main travel in 1S35-36. There 
was another route by the way of Bailey Town and Thornton, which 
the undersigned drove over in February, 1S37. 

" Chicago, in October, 1834, at the time of the Indian pay- 
ment, was a lively place. There were two hotels. The Sauganash, 
which was situated near the junction of Lake and South Water 
streets, was kept by Mark Beaubien, who said he ' kept tavern like 

h 1 ; ' and a log tavern on the north side of Lake Street. The 

South Branch was crossed by a bridge, and if I recollect right the 
bridge was covered with poles or puncheons [as split logs were 
called] instead of planks. Besides the log cabin on the West Side, 
kept by Mr, Stiles, there was a blacksmith shop. That was all. 
On the North Side were John Kinzie's house and a few others. 



CHICAGO IN 1833-37. 



r 39 



A similar bridge crossed the river about half way between the forks 
of the river and the lake. On the South Side there was one house 
south of Lake Street, which was situated on the west side of Clark 
Street just south of Lake. On Lake and South Water streets was 
the main village. Lake Street boasted one brick block, which 
belonged to either "Yankee" Hubbard, "Horse" Hubbard or 
" Indian" Hubbard, I forget which. It was quite an imposing 
structure. Clybourne's butcher shop was not far from it. Jim 
Kinzie's store, P. F. W. Peck's store, Harmon's and Loomis's 
were all on South Water Street. 

"It seems to me that the Indians were paid on the north side 
of the river nearly opposite Kort Dearborn. I had occasion to go 
west as far the crossing of the Desplaines River. Between Stiles's 
log tavern on the west side of the South Branch and the tavern at 
the crossing of the Desplaines River, there was not a vestige of 
civilization except the wagon tracks, and it seemed to me the 
dreariest road I ever traveled. The prairie mud of the North 
Branch was drier. 

" Of all the men in the early days that I was acquainted with, 
including Clybourne, John H., Robert and James Kinzie, Crouch, 
Rossiton Darwin, Stiles and G. S. Hubbard, the latter alone sur- 
vives. 

" Chicago is a wonderful city, and has been lucky in having 
far-seeing citizens who gave her a start on the road to prosperity. 
While the early settlers of Milwaukee were wrangling about which 
side of the river should be most prosperous, the citizens of Chicago 
acted as a unit to promote the interest of the whole.* But while Chi- 
cago is the most enterprising, Milwaukee is the most beautiful city 
on the American continent ; and let those who doubt the truth of this 
assertion come and see for themselves. 

" In the spring of 1S35, the only houses between Chicago and 
Milwaukee were those at Crosse Point, Sunderland's, west of Wau- 
kegan, and Jack Vicaw's, at Skunk Grove. Myself and party, on 
our way to Milwaukee, staid the first night at Ouilmette's, near 
Grosse Point ; the second night at Sunderland's, and the third night 
we camped in the Milwaukee woods. From Sunderland's to Mil- 
waukee woods we followed an Indian trail. We found a bridge 
over Root River and Oak Creek, but the Kinnekenick we forded. 

" The above short sketch will give you a slight idea of the 
country from 1831 to 1835. While Chicago was well known to the 
people of the VJnited States in 1831, I never heard the word Mil- 
waukee spoken till 1S34. When on my way from Milwaukee to 
Coldwater, Mich., in May, 1S35, I heard the leading citizen of 
Michigan City discussing the merits of Milwaukee and the Terri- 
tory of Wisconsin. The conclusion they came to was that it was 
a cold, bleak, inhospitable country which would never be inhabited 
except by Indians and Indian traders. Little did they imagine 
that in less than half a century the territory west of Lake Michigan 
would contain white inhabitants enough to constitute an empire." 

Postal Affairs. — The post-office in 1833, John S. 
C. Hogan, Postmaster, was kept in a small log building 
near the corner of Lake and South Water streets. At 
that time there was but one Eastern mail per week, to 
and from Niles, Mich., which was carried on horseback. 
The building was twenty by forty-five feet in size, was 
partitioned off so as to serve as a post-office on one 
side, and as the store of Brewster, Hogan & Co., on 
the other. John Bates, Jr., still living in Chicago, was 
the Assistant Postmaster, and assorted the mails, deliv- 
ered the letters, and was the executive factotum of the 
place. John L. Wilson also became an assistant in the 
summer of 1834. John Bates, Deputy Postmaster at 
that time, in an interview October 31, 1883, said : 

"The Eastern mail was carried once a week, on horseback, 
by a little, short, stocky Frenchman, whom we called Louis. In 
1S34 or 1S35 the pony mail express of Louis was abolished, and 
John S. Trowbridge took the contract to haul the mail between 
Niles and Michigan in a wagon. Trowbridge afterward ' went 
West,' and -at one time was Mayor of Little Rock, Ark. The 
receipts of the post-office in 1S33 were from $15 to $20 per quar- 
ter. I never knew him by any other name. The mail came once 
a week ; speculation set in, and the village began to grow Dur- 
ing the last of it the mail used to weigh thirty to forty pounds, and 
was so big that Louis had to walk, and the bags on the horse's back 
spread out like wings, making the pony look like some kind of a 
queer bird. Chicago was then the central office for a sweep of a 
hundred miles around. People came thirty or forty miles to inquire 
for a letter, and, if they did not get one, they looked sick. Men 
from the ' Yankee settlement ' on Hickory Creek, Naperville, and 
other outside places used to come up, with a list of all the names 

* Chicago had her sectional wrangles, too. See " Bridges." 



in their place, and take the mail in a lump. Letter postage was 
then twenty-five cents on each letter, and sometimes we had to 
trust for the postage." * 

John STEPHEN Coats HOGAN was of Irish parentage, and 
was born in New York City February 6, 1805. His father died 
while he was quite young, leaving his mother with five small chil- 
dren and little wherewith to support them. The subject of this 
sketch was, at the age of seven years, adopted by Mrs. Ci a s, a 
friend of his mother, he having been named after her onlv son, 
who had died. He remained with his foster mother until old 
enough to go into business for himself, and finally came to Chi- 
cago as early as 1S30. Mr. Hogan here engaged in mercantile 
pursuits, being at one time sutler of the Fort Dearborn store, and, 




in 1S31, receiving the appointment of Postmaster. He also acted 
as a Lieutenant of volunteers during the Black Hawk War. Mr. 
Hogan's popularity and easy companionship served to elect him to 
the office of Alderman, when the city was incorporated in 1837. 
During this year, his wife, formerly Anna Maria, the eldest daugh- 
ter of Jonathan N. Bailey (Postmaster), died in Chicago, leaving 
one son, John C. Hogan, long afterward a resident of California. 
Alderman Hogan's qualities, which made him successful as a local 
politician, did not serve to add greatly to his material possessions, 
and the hard times of 1837 found him with his means somewhat 
extended, and left him in an embarrassed condition. In March, 
184S, Mr. Hogan married Mary S., the widow of John Ainslie, 
advocate, late of Edinburgh, Scotland. One child, Mary, subse- 
quently the wife of Professor T. S. Noble, of Cincinnati, was born 
to them. During the gold fever Mr. Hogan crossed the plains 
and resided in Sacramento for over a year. Afterwards he lived in 
St. Louis and Memphis, as business man, editor and politician, re- 
turning to Boonville, Mo., in the summer of 186S. Here he died 
on December 2, of that year. Mr. Hogan was a kind, cheerful, 

* The first mention of mail communication with Chicago and the East, 
after the destruction of the fort, was in 1817-18. but details are not given. 
There appears in Keating's L * Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. 
Peter's River," published in London, 1825 — (copy in Chicago Historical Collec- 
tion) — the next allusion. It isthere stated that in May, 1823, the exploring party 
met the expressman sent from Chicago for letters, at Fort Wayne, and detained 
him as a guide. His name was Bemis. A courier was at that time dispatched 
from Fort Dearborn to Fort Wayne once a month, for letters. 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



well-informed gentleman, and one of Chicago's most popular, en- 
terprising and respected early citizens. 

