History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 174

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

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charge. Mr. Wentworth was one of the large body of prominent men of America who met the Duke at Mon-

be well received by the masses of the foreign population by the Canadian authorities that the Prince would not treal-but was the only one from Illinois. It was urged

in the United States, and disturbances might arise, and

it was contended that those disturbances would be in-

Duke of Newcastle that he had only to make his augurated in Chicago. Mr. Wentworth assured the

arrangements through the British Consul at Chicago, and he, as Mayor of the city, would see that they were all carried out. And they were carried out, to the en- tire satisfaction of the Duke and to the pride of the

tended all the arrangements, and they were so satisfac- people of Chicago. Mr. Wentworth in person superin-

tory, that, after the return of the Prince, the Duke of Newcastle wrote him a very complimentary letter, stat- ing that nowhere were the arrangements made and car-

sent to Mr. Wentworth a large portrait of the Prince ried out so satisfactorily as they were at Chicago. He

and also sent to him two Southdown sheep from the Queen's herd for his farm .. During this term he intro- duced two more fire-engines, which were named " Lib- erty " and " Economy," after the prominent characteris- tics of his civic rule. Upon each occasion of his assumption of the Mayor's office, he found a large float- ing debt against the city, but at the termination of each of his tenures of office there was no floating debt, and he left money in the treasury for his successor. MIr. Wentworth positively declined a renomination to the

office of Mayor, and, although it was frequently tendered

him, has persistently declined it since that time. In

1861 he was, elected a delegate to revise the Constitu- tion of the State of ; illinois, and during the same year was chosen a member of the Board of Education for three years. . In all'mis official capacities, Mr. Went-

worth wielded all his influence in behalf of the common school system when it was very unpopular; and by his strong, urgent and sensible articles in the " Democrat," he was extremely influential in causing the first brick public school building to be erected in Chicago, called the Dearborn school; on the north side of Madison Street, east of Dearborn Street; it was always his favorite school, and at the time of the fire he was on the special committee in charge of it. In later years, when failing banks became largely in default to the school fund, his energy, both apon the board and in his newspaper, saved a large portion of those funds that, at one time, were considered lost; and had he been sustained by the action of a majority of the board, every dollar that was finally lost, by what he believed an unjust compromise with the banks, would have been saved. In 1863 he was appointed a police commissioner to fill a vacancy in the term, which expired in November, 1864. It was during this term as police commissioner that the raid by the Rebels upon Camp Douglas was to have been attempted, and he was all the time in private consulta- tion with Colonel Sweet, in charge of Camp Douglas. Francis C. Sherman, the Mayor of the city, had author- ized MIr. Wentworth to take entire charge of the police in case of any emergency; and during the entire night wherein Colonel Sweet made the arrests which caused such a sensation throughout the country, Mr. Wentworth was in a private room, with a man from each police station in the city, awaiting any suggestions that might be made by Colonel Sweet. While sitting there a messenger arrived from Colonel Sweet, bringing, with the Colonel's compliments, several pistols which he had just taken from the traitors outside the camp, and were so soon to have been used in liberating the prisoners. It was also during this period that, as police commissioner, he preserved order in the court- house yard while the notorious Clement 1 .. Vallandig- ham addressed the people. At the close of his remarks Mr. Wentworth took his place upon the court-house steps and made that ever memorable speech in reply to him; and when a disturbance was attempted. Mr. Went- worth called the attention of the crowd to the fact that Mr. Vallandigham could never have uttered his senti- ments in the loyal city of Chicago but for the protection of the Chicago police, acting under his orders. He then asked of Mr. Vallandigham's friends the same courtesy while replying that he had extended to Mr. Vallandig- ham. Mr. Vallandigham's friends saw the point and gave Mr. Wentworth an attentive hearing. In IS68 he was again elected a member of the Board of Education for four years. One phase of his political career has been unnoticed hitherto in this article-the change from old-time Democracy to Republicanism, and his action upon the slavery question. Of these two mat- ters, Zebina Eastman, the war-horse of abolitionism, thus wrote in 1857 : " In politics Colonel Wentworth . has ever acted with the old-line Democratic party; but when the old parties became split up. by making the slavery extension question a test, he went, with such other Democrats as Hamlin, Wilmot. King, Trumbull. Fremont, Blair, and others, into what is known as the Republican movement. To the success of this move- ment Colonel Wentworth has, by public speeches, by writing in his newspaper, and by efforts in every other way, bent all his energies. And if there is any truth in the old adage, that the tree which bears the best fruit is always known by its receiving the greatest number of clubs, Colonel Wentworth is singled out as one of the most effective laborers in the ranks of the opposition 10 slavery extension. It is not only in his own immediate

