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EARLY LEE COUNTY
1500
Class 547
Book,
.45 B2
PRESENTED BY
EARLY LEE COUNTY
Being Some Chapters in the History of the Early Days in Lee County, Illinois
BY
WILLIAM D. BARGE
CHICAGO
1918
F547 .4532
Gift Author
19-14899
PREFACE
This is not an effort to write a history of any man or any locality. The sole purpose of the work is the collec- tion and preservation of the scarce and almost inaccessi- ble evidence of some of the men and events prominent in the early days of Lee County. It was not prepared to sustain any theory or tradition, but every effort within my power has been made to learn all the facts concerning these men and events and state them correctly.
Some old traditions have been shattered, but they were not sustained by the facts, and many of them had no foun- dation except the loose talk of persons who were ignorant of the matters of which they spoke. Some of my old beliefs, held and cherished since early childhood, have been dispelled, but they were founded upon misinforma- tion.
Reference is made to some public record, report or document whenever one could be found. When such evi- dence could not be had, my resort was to newspapers, pri- vate letters or records or books written or published about that time, in the belief that such contemporaneous statements are more likely to be free from error than those made years afterwards. In some instances the private records and the public records differ, and the lat- ter are followed, the entries being contemporaneous with the event. Every statement of fact is based on evidence of one of the kinds mentioned, though references have been omitted in some places.
All Indian words appearing on John Dixon's account books are given in the form used there. Other Indian words are given as shown in the Eighteenth Annual Re-
ii
port of the Bureau of American Ethnology, except when in quotations.
I acknowledge my indebtedness to Mrs. Caroline M. Newberry, Pontiac, Michigan, the only living child of Stephen Mack; Henry S. Dixon and George C. Dixon of Dixon, Illinois; William C. Andrus, Grand Detour, Illi- nois, and Jolin Blackhawk, Black River Falls, Wisconsin, for assistance without which this work could not have been finished.
Chicago, June, 1918.
WILLIAM D. BARGE.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
La Sallier
1
Stephen Mack 11
Fur Trade at Grand Detour 31
Joseph Ogee and his Ferry 40
Old Account Books.
69
Kinzies at Dixon. 78
Old Central Railroad.
82
John Dixon v. Oron Hamlin
95
Dixon Hotel Company
103
Illinois and Rock River R. R. Co 105
First Baptist Church. 111
Lee County's First Physician 112
Early Politics 114
Amboy
124
Genesis of Lee County 130
EARLY LEE COUNTY
LA SALLIER.
In 1835, Joseph Crawford found some decaying logs and other ruins of an old habitation at the Grand Detour on the bank of Franklin Creek, about thirty-five rods from Rock river. There was plainly visible an excavation as though made for use as a cellar, and other evidences of the existence, at an earlier date, of a log cabin.
On the authority of a statement made to him by Gurdon S. Hubbard, Rufus Blanchard told the writer that one La Sallier, a Frenchman, built a trading post on the south side of the river, near Grand Detour, in 1822, and occu- pied it for some time. The location is shown on Blanch- ard's Historical Map of Illinois. The writer called Mr. Crawford's attention to this statement of Blanchard, and it was then that Mr. Crawford told me of his discovery.
That there was a trading post on Rock river in the win- ter of 1802-1803 is clearly shown by the Personal Narra- tive of Capt. Thomas G. Anderson, who says he spent that winter "with the Winnebagoes on Rock river. They were the most filthy, most obstinate and the bravest people of any Indian tribe I have met with. Here I had a half- breed in opposition in the trade. Our houses were about half a mile apart, and between us was a very high hill, over which we had to pass by a little path through the bushes." (Wis. His. Coll., vol. 9, pp. 137, 152.) He does not state at what point on the river this post was lo- cated, but we know it was not at the site of La Sallier's house, for he says the hill stood at least three hundred feet above the water in the river. He does not give the name of his competitor.
The house mentioned by Anderson was not the cabin at Crabapple Point, on the northwesterly shore of Lake Koshkonong, that is said ( American Archeologist, v. 7,
2
ON ROCK RIVER
p. 78; Peet, Prehistoric America, v. 2, p. 269) to have been occupied, at a time that is not stated, by "Le Sel- lier"; for the ground there was only twenty to sixty feet above the water. That cabin was in ruins in 1839.
The Archeologist says, without mentioning the time, that Thiebeau, who was employed by Juneau of Milwau- kee, occupied a cabin on the southeasterly shore of this lake, and that is said have disappeared in 1838.
