USA > Illinois > Logan County > History of Logan county, Illinois : its past and present.. > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62
ـة
Gc 977.301 L82hi 1334575
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00839 6738
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017
https://archive.org/details/historyofloganco00unse
Robert B. Latham
HISTORY
OF
LOGAN COUNTY,
ILLINOIS:
Its Past and Present,
CONTAINING
1
A HISTORY OF THE COUNTY; ITS CITIES, TOWNS, ETC .; A BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY OF ITS CITIZENS; WAR RECORD OF ITS VOLUNTEERS IN' THE LATE REBELLION ; PORTRAITS OF ITS EARLY SETTLERS AND) PROMINENT MEN; GENERAL AND LOCAL STATISTICS; HIS- TORY OF THE NORTHWEST; HISTORY OF ILLINOIS; CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES; MAP OF LOGAN COUNTY; MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS, ETC., ETC.
ILLUSTRATED.
CHICAGO: DONNELLEY, LOYD & CO., PUBLISHERS. 1878.
11
COPYRIGHT. DONNELLEY, LOYD AND COMPANY. 1877.
PRINTED AT THE LAKESIDE PRESS,
DONNELLRY, LOYD & CO.
1334575
PREFACE.
What wonderful changes a few years produce !
Less than sixty years ago not a white man dwelt in the present confines of Logan County. All was Nature's wildness, inhabited only by wild beasts and wild men, and seen only by the wandering white man in search of new scenes, the reckless hunter, or the daring adventurer. Its beautifully rolling prairies, charming wooded streams, or enchanting groves, were then the homes of the Kickapoos, Pottawatamies, or Delawares. How all this by the hand of progress has been changed ! Now the busy hum of industry is heard on every hand, and the voice of civilization echoes where once only the howl of wild beasts and the voices of wild men were heard.
Fifty-eight years ago Mr. James Latham erected a cabin near Elkhart Grove, and with his family entered therein and became the pioneers of the county. His son, Col. Robert B. Latham, was then about one year old, and is the only surviving member of that family now living in Logan County, and is therefore its oldest resident. He has indeed seen the PAST of this county, and now lives to enjoy its PRESENT.
A short time after, Mr. Robert Musick came to Sugar Creek and founded for himself and family a home. He, like Mr. Latham, had been here during the summer and planted a crop. He has likewise been gathered to his fathers, and his young children are now old men and women.
The flight of time during all these years has not been without its history ; a history full of important events, and fraught with interest to the sons and daughters of the pioneers from the old firesides in Kentucky, Indiana, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and from far countries beyond the wide seas, seeking new homes in a land where every one is free. The industry of these hardy, adventurous pioneers, and of their descendants, has made Logan County what it is. Their labors have changed the fertile prairies, valleys and grove-covered hillsides from a dreary wilderness to a literal garden. On every hand are the signs of an intelligent, prosperous and cultivated community. A stranger could scarcely believe that the Logan County of to-day was a virgin waste half a century ago ; and to preserve the story of this wonderful change of the county, and to hand it down to posterity as a link in the history of the great
10-18-65
25,00
quelpice
xiv
PREFACE.
country of which Logan County is an integral part, has been the object of this undertaking. While the publishers do not arrogate to themselves a degree of accuracy beyond criticism, they hope to have attained a large measure of accuracy in the compilation and arrangement of the almost innumerable inci- dents found in the PAST that so largely enter into the history of the PRESENT. Without the aid of the survivors of those early days or their immediate descend- ants, this could not have been accomplished. From their memory, notes and diaries these facts and incidents have been gleaned, and though an error here and there may seemingly occur, the reader must not hastily conclude that the history is in fault, but rather test his own opinion with that of others familiar with the matter. Every statement herein given has been obtained from parties personally acquainted with the facts, and in no instance has any assertion been received from secondary sources without proper verification.
To those of the PAST who have so favored us with facts and incidents of general interest, as well as to those of the PRESENT, we tender our grateful acknowledgments. We take especial pleasure in this connection in mention- ing Col. R. B. LATHAM, who rendered invaluable assistance in supplying and correcting historical data; Mr. C. C. EWING, for valuable historical letters ; Capt. FRANK FISK ; Mr. JABEZ CAPPS ; Mr. ABE LARISON ; Mr. J. F. HYDE, and to the several editors of the local press, and all others who generously aided us in the prosecution of the work to its conclusion.