In Tulv. 1834, the office was removed to the corner 
of Franklin and South Water streets, where it remained 
until after the expiration of Hogan's term of office. 
While there, the Assistant Postmaster was Thomas 
Watkins. who has been embalmed in history by John 
Wentworth and other early chroniclers, as the hero of a 
celebrated wedding, he being the groom, and the bride 
being Therese Laframboise, daughter of Joseph La- 
framboise, a chief of the Pottawatomies, well known as 
an early resident of Chicago.* 

No further changes in location of the office were 
made until Mr. Hogan was superceded by Sydney Abell, 
who was appointed Postmaster March 3, 1837. In the 
following June the office was removed to the east side 



Wilson, appointed by Taylor, April 23, 1849; George 
W. Dole, appointed by Fillmore, March 22, 1853; 

Isaac Cook, appointed by Fillmore, March 22, 1855; 
William Price, appointed March 18, 1857. Isaac Cook was 




re-appointed by Buchanan, March 9, 1858. During the 
first administration of Isaac Cook the office was removed 



of Clark Street, in Bigelow's building, between Lake and 
South Water streets, north of the alley. The removal 
was announced in the American, June 3, 1837: "The 
post-office has been removed to Clark Street, directly 
opposite this office. This change will be satisfactory to 
a large number of our citizens." During Mr. Abell's 
administration the post-office was again removed to the 
Saloon Building. Under Mr. Abell the assistants were 
Ralph M. P. Abell and Charles Robert Starkweather. 
The latter remained in the Chicago postal service until 
i860. 

William Stuart, then the editor of the American, 
succeeded Abell as Postmaster, July 10, 1841. He re- 
moved the office to the west side of Clark Street, near 
the Sherman House — No. 50. Subsequently it was re- 
moved, in 1853-54, to the east side of Clark Street. 
Hart L. Stewart succeeded to the Postmastership, being 



^/-c^r 




appointed by President Tyler, April 25, 1S45. The 
succeeding Postmasters up to 1858 were: Richard L. 

* John Wentworth. in his historic lecture, delivered before the Sunday Lec- 
ture Society, May 7, 1876, gives the following account of Mr. Watkins: I re- 
member attending the wedding of one of Laframboise's daughters. She was 
married to a clerk in the post-office, and is now the wife of Madore B. Beaubien, 
heretofore alluded to in this lecture. The c'.erk was the one who delivered let- 
ters, and of course well known to our citizens, and was remarkably popular. 
He went to the printing office and had fifty cards of invitation struck off. But 
when people went for their letters they politely hinted that they expected a 
card of invitation to the wedding. So he was compelled to go to the printing 
office and have fifty more struck off. These did not last long and he had 100 
: ben he said that tickets were of no use and everybody might come; and 
about everybody did come. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Isaac W. 
Hallam, pastor of the St. fanv;s* Kpiscopal Church of this city. Everything 
was high-toned, well worthy of an Indian chief's daughter. The house was of 
5 full and surmunded with people. This wedding 
l my mind, as it was the first time I ever saw the 
of the guests not only had their tomahawks and 






nprcssion < 



1 war-dance. 

scalping knives, bows and 

pretended they had taken 



1 the 



s, but a fe 



rated with all the favorite pictures of th 
white men and '.adits played the pari ol the End 



lish thrm from the real 
*ays: " Mr. Watkins was noted somewhat as 
accomplished player on the guitar. He wan 
and quite likely also with th'- Indian dialect 
for he won the hand of the dautr 
framboise, and she became Mrs. Watkins. ] 
wa» not a happy one. for it cam'- I 
Watkins we cannot tell; yet the lab 



Of Mr 



-rph, went to Kan 
wife of Chief Madore B. Beaubien.' 
the tribe removed. The trouble in 1 
Chicago. 



1 had real scalps which they 

rs. Their faces were deco- 

And some of our voung 

.0 well that it was difficult 

Watkins, (Hurlbut, p. 539,) 

amateur musician, for he was an 

liliar with the French language 

mmon hereabout in those days, 

ottawatomie 1 hief, Joseph l.a- 

\i mi' I. rstOOd that the marriage 

I, Whither and when went Mr. 

fe of that gentleman and daughter of 






oderttood, where she is living as third 

Watkins went West with his wife when 

s family relations-occurred after having 



to the ground floor of Nos. 84 and 86 Dearborn 
Street, where it remained until the completion of the 




a 



<j2^72^/vFZt exJ 



Government building in 1855, when it was again re- 
moved to that structure. 

The mail facilities were rapidly increased after the 
beginning of 1835. On September 19, 1835, Postmaster 
Hogan's advertisement of arrival and departure of mails 
was as follows: 

" Eastern, via Detroit, every other day. 

Southwestern, via Ottawa, arrives Mondays, Wednesdays and 
Thursdays; departs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. 

Western, via Dixon's Ferry, arrives Wednesdays and Thurs- 
days; departs Tuesdays and Saturdays. 

Southern, via Vincennes, arrives Wednesday, departs Thurs- 
day. 

Northern, via Green Bay, arrives Monday; departs Tuesday." 

The notice was supplemented with the following: 

' ' Postage must be paid for when taken. No more credit. 
Written orders required for the delivery of letters to friends." 

From the files of the American it appears that stage- 
coaches were used on the principal mail routes in the 
beginning of 1836 — probably not much earlier. At that 
time appear for the first time advertisements of mail- 
coaches as follows: 

" Mail coaches between Detroit and Chicago will leave the 
New York House, Chicago, for Detroit, every other day, com- 
mencing Monday, January 11, at 5 a. m. Persons wishing seats 
will apply F. Tuttle, agent, or to Mr. Johnson at the New York 
House." 

January 23, an opposition line was advertised — 
" Winter arrangements from Chicago to Detroit in three 
and one-half days." D. G. Jones, J. W. Brown, W. E. 
Boardman, R. A. Forsyth. 0. Saltmarsh, and S. Spaf- 
ford were the proprietors of the rival line. 

August 20, F. F. Tuttle, stage agent, advertised that 
he had removed to Dearborn Street, one door north of 



CHICAGO IN 1833-3? 



141 



the Tremont, and that stages would leave for Detroit 
daily, at 4 A. M.; and for Galena at 4 a. m., on Tues- 
days, Fridays, and Sundays. He also advertised, 
August 6, what appears to be a newly established line, 
to Peoria, Ottawa and Juliet.* 

The following new mail routes were advertised 
October 29, 1836 : 

"From Toliet to Chicago, thirty-six miles and back, once a 
week : To leave Joliet every Monday at 5 A. M., and to arrive in Chi- 
cago by 7 P. M. ; to leave Chicago every Sunday at 5 A. M. , and arrive 
at joliet the same day at 7 P. M. 