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LOCAL, POLITICS.

neighborhood, but from the most distant parts of the Northwest, and from the extreme Eastern Press, Colonel Wentworth receives flattering testimonials of the effect- iveness of his labors in the Republican cause, which he has espoused, by the violent personal abuse he receives from its opponents. No idiot, no drone, could receive the notice he daily does from the Press. Each day bears witness to the great fact that, if he is not hard at work, his enemies, at least, think he is, and are caution- ing their party friends to beware of his efforts, and be prepared to counteract his movements. Of the services that Mr. Wentworth has rendered to his fellow-citizens, the late Hon. Thomas Hoyne-who came to Chicago a few months after Mr. Wentworth; and was intimately associated with him during his entire life in Chicago, a period of over forty-five years-thus eloquently speaks, in a set of resolutions adopted by the Chicago Historical Society, May 21, 1882:

" WHEREAS, This Society recognizes the long career of public service which has made the life of Hon. John Wentworth con- temporaneous with the first organization of our municipal govern- ment and the entire history of Chicago since the year IS36. He was the first member of Congress from this district when it com- prehended seventeen counties from Northern Illinois, of which he was the representative for many years. He was the Mayor and chief magistrate of the city, twice chosen at two different periods by the people, and his administration of city affairs is remembered to this day for its inflexible character, its economical expenditure of public money, its rigid execution of all laws and ordinances, the suppression cf all vice and corruption, and the stern and impartial exposure and punishment of all crimes and criminals. He was the publisher and proprietor of the first newspaper ever printed in Chicago, and his name stood at the head of the Press of this State for a quarter of a century. Ilis more recent labors, in the com- pilation of accurate historic material in respect to the early settle- ment and progress of the city, the personal reminiscences of a pub- lic life prolonged through one of the most eventful periods of American public history, and his recent lectures before this society, have all inspired a general public interest in the knowledge which he has accumulated; and this society, recognizing the value which his early contempuraries and the community at large attach to so signal a public life and career, do hereby, as a token of respect,

" Resolve, That the president and secretary be instructed to request of Hon. John Wentworth that he will procure a portrait likeness of himself to be taken so that it may be hung upon the walls of this institution, and remain as a memorial to posterity of the conspicuous position he occupied, and the public labors and services which he accomplished during a long and distinguished career, marked by the most extraordinary development in the rise and progress of this city, and his participation in the most moment- ous events of American public history." [Portrait by John Phil- lips, of New York, presented September 1, 1882.]

The Calumet Club also adopted the following ex- pressive preamble on October 8, 1881, in asking Mr. Wentworth to sit for his life-sized portrait for the club :

" WHEREAS, The directors of the Calumet Club appreciate in the life career and world-wide celebrity of the Hon. John Went- worth a great and noble example of what may be attained by force of character, strength and purity of purpose and public spirit, com- bined with generosity and kindness of heart, and recognize in his personality an incarnation of the spirit of Chicago-his own life history being virtually that of the settlement, growth and prosperity of the city, as well as a prominent part of the history of the Na- tion."

While he has written for the public as much as any other man in Chicago, no man has addressed more popular assemblages than he has, and his meetings have been essentially his own, being called in his own name and having no presiding officer. He speaks frankly his sentiments and takes the responsibility, and he has never failed to fill the house.

On November 13, 1844, Mr. Wentworth was married at Troy, N. Y., by Rev. Nathan S. S. Beman, 1. 1)., to Roxanna Marie, only child of Hon. Riley and Roxanna Atwater loomis, of Troy, who, after many years of delicate health, died February 5, 1870. They

had five children, all of whom died young, except Miss Roxanna Atwater Wentworth, now living.

