History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 26

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

USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time > Part 26

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IOI

CHICAGO FROM 1816 TO 1830.

Chicago, at the time of Mr. Fonda's visit, was a part of Peoria County. He says there were some fourteen cabins in the place, and the assessment roll of John L. Bogardus, Assessor of Peoria County for the same year (1825) shows just fourteen tax-payers, as follows :

Tax-Payers' Names. Valuation.

Tax.

I Beaubien, John B

$1000

$10.00

2 Clybourne, Jonas,

625

6.25

3 Clark, John K

250

2.50

4 Crafts, John.

5000

50.00

5 Clermont, Jeremy,

100

1.00

6 Coutra, Louis.

.50

7 Kinzie. John.

500

5.00

S Laframboise. Claude,

100

1.00

9 Laframboise, Joseph.

.50

IO Mckee, David

100

1.00

II Piche, Peter.

100

1.00

12 Robinson, Alexander,

200

2.00

13 Wolcott, Alexander.

572

5.72

14 Wilemet [Quilmette], Antoine

400

4.00

Of these tax-payers, Jonas Clybourne and John K. Clark, lived several miles up the North Branch, where now are the North Chicago rolling-mills ; the Lafram- boise brothers lived about an equal distance up the South Branch, at Hardscrabble ; John Crafts, the agent of the American Fur Company, had quarters with John B. Beaubien ; David Mckee lived on the North Side, near the agency-house of Dr. Wolcott, and John Kin- zie and Antoine Ouilmette lived nearly opposite the

JOHN K CLARK.

fort. Alexander Robinson had a cabin at Hardscrabble but probably lived near the "forks " on the West Side, in 1825. Jeremy Clermont and Peter Piche were In- dian traders. In January, 1828, Mr. Fonda came again to Chicago as bearer of dispatches from Fort Howard to Fort Dearborn. He says there was no im- provement in the place since his former visit, save that the furt was strengthened and garrisoned. Since 1820. however. several permanent settlers had arrived at Chi-

cago, and made homes in its immediate vicinity, promi- nent among whom were :-

THE CLYBOURNE FAMILY (1823-24) .- Elizabeth Mc- Kenzie, a young girl taken prisoner by the Indians in

ARCHIBALD CLYBOURNE.

Virginia, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, was released after a long captivity, and with her sister Margaret found her way, or was taken, to Detroit. Elizabeth became the wife of a trader, Clark, and the mother of John K. Clark, an Indian trader for many years in Chicago, and of a daughter named Elizabeth, who married William Ahert, and settled in Laporte, In- diana. Mr. Mckenzie, the father of Elizabeth and Mar- garet, learning that his daughters were alive, visited De- troit, and on his return to Virginia was accompanied by both of them with their children.

Elizabeth subsequently married Jonas Clybourne of Virginia, the fruit of this union being two sons, Archi- bald and Henley.

ARCHIBALD CLYBOURNE, the eldest son was born in Giles County, Va., August 28, ISo2, llis half-brother, John K. Clark, came early to Chicago to seek his fortune, and Archibald followed him as soon as he arrived at manhood Ife reached Chicago August 5, 1823, and after remaining about one year returned to Virginia with John K. Clark, to bring his father and mother to the place he had determined to make his home. The Clybourne family, con- sisting of father and mother, Jonas and Henley, arrived at Chicago on the 23d of August, 1824. They were accompanied by John K. Clark and Elizabeth Kinzie, a daughter of John Kinzie, who subse- quently married Samuel Miller. John K. Clark had an Iodiao wife, named Madaline Mirandeau. sister of Mrs. Joseph Porthier (Victoire Mirandeau), who lived io Chicago both before and after the massa- cre, although not here at the time. AA daughter of John K. Clark and Madaline Mirandean, the wife through whom he received his land in Chicago, is still living at Milwaukee. Clark married, July 21, 1829, l'ermelia Scott, daughter of Stephen J. Scott, who settled at times Point. (Wilmette) in 1826.