It only remains for us, the undertaking completed, to tender to the people of Logan County in general our obligations for the courtesy extended to us and our representatives during the preparation of these annals ; without their aid this history would have been left buried beneath the debris of time, unwritten and unpreserved.
Respectfully,
DONNELLEY, LOYD & CO., Publishers.
CHICAGO, December, 1877.
CONTENTS.
HISTORICAL.
PAGE.
PAGE.
History of Northwest Territory .. 19
Geographical Position. 19
Early Explorations. 20
Discovery of the Ohio ... 33
English Explorations and Settlements. 35
American Settlements. 60
Division of the Northwest Territory . . 66 Religion and Morals. 128
Tecumseh and the War of 1812 70
Black Hawk and the Black Hawk War .. 74
Other Indian Troubles. 79
Present Condition of the
Northwest. 87
Illinois. 99
Indiana . 101
Iowa. 102
Michigan 103
Wisconsin. 104 Minnesota 106 Nebraska 107
History of Illinois. 109
Coal .. 125
Compact of 1787 117
Chicago. 132
Early Discoveries. 109
Early Settlements. 115
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
PAGE
Black Hawk, the Sac Chieftain .. 75
Big Eagle. 80
Capt. Jack, the Modoc Chieftain 83
Kinzie House 8.5
River, LaSalle Co. Ill ..
.110
Buffalo Hunt.
A Representative Pioneer.
87 Chicago in 1833. .133
Trapping
Lincoln Monument, Springfield.
88
Hunting ..
32
A Pioneer School House.
89
Iroquois Chief.
34
Farm View in the Winter.
90
Pontiac. the Ottawa Chieftain, ..
43 Spring Scene ... 91 Ruins of Chicago .. 142
View of the City of Chicago .. 144
Apple Harvest .. 94 Shabbona. .149
A Pioneer Dwelling
61
Breaking Prairie ..
63
Tecumseh, Shawnee Chieftain .. 69 sippi at Davenport, Iowa. 96
Indians Attacking a Stockade ...
72 | A Western Dwelling. 100
Lincoln House.
343
PORTRAITS.
PAGE.
Billington Thomas
212
Ewing C. C.
.182
Houser W. H. .............. 280
Capps Jabez.
147 Hoblit Samuel .. ... .. 296
Sherman H. ....... 201
Conklin P. J.
291 | Latham Robert B ... frontispiece
LOGAN COUNTY WAR RECORD.
PAGE.
PAGE.
PAGE
Infantry.
7th (3 months).
311
28th (3 years).
.315
48th (3 years)
319
8th (3 years)
314
32d
316
50tl
319
9tlı
314
33d
.317
51st
319
11tl
314
34th
317
53d (three years).
319
12th
314
38tlı
317
55th
319
17th
315
39th
66
.318
59th
319
21st
315
40th
318
61st
320
22d
315
44th
318
62d
320
26th
315
46th
318
64th
.320
27th
315
47th
318
66th
320
French Occupation. 112
Educational. .275
Genius of LaSalle. 113 Churches .. .277
Material Resources .. 124
Library Association. 280
The Press. .281
Physical Features. 121
Lincoln University .282
Mt. Pulaski.
286
The Press.
291
War Record of Illinois 130
History of Logan County 219
Churches.
291
Topography and Geology .219 Atlanta .. 293
Agriculture. 220
Educational.
298
Agricultural Societies. .223 Churches.
298
Minerals .. 224 Societies ... 300
Coal .224
The Press. 301
Stone. .224 Elkhart 301
Political Organization. 226
County Officers since 1849. .228
Common Schools 230
Hartsburg ..
304
Emden ..
304
Lawndale. 305
Soldiers' Monument. .236
Public Buildings. 237
Chesnut .. 306
Feeble Minded Institution .. .238 Latham 307
Settlement of the County 240 Cornland. 307
The Deep Snow ... .258
New Holland.
307
San Jose.
308
Official Vote of Logan Co. 309
PAGE.
Mouth of the Mississippi ..
21
Source of the Mississippi.
21
Wild Prairie.
23
LaSalle Landing on the Shore of Green Bay.
