History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 17

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340

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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

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SECTION OF MITCHELL'S MAP OF 1755

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 the consent of the natives," still it was deemed advisable to suspend all operations until the establishment of peace. 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-

* " Acement udf Proceedings of Himis and Ouabache Land Compare's."

EARLY EXPLORATIONS.

Ilinois R. Route,

HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

pany, and concluding with a proposal to cede all the land included in the purchase of 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 Chica- 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 leact nf country. * * * It has a well-knowo place of beginning, and remarkable well- known corners described, proceeding round to the said beginning ; and the rectification of an error io 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, by the terms of the

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SECTION OF CAKEY'S MAP OF ISIS.

treaty of Greenville, a " petr of land six miles square, at the month of the things River, emptying into the southwest end of Lake Me ligan, 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 ITS 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-

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A section of a map from Henry Popple's atlas, "America septentrionalis." published in London in 1733. Mr. C. C. Baldwin, in a tract on early maps, says (see Chicago Antiquities, p. 265) these maps " were undertaken with the approbation of the Lords of Trade, using al! the maps. charts and observation- that could be found, and especially the authentic records and actual survey- transmitted by the governors of the British plantations. * * * The engra- ver has bestowed much labor upon them, but the progress is backwards.'

ish commander at Michilimackinac, is the initial point from which may be tracedl 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 Durantave 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 Foxes of Fox River, in the spring of 1720. 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 Ilinois and make a home on the shore of Lake Michigan. The biography of Jean Bap- tiste Point Desaible. the pioneer settler of Chicago, is very brief. He was a native of Santo Domingo, "well

MODERN CHICAGO AND ITS SETTLEMENT.

educated and handsome." Before settling on the banks of the Chicago River he 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, 1697, 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

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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 wolny and seek a fortune among the French in Louisi- ... Many San Domingoans had been brought as slaves to bort Chartres 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 casy, cheer- lul life. It may casty 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. Grignon says:

"At a very early period there was a negro lived there (t'hica- go) named Baptiste Point Desaible. My brother, Perish Grignon, visited Chicago about 1794, and told me that Point Desaible was a large man ; that he had a commissimm for some ofthee, hut frir what particular office or from what Government, i cannot now recollect. He was a trader, pretty wealthy, and drank freely. know not what became of him."

About all that can be added to the few particular,

" Angustias Grignon was a grandchild of Sieur Charles 1 Langlade. the first permanent white settler of Wiemein. Delanglade served through the old French and Indian War, and betante a resident of Wiren-m about 17.5.

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HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

related above is that in 1796 he sold his cabin to one LeMai, 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 DeSaible, handsome, rich and faithful though he was, left his home washed by the waters of Lake Michigan and the Checagou 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, 1786, 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,t and mentions names familiar to the early settlers of the place. May 6, 1790, he writes : " I received a letter yesterday from Chicago, wherein it is said that nothing is made in the Mississippi this year." August 24, 1798, he writes from St. Joseph to Messrs. Parker, Girard & Ogiloy, merchants of Mont- real :

In the course of last winter I wrote you that it is expected inat there will be a garrison at Chicago this summer, and from late accounts, f 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- ready, and a promise of assistance from headquarters, I will have occasion for a good deal of liquor», and some other articles for that post. Wherefore, should there be a garrison at Chicago this fall, I will write for an addition of articles to my order."

Im Burnett

Mr. Burnett's connection with the Indian trade in this region lasted many years. It is stated in " Wau- 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 land to their des- tination by Lieutenant James S. Swearingen. In the U S. Schooner "'Tracy," came from Detroit to the mouth of the St. Joseph River, Captain Whistler, wife and

& Waibam Baroett, where lost. to show that he was a St. Joseph trader

John and Bones, the older sono at Willeses Barnett. romanmed in Mu higan; the latterdying near Nike - 1 1- 1015 2. Metham, the youngest, went with the the best of a Ingh hd. alantt har o. h - vrsta løgwka, em the with side of the k.itis Kier Ila- lull which is the highest elevation in rastern kafivis, 1- Sumar tin gut . de of Hops to see thereef Coldwell and show-

young son, George ; also his eldest son, Lieutenant William Whistler, with his young bride. This party 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

La S. Suzaniagues

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 Parc 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 1.c 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 stoodt 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 okl home in Quebec, and there seek something to :lo, 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, aul found an occupation that he fam ied. and a chance to become apprentice to a kind master. He entered the service of the silversouth, and remained with him three years, at the expiration of which time he returned to his parents, who had removed in the mean-

· Interview with Hours 11 Haviint. " Chicagu Antiquities,'' 11. 25. t Neat the Interu ch med l'ap at North Water street ..

MODERN CHICAGO AND ITS SETTLEMENT.

time to 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 Detroit 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 vear, 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 Giles County, Virginia, near the Kenewha River. A band of Shawnees from Ohio, in 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 and 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 county 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, 1797, 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 Lytle MeKillip, 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 of Mr. Kinzie was on the St. Joseph River. His son, John Harris Kinzie, was born at Sandwich, opposite De-

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, and settled at Chicago in the Spring of 1804.

John Kinzie came to this new location in the prime of his life - strong, active and 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 Chicago, passed quietly. . He attended to the business of 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, and one in the region afterward Sangamon County. This extend- et 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, and also kept up his manufacture of the ornaments in which the Indians delighted. During the first residence of Mr. and Mrs. John Kinzie in Chicago three children were born to them-Ellen Marion, in December, 1805 ; Maria Indiana,t in 1807 ; and Robert Allen, February 8, 1810: Margaret McKillip, Mr. Kinzie's step-daughter. who married Lieutenant Linai 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, t 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-witnesss of the deed, were to the effect that an animosity had long existed between Lalime and Mr. Kinzie, but no acts of violence had 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 antl 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 bokling a bloody hand- kerchief to his side. He was concealed in the wood- until night and then taken to Milwaukee by some of the Indians, where he was kept in the house of Mr. Mirandeau, the father of Mrs. Porthier, until the facts

Witham Forsyth held a hotel in Detroit many years, and died there in Robert, meid his sons, was in the service of the American Government during the War of 1812. Thomas, whu berante Major Finana- For-yth. t.s. 1 .. was born in Detroit, December 5, 1771. Before the Ward Ists, he nas Indian Vernt among the Pattawatomies at Peuria Lake. He was taken privawer with hi- family, at the destrortums ut Praria by Captain Craig, in the latter part of the Mittr year, and sent with the French inhabitants of the place to St. fanii-, In- dler the supposition that the French had made an alliance with the Indians, and that he was in the league. The irnel mistake caused much and terribile suffer- m. and excited the der pest indenation of Major Forsyth After the War of 0012, he was sent as U.s. Indian Agent among the Sank- and Fixes, with whom he remained many srar- He died at St. lamis, Chleder 20. 18 ;; Culopel Kubert Forsyth, an early resident of Chienge, was the sen at Major Chama- Forsyth. Carorge, another som of Wilham Forsyth, was bort in the woods mar In troit, August 6, 177%. -

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 17

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340