"From Chicago to Galena, via Meachanis Grove, Elgin, Squaw 
Prairie, on the Kishwaka, and Midway on Rock River, 150 miles 
and back, once a week. Leave Chicago Monday at 6 A. M., and 
arrive at Galena every Friday by 6 p. M. Leave Galena Monday 
at 6 a. m., and arrive at Chicago Friday at 6 p. M. 

"From Chicago to George McClure's, on Fox River, and 
back. To leave Chicago every Wednesday at 6 a. m., and arrive 
McClure's Thursday by 6 p. M. Leave McClure's every Friday at 
6 A. M., and arrive at Chicago Saturday at 6 P. M." 

June 11, 1836, post-office business of Chicago was 
advertised as follows : 

"The post-office is open on week days from 7 A. M. to 8 P. M. ; 
Sundays, from S to 9 A. M., 12 to 1, and 5 to 6 p. M. If mail 
arrives on Sundays this office will be open one and one-half hours 
after the mail has been distributed. Postage for letters must be 
paid when taken; hereafter no credit will be given. Any person 
calling for letters for friends must bring a written order. 

" Mails arrive and depart as follows : 

" Eastern, via Detroit, every other day. 

" Southwestern, via Ottawa, arrives Mondays and Thursdays ; 
departs Tuesdays and Saturdays. 

" Western, via Dixon's Ferry, arrives Sundays and Thursdays, 
at 6 P. M. ; departs Tuesdays and Saturdays, at 4 A. M. 

" Southern, via Danville, arrives Thursdays ; departs Saturdays 
at 4 P. M. 

" Northern, via Green Bay, arrives Mondays at 8 P. M. ; departs 
Tuesdays at 4 A. M." 

Post- Roads had been established, although they 
could hardly be said to be built, on ail the stage-routes 
advertised. The northern, or Green Bay road, as it 
was called,* was surveyed in 1833, stakes driven and 
trees blazed along the line. It was somewhat improved 
as far as Milwaukee in 1834, by laying rough puncheon 
and log bridges over the unfordable creeks and streams, 
and cutting out the trees to the width of two rods. No 
grading was done for years afterward, and as late as 1836 
it was only a blazed road through the forest between 
Milwaukee and Green Bay. The western and southern 
roads were less rough, as they ran out over more open 
prairie. In dry weather they were fine well-beaten 
tracks, but in the spring and fall they became long black 
ditches of mud, through which the hapless travelers 
floundered most wearily and laboriously to their places 
of destination. 

Wharfing Privileges. — December 4, 1833, the 
wharfing privileges of the town were defined at a meet- 
ing of the Trustees. Owners of lots fronting on the 
river, where a street ran down to the river, might use 
all but eighty feet of the street fWater Street then being 
on the bank of the river: for wharfage purposes only, 
on the payment of fifteen dollars per year. Stipulations 
were made whereby the town corporation might subse- 
quently purchase any wharfage improvements made on 
lots leased from the town. Several owners of water- 
lots and others paid the required fifteen dollars during 
the succeeding month. Wharfing privileges were adver- 
tised in the Chicago American of November 15, 1835, 
to be sold, under a lease from the town, for 999 years, 
by auction, to the highest bidder. Thus the water or 
wharfage lots came to have a peculiar, if not fictitious 
value, during the speculative period. These privileges 

* Joliet was first Mount Joliet, later named Juliet by one of the early pro- 
prietors, and still later changed to the old name of Joliet, in honor of the early 
explorer. 



were sold on time, and as the notes were many of them 
never paid, the " privileges " went out by default in the 
general crash of 1837. On March 24, 1837, the Town 
Trustees voted to extend the time of payment on wharf- 
ing lots, " until further notice." 

Fire Department. — Up to September, 1835, there- 
was nothing like an organized Fire Department, or a 
fire engine in the town. Prior to that time buckets put 
out any fire that occurred, or it burned itself out. Fire 
Wardens were appointed September 25, 1834, under the 
provisions of an ordinance passed by the Board of Town 
Trustees, which also defined the limits of the fire wards 
of the town. 

The laws and ordinances were at that time quite 
strict, although not always enforced to the letter. No 
person was allowed " to endanger the public safety by 
pushing a red-hot stove-pipe through the board wall," 
and they were forbidden to carry " open-coals of fire 
through the streets except in a covered fire-proof ves- 
sel." The latter provision, in the absence of matches, 
was deemed a hardship not endurable and was repealed 
soon after its passage. The duty of the Wardens was 
defined in an ordinance adopted October, 1834. The 
Warden in whose ward a fire occurred was to be, for the 
time being, Chief Warden, and the other Wardens his 
assistants. They had power to summons any one to aid 
in the extinguishment of a fire, whether it be "to enter 
the ranks or lines formed for passing water or buckets, 
or to aid in promoting such other means as, to said ■ 
wardens, may seem . calculated to carry into effect the 
object of this ordinance." Citizens or other bystanders 
refusing to obey the summons of the Wardens when a 
fire was raging were subject to a fine of five dollars. It 
was incumbent on all citizens owning or occupying 
stores or dwellings to keep a fire bucket within their 
building, in a conspicuous place, and, on an alarm of 
fire, to promptly repair to the scene of the conflagra- 
tion, equipped for service with the said bucket. This 
was the Fire Department and fire organization of 1834. 

By the close of 1835 the town had grown to such 
proportions, nearly all built of combustible material, 
that more elaborate provisions were deemed necessary. 
On November 4, 1835, the Fire Department was re-or- 
ganized under a most formidable ordinance. Like a 
most celebrated and historic confession of religious 
faith, it contains thirty-nine articles. In October, 1835, 
a hook and ladder company was formed, and the city 
equipped it with four ladders, four axes, and four saws. 
December 1, 1835, the first fire engine was purchased 
of Hubbard & Co. for $894.38, and the fire company, 
known as Engine Company No. 1, was organized. 

Cemeteries. — No stated place for the burial of the 
dead was located until 1835. In early times each inter- 
ment was made on or near the residence of the friends 
of the deceased. Later, the settlements about the forks 
had a common acre on the west side of the North Branch, 
where the dead were buried. The dead from the fort 
were buried generally on the north side of the main 
river east of Kinzie's old house, near the lake shore. 
There John Kinzie was buried in 1828.* The soldiers 
who died of cholera in 1832 were interred near the 
northwest corner of Lake Street and Wabash Avenue. 
Early interments were made all along the borders of the 
two branches, wherever settlements had been made and 
deaths had occurred. In later days the forgotten 
graves were often opened in excavating, which has led 
to much speculation as to whom the disinterred remains 
belonged. As late as March 12, 1849, the Daily Derao- 

* His remains were taken to the North Side Cemetery in 1835. and again, 
in 1842, to Lincoln Park Cemetery, where they now rest. 



14^ 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



oral records the fact that during the spring freshet. 
"two coffins were seen floating down the river, sup- 
posed to have been from some small burying-ground on 
the North Branch in the Wabansia addition." August 
15. 1835, the town surveyor was ordered to lay out two 
tracts suitable for cemetery purposes; sixteen acres on 
the South Side and ten acres north of the river. These 
two lots, the first established cemeteries in Chicago, 
were located as early as August 26; on the North Side, 
near Chicago Avenue, east of Clark Street; on the South 
Side near the lake shore and what is now Twenty-third 
Street. These lots were fenced in September, and 
burials forbidden elsewhere within the town limits. 

