USA > Illinois > Lee County > Early Lee County, being some chapters in the history of the early days in Lee County, Illinois > Part 2
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A History of Oakland County, Michigan, (1887) based chiefly upon statements made by Almon Mack, a son of
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EARLY LEE COUNTY
the elder Stephen, says that while the latter settled in Detroit in 1807, he left his family in Vermont where the educational facilities were far better than those Michigan then had, and that his family, except one daughter, Loviey, who joined him about 1818, did not come west until 1822.
The family history says the younger Maek bought the La Sallier cabin shortly after his marriage in February, 1829.
From the Michigan Pioneer Collections it appears that Stephen Mack, father of the Stephen Maek who lived at Grand Detour, was the first Yankee to open a store in De- troit where he began business in 1807, dealing in dry goods, groceries, crockery, hardware, etc. He was a mem- ber of the firm of Mack & Conant. That firm engaged in the fur business as early as 1816, and there is abundant evidence that it prosecuted that business so actively and energetically that it was a very lively competitor of the American Fur Company. They established an agency, for their fur business, in Chicago as early as 1816, and op- erated it until about the time of their failure in 1821, when that part of their business was taken over by the Ameri- can Fur Company. John Crafts represented them at Chicago all the time they maintained their agency there. After that he joined the Fur Company.
The elder Mack was a member of the first legislative council of the territory of Michigan. With others he founded the town of Pontiac, Michigan, where he died in 1826.
Carr says the younger Stephen Mack "attended Dart- mouth College, in New Hampshire, for a time, but seemed to have left college before he graduated." This is an error, as the secretary of that college states that "the name of Stephen Mack does not appear on our records."
Carr's book purports to be a history of Rockton from "1820 to 1898," and this may give the impression that Mack settled at Macktown in 1820, but the text of the book does not support such an idea.
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MACK REACHES GRAND DETOUR
From Carr's History it appears that the younger Mack joined a government expedition around the lakes, and while at Green Bay met some traders who told him that the Rock river country was a good place for one to es- tablish a trading post. He promptly started for Rock river, reaching it near where Janesville stands. Thence he followed down the river until he reached the Indian settlement known as Turtle village, near Beloit Junction. There he learned of an Indian camp at Bird's Grove, about two miles down the river from Rockton, at the mouth of Dry Run Creek, and he started for it only to lose his way and wander about until he reached the Potawatamie village at Grand Detour, and for two or three years traded with the Indians there, taking their furs in exchange for his articles of traffic, and carrying his merchandise to and from Chicago on the backs of Indian ponies.
The law permitted the Indian Agents to issue licenses to trade with the Indians to such persons as they thought proper, and at such places as the agents designated in the licenses, and it required the Secretary of War to re- port to Congress, each year an abstract of the licenses is- sued. The reports made under this requirement show that on October 20, 1823, Alexander Wolcott, Jr., Indian Agent at Chicago, issued to Stephen Mack, Jr., a license to trade on Rock river with the Indians for one year with a capital of two thousand dollars, (18th Cong., 2d Sess .; Ho. Doc. 54) and on September 6, 1824, Wolcott issued a license to Mack to trade on Rock river with the Indians for one year with a capital of one thousand dol- lars. (19th Cong., 1st Sess .; Ho. Doc. 118.)
There is no report of the issue of any other license to Mack until October 5, 1826, when Wolcott granted him a license to trade with the Indians for one year on "Rocky River" with a capital of twenty-five hundred dollars. (20th Cong .; 1st Sess .; Ho. Doc. 140.) Nothing has been
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EARLY LEE COUNTY
found that shows what Mack was doing in the interval between the second and third licenses, except that he served as clerk and voted at an election of a constable held in the Chicago precinct May 11, 1826. (Address by Judge David McCulloch on Early Days of Peoria and Chicago, delivered before the Chicago Historical Society, January 19, 1904.)
The Reports of the Secretary of War do not show that any other licenses were issued to Mack, yet he continued to trade with the Indians as long as any of them remained in his neighborhood, and it is known that they were trad- ing with him in June, 1835, at Bird's Grove. As John Dixon traded with the Indians at Dixon's Ferry from 1830 until they left the state, and never had a license to do so, and as no trading licenses were issued for any places on Rock river above Prophetstown after 1827, it would seem the general belief then was that such licenses were not then required for that territory, although as late as February, 1829, the Secretary of War reported that trading posts were then established at "Grand Detour on Rocky river and on Rock river." (20th Cong., 2d Sess .; Ho. Doc. 117.)