In Waubun, Mrs. Kinzie says that John Kinzie arrived in Chicago in 1804, and later established trading posts "at Rock River with the Winnebagoes and the Pottawa- tamies," and that these posts contributed to that at Chi- cago, but she does not say at what particular places or in what year these posts were established.
Kinzie evidently had many trading posts, as he had twenty trading licenses in 1803 (Letter of September 10, 1803, from William Burnett to Gov. W. H. Harrison of Indiana Territory; Hurlbut's Chicago Antiquities, p. 70), and some of them appear to have been used at trad- ing posts in Illinois. Though so extensively engaged in the fur trade, he was an independent trader, and had no connection with the American Fur Company until 1825, when he succeeded John Crafts as its representative at Chicago. ( Andreas History of Chicago, vol. 1, p. 96.) He was Indian sub-agent at Chicago, 1820-1822, and his son, John H., was in the fur trade at Milwaukee in 1821 when he was ordered to close his concern and leave the place, having been detected selling whiskey to the Indians. (Am. State Papers, Indian Affairs, v. 2, p. 360.)
La Sallier was in the service of this company as early as 1813, and was on Rock River in 1822. The fact that La Sallier was occupying this post in 1822 is some evi- dence that it was established by the American Fur Com- pany. While this is but slight evidence, it is stronger than any evidence supporting any other theory.
The account books kept by John Kinzie were delivered
3
EARLY LEE COUNTY
to the Chicago Historical Society many years ago. The secretary of the society persuaded James Grant Wilson to undertake the writing of a history of Chicago. Wil- son thought it would be well to at least make mention of some of those with whom Kinzie had dealt. To do this, the secretary of the society made a careful examination of the books and took from them all the names of persons appearing therein. That list is now in the archives of the society, but the books were burned in the great fire of 1871. It gives names and a few addresses, nothing else. From it we learn that Kinzie had dealings with Pierre La Salliere September 27, 1804, and September 3, 1806; with LaSallierre at Milwaukee February 1, 1807; with Mr. Lasellier January 12, 1817.
In Hurlbut's Chicago Antiquities, p. 31, Gurdon S. Hub- bard says that John Crafts was sent to Chicago by a Mr. Conant of Detroit, the date not being given, and that he "had, up to 1819, full control of this section, without opposition from the American Fur Company, sending out- fits to Rock River and other points within a range say of a hundred miles of Chicago," but he fails to locate the particular place on Rock river, and does not tell when it was established or who had charge of it.
Hubbard is slightly in error. Crafts was not sent to Chicago by "Mr. Conant," but by the firm of Mack & Conant, who were very extensively engaged in the fur trade, and were strong competitors of the American Fur Company from its organization until their failure in 1821, when their fur business was taken over by that company. They established an agency at Lee's Place, or Hard- scrabble (Chicago) in 1816, putting Crafts in charge. He remained there with the firm until its end, when he en- tered the service of the American Fur Company, being its Chicago agent until his death in 1825. (Andreas History of Chicago, vol. 1, p. 93; Hurlbut's Chicago Antiquities, 31.)
4
WEBB'S ROUTE
On the authority of a statement made by Hubbard, Baldwin, in his History of La Salle County, says that the American Fur Company had three or four trading posts on Rock river from 1813-'14 to 1826-'33, but he does not say at what places they were located.
A letter written by Robert Dickson, the British Agent, December 20, 1813, indicates that Lesaliers was then lo- cated at Milwaukee. Thwaites, in a note to this letter, says this is the LeSellier who acted as guide for Maj. Long. (Wis. His. Coll. v. 11, p. 281.)
Another letter written by Dickson March 9, 1814, men- tions "a letter from La Salieres of the 3d inst.," but does not state where he was.
Niles' Register of July 10, 1815, says that "La Sallier of Milwaukee" was one of the Indian traders who cast their lot with the British in the War of 1812.
While the records of the American Fur Company show that one La Sallier was in that company's service in July and September, 1817, they do not show where he was sta- tioned.
That Company had a trader named "Pierre Lassal- lier" at Masquognon in 1818. (Wis His. Coll. v. 12, p. 164.)
Pierre Lasallier acted as interpreter at a council held at Michilimackinac October 24, 1824, with the Potawata- mies. (Mich. Pion. Coll. v. 23, p. 453.)