Town Credit. — The Town Trustees, in the adminis- 
tration of affairs were as a rule economical, even to the 
verge of parsimony. They did not repair either 
bridges or streets unless the Collector and Treasurer 
showed sufficient funds on hand. They voted to bor- 
row sixty dollars — the first authorized loan on the faith 
of Chicago — October 2, 1834. The records do not show 
whether or not the money was borrowed. In 1836 there 
were general complaints in the newspapers as to the 
horrid condition of the streets, sidewalks, and bridges, 
and a move, endorsed by large and strong petitions 
from the citizens, was made for more bridges. One 
was specially wanted across the South Branch on Ran- 
dolph Street, and a reward of twenty-five dollars was 
offered for the best plan for a draw-bridge at that point 
— the length of the draw to be forty feet. To John 
Brown, on Februarv 10, 1836, was awarded the prize. 
February 13, "all the bridges were declared to be in an 
unsafe condition, and no funds on hand." In fact 
the town had outgrown its fiscal facilities. It had, dur- 
ing the past year, besides ordinary expenses, incurred 
some extraordinary liabilities. It had built an engine 
house costing $200, paid $29.63 for an outfit for a hose 
company, and agreed to pay in two yearly installments, 
for a fire-engine, $894.38. It was evident that if further 
improvements were to be made to keep pace with the 
rapid strides of the town in population, that the day for 
trying the credit of the corporation had arrived. July 
28, 1836, the Trustees resolved "that it is necessary and 
expedient for this board to effect a loan not exceeding 
§50,^.00, to be expended in public improvements," and the 
president was instructed to apply to the State bank 
Chicago branch then the only bank in the town, for a 
loan of $25,000 redeemable in two years. August 5, 
notice was received from the bank refusing the applica- 
tion. Whether the refusal showed most the poor credit 
of the town or the weak condition of the bank is a ques- 
tion. William B. Ogden was thereupon made fiscal 
agent for the town, to negotiate the loan, which he suc- 
ceeded in doing; and credit being established the im- 
provements began. That the town began to spend the 
money without any unnecessary delay appears from the 
records one week later, August 13, at which time Mr. 
Ogden was ordered to purchase two more fire-engines, 
and a new street was projected, from the town to the 
fort. 

Growth of the Town. — The town, although in 
its last days it came to grief from the collapse of the 
speculative bubble, had a most marvelous growth, which 
was not entirely attributable to speculation. Its popu- 
lation increased in a ratio from year to year never 
known before in any country. In 1833 there were, 
perhaps, 200 bona fide inhabitants ; in the spring and 
early summer of 1834 it had come to be a village of 
800, and, during the fall its population was estimated at 
from 1,600 to 2,000. In 1835 a school census showed a 
population of 3,279 ; and in 1836 varied from 3,500 to 



4,000. July 1, 1837, the first census was taken after its 
organization under its city charter, and was as follows : 



Wards. 


years of 
age. 


Over s, 


21 and 


Persons 

of 
Color. 




2 


i 


s 


1 


g 




g 




First 

Third 


57 
76 
11 
15 
32 
53 


59 
77 
16 
15 
37 
65 


109 
120 
33 
31 
26 
72 


135 

148 

19 

27 

20 

IOI 


444 
630 

7° 

IOI 

135 
420 


218 
262 
46 
42 
7° 
207 


IO 

13 


7 
18 




5 




Fifth 




Sixth 


13 


9 




244 


269 
244 


381 


450 
381 


1S00 


845 
1800 


41 


36 

41 


Totals 




513 




831 




2645 




77 



Males and females, 21 and over 2,645 

Males and females over 5 and under 21 years S31 

Males and females under 5 years of age 513 

Total white 3.989 

Total black 77 

Total 4,066 

Sailors belonging to vessels owned here 104 

Grand total 4,170 

There were within the city limits at that time ; 4 warehouses, 
398 dwellings, 29 dry-goods stores, 5 hardware stores, 3 drug stores, 
ig grocery and provision stores, 10 taverns, 26 groceries, 17 law- 
yers ' officers, and 5 churches. 

In material growth the town had made no less re- 
markable progress. It is shown in the following ex- 
cerpts from the American. On August 15, 1835, that 
paper said : 

"There are now upward of fifty business houses, four large 
forwarding-houses, eight taverns, two printing offices, two book- 
stores, one steam saw-mill, one brewery, one furnace (just going 
up), and twenty-five mechanics' shops of all kinds." 

Under the head of " Improvements in 1836," Decem- 
ber 10, is the following : 

" Most prominent are Steele's block of four-story brick stores 
on Lake Street ; Harmon and Loomis' block of four-story brick 
stores on Water Street ; the Episcopal Church of brick, which, 
when finished, will vie with many of the best East ; some ten to 
twenty two to four-story brick stores in various parts of the town; 
about twenty large two to three-story wooden buildings ; a steam 
flouring mill ; and from one hundred to one hundred and fifty 
dwellings." 

And on November 19, 1836: 

"Chicago has 100 merchants, its many mechanics, its well 
employed laborers, its 30 lawyers, its 20 physicians ; its stately 
blocks constantly rising to view, and yet, a great scarcity of 
money." 

October 3, 1835, in reply to an inquiry as to the 
time for getting goods from the Atlantic cities to Chi- 
cago, the American replied, " from twenty to thirty 
days." 

As appears from the American December 31, 1836, 
Chicago had become a distributing point for the whole 
settled country. An advertisement of unclaimed pack- 
ages at Hubbard & Co.'s express office, showed the fol- 
lowing destinations: Joliet ; Elkhart, Ind.; Goshen; 
Mishawaka; Independence, Iowa ; Terra Haute, Ind.; 
Galena; Clinton, Iowa; Michigan City; Danville, Mil- 
waukee, Constantine, Otsego, Portage, Warsaw, Three 
Rivers, Schoolcraft, Wisconsin Territory ; Frankfort, 
Iowa. 

July 9, 1836, the American said : 

" A store on Lake Street, which sold for $8,000, rents for 
$1,000. Many goods are sold to interior merchants at wholesale 
at good profit. The average cost of transportation from the East 
is $1.50 per 100 pounds. The time on the way is generally about 



CHICAGO IN r833-37. 



'43 



one month. But the brig ' Indiana' recently arrived, bringing goods 
from New York in 17 '/i days. Store stands are generally in good 
demand. Sales are generally made for cash." 

On December 31, 1836: 

" The merchandise sold last year in Chicago would amount to 
$1,000,000, and the trade is constantly increasing. The goods are 
bought principally in New York, and are shipped to this point via 
Hudson River, Erie Canal, and the lakes." 

The prices current November 19, 1836, were given 
as follows : 

" Flour, $12 per bbl.; pork, $25 to S28 per bbl. and scarce; 
hogs, 10 to I2}<; butter, good eastern, 3S to 50, very scarce; beef, 
fresh, sold by butchers, 8 cents per pound; corn meal, none in 
market ; potatoes, 50 to 75 cents per bu." 