"Mack's relation with this tribe was not produc- tive of the best of feeling; and although he had taken the chief's daughter, Ho-no-ne-gah, for his wife, still his life was in danger, because he refused to sell firearms and liquor to the tribe. During one of his trips to Chicago with three of his ponies, a plan was fully matured to dispose of him on his return, and take possession of his effects. His Indian wife, learn- ing of their intentions, was on the lookout for her husband's return, and meeting him far out from camp, apprised him of his danger. It was quick work for her to mount one of the ponies, and to- gether they started out for the Winnebago tribe at Bird's grove, where they were gladly welcomed and promised protection. It became their future home for a number of years." (Carr.)
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VOTES IN CHICAGO
It is to be noted that Carr does not state the year in which Mack located at Grand Detour, or the year he joined the Winnebagoes at Bird's Grove and no evidence has been found that will enable one to fix either date.
In his "Politics and Politicians of Chicago," published in 1886, Bennett says Stephen Mack was a clerk em- ployed by the American Fur Company, and a son of Major Mack of Detroit, and that he voted "in the Chi- cago precinct of Peoria county," at an election in Chi- cago, for a justice of the peace and a constable, held July 24, 1830; that he married an Indian woman and "finally settled in Pecatonica, Winnebago county." Bennett and John Wentworth, in his lecture on Early Chicago (Fergus Historical Series, v. 8, p. 55) give a list of those voting at a special election held in the Chicago precinct No- vember 25, 1830, but Mack's name is not there. Nor is it in the list Bennett gives of those voting at the state election August 7, 1826.
Andreas in his "History of Chicago," says that Mack voted at the election held in the Chicago precinct August 2, 1830, and describes him as a "Clerk of American Fur Company.
In this connection it is well to remember that these elec- tions were held in Chicago and that no part of what is now Winnebago county ever was in the "Chicago pre- cinct" of Peoria county.
It appears from his letters that he made his home on Rock river during the winter months. The fact that he voted in Chicago indicates that he considered that place his home.
Andreas also says that Stephen Mack bought lots seven and eight, in block forty-three, in the original town of Chicago, September 29, 1830, for $53. This block is bound- ed by West Randolph, North Market and West Washing- ton streets and, on the west, by the old East Water street (now vacated).
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EARLY LEE COUNTY
In his later years Mack visited Grand Detour several times, and from what he said on those visits, as it was re- peated by Charles Throop to others, it is known that Mack bought La Sallier's cabin and occupied it until he moved to Bird's Grove. He was living at Bird's Grove in May, 1832. If the family history is correct in saying that he bought the cabin soon after his marriage in 1829, it is clear he did not occupy the cabin for any great length of time.
Kett's History of Winnebago County (1877) says Mack was living in that county as early as 1829.
In their Atlas of Illinois, published in 1876, Warner and Beers say Mack was living at Bird's Grove in 1829.
Jefferson Davis, a Lieutenant in the First Infantry, was stationed at Fort Winnebago in the fall of 1829 and remained there until 1831. He said, "When sent on vari- ous expeditions I crossed Rock River at different points, but saw no sign of settlement above Dixon's Ferry." (Jefferson Davis, A Memoir, by Varina Davis.)
"Mack was living in peace and quietude with the Indians at the breaking out of the Black Hawk war. After the battle of Stillman Valley, when that re- nowned chief visited this tribe to induce them to fol- low him on his journey northward, Mack used his in- fluence against such a movement; and although Black Hawk was very angry with the white trader, the little tribe remained on their old camping ground, and the' great chief marched on without them.
It is said that the feeling was so strong against Mack during the visit of Black Hawk, that the chief of the tribe advised him to go away for a time for personal safety. Accordingly he privately went to an island in the river, now known as Webber's island, where he was supplied with food by his faithful wife until it was safe for him to return. This may be an actual fact or a romance, but it is given for what it is worth." (Carr.)
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BLACK HAWK WAR
Both fact and romance are in this statement. Black Hawk did visit the Indians near Bird's Grove to persuade them to join him, and Mack did leave his home; but both these events occurred before the battle of Stillman Valley. Mack may have stayed at Webber's island, but if so it was only for a short time.