Blanchard's Map shows the route said to have been taken by James Watson Webb in going from Fort Dear- born to Fort Armstrong in 1822, but that, evidently, is conjectural, for Webb does not describe his route, except to say he went to La Sallier's and thence across the prai- rie to the Mississippi. As he was at La Sallier's early in February, 1822, it is quite certain that La Sallier had located and built his cabin there before that year, but it is not now known just when he did that, or when he left.
5
EARLY LEE COUNTY
In May, 1822, Congress enacted a statute requiring the Secretary of War to report annually an abstract of all of the licenses granted to trade with the Indians. Prior to that time there was no such requirement. While these reports show that several licenses were granted after 1820 to persons who desired to trade with the Indians at Grand Detour, none was issued to La Sallier. The reports state that on October 13, 1821, Alexander Wol- cott, Jr., Indian Agent at Chicago, issued a license to Maurice Lauzon to trade on "Rocky river" for one year. No other license to trade on Rock river was issued until October 20, 1823, when Wolcott granted one to Stephen Mack, Jr., to trade one year on "Rocky river."
It is stated in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, v. 10, p. 72, that "Le Sellier" was enlisted by Maj. Long, as a guide, on his journey from Chicago to Prairie du Chien in 1823, "because he had lived over thirty years with the Indians, had taken a Winnebago wife, and settled on the head waters of Rock river." Long crossed Rock river just above the mouth of the Kishwaukee, and farther from the "head waters of Rock river" than from Grand Detour. "Le Sellier" took the party to an Indian village on the Pecatonica, (probably that of Winnesheik, where Freeport now stands), and there obtained another guide, as he did not know the way from that place to Prairie du Chien. (Keating, Narrative of an Expedition to the sources of St. Peter's River.)
It is apparent that the compilers of the index to the Wisconsin Historical Collections considered Lassaliere, Lasaliere, Le Sallien and Le Sellier to be different forms of the names of one person. Some of their references are to the La Sallier who was at Grand Detour, while others are to the Pierre La Saliere whose widow married George Schindler. These Collections also mention La Salieres, Lassalier, La Saliere, Le Saliers and Salieres. The Michi- gan Pioneer Collections mention Pierre Lasallier. It is
6
ALTOWAN
difficult to gather the real facts from this confused mass, but it is believed that all that has been printed about La Sallier is set forth herein.
The records of the parish of Michilimackinac, as print- ed in the Wisconsin Historical Collections (v. 19, p. 86), show the baptism, August 1, 1786, of "Therese, about ten years old, daughter of Sieur Jean Baptiste Marcot and of Thimotee, of the Outaois nation, his lawful wife." To this entry Thwaites has added a note saying that Therese became the wife, first of Pierre La Saliere, and, later, of George Schindler. As Therese was baptized in the Catho- lie faith, and it is reasonable to suppose that her husband was of that faith, it is not probable that they ever were divorced. As she married Schindler July 12, 1804 (Wis. His. Coll. v. 18, p. 508), it is fairly certain that her first husband was not the La Sallier who was at Grand De- tour in 1822.
In his dedication of "Altowan, or Incidents of Life and Adventure in the Rocky Mountains," published in 1846, J. Watson Webb says that early in February, 1822, the principal chief of the Potawatamies reported to the Indi- an agent at Fort Dearborn that his tribe had been in- vited by the Sioux to unite with them to cut off the garri- son at "St. Peters, at the Falls of St. Anthony," where Col. Snelling was then stationed with the Fifth Infantry. The commanding officer at Fort Dearborn desired to con- vey this intelligence to the officer at Fort Armstrong, to be thence carried to Col. Snelling, but the voyageurs re- fused to go, and thereupon the task of conveying the message fell upon Webb, who was an adjutant and he de- cided that he would make the trip himself. He set out accompanied by a sergeant and a Potawatomi Indian.
"Altowan" contains nothing relating to Illinois, ex- cept that in his dedication Webb says :
"My instructions were to employ the Pottawatamie as a guide to the Rock river, where the country of the Wine-
7
EARLY LEE COUNTY
bagoes commenced, and then take a Winebago as a guide to Fort Armstrong-the leading object being so to ar- range our line of travel as to avoid the prairies, upon which we would necessarily suffer from the cold. I had been apprised that I would find an old Canadian voya- guer residing with his Indian family in a trading hut on Rock river, and it was to him my Pottawatamie was to guide me.