25 27 29
Village Residence. 86 An Early Settlement. 116
Old Fort Dearborn, 1830 .. 136
Present Site Lake Street Bridge, Chicago, 1833 136
Indians Attacking Frontiersmen A Prairie Storm.
56 59
Pioneers' First Winter. 92
Great Iron Bridge of the C .. R. I. & P. R.R., crossing the Missis-
Feeble Minded Institute, Lin- coln, Logan Co. Ill 239 Lincoln University. .282
PAGE.
PAGE.
Infantry.
Infantry.
PAGE.
History of Illinois: Education. .129
Lincoln, City of.
.267
Municipal History .271
Massacre at Fort Dearborn .. 141
Progress of Development. 123
Educational. 291
Middletown. 302
Broadwell .* 303
Old Settlers' Association .. 231
Railroads of the County. .235
Beason .305
The First County Seat. .262
Hunting Prairie Wolves at an
Early Day ..
.108
Starved Rock, on the Illinois
$6
xvi
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Infantry
Infantry.
Cavalry.
68th (three months). 320
145th (100 days).
.331
7th (three years ). 336
72d (three years). .321
149th (one year).
332
10th (three years).
.336
73₫
.321
80th
.322
82d
.322
106th
.322
107th
.330
Cavalry.
15th
337
111th
.330
114th
.331
2d (consolidated). 334
17th
115th 14
.331
117th
6 4
.331
125th
.331
4th (three years) .335
First Army Corps. .. 338
Recruits for the Regular Army.338
: DIRECTORIES .
PAGE.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Lincoln.
.339
Broadwell.
451
Laenna.
505
East Lincoln .
.387
Chester.
.459
Lake Fork.
515
West Lincoln
Corwin.
471
Oran ..
.519
Mount Pulaski
.405
Elkhart 482
Orvil. 531
Atlanta
427 Eminence
.491
Prairie Creek 543
Etna. 443
Hurlbut. 499
Sheridan. 553
ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.
PAGE.
Forms : PAGE. PAGE.
Adoption of Children
160
Bonds.
176
Game 151
Bills of Exchange and Promis-
Chattel Mortgages. 177
Interest.
158
sory Notes .. .151
Codicil ...
189
Jurisdiction of Courts 154
County Courts. 155
Lease of Farm and B'ldings. 179
Limitation of Action. 155
Conveyances 164
Lease of House. 180
Landlord and Tenant .. 169
Church Organizations 189
Landlord's Agreement. .180
Liens. .172
Descent .
151
Notes. 174
Married Women. 155
Deeds and Mortgages
157
Notice Tenant to Quit. 181
Millers
159
Drainage ... 163
Orders ..
Marks and Brands
159
Damages from Trespass. 169
Paupers.
164
Definition of Commercial Terms 173
Receipt. .
Roads and Bridges ..
161
Exemptions from Forced Sale ... 156 Estrays 157
Real Estate Mortgage to se- cure Payment of Money ... .181
Suggestions to Persons purchas- ing Books by Subscription .. 190
Taxes . 154
152
Bills of Purchase. 174
Warranty Deed. 182
Weights and Measures. 158
Wolf Scalps 164
MISCELLANEOUS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Map of Logan County front.
Surveyors Measure.
211
Population of Fifty Principal
Constitution of the United States192
How to keep Accounts. 211
Interest Table. .212
Miscellaneous Table. .212
Names of the States of the Union
and their Significations. .213 Population of the U. S. 214
Agricultural Productions of Illi - nois by Counties .218
ure ..
210
. Cities of the U. S .. .. 214 Population and Area of the U. S.215 Population of the Principal Countries in the World .215 Population of Illinois. 216
Practical Rules for every day .. 207 use ..
U. S. Government Land Meas-
Release .. 186
Fences 168 Forms :
Tenant's Agreement. 180
Articles of Agreement. .175
Tenant's Notice to Quit. 181
Wills and Estates.
Bills of Sale. 176 Will 187
PAGE.
Electors of President and Vice- 206 President, 1876.
Quit Claim Deed. 185
.174
Surveyors and Surveys .160
338
Artillery. 1st .. 338
133d (100 days)
.331
4tlı (consolidated). .335
11th (three years).