Since serving his last term in Congress, Mr. Went- worth has bestowed his time and attention upon his enormous stock-farm of about five thousand acres, at Summit, Cook Co., Ill., from which, like Cincinnatus, he was so often summoned to serve his countrymen. Mr. Wentworth's father was one of the largest real-estate holders in the State where he lived, and Mr. Went- worth's domestic early life was passed among the most distinguished of New Hampshire's agriculturists; and, in his public life, Mr. Wentworth had learned that nearly all the prominent men of this country had passed their later years upon large country estates. Mr. Went- worth had visited the farm of General Washington at Mount Vernon, and of the Adamses at Quincy, and more particularly was he pleased with a visit paid by him to ex-President Van Buren upon his farm at Lin- denwood, N. Y .; and he had also heard of the Hermitage estate of General Jackson, of the Monticello estate of President Jefferson, and the Montpelier estate of Presi- dent Madison, and had also talked of their estates, at Ashland and Marshfield, with those singularly great orators, Clay and Webster. These incentives made Mr. Wentworth determine upon emulating their example, and he. selected the Summit as the location for his estate. This spot is noted as a dividing line between. the streams that empty into Lake Michigan and pass out to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and those that empty into the Illinois River and pass out into the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Wentworth retains his interest in politics and is active in those pertaining to Chicago, but per- sistently refuses all proffers of nomination to office. . In 1867 his Alma Mater, Dartmouth College, conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. (Legum Doctor), and on July 2, 1873, he was elected president of the Alumni of the New Hampton Academical Institution, and in 1882 and 1883 he was elected president of the Alumni Association of Dartmouth College, for each of those years. In June, 1880, Mr. Wentworth was a vice-presi- dent of the Republican National Convention, being a delegate from the First District, but was declared ineli- gibie by the majority report which confirmed congres- sional district representation. This, however, did not prevent his earnestly working for the nomination of U. S. Grant, and subsequently for the nominee of the con- vention, James A. Garfield. Mr. Wentworth grieves over the irreparable loss of his manuscripts and papers through the Chicago fire. He had kept a journal of all the great events that transpired while he was in public life, making entries therein alinost every day, after the style of John Quincy Adams. He also had a complete file of the Daily and Weekly Chicago Democrat, from his first connection with the paper to its close, a period of twenty-five years. Mr. Wentworth is an active mem- ber of the Chicago Historical Society, and is especially interested in matters relating to Early Chicago, of which . he has tacitly become the acknowledged depositary, and whereon he is conceded authority. His essays upon this subject are the classics of Chicago historiology. There is no man living that can so familiarly shake the hands of so many of the settlers of northern Illinois prior to (850, male or female, as John Wentworth. He has likewise paid much attention to New England history, more particularly to the history of his native State, New Hampshire. The news- papers of that State frequently quote him as authority upon matters appertaining to its early history. lle has been, for nearly a quarter of a century, vice- president of the New England Historic Genealogical

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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

Society; and has been a frequent contributor to the columns of its recognized organ, the New England Historic Genealogical Register; a full set of which volumes he has presented to the Chicago Historical Society, together with many other valuable and rare works. Mr. Wentworth is also the author of the Went- worth Genealogy, in three volumes, conceded by critics to be the most complete and most perfectly indexed of any of that class of work published, and which is recognized in England and the United States as a stan- dard work, and has been highly eulogized by many prominent literary men of both countries. Its collabor- ation occupied years of careful and cosmopolitan research.

in commanding the closest attention of promiscuous audiences: also for his habits of untiring industry, and for keeping such control of his private business that he has ever been personally independent of political results." Judge James B. Bradwell, who has been an intimate friend of Mr. Wentworth ever since his arrival in Chicago, thus condenses his estimate of the latter gentleman: " Few men in the nation have the intellec- tual capacity of Mr. Wentworth. He is strong in what- ever he undertakes, and does it in his own peculiar way. He has been a power in this State and Nation. The old settlers know what influence he exercised in Con- gress and in the old Chicago Democrat for many years. The short and pointed paragraphs of the Democrat were a terror to the enemies of Mr. Wentworth. The influence of this paper in politics and the development of this country cannot be appreciated by those who were not here then."