Toward evening on the fifth day, we reached our place of destination ; and old La Saller, recognizing us as whites intimated by signs, as he conducted us to the loft of his hut, that we were to preserve a profound silence. All who live in the Indian country learn to observe signs; and it is wonderful how soon we almost forget to ask questions. I knew that something was wrong, but it never entered my head to enquire what it was,-Indian- like, quite willing to abide my time, even if the finger closely pressed upon the lips of the old man had not apprised me that I should get no answer until it suited his discretion to make a communication.
It was nearly dark when we were consigned to the loft of the good old man ; and for three long hours we saw him not. During this period there was abundant time for meditation upon our position; when all at once the pro- found stillness which reigned in and around the hut was broken by the startling sound of a Winebago war-dance in our immediate vicinity. This, as you may imagine, was no very agreeable sound for my sergeant or myself, but it was perfectly horrifying to my Pottawatamie; all of which tribe, as also their neighbours, were as much in awe of a Winebago, as is a flying-fish of a dolphin. But all surprise has its end; and at length the war-dance ceased-music of which, at times, could only be likened to the shrieks of the damned and then, again, partake of the character of the recitative in an Italian opera, until, at length, it died away, and all was silence.
Then came old La Saller, whose head, whitened by the
8
WINNEBAGOES BREAK JAIL
snows of eighty winters, as it showed itself through the trap in the floor, was a far more acceptable sight than I could have anticipated it would be when I left the fort. Having been informed who we were, and my desire to procure a Winebago to guide me to Fort Armstrong, he inquired whether we had not heard the war-dance, and if we could not conjecture its object ! He then proceeded to state that two Winebagoes, who had been tried and sentenced to be executed for the murder of a soldier at Fort Armstrong, had escaped from the jail at Kaskaskia, and arrived on the river a few days previous ; that in con- sequence, the whole nation was in a state of extraordinary excitement and that the war-dance to which we had list- ened, was preparatory to the starting of a war party for Fort Armstrong to attack it, or destroy such of the garri- son as they could meet with beyond its palisades; and that of course our only safety was in making an early start homeward. I inquired whether I could not avoid the Indians by crossing the Great Prairie, and thus striking the Mississippi above the fort. He answered, that by such a route I would certainly avoid the Indians until I reached the vicinity of the Mississippi; but that we would as certainly perish with the cold, as there was no wood to furnish fire at night. The mercury in the thermometer, as I well knew, had stood at five degrees below zero when I left the garrison, and it had certainly been growing colder each day; and therefore I apparently acquiesced in his advice, and requested to be called some three hours before daylight, which would give us a fair start of any pursuing party-and bade him good night.
But the old man doubted my intention to return to the fort; and shortly after paid us another visit, accompanied by a very old Winebago, who avowed himself the friend of the whites, and proceeded to point out the folly of any attempt to proceed in my expedition. He inquired its purport; and when I told him it was to visit a dying friend, he said I had better postpone the meeting until
9
EARLY LEE COUNTY
after death, when we would doubtless meet in the Para- dise of the white man! but at the same time gave me to understand that he did not believe such was the object of my visit to the banks of the Mississippi. Indian-like, he sought not to pry farther into my affairs, but expressed his respect for all who knew how to keep their own coun- sels and the counsels of their government. His remarks were kind, and in the nature of approbation of the past and advice for the future, and coming from such a source, made a lasting impression.
Again we were left to ourselves; and then, doubtless, I wished myself safe in the garrison. But to return, and that too, from fear, and the object of my journey unac- complished, was inevitable disgrace. But what was still more important, was the consequence to others of my re- turn. I could not but think there was an understanding between the Winebagoes and the Sioux; and if there had lingered on my mind a doubt of the story of the Potta- watamie chief, that doubt was now at an end; and, of course, a sense of duty to a whole regiment of officers and men, their wives and children, was as imperative in re- quiring my advance, as was the fear of disgrace in for- bidding my return. With two such motives for a right decision, there could be no doubt as to my course. It re- quired more courage to retreat than to advance; and I determined upon the latter.
Some hours before the dawn of day, we started, appar- ently for the garrison; but once out of sight of old La Saller, we knocked the shoes off our horses to avoid being traced by them in crossing the river, threw away our caps, tore up a blanket to make the hood worn by Indians in extreme cold weather, and took a course by the stars directly west."
As there is no other mention of La Saller in the dedi- cation, our quotation ends here. After many troubles Webb reached Fort Armstrong and delivered his message and the uprising was suppressed.