That Mack took part in the Black Hawk War is evi- dent from his letters to his sister, Mrs. Lovicy Cooper, reading as follows :
Chicago, May 30, 1832.
DEAR SISTER :
I am happy in having an opportunity of informing you and the rest of my relations at Detroit and Pon- tiac that I am still alive and well. We are at war at present with the Socks Indians.
I left my wintering ground or trading station on the 9th inst. and as I left it the Socks took possession of my house but were prevented from injuring me or my men by the Winabagoe Indians who claimed me as their friend and trader. Immediately on my arrival at this place I joined with the Inhabitants of this place, took up arms and garrisoned fort Dear- bourn, and we have been able by that means to afford protection to all of the inhabitants of the surrounding country that could get in in season, but I am sorry to say that our force was too small to enable us to go to the assistance of such as could not get in in season to serve themselves and in consequence three fam- ilies consisting of 14 persons were killed and several houses burned. After being reinforced by those who got in from the outer settlements, we went out in pur- suit of the murderers, but could not find them and after burying the dead we came back to wait for reinforcements to enable us to fight our way through to the main army (which was last heard from near my trading post on Rocky River) and assist in pun- ishing the marauders. *
Chicago, June 13, 1832.
DEAR SISTER :
I have been out on one expedition against the Sauke Indians since my last letter, but we could not find
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EARLY LEE COUNTY
them where we expected, and were obliged to return and wait for reinforcements to enable us to penetrate further into the country. General Atkinson will be on the move again in a few days, and General J. R. Williams, (now at this place) will probably move on to his assistance. In that case I shall join him with a few volunteer mounted riflemen from this place. You need be under no apprehension on my account for I can assure you that all of the accounts that you receive from the seat of war are very much ex- aggerated. It is really amusing to me who see all the operation and know perhaps better than almost any one the real danger, to read the accounts of ma- neuvers of the enemy never thought of by them, and of battles never fought. And then to sit down and listen to the remarks of the raw Yankees who have lately emigrated to this country, one would think that Napoleon Bonaparte had risen from the grave and presented himself in the person of the Black- hawk and that the spirit of his millions of heroes were concentrated in the 5 or 600 warriors led by that chief. I by no means wish to undervalue our enemies, they are brave and subtle and it may be dangerous to encounter them without an overwhelming force, but I can by no means approve of the tardy opera- tions of our chief officers, for it gives time to the nimble footed Indians to ravage our frontier settle- ments and bathe their hands in the blood of helpless women and unsuspecting infants. Had more prompt measures been pursued in the commencement, I have no doubt but many lives would have been spared and we should have been at this moment in the full en- joyment of peace."
Mack's reference to the burial of those killed by the Indians undoubtedly is to the massacre at Indian Creek, La Salle county, May 20, 1832, and aids us in determining the command of which he was a part.
Five companies of volunteers were raised in Cook county for service in the Black Hawk war. One of them, raised in the immediate vicinity of Chicago, was organ- ized May 3, 1832, and commanded by Captain Gholson
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CAPT. BROWN'S COMPANY
Kercheval. Captain James Walker commanded a com- pany raised in the neighborhood of Plainfield and en- rolled June 19. Captain Joseph Naper's company was organized July 19, nearly all of its members living in the vicinity of Naperville. A company commanded by Cap- tain Holden Seission was organized July 23. The muster rolls of four of these companies have been preserved, but the name of Stephen Mack does not appear on any of them.
Andreas, in his History of Chicago, v. 1, p. 269, says that some thirty of those in Kercheval's company also enrolled in a company commanded by Captains Jesse B. Brown and Richard J. Hamilton, and that this company -Joseph Naper being a member-made a scouting tour through the country as far as Holderman's Grove, Plain- field and Ottawa, and that the remains of those massa- cred at Indian Creek were buried by the men of this company. The muster roll of this company was not preserved.
In the chapter of his History of Chicago that was written in February, 1854, Bross says that "late in the month of May, 1832, a small force consisting of twenty- five men, was organized in the fort under the command of Capt. J. B. Brown, with Capt. Joseph Naper and Col. R. J. Hamilton," and that this command buried the bodies of those killed in the massacre, and then went to Ottawa where it joined a part of a company from Taze- well county under Major Bailey, and the whole detach- ment then proceeded to Chicago under the command of Major Bailey.