"The Hamptonia," a quarterly published by the literati of New Hampton Academy, thus truthfully summarizes the life of this gentleman: "Mr. Went- worth, all through his editorial and official life, has shown himself not only a man of decided convictions, Mr. Wentworth was one of the earliest Masons and Odd Fellows in Chicago. He stands six feet six inches high and weighs three hundred pounds, and has the reputation of being one of the most healthy and indus- trions men, and possessed of the greatest endurance of any in the city of Chicago. but has proved on many notable occasions that he had, under the most adverse circumstances, the courage to follow them. He has ever looked upon parties as only necessary organizations for the accomplishment of desirable ends, and he has no party attachments beyond his assurance of right, always having principles which His full-size portrait, painted by the renowned George P. A. Healey, can be seen at the rooms of the Calumet Club, corner of Michigan Avenue and Twen- he wished sustained by the legislation of his country, and always seeking political organization which would best promote this object. Mr. Wentworth has been . tieth Street : where his friends, the old settlers of Chi- remarkable, as a writer and speaker, for conveying his ideas in the fewest possible words, and for his success

cago, have their annual assemblage in May of every year,

OLD BLOCK HOUSE AND LIGHT HOUSE IN 1857 .- THE LAST OF FORI DEARBORN.

WOLF POINT AND EARLY HOTELS.

The few travelers and emigrants who came to the site of Chicago prior to 1831 had more difficulty in finding the true town than at present. The fort could be seen, and from a distance might be taken for the nucleus of the coming village, but its forbidding inclo- sure showed, on nearer approach, that it was exclusive property and no village or even place of temporary so- journ for the weary traveler, except as the guest of the officers of the garrison. That was not the village of Chi- cago at that time. In the fall of 1829, among others looking for a place to stop " over night " was the family of Elijah Wentworth. It consisted of himself, wife and two daughters, Zebiah, then nineteen years old ; Susan, eighteen years of age, and George, then a child of

ARCHIBALD CALDWELL.

four years old. Whether Elijah, Jr., then twenty-six years old, came with his father, is a matter of doubt. He came soon afterward, if he was not at that time of the emigrant party. Elijah had come up from the Wabash country with three yoke of oxen, two covered wagons, containing all his household goods and earthly possessions, and, homesick, was trying to get back to Maine, where he was born. lle was looking for Chi- cago as a point on the lake from which he might embark for the East. He arrived in October. 1829, and put up at the only tavern then having a sign-post. It was owned by James Kinzie who had built it the year before, and was then kept by Archibakl Caldwell, who.

by virtue of his license, granted December 8 b. the Commissioners of Peoria County, was, without doubt, the first landlord who ever legally kept tavern in Chicago.

The family found refuge at this tavern. It came on prematurely cold that year, and it was certain that the family must winter at Chicago. The oxen could not be sold here, and were accordingly sent back to the "Wabash country" to winter. The family rented a small log-house owned by Mr. Kinzie, standing on the shore of the South Branch some little distance south of Caldwell's tavern, at $5 per month, and moved into it as a temporary home. While living there, Caldwell dissolved with Kinzie, left the hotel and removed to near Green Bay, Wis. Mr. Wentworth, in January or February, rented the hotel of Mr. Kinzie at $300 per year and became its landlord. Here he remained until the fall of 1830, when he gave up his lease and took a claim eight miles north, near what is now the Jefferson Station on the Chicago & North-Western Railroad. There he kept a hotel uninterruptedly, except during the spring and summer of 1832, when for a few weeks he took refuge in the fort fearing Indian depredations. When Scott came with the cholera, he returned to his house with many other families who, like him, became panic stricken by the pestilence.

Who kept the tavern afterward known as the Wolf Tavern :" the forks" had been known as Wolf Point long before during the year 1831, is not specially determined by the traditions or records of the period.

In addition to this first tavern there was another in 1830, kept by Samuel Miller. It stood on the east side of the North Branch, nearly opposite Wentworth's. He with his brother was living there in 1829, and kept a small store, besides entertaining such strangers as came along. In 1830, he having enlarged it materially. his place became known as a tavern, and he was the principal competitor of the "Forks Tavern" on the opposite side. He ran a ferry at that time to accom- modate the travel and help along his own trade .* There was at that time no bridge. Mr. Miller kept the hotel until the death of his wife, in 1832, when he sold out and moved away. It was never known as a hotel after Miller left it ; various families lived in it tempo- rarily, and at one time it was used as a store.

Mark Beanbien had his log house, also a tavern, on the South Side, on the point made by the junction of the two branches. It was not at that time a pretentious hostelry. He afterward added to it and kept one of the most famous hotels in the city, known as the San- ganash.