The result of the first Presidential election, at which 
the residents of modern Chicago voted, November, 1836, 
showed 354 votes thrown for Harrison and Granger 
(Whig , and 348 votes for Van Buren and Johnson 
(Democrat ) — a total vote of 702. This, according to the 
modern accepted ratio of voters to population — one to 
five — would give a resident population at that time of 

3,5i°- 

The strait cut was made so far that vessels could 
enter the river in 1834. The establishment of Chicago 
as a port of importance dates from then. The Ameri- 
can, December 10, 1836, said: 

"The first arrival this season was on the 18th of April. From 
then to December 1 the arrivals comprised 49 steamers, 10 ships, 
26 brigs, 363 schooners, and 8 sloops. The 88 ships, steamers, 
etc., will average 250 tons; the 363 schooners, 100 tons each. In 
1835 there were 250 arrivals — tonnage, 22,500 ; in 1833, four arri- 
vals — tonnage, 700." 

The canal project, which had been a project only 
for many years, was now an apparent certainty. Favor- 
able legislation, both State and National, had placed 
the enterprise on a footing which warranted its ultimate 
success. The building of the canal had been actually 
begun. July 4, 1836, had witnessed the first breaking 
of ground at the Chicago terminus, and despite the 
shadow of hard times, the work was going on. The 
State was inaugurating a system of internal improve- 
ments which it was hoped would avert any serious 
calamity, and a strong faith was prevalent in the town 
that all would be well. 

The city of Chicago superseded the town organiza- 
tion under a charter granted by the State Legislature, 
March 4, 1837, under which the citizens organized, by 
the election of city officials on the first Tuesday of the 
following May, which was the birthday of the most 
wonderful city that has ever appeared upon the earth. 

The new city was built mostly along the south side 
of the main river. Lake Street was well built up from 
State Street to Franklin. The streets running north 
and south from the river were well sprinkled with build- 
ings. A court-house, a jail, and an engine-house 
adorned the present square. There were seven hotels 
and seven churches. No church had a steeple, and, as 
one approached the city either from the lake, or south, 
out of the oak woods, no structure rose above the height 
of the chimneys of the town. The city lay low down on 
the marshy ground, many feet below the present grade, 
and was, altogether, to the sight of the new-comer, a 
most unsightly place to live, or even die in. One good 
bridge over the main river at Dearborn Street and a 
dangerous and dilapidated log structure over the South 
Branch, were the only means of escape to the open coun- 
try on the north and west. The speculation which had 
been rampant for the past three years was gone, but a 
grim determination showed in the lineaments of each 
true Chicagoan's face, which meant that although fort- 
unes had fled Chicago was still left. 




Richard Jones Hamilton, the first Circuit Court Clerk of 
Cook County, was born near Danville, Mercer Co., Ky., August 
21, 1799. His parents were James L. and Sarah Jones Hamilton. 
James L. Hamilton was born in England, but his parents emigrated 
when he was only a year old, and settled on the Savannah River, 
on the South Carolina side. At the age of twenty he went north- 
ward into Kentucky and, having married Miss Sarah Jones, settled 
near Danville. In 1S03 he removed to Shelby County, where 
Richard J. spent his childhood and youth and received his early 
education, chiefly at the Shelbyville Academy, then in charge of in- 
structors of some eminence, among others the Rev Mr. Gray, and 
the Rev. Mr. Cameron. At the age of seventeen young Hamilton 
was placed as clerk in a store at Shelbyville, and afterward in a 
similar position at Jefferson, devoting some fifteen months to these 
pursuits, which seem not to have possessed much attraction for him. 
In 1S1S, he went to Louisville, where he studied law until 1820, 
when he removed to Jonesboro, Union Co., III., in company 
with his friend Abner Field. They owned a horse jointly, made the 
journey in alternate stages of riding and walking, and sold the ani- 
mal which constituted their sole property, on their arrival. Here 
Hamilton taught school for some time, while continuing his law 
studies at intervals under the guidance of Charles Dunn, who was 
admitted to the Bar August 31, 1820, afterwards achieved distinc- 
tion in the State, and still later became Chief Justice of Wisconsin 
Territory. The Second General Assembly of Illinois, at its session 
of 1S20-21. established the old State Bank. At the first nv.eting of 
directors at Vandalia, a branch at Brownsville, Jackson County, 
was autho ized, and Mr. Hamilton was appointed its cashier, in 
1S22, he was married to Miss Diana W. liuckner, of Jefferson 
County, Ky., but then residing near Jackson. Cape Girardeau 
Co., Mo. She was a daughter of Colonel Nicholas Buckner, of 
the historic Kentucky family of that name. Mr. Hamilton was 
confirmed as Justice of the Peace for Jackson County by the Gen- 
eral Assembly January 14, 1S26; and was admitted to the Bar 
March 31. 1S27. In 1829 he is on record as one of the itinerant 
lawyers who rode the circuit of the southern counties, deriving a 
meager and precarious subsistence from the few and scattered 
clients who fell to his share in those early days of Illinois, when the 
cases were rare and fees were small. The Brownsville branch 
bank closed its career about this time. Mr. Hamilton retaining to 
the last, as far as known, his position as cashier, the duties of 



M4 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



which, especially in those later years, were neither exhaustive nor 
remunerative. He now turned his eyes toward northern Illinois, 
and was elected bv the General Assembly as the first Probate Judge 
of the new county of Cook, January 29, 1S31. His friend Judge 
Young, of the Fifth Judicial District, appointed him Clerk of Cook 
County Circuit Court, and Governor Reynolds, who was also speci- 
ally interested in his welfare, commissioned him as notary public 
and Recorder. He arrived in Chicago early in March, being present 
at the organization of the county on the Sth ; and removed his 
family from Brownsville in August. He had at this time two chil- 
dren, Richard N. and Sarah A. He was appointed commissioner 
of school lands in Cook County, in October ; and the school fund 
remained in his charge until 1S40. As an illustration of the back- 
ward condition of Chicago at the period of his arrival he used to 
refer to the limited mail facilities, saying that special care was used 
in reading the older papers first, that they might be properly ad- 




MRS. ELLEN HAMILTON) KEENON. 



vised of events in the great world in the order of their occurrence. 
He resided with his family in Fort Dearborn for some time after 
taeir arrival, and there his second daughter, Ellen,* was born, in 
the spring of 1832. In that year he became Clerk of the County 
Commissioners Court, which office he held until 1837. Besides 
discharging the duties of his several offices, which, it is easy to see 
were more numerous than remunerative, he took an active part in 
temperance work, and in 1832 co-operated energetically with 
Colonel Owen, the Indian Agent, and other influential men, in 
keeping the Indians of thi* section from joining the hostile bands 
in the disturbances of that year. He was the first of thirty-seven 
volunteers who on Maya, 1832, "promised obedience to Captain 
Gholson Kercheval and Lieutenants George W. Dole and John S. 
Hogan, as commanders of the militia of Chicago, until all appre- 
hension of danger from the Indians may have subsided." Later 
in the month, with Captain Jesse 11. Brown and Joseph Xaper and 
twenty-five mounted men, he scoured the Fox River country to 
carry succor and encouragement to the scattered settlements. Un- 
fortunately they did not arrive at Indian Creek until the 22d, the 
day after the massacre, where they found thirteen dead bodies of 
the families of Davis, Hall, and Pettigrew, terribly mangled. The 
company escorted some of the flying refugees to Chicago, where a 
much larger number had sought refuge as early as the 10th. 