A History of Du Page County, by C. W. Richmond and H. F. Vallette (1857), says that members of a company raised in Chicago and commanded by Captain Brown and Colonel Hamilton assisted the men of Still- man's command, under Colonel Johnson, in burying the
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EARLY LEE COUNTY
bodies of those massacred at Indian Creek. (Baskin's History of Du Page County, p. 37.)
In his Memories of Shaubena, Matson says the burial was by "a company of rangers, under Captain Naper, or Brown, from Chicago" and a party from Putnam county.
In a letter written May 26, 1832, T. J. V. Owen, then Indian Agent at Chicago, says "The party of mounted men who left here some days since upon an Indian excur- sion has this moment returned" after burying the bodies of those slain in this massacre. (Mich. Pioneer Coll., v. 21, p. 368.)
Bearing in mind the fact that the letters of Mack and Owen were written when the facts they mention were fresh in the mind, it seems clear that Mack was in Cap- tain Brown's company, and that he did assist in the burial of the victims of the massacre.
After the capture of Black Hawk he returned to Bird's Grove and spent the winter there, going back to Chicago in the early part of May, 1833.
In a letter to his sister, written at Chicago, August 24, 1833, he said: "We are preparing for the Indian Treaty which is to take place next month. After the payment of the Indian annuities I shall take my departure for my winter quarters in the west as usual."
In the treaty made at Chicago, September 26, 1833, with the Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi Indians, provi- sion was made for the payment of six hundred dollars to Rosa and Mary, children of "Hoo-mo-ni gah," wife of Stephen Mack ; five hundred dollars to Stephen Mack, "in trust for the heirs of Stephen Mack, deceased," and three hundred and fifty dollars to Stephen Mack, Jr. This pro- vision for "the heirs of Stephen Mack, deceased," is puz- zling, unless it was intended to pay some old debt the Indians owed the elder Mack.
With the exception of Stephen Mack, the first perma- nent white settlers in Rockton were William Talcott and
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MACKTOWN
his son Thomas B. Talcott. The latter kept a journal in which he wrote the events of the various days passing as they went about northern Illinois looking for a desirable place to make a home. Under date of Saturday, July 25, 1835, he says they forded a river, " crossed a small prairie, went into the woods and came to Stephen Mack's Indian trading establishment, and once more put up with a white man who had a squaw wife. Found we were on the bank of Rock river, two miles below the mouth of the Peca- tonica and six miles south of the line of Wisconsin ter- ritory." On the next day he wrote: "Shall stay with our friend Mack today. There are no inhabitants in sev- eral miles except the Indians, who come around and Mack trades with them today as much as any day. All days are alike to the children of the forest. Mack is in the employ of the American Fur Company, and has been all his life. The Indians have confidence in him and he has no trouble."
Mack thought that the bluff at the mouth of the Peca- tonica river
"would be a good place to locate a town in view of river navigation, and was in correspondence with a Mr. Bradstreet, of Albany, N. Y., on the advent of the first white settlers in 1835. It was then consid- ered that the Pecatonica was a navigable stream for one hundred miles from its mouth, and Rock River one hundred and fifty miles up into the territory of Wisconsin. With this large prospect in view, the mouth of the Pecatonica River was a very desirable location for a town. Accordingly Mack took posses- sion of this tract of land in the fall of 1835, and per- manently resided there until his death. * The place took the name of Macktown, which it still re- tains, although the once flourishing settlement has entirely disappeared, save the substantial farm house which he built there. Mack had his town platted, as he owned all of section twenty-three south of Pecatonica River and sold many lots. In the height of his prosperity he valued a corner lot near
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EARLY LEE COUNTY
his store at $1,000. When told that his land was too uneven for a town, he said 'it is far better than Milwaukee.'" (Carr.)