.336
152d
.333
13th (consolidated)
.337
155th
.333
14th (three years). 337
2d (three years) ... .333
16th
337
3d (three years) .. .335
3d (consolidated). .335
...
150th .332
10th (reorganized). 336
151st (one year). 333
174
.397
1
NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
R.4. W
R.3. W.
R.2.W.
32
33
34
35
3€
31 W. S.
32
33
34
35
SI
-32
33)
S4
$35
San Jose
6
5
.
تز
2
Enden
7
3
2
7
ILINOIS
PRAI 8 9
R.I. W.
18
17
16
15
4
73
78
17 O
R
I
T.21.N.
-
22
2.3.8
19,
22.
23
24
79
20
27
22
23
24
24
N
TA
Hartsbin's
30
28
27
26
25
30
29
28
27
26
25
Creek
31
32
35
82
33
34
35
36
81
32
34
E
-
6
4 Lawndale
2
6
J.Bolt
7
8
9
70
77
10
8
8
9
12
-
New Holland
15
14
13
18
77
15
74.
13
14'
-13
13
LINCOLN
T.20.N.
SHE 20
22
23
WEST 20 WAV 19 ANA
LINCOLN Ibar Purim 22
20
22
28
24
78
20
or
N 23
2414
Burtonview
29
27
26
25
30
20
28
27
26-
28
27
25
OF
INDIANAPOLIS
Beason
Blogk Voten 32 &
WESTERN
R
33
34
85
86
"Skelton
84
35
36
6
5
B~
6
8
.
-
6
3
4
a
7
10
72
8
EMI 7%
: E 13
15
74.
13
16
15
73
78
Atlanta
.
sinonis
87.
32
34
36
6
5
3
6
3
2
-Sugor
118 EAST
2
23
Kickapoo
26
20 LINCOLN
Creek
35
34
35
38
7
8
9
77
7
R . 10
IF
11
CRE 20 21 Araine 10.
30
38
36 +T.22. N.
6
2
1
R 21
2
70
70
7
72
9
10
- 77
72
10
17
72
7
8
9
17
72
Middletown
77
V
17
(15
74
73
C TH
E
S' T'E 'R
73
1
18
17
E T 76
73
B
ROAD WELL
24
19
20
27
22
24
22
23
24
--
2.9
28
25
Broadwell
28
27
26
28
28
27
26
25
30
29
28
26
25 R.
R.
Esta- Free
34
35
36
36
alt
Chestnut
5
2
7
5
3
7
5
4
3
2
7
8
9
70
77
72.
HU RLBUT
17
76
74
13
16
7,5
14 Z
T.18.N.
21
22
29
24
19 E
20 L
21 KH
R
24 T
MOUNT 20
23 PULASKI 212
79
20
21
22
23
24
29
28
26
25
30
29
28
27
26
+25
30
28
27
26
25
1. 90
29A
28
27
26
25
31
32
33
3₣
95
36
32
83
34
35
36
33
34
95
36
+
of-
GILMAN
6
5
3
12
3
2
7
7
8
9
10= Cornland
7
9
12
Å KE
DEVOTREK
74
13
18
15
19
Pond
T.17.N.
20
27
20
22
23
1 24
19
20
27
15 A
74
32
33
94
96
37
92
39
94.
35m
Lake
8
9
to
Å¡ 7
72
8
0
Elkhart
16
15
14
13
17
M Pilaski
13
78 L
77 A
EAN
fork
22
22
T
-
.
MAP OF LOGAN
COUNTY,IL
DONNELLEY, LOYD & CO. PUBLISHERS CHICAGO.
13
18
17
16
SPRINGFIEL
4
8
9
9
11
A 12
MDECATUR
25 CLINTON
3
-
Lathan
32
6
5
3
2
Satt
10 Creek
ALTAN
T.19.N.
19
36
3
2
ay
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.
When the Northwestern Territory was ceded to the United States by Virginia in 1784, it embraced only the territory lying between the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, and north to the northern limits of the United States. It coincided with the area now embraced' in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and that portion of Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River. The United States itself at that period extended no farther west than the Mississippi River ; but by the purchase of Louisiana in 1803, the western, boundary of the United States was extended to the Rocky Mountains and the Northern Pacific Ocean. The new territory thus added to the National domain, and subsequently opened to settlement, has been called the "New Northwest," in contradistinction from the old "Northwestern Territory."