These three hotels, connected only by a primitive ferry, with a few scattering buildings on the West Side. made the only pretense of a village at Chicago in 1830. and was known as " The Forks " and as Wolf Point. The origin of the name is buried in oblivion. Mrs. Juliette .A. Kinzie, authoress of " Waubun." came here in the winter of 1831, and, at that early day discussed the origin of the name as shrouded in mystery, then too old to be traced to its genesis. She states that at that

. The county, in 18, 1. when Mark Fraubien took the ferry established by Law, bought Miller's www. See Colbert's History, p. 5.

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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

time (1831) it was known as Wolf Point, and suggested some quite plausible origins for the name: among others, that it was the former residence of an Indian chief, whose name, translated into English, means "Wolf." The value of Mrs. Kinzie's testimony lies, not in her fanciful legend, but in the historic fact that at that time the land lying about "the forks": was known as " Wolf Point," and that the origin of the name was at that early day not known. As to the name and many other facts concerning Wolf Point, and the early taverns, Mr. Gurdon S. Hubbard, the oldest living citizen of Chicago, wrote the following letter to Rufus Blanchard, which is embodied in his History of the Northwest. See pp. 757-59-

what was then called the Forks. About this date Samuel Miller bought a small log cabin on the opposite side of the river from Wentworth's, and south of the presen. Kinzie-street bridge, lo which he added a two-story Jog building. finishing the outside with split clapboards. These two public houses were the first Chicago could boast of. Miller by his influence and enterprise, erected a bridge built wholly of logs, across the North Branch, just north of his tavern. He and Wentworth being competitors for public favor. the Forks house getting the most patronage, James and Robert Kinzie built stores there, and here resorted some of the officers of the fort daily for social intercourse and ' drinks ' at Wentworth's bar. Wolves were in those days quite numerous: one had the audacity to enter in the day time Wentworth's meat-house, and was by him killed. His house had for a sign a tall sapling topped off just above a prominent branch ; it extended some distance above the top of the roof, and was a conspicuous notice, to be seen from the prairie and surroundings, that 'here was food for man

WOLF POINT IN 1830

"CHICAGO, October 13, ISSO.

" REFI'S BLANCHARD :

" MY Dear Sir-Vour favor of 11th is at hand, and I most cheerfully give you what information I possess on the subject mat- ter of your note.

"Prior to ISoo the North Branch of the Chicago River was called by the Indian traders and voyageurs 'River Guarie.' and the South Branch ' l'ortage River.' On the west side of the North Branch a man by the name of Guarie had a trading-house, situated on the bank of the river about where Fulton Street now is. This house was inclosed by pickets. He located there prior to 1778. This tradition I received from Messrs, Antoine Deschamps and Antoine Beson, who. from about 1775, had passed from Lake Michigan to the Illinois River yearly: they were okt men when 1 first knew them in 1818. This tradition was corroborated by other oid voyagers The evidences of this trading-house were pointed out to me hy Mr. De Champ -: the corn hills adjoining were dis- tinctly traceable, though grown over with grass.

"I am of opinion that these branches retained their names until about the time of the location of the first Fort Dearborn, and were afterwards known as the North and South branches

" My impression is that Elijah Wentworth opened his tavern on the West Side, near the present West Kinzie Street, in 1830, at

and beast : ' it lacked, however, something to hang to the branch projection, to give it character: how to obtain a proper emblem puzzled the good landlord, as there was nocarpenter or paint shop. or citizen artist; a happy thought struck him, that Lieutenant . Allen might condescend to supply the deficiency, if properly approached . this was effected through a mutual friend. The boards of a dry- goods box were obtained, from which was put in shape. under the superintendence of Lieutenant James Allen, a well-proportioned sign, the Indian Agency blacksmith putting to it hinges, when Lieutenant Allen took it in hand again, producing and presenting tu Wentworth the picture of the slethy wolf, which w.is bn serve not only an attractive painting, but a memorial of the landlord's valor in the killing alone and unaided, of a ferocious wolf. I fficer- and citizens received invitations to be present at the hanging of the sign: the day and hour arriving. found assembled a majority of the people; the sign was brought forth, duly veiled with a blanket, was attached to the branch of the pole, the weil removed, and it swing gracefully, and was greeted with hurrah from those prevent : in turn something che greeted the hoarse throats of friends. Thus was produced and baptized the name of . Wadf Point.'

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 174

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