• 1 his daughter, DOW Mr-. E. H. Keenon, -.till a resident of the city, is 
stated to be the first child of purely American parents horn in Chicago, si,, ,- 
certainly the oldest person living, horn in the city. 



Colonel * Hamilton was one of the commissaries to supply them 
with food and shelter ; and was indefatigable in his efforts in their 
behalf. -f He moved his family into the old agency, house about 
this time, the fort becoming crowded with refugees, and being 
occupied after July by the troops newly arrived for the Black Hawk 
War. In the spring of 1833, in conjunction with Colonel Owen, he 
employed John Watkins to teach a small school, near the old In- 
dian agency-house, where he still resided, but which he soon aban- 
doned for his own house, erected on what is now Michigan Street, 
between Cass and Rush streets, where he lived for nineteen years. 
He was one of the voters for the incorporation of Chicago August 
5, and for its first board of trustees five days later. He was a sub- 
scribing witness to the Indian treaty of September 26, and his 
claim of $500 was allowed.}: In October as commissioner of 
school lands, in compliance with a petition which had "received 
ninety-five signatures, embracing most of the principal citizens of 
the town," he authorized the sale of the Chicago school section. In 
virtue of his office of Probate Judge he married John Bates, Jr., to 
Miss Harriet E. Brown, of Springfield, Mass., November 13. He 
was one of the original subscribers to the first Chicago newspaper, 
which appeared November 26. In December he advertised $10,000 
to loan, which was probably part of the net cash proceeds of the 
sale of school lands, two months before. In 1S34 he was president 
of the board of school trustees, and labored with his usual energy 
in the interest of the early schools of Chicago. In conjunction 
with Hiram Pearsons he laid out 420 acres at Canalport, adjoining 
what is now Bridgeport, which, judging from the first prelimi- 
nary survey, they supposed would be the actual terminus of the 
Illinois & Michigan Canal, but which the final survey 
passed by, and left comparatively worthless. In this year 
too he lost his wife, soon after the birth of her fourth 
child, who was named Diana B., in memory of her. Mrs. Hamil- 
ton was highly esteemed as an intelligent and zealous Christian 
lady, whose active interest was of recognized service to the Method- 
ist Church of which she was a member, in its early struggles in 
Chicago. At this period he became largely interested in outside 
lands, also being probably the most extensive owner in the county 
and the whole Northwest. These were often purchased on joint 
account with non-residents, and perhaps at times with no larger 
interest on his part than a commission, for the transaction of the 
business, but usually made and recorded in his name for greater 
convenience in transfer and negotiation. He was married, March 
2 5. lS 35, to Miss Harriette L. Hubbard, sister of Henry G. Hub- 
bard, of Chicago. Soon after, he became a candidate for election 
as Recorder, and published the following card in answer to certain 
cavilings about his many offices: " In 1831 I received the appoint- 
ment of Clerk of Circuit Court, Judge of Probate and notary 
public. I then moved to Chicago, and found that no one wanted 
these offices. Soon after the gentleman holding the position of 
Clerk of the County Commissioners Court resigned, and I was ap- 
pointed. The office of school commissioner was then held by 
Colonel T. J. V. Owen, who resigned. Up to September, 1834, 
that office has yielded me in all about $200 ; notary fees have not 
exceeded $50 ; probate fees have not amounted to more than $50. 
I have not realized from all offices, including that of Recorder, 
during four years more than Si, 500. The whole number of instru- 
ments recorded, including a large number of Receiver's certificates 
for lands purchased at late sales, have been to July 1, 1835, about 
1,300, at about seventy cents each." He was elected Recorder by 
602 votes at the August election, and removed his office toward 
the end of October to the new building recently erected by the 
county on the public square. In December he became a director 
in the Chicago branch of the new State bank. The offices he held 
at this time were, Judge of Probate, Clerk of Circuit Court, 
Clerk of Commissioners Court, Recorder of Deeds, notary public, 
school commissioner, and bank commissioner. He continued 
to discharge the various duties of these offices, with the help 
of deputies and clerks in the more exacting ones, as the volume 
of business in each required. As Clerk of the Circuit Court, his 
first deputy was Henry Moore in 1834, succeeded by J. Young 
Scammon in 1835. Solomon Will, who had married the sister of 
his first wife, became his deputy in 1836, and was succeeded by 
George Manierre in 1837, who gave way to Thomas Hoyne in 
1839. All these were lawyers, and nearly all young men, who 
served as his assistants until the professional business of each 
successively required his entire attention. Mr. Hamilton was 
elected a member of the new board of school inspectors for the 
city of Chicago May 12, 1837, in recognition of his services and 
interest in the early schools, and of his position as school commis- 
sioner. Pinched by the financial pressure of 1837, he weathered 
the storm without becoming bankrupt or failing to meet his pecuni- 



* He had been identified with the mil 
his title of Colonel seems to have been one 

+ Beggs's " West and Northwest," p. 

X The claims allowed against, and paid in behalf of, 
gated $175,000. 



s, and 



CHICAGO IN 1833-37. 