In comparison with the old Northwest this is a territory of vast magnitude. It includes an area of 1,887,850 square miles ; being greater in extent than the united areas of all the Middle and Southern States, including Texas. Out of this magnificent territory have been erected eleven sovereign States and eight Territories, with an aggregate popula- tion, at the present time, of 13,000,000 inhabitants, or nearly one third of . the entire population of the United States.
Its lakes are fresh-water seas, and the larger rivers of the continent flow for a thousand miles through its rich alluvial valleys and far- stretching prairies, more acres of which are arable and productive of the highest percentage of the cereals than of any other area of like extent on the globe.
For the last twenty years the increase of population in the North- west has been about as three to one in any other portion of the United States.
(19)
20
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
In the year 1541, DeSoto first saw the Great West in the New World. He, however, penetrated no farther north than the 35th parallei of latitude. The expedition resulted in his death and that of more than half his army, the remainder of whom found their way to Cuba, thence to Spain, in a famished and demoralized condition. DeSoto founded no settlements, produced no results, and left no traces, unless it were that he awakened the hostility of the red man against the white man, and disheartened such as might desire to follow up the career of discovery for better purposes. The French nation were eager and ready to seize upon any news from this extensive domain, and were the first to profit by DeSoto's defeat. Yet it was more than a century before any adventurer took advantage of these discoveries.
In 1616, four years before the pilgrims " moored their bark on the wild New England shore," Le Caron, a French Franciscan, had pene- trated through the Iroquois and Wyandots (Hurons) to the streams which run into Lake Huron ; and in 1634, two Jesuit missionaries founded the first mission among the lake tribes. It was just one hundred years from the discovery of the Mississippi by DeSoto (1541) until the Canadian envoys met the savage nations of the Northwest at the Falls of St. Mary, below the outlet of Lake Superior. This visit led to no permanent result ; yet it was not until 1659 that any of the adventurous fur traders attempted to spend a Winter in the frozen wilds about the great lakes, nor was it until 1660 that a station was established upon their borders by Mesnard, who perished in the woods a few months after. In 1665, Claude Allouez built the earliest lasting habitation of the white man among the Indians of the Northwest. In 1668, Claude Dablon and James Marquette founded the mission of Sault Ste. Marie at the Falls of St. Mary, and two years afterward, Nicholas Perrot, as agent for M. Talon, Governor Gen- eral of Canada, explored Lake Illinois (Michigan) as far south as the present City of Chicago, and invited the Indian nations to meet him at a grand council at Sault Ste. Marie the following Spring, where they were taken under the protection of the king, and formal possession was taken of the Northwest. This same year Marquette established a mission at Point St. Ignatius, where was founded the old town of Michillimackinac.
During M. Talon's explorations and Marquette's residence at St. Ignatius, they learned of a great river away to the west, and fancied -as all others did then-that upon its fertile banks whole tribes of God's children resided, to whom the sound of the Gospel had never come. Filled with a wish to go and preach to them, and in compliance with a
SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
BRIGHAM
MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
21
22
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
request of M. Talon, who earnestly desired to extend the domain of his king, and to ascertain whether the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean, Marquette with Joliet, as commander of the expe- dition, prepared for the undertaking.