In 1834, Congress enacted a law granting to Lewis Banezakiewitz, and his associates, being two hundred thirty-five exiles from Poland, who were transported to the United States by the order of the Emperor of Austria, the right to purchase, at the minimum price, thirty-six sections of land, to be selected by them under the direc- tion of the Secretary of the Treasury, in any three ad- jacent townships in Illinois or Michigan. Baron Louis Chlopieki and John Prehal were authorized to act as the agents of these exiles in selecting the land, and Chlopieki selected two large tracts of land in Winnebago county that were not connected with each other. One of them contained ten thousand, nine hundred and sev- enty acres and included practically all the land within the present city of Rockford, and the other contained twelve thousand acres in the present town of Rockton, in- eluding, with other lands, sections twenty-three and twen- ty-six. As soon as this was known in the neighborhood, the men who had settled in that territory and made claim to the lands they occupied, and who had organized a claim protective association, appointed a committee to resist this selection. Mack, a member of the claim asso- ciation, was made chairman of this special committee, as he had made claim to the west half of section twenty-six and that part of section twenty-three south of the river in the present town of Rockton. In October, 1837, this committee sent a petition to William L. May, Congress- man of that district, and Richard M. Young, one of our United States Senators, stating that the petitioners were actual residents upon the land they occupied prior to the fall of 1835, and some of them in 1834; that Chlo- picki, knowing that they were in possession of these lands, had promised them that they would not be disturbed ; yet, disregarding his promise, he had selected twenty sections,
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WINNEBAGO PAYMENT
sixteen of which were then occupied by the petitioners, who felt aggrieved because, following the custom of the country, they had entered upon the land in good faith and made improvements thereon, intending to buy the land as soon as it was put upon the market. They expressed a willingness to buy their peace by making a fair com- promise with Chlopieki, and asked for legislation that would enable them to secure the lands they occupied and thus save the cost of their improvements and labor. (25th Cong .; 3d Sess .; Sen. Doc. 161.) The result was the passage of the Act of April 14, 1842, which declared that Chlopieki's selections had not been made lawfully, and it specifically gave the residents an opportunity to per- fect their claims, and permitted the exiles to select other lands.
By the treaty made at Washington November 1, 1837, the Winnebagoes ceded all their land east of the Mis- sissippi and agreed to remove therefrom within eight months after the ratification of the treaty. The treaty provided for the payment of various sums, aggregating $38,000, to certain persons named, out of the sum of $200,000, and that the balance "shall be applied to the debts of the nation, which may be ascertained to be justly due, and which may be admitted by the Indians, pro- vided, that if all their debts shall amount to more than this balance, their creditors shall be paid pro rata, upon their giving receipts in full," and that no elaim for depre- dations should be allowed. Provision was also made for the payment, under the direction of the President, to the relations and friends of the Winnebagoes "having not less than one-quarter of Winnebago blood" of the sum of $100,000. The commissioners appointed to adjust these claims proceeded to Prairie du Chien where they met the Indians and the various claimants in 1838. The report of the Secretary of War shows that Stephen Mack presented a claim for $6,500 for merchandise sold the Winnebagoes
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EARLY LEE COUNTY
which the commissioners allowed at $2,500 and, the claims exceeding the balance, paid him his proportion,-$2,- 329.50. The commissioners also paid to him the sum of one thousand dollars for each of his five children, Rosa, age eight; Mary, age six; William, age four; Louisa, age two and one-half, and Thomas H., one year, "for valuable services the father and mother rendered, and the dis- position and ability of the children to do so."
When the pioneer steamboat "Gypsy" made her mem- orable voyage up Rock river in 1838, "Maek heard the steamer's whistle as she came around the bend in the river and hurried down to the shore to drive a stake for them to tie up to on his side of the river," but he was disappointed, as she tied to a stake on the other side of the river. (Carr.)
"In 1839 Mack built the large two story house which is now (1898) the sole survivor of that early settlement. At the time of its erection, it was the best house west of the lake, and but few equaled it in Chi- cago. It was built on a good stone foundation, the first in the place, and when completed was painted, which was a luxury rarely indulged in during those early times. He occupied this house until his death. He built other houses, but they did not involve such an outlay of money. The first one built west of Mack's house was a frame structure, and a story and a half high. The lower part was occupied for several years by Sylvester Stevens, as a furniture room and work shop. The upper story was reached by stairs on the outside, and was first used for a school house for Mack's children and such others as lived in the vicinity. Some Indian children were in- duced to attend for a time, but all the effort put forth to educate them was comparatively labor lost. The different teachers were paid almost wholly by Mr. Maek. This school was kept up until he built his school house in another part of the place, about 1846. (Carr.)
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