i45 



ary obligations. He lost an infant daughter, named Pauline, 
August 21, 1S39, having lost another of the same name about two 
years before. Besides these, his only child by the second Mrs. 
Hamilton was Henry E., who is now (1SS3) familiarly known as 
Colonel Hamilton, as it were, by right of inheritance. In 1S40 he 
was nominated Alderman of the Sixth Ward by the Democrats, and 
elected; and was chosen delegate to the State Democratic conven- 
tion at Springfield the same year. He appears frequently in the 
contemporary notices of the Press as an active member in the pub- 
lic meetings of the period, on all questions of social, political, edu- 
cational and religious interest; and was frequently chosen on 
committees of all sorts for the furtherance of public business, being 
apparently one of that worthy class of men who suffer themselves 
to be overburdened rather than shirk the responsibilities of active 
citizenship. He was prominent in the meeting held in memory of 
President Harrison in 1841, and was no less active in the reception 
given the same year to Governor Carlin in Chicago. Meanwhile 
the time had arrived for relinquishing some of his offices, the in- 
creased duties of which had now made them too unwieldy even for 
superintendence by one individual. In 1S35 he had ceased to be 
Judge of Probate; in 1S37 Clerk of Commissioners Court, and in 
1839 Recorder of Deeds. In 1840 William H. Brown was elected 
School Agent, an office which entitled him to the care of the school 
funds of Chicago, which therefore passed out of the charge of Mr. 
Hamilton with the close of that year. He still retained his position 
as commissioner of school lands for the county, for he is found 
to have advertised Section 16, Township 41, for sale August 9, 
1841, as such. On the re-organization of the judicial system in 1841 
Cook fell within the circuit of Associate Justice Theophilus W. 
Smith, who appointed his son-in-law, Henry G. Hubbard, to re- 
place Hamilton, who resumed the practice of law, his clerkship 
terminating March 12, 1S41. February 7, 1S42, he lost his second 
wife, who left but one surviving child, Henry E., already men- 
tioned; and in 1843 he married Mrs. Priscilla P. Tuley, of Louis- 
ville, Ky. , the mother of the present Judge Tuley of Chicago. He 
formed a law partnership with J. S. Chamberlaine, which was dis- 
solved in 1845. In 1S46 his firm was Hamilton & Moore, Francis 
C. Moore being the junior member. In 1847 Mr. Hamilton was 
again alone and so remained until he retired from practice in 1S50. 
In 1849 he was elected Alderman of the Ninth Ward, upon the re- 
signation of Samuel McKay, and in 1S50 and 185 1 as his own suc- 
cessor. He was Presidential Elector on the Democratic ticket in 
1852, and removed the same year to a new residence he had erected 
on the West Side, "on Madison, west of Bull's Head," afterward 
the southwest corner of Hoyne. He devoted the remaining years 
of his life largely to beautifying this place, which was then regarded 
as a suburban home. In 1S56 he was candidate for Lieutenant- 
Governor on the Democratic ticket, which was defeated by the new 
Republican party. Towards the close of i860, he became a mem- 
ber of the South Presbyterian Church, the denomination with which 
he had most intercourse in early life, and to which his wife be- 
longed. He died of paralysis, December 26, i860, in his sixty- 
second year, leaving a widow and five children, all settled in life. 
He was buried with Masonic honors on the 2Sth, having been long 
connected with the order, and high in its counsels and honors. He 
was an officer in the first grand lodge of Illinois. At a memorial 
meeting of the Bar held on the 2Sth Judge Morris said: "There 
is scarcely a lawyer here now but owes much in his early life to 
Colonel Hamilton. He took every young practitioner who came 
here by the hand, and helped him to business and practice." Judge 
Wilson said: "Mr. Hamilton was a gentleman remarkable in many 
particulars; of very high notions as a gentleman, and of unusual 
sympathies." Judge Manierre reported a series of resolutions, 
from which the following sentiments are extracted: " His death has 
removed one of our most distinguished citizens and pioneers, and 
the oldest member of the legal fraternity; we take pleasure in bear- 
ing testimony to the high character of the deceased as a man and a 
citizen. His life was a career of active usefulness. He was fore- 
most in all public enterprises for the advancement and prosperity 
of the community. We remember with pleasure the social and 
genial qualities of our deceased brother, lie was a zealous friend; 
his heart was warm and his hand ready. In losing him the com- 
munity have lost one of its most valuable citizens, and this Bar one 
of its most respected members." Twenty years after death he was 
characterized by Hon. Thomas Hoyne as being "of a generous and 
open nature, a good citizen, a kind man, and one of those men who 
were then shaping the destinies of the State." 

Augustine DeoDat Taylor was born April 2S, 1796, in 
Hartford, Conn. His father's name was Solomon Taylor, and he 
likewise was born in Connecticut. His mother's maiden name was 
Mary Hartshorn. She was of Welsh decent, but was born in Con- 
necticut. Solomon and Mrs. Taylor lived in Hartford until he 
died in 1813, and Mrs. Taylor continued to live there until 1833, 
when the subject of this sketch came to Chicago. Augustine D. 
Taylor received his early education in the common schools and 



grammar schools of Hartford and afterward he attended two private- 
schools. He was then apprenticed to the trade of his father, that of 
carpenter and builder. When the Presbyterian Church pulled 
down their frame church building to replace it with a brick our, 
Mr. Taylor bought the old one, and converted it into a new Cath- 
olic church. This was his lirsi experience in church building. In 
1S02, his father went to the West Indies, where he remained one 
and a half years. During this time young Taylor, who was the 
oldest of eight children, took charge of the family, which lived then 
with his grandfather Hartshorn, at Columbia, Conn. In 1813, his 
father was killed by falling from a building he was erecting, and 
young Taylor once more became head of the family, which he- 
remained until attaining his majority in April, 1S17. In August, 
1814, he was drafted and served three months in the Hartford Ar- 
tillery, under Captain Nathan Johnson, in New London and Say- 
brook. On June 7, he was married to Miss MaryGillett, when the 
support of the mother devolved upon the younger children. In the 
fall of 1S1S, he went to North Carolina, and lived in Fayetteville 
until the next July, during which time he built a Presbyterian 



\S 



cu: £cnT^~) 



church. In the winter of 1819-20 he worked at his trade in Wil- 
mington, N. O, when his health failed, and in the spring he re- 
turned home, and for two years was under the care of a physician. 
In 1S25, he contracted to build the chapel for Washington College, 
an Episcopal institution, and he also built the bishop's house. 
Continuing in the carpenter business, he bought the old Episcopal 
church at Hartford, moved it on to another lot, put a basement 
under it and fitted it up for a Catholic church. This was the first 
Catholic church erected by him. Soon after this, in 1S33, he came 
to Chicago, arriving here in June, and in a short time thereafter, 
commenced work on St. Mary's Church building, completing it in 
the fall of the same year. Under Rev. Maurice de St. Palias, he 
commenced, and under Bishop Quarter he completed the carpenter 
work on St. Mary's new brick church, the first cathedral in 
Chicago, standing near the corner of Wabash Avenue and Madison 
Street. He then in 1837 built St. James' (Episcopal) church, and 
in 1S46 built St. Patrick s, St. Peter's and St. Joseph's churches, 
the first on the West Side for the Irish Catholics, the others on the 
South and North sides respectively, for the German Catholics. In 
the fall of this year he built a Presbyterian church at Naperville, 
111., which was the last church erected by him. 

Since that time Mr. Taylor has occupied himself with his reg- 
ular trade, accumulating property, and filling such municipal 
offices as he has been called upon to fill. He was one of the origi- 
nal trustees of the town of Chicago, was an Alderman two years, 
and has been City Collector and County Assessor. In 1859 he built 
the house 398 West Taylor Street, in which he has resided since 
i860. 

Upon arriving in Chicago he first lodged in a loft on South 
Water Street, he then removed to Wolf Point, next to Lake Street, 
then to Desplaines Street, and finally in 1S60 to West Taylor 
Street. 

Mr. Taylor belonged to the Presbyterian Church in Hartford, 
Conn., over which presided Parson Strong, who was succeeded by 
Rev. Joel Hawes. During the latter's pastorate Mr. Taylor be- 
came acquainted with Bishop Cheverus, the first Catholic bishop 
of Boston, Mass., and was by him converted to Catholicism, not- 
withstanding the efforts and protests of Rev. Mr. Hawes, and the 
good deacons of the Presbyterian Church, all of whom thought 
him insane. 

Mr. Taylor's first wife died in 1S44, and in March, 1S45, he 
was married to Mary Grovan, who died July 16, 1879. By the 
first marriage he had five children, two of whom died in Massa- 
chusetts, and the other three he brought with him to Chicago. But 
one of these, Lewis D. Taylor, is now living. By the second wife 
he had ten children, three of whom are living — James A., who was 
elected in the fall of 1SS2 to the Illinois Legislature; Harvey A., 
who is a clerk in the office of O. R. Keith & Co.; and Frank J., 
who is a student in Watertown College, Wisconsin. 