On the 13th of May, 1673, the explorers, accompanied by five assist- ant French Canadians, set out from Mackinaw on their daring voyage of discovery. The Indians, who gathered to witness their departure, were astonished at the boldness of the undertaking, and endeavored to dissuade them from their purpose by representing the tribes on the Mississippi as exceedingly savage and cruel, and the river itself as full of all sorts of frightful monsters ready to swallow them and their canoes together. But, nothing daunted by these terrific descriptions, Marquette told them he was willing not only to encounter all the perils of the unknown region they were about to explore, but to lay down his life in a cause in which the salvation of souls was involved ; and having prayed together they separated. Coasting along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, the adventurers entered Green Bay, and passed thence up the Fox River and Lake Winnebago to a village of the Miamis and Kickapoos. Here Mar- quette was delighted to find a beautiful cross planted in the middle of the town ornamented with white skins, red girdles and bows and arrows, which these good people had offered to the Great Manitou, or God, to thank him for the pity he had bestowed on them during the Winter in giving them an abundant. " chase." This was the farthest outpost to which Dablon and Allouez had extended their missionary labors the · year previous. Here Marquette drank mineral waters and was instructed in the secret of a root which cures the bite of the venomous rattlesnake. He assembled the chiefs and old men of the village, and, pointing to Joliet, said : " My friend is an envoy of France, to discover new coun- tries, and I am an ambassador from God to enlighten them with the truths of the Gospel." Two Miami guides were here furnished to conduct them to the Wisconsin River, and they set out from the Indian village on the 10th of June, amidst a great crowd of natives who had assembled to witness their departure into a region where no white man had ever yet ventured. The guides, having conducted them across the portage, returned. The explorers launched their canoes upon the Wisconsin, which they descended to the Mississippi and proceeded down its unknown waters. What emotions must have swelled their breasts as they struck out into the broadening current and became conscious that they were now upon the bosom of the Father of Waters. The mystery was about to be lifted from the long-sought river. The scenery in that locality is beautiful, and on that delightful seventeenth of June must have been clad in all its primeval loveliness as it had been adorned by the hand of
23
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
Nature. Drifting rapidly, it is said that the bold bluffs on either hand "reminded them of the castled shores of their own beautiful rivers of France.". By-and-by, as they drifted along, great herds of buffalo appeared . on the banks. On going to the heads of the valley they could see a country of the greatest beauty and fertility, apparently destitute of inhab- itants yet presenting the appearance of extensive manors, under the fas- tidious cultivation of lordly proprietors.
THE WILD PRAIRIE.
On June 25, they went ashore and found some fresh traces of men upon the sand, and a path which led to the prairie. The men remained in the boat, and Marquette and Joliet followed the path till they discovered a village on the banks of a river, and two other villages on a hill, within a half league of the first, inhabited by Indians. They were received most hospitably by these natives, who had never before seen a white person. After remaining a few days they re-embarked and descended the river to about latitude 33°, where they found a village of the Arkansas, and being satisfied that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, turned their course
24
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
up the river, and ascending the stream to the mouth of the Illinois, rowed up that stream to its source, and procured guides from that point to the lakes. " Nowhere on this journey," says Marquette, " did we see such grounds, meadows, woods, stags, buffaloes, deer, wildcats, bustards, swans, ducks, parroquets, and even beavers, as on the Illinois River." The party, without loss or injury, reached Green Bay in September, and reported their discovery-one of the most important of the age, but of which no record was preserved save Marquette's, Joliet losing his by the upsetting of his canoe on his way to Quebec. Afterward Marquette returned to the Illinois Indians by their request, and ministered to them until 1675. On the 18th of May, in that year, as he was passing the mouth of a stream-going with his boatmen up Lake Michigan-he asked to land at its mouth and celebrate Mass. Leaving his men with the canoe, he retired a short distance and began his devotions. As much time passed and he did not return, his men went in search of him, and found him upon his knees, dead. He had peacefully passed away while at prayer. He was buried at this spot. Charlevoix, who visited the place fifty years after, found the waters had retreated from the grave, leaving the beloved missionary to repose in peace. The river has since been called Marquette.
While Marquette and his companions were pursuing their labors in the West, two men, differing widely from him and each other, were pre- paring to follow in his footsteps and perfect the discoveries so well begun by him. These were Robert de La Salle and Louis Hennepin.
After La Salle's return from the discovery of the Ohio River (see the narrative elsewhere), he established himself again among the French trading posts in Canada. Here he mused long upon the pet project of those ages-a short way to China and the East, and was busily planning an expedition up the great lakes, and so across the continent to the Pacific, when Marquette returned from the Mississippi. At once the vigorous mind of LaSalle received from his and his companions' stories the idea that by fol- lowing the Great River northward, or by turning up some of the numerous western tributaries, the object could easily be gained. He applied to Frontenac, Governor General of Canada, and laid before him the plan, dim but gigantic. Frontenac entered warmly into his plans, and saw that LaSalle's idea to connect the great lakes by a chain of forts with the Gulf of Mexico would bind the country so wonderfully together, give un- measured power to France, and glory to himself, under whose adminis- tration he earnestly hoped all would be realized.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.