10
TRIAL OF WINNEBAGOES
Webb was then a lieutenant in the Third Infantry. He left the army in 1827, after serving eight years. In his later years (he died June 7, 1884) he was one of the great newspaper men in New York. In a letter written in 1882 he says he left Fort Dearborn February 4, reaching La Sallier's place the evening of the seventh, and leaving there at two o'clock in the morning of the eighth when the thermometer, as recorded at Fort Armstrong, regis- tered twenty-seven below zero.
Dr. Everett believed that Joseph Ogee married a daughter of La Sallier.
In the Illinois Spectator (Edwardsville) October 31, 1820, there is an article taken from the St. Louis Enquirer saying that on the twenty-seventh of September John Harris, a soldier at Fort Armstrong, went out hunting, and on the fifth of October his body was found shot and scalped. Two Winnebagoes left Rock Island on the morning of September 27 and there were no other Indians in the neighborhood at the time. Afterwards, six or seven Winnebagoes visited Fort Armstrong and were admitted. Major Marston, then in command of the fort, held three of the Winnebago chiefs as hostages until they delivered the two Winnebagoes who were said to have committed the murder. The Spectator adds there were two Indians then confined in jail at Edwardsville who were charged with having committed that murder.
The report made by William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, of his expenditures in May, June and July, 1821, shows several items on account of the trial at Kaskaskia of two Winnebagoes who were indicted for murder, and indicates that the prisoners and witnesses traveled great distances to attend the trial. The report does not state who the Indians were, where the crime was committed, who was the victim, or the result of the trial. (Am. State Papers, Indian Affairs, v. 2, pp. 297, et seq.)
STEPHEN MACK.
The first white man to make his home in the Rock river valley was Stephen Mack. It is quite certain that he lived in the house he bought from La Sallier near Grand Detour some time before 1830. Apparently, this makes him the first white settler. But, if we mean by settler one who established his permanent abode in a certain place, Mack was not the first settler in Lee county.
When his remains were removed, in 1880, from the place of their first interment on his farm to the Phillips cemetery, near Harrison, in Winnebago County, by his old friends, they placed in a bottle, buried there with the remains, a paper reading thus :
"If in the course of time this paper should meet the eye of any person, be it known that the remains buried here are those of Stephen Mack and his Indian wife, Ho-no-ne-gah.
Stephen Mack was born in Poultney, Vermont, February, 1799, and settled in this county about 1822 as an Indian trader, and continued as a resident until his death in 1850, Mrs. Mack having previously died.
At the time of Mack's death he owned all of sec- tion twenty-three in this township south of the Peca- tonica River, and resided thereon at the time of his death. He was buried not far from where he lived by the side of his wife on his own land. Soon after his death, his children sold the land and went to Minnesota with their mother's friends, and at this time there are no relatives of Mack here.
The place where he was first buried being in a large field, and the land under cultivation over his remains, the undersigned friends of Mack and his wife in their lifetime, have moved the remains to this place, and placed a tombstone over the same. This is done out of respect and friendship for our departed friends.
Stephen Mack was the first permanent white in- habitant of Rock River valley. He was a good citi-
(11)
12
DATE OF BIRTH
zen, a generous friend, a gentleman in deportment and an honest man.
J. R. JEWETT, WILIAM HALLEY, R. H. COMSTOCK.
Rockton, May 19th, 1880.
In his History of Rockton, Carr, referring to the date of Maek's birth, adds to the foregoing this note:
"Some think this is not correct, for he must have been from ten to fifteen years older when he died than this date would make him."
In his list of births, marriages and deaths in Rockton, Carr says Maek was born in 1799. It may be that in the time passing between the writing of the note and this list of births Carr found evidence justifying the statement that Maek was born in 1799, but he does not show any, or he may have followed that statement because he was unable to learn the exact date.
The family history recorded in the bible of his daugh- ter, Mrs. Mary Stocker-Terrill, says Mack was born in Tunbridge, Orange County, Vermont, February 20, 1798.
Carr says Maek "came west to Detroit with his father's family, soon after the close of the war of 1812, where his father held some position under the government, and might have had some connection with the fur business."
In a History of Rock County, Wisconsin, published in 1879, it is said, apparently upon the strength of state- ments made by R. P. Crane and O. P. Bicknell as to con- versations with Maek, that he was a native of Keene, New Hampshire, and was living at Rockton in the spring of 1837, and that he then said that he "had been living with the Indians for more than sixteen years," and had been adopted by the Winnebagoes after he married the daugh- ter of their chief.
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