John Bates was born in Fishkill, Duchess Co., N. Y., De- 
cember 28, 1803. His father, John, was a farmer and was born 
on the same farm. His mother, Catharine Mcllride, was a native of 
Poughkeepsie County, N. V. He was bred a farmer, and received 
such early educational advantages as the public schools of the 
vicinity afforded. His tastes were averse to farming, and, at the 
age of sixteen he went to New York City, where he entered a gro- 
cery house on Hanover Square. He remained with this house un- 
til 1S32. At that time the scourge of Asiatic cholera, which vis- 
ited the city in its most virulent and fatal form, completely broke 
up the business of the house where he had been so long employed. 



146 



HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO. 



He accordingly determined to emigrate to the Far West. He ar- 
rived in Chicago, coming by the land route from Detroit. He 
came in company with one William Winston, an English officer 
some fifty years of age. who remained in Chicago some three years 
thereafter speculating in land. Hates tirst stopped at Charles Tay- 
lor's hotel on the West Side (the old Wolf Point tavern, formerly 
kept bv Elijah Wentworth). He was at the time of his arrival 
twentv-nine years of age, and unmarried. He was first employed 




$£j(sl*tifh 



by J. S. C. Hogan as Deputy Postmaster. He performed the 
duties of this office for three years, during which time he was the 
executive head so far as doing all the work — sorting mails, deliver- 
ing letters, and answering the questions of anxious inquirers for 
mail matter — could make him so. His reminiscences of these 
early times appear elsewhere in this volume. He obtained a license 
as an auctioneer soon after his arrival, and, in addition to his duties 
as Deputy Postmaster, did a fair share of auction business during 



the early years. He sold the school section, in lots and blocks in Oct. 
1S33, Colonel Hamilton being the commissioner, and E. W. Casey, 
secretary. After severing his connection with the post-office in 
1835-36, he continued his business as auctioneer uninterruptedly 
until 187 1, at which time he quit active business. During the 
period of his active business life, in 1852, he took the census of 
the city. He was, also, enrolling officer for the draft of 1863-64, 
under Provost Marshal James. He built his first house in Chicago, 
on what is now Canal Street, in the fall of 1833. The lumber for 
the structure was purchased in Green Bay, at a cost of $900. 

Hemarried, November 13, 1833, Miss Harriet E. Gould. Col- 
onel R. J. Hamilton, Justice of the Peace, performed the marriage 
ceremony. She was a native of Massachusetts, and was at the time 
of her marriage a member of the family of Lemuel Brown, having 
come West with them. 

The young couple moved into the new house, which, owing to its 
close vicinity to the cabin of Chief Jo. Laframboise, did not prove 
a pleasant residence for the new and timid wife, owing to the fre- 
quent and unceremonious visits of the chief's many Indian friends 
at all times of the day and night. Mr. Bates accordingly sold out 
to Jo. and his wife, at a round profit, and his house was the last 
and most aristocratic home of Chief Jo. and his family, where they 
lived until their emigration to the West in 1836. 

The couple have had born to them four children, two of whom 
survive: 

Ellen, born July 24, 1S34, died in infancy ; Helen, born 
August 7, 1836; John L., born August 12, 1839; and Charlotte, 
born July 10, 1S44, died November 10, 1S44. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bates are, as early settlers, the oldest couple in 
Chicago. They are still, after having celebrated the fiftieth anni- 
versary of their wedding, in good health, and with promise of many 
earthly years of life. Preceding the celebration of their golden 
wedding, the Chicago Times thus alluded to the aged and respected 
couple : 

"On Tuesday next, November 13, Mr. and Mrs. John Bates, 
two of the oldest settlers of Chicago, and perhaps the oldest couple 
now living who were married in what is now the city of Chicago, 
but which was a mere hamlet at the time of their marriage, will 
celebrate the golden anniversary of their wedding, and propose to 
receive calls from their friends in honor of the event at the Douglas 
House, corner of Cottage Grove Avenue and Thirty-fifth Street, be- 
tween the hours of four and nine o'clock in the evening. Their mar- 
riage was announced in the first number of the Chicago Democrat, 
which was published November 26, 1S33, and of which the follow- 
ing is a copy : 

" ' Married — In this village, on Sunday, the 13th inst., by the Hon. R. J. 
Hamilton, Mr. John Bates, Jr., of New York, and Miss Harriet E. Brown, of 
Springfield, Mass.' 

" Mr. Bates was born in Fishkill, N. Y., December 28, 1803, 
and Mrs. Bates was born in Charlestown, Mass., February 12, 
1810. Both are yet vigorous and in excellent health, and enjoy 
life seemingly as well as they did when the nuptials were cele- 
brated, fifty years ago. The maiden name of Mrs. Bates was 
Harriet Gould, but at a very early age she was taken by Lemuel 
Brown and wife to bring up, and was given their name. Mr. Brown 
is still living in Chicago, and will be ninety-nine years old Decem- 
ber 14. He came to Chicago in 1S33, and was a blacksmith at 
the Government works at what was then known as the harbor of 
Chicago, which was certainly a very crude affair in comparison 
with the protection that is now afforded the shipping interests of 
the great lakes at this port." 

The occasion was graced by a large assemblage of old settlers 
and newer friends, who testified by their presence and many sub- 
stantial testimonials to the esteem and affection in which this aged 
couple are held. 



GOVERNMENT APPOINTEES 



POST-OFFICE AND POSTMASTER. 

The first Postmaster of Chicago was an Indian 
trader named Jonathan N. Bailey, who was appointed 
March 31, 1831, and opened the post-office in a log 
house occupied as a store by John Stephen Coates 
Hogan, near the present corner of Lake and South 
Water streets. Mr. Hogan, subsequently the son-in- 
law of Mr. Bailey, assisted the appointee in the per- 
formance of the merely nominal duties of his office ; 
gradually assuming its entire control, and was himself 
appointed Postmaster, November 2, 1832, after Mr. 
Bailey's departure, with his family, fc St. Louis. In 




l &33, John Bates, Jr.. became Deputy Postmaster; he 
having made an arrangement with Mr. Hogan, whereby 
the store was partitioned off into two parts, one of 
which was occupied by John Bates and the receiving, 
mailing, registering and delivering department of the 
Chicago post-office, and the other portion by Brewster, 
Hogan & Co. Some idea may be formed of the limited 
accommodations that were ample for the post-office of 
those days, when it is stated that the store only occu- 
pied an area of forty-five by twenty feet. In the sum- 
mer of 1834, John L. Wilson became second assistant 
Postmaster, and about July of this year, the post-office 
was moved to near the corner of Franklin and South 
Water streets, at which place Thomas Watkins was the 
assistant, in which position he gave so much satisfac- 
tion that he remained in office until some time after the 
appointment of Mr. Abell. Thomas Watkins married 
the daughter of the Indian chief Joseph Laframboise 
during the winter of 1836-37. 

March 3, 1837, Sidney Abell was appointed Post- 
master, and in May of this year, to accommodate the 
large increase in the business, the post-office was 
removed to Bigelow's Building on Clark, between Lake 
and South Water streets, where it remained for some 
time and then removed to the noted Saloon Building. 
During the tenure of office of Sidney Abell, Ralph M. 
P. Abell was an assistant, but Charles Robert Stark- 
weather was the principal assistant, and remained in 
that office until i860. July 10, 1841, William Stuart — 
erroneously spelt Stewart in official records — the editor 
of the American, was appointed Postmaster, and by him 
the post-office was removed to the west side of Clark 
street, on the south side of the alley, next to the Sher- 
man House, and is numbered 50 Clark Street in the 
d