JONAS CLAROERNE, with his wife and two sons, and their half- brother Clark, settled on the North Branch of the Chicago River. near where now are the North Chicago rolling mills-building there two cabins. On the roth of June, 1829, Archibald Clybource was

IO2

HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

married at the "Grand Rapids" of the Illinois River, now the town of Marseilles, to Mary Galloway, daughter of James Galloway, who had been there settled some two years. This seems to have been the earliest marriage of Americans recorded in La Salle County.

In the summer of 1824, James Galloway left his home in San- dusky, Ohio, and came on horseback to Chicago, arriving in the fall. He spent a year in the vicinity, trapping and examining the country for a favorable site fora home. During the year he bought the claim of a man named Weed on the Illinois River, at the point then known as the " Grand Rapids of the Illinois." The following year he returned to Ohio, and disposed of his property there, pre- paratory to making his home in Illinois. After various hindrances Mr. Galloway and his family, consisting of his wife, his daughter Mary, aged about fourteen, Jane nine or ten, Susan about two, and his son John, aged about six, started from Sandusky for Chicago in October, 1826. The vessel in which the family embarked was a small schooner, which was to touch at Detroit and Mackinaw before making Chicago. Mr. Galloway, in anticipation of an extensive trade with the Indians, provided himself with a large assortment of articles suited to the business, which with his household goods were placed on board the schooner. The passage to Detroit and Mack- inaw was slow and tedious, and at both those ports the passengers were delayed while the captain had a " jolly time" on shore. Leaving Mackinaw late in the fall, in the midst of a heavy storm, and against the advice of all prudent people, the captain run his vessel aground off the island of St. Helena, about fifteen miles from Mackinaw, where his passengers were obliged to remain three or four days, and until they were picked up by a vessel belonging to the American Fur Company which left Mackinaw for Chicago, a few days later. The stranded vessel was well filled with water, al- though still whole, but much of its cargo was spoiled, including a large part of the goods of Mr. Galloway. What could be saved was taken on board the vessel of the Anterican Fur Company, although with serious misgivings on the part of the captain as to the propriety of taking the goods of any trader who was not con- nected with the company which employed him. Communication was opened with the agent at Mackinaw, who would give consent to have Mr. Galloway's goods carried to Chicago on the vessel only on condition that all those appertaining to the Indian trade should be placed in charge of the agent at Chicago, and kept by him until spring, thus throwing Mr. Galloway out of a winter's work. He would not consent to this, and some arrangement was made with the captain whereby he was to be allowed to place his goods in some safe place, before the Chicago agent should know that he was authorized to claim them for the winter. The story of the experi- ences of the family, after reaching Chicago in 1826, as narrated by Mrs. Archibald Clybourne (the Mary Galloway of the story), and published in the Chicago Sunday Times, gives a good picture of the little settlement and how the people lived here at that early day. The following extracts are from the article :

"There was a goodly company on board the American Fur Company's schooner, and its capacity was taxed to the utmost. Besides the two crews and the Galloway family, there were two carpenters, who were coming on to do some repairing at the fort, and a Mr. Arthur and wife from Detroit, who, like Mr. Galloway and family, intended to embark in a farming enterprise, There were still others, but Mrs. Clybourne at this late date ( 1877 ) fails to call up their identity. All these folk were most kindly dis- posed toward Mr. Galloway and swore to stand by him if the agent in Chicago seemed disposed to make him any trouble. When the vessel made a landing somewhere near the foot of Mad- ison Street, at a point where J. Baptiste Beaubien, as agent of the American Fur Company * had a rookery, which was known as a " warehouse ; " the captain told him to look about him for a place to store his goods. As soon as MIr. Galloway had gone, the cap- tin most treacherously turned about and handed the letter of in- troduction to Mr. Beaubien, and that functionary hastened to secure help to have the goods conveyed to the warehouse. In the meantime Mr. Galloway had been to the fort, standing almost un- occupied on the hank of the river, but as the keeper of the stock- ade went " snooks" with the Fur Company, he refused the new- comer even a room for shelter for his family, to say nothing for store-room for his goods. Finding himself balked at that point, he scarcely knew where to turn, when he was apprised of what was happening at the vessel, and he quickly retraced his steps, Such an occurrence as the arrival of a schooner, with twenty or thirty people on board was naturally an "event " of extraordin- ary moment to the settlement and, as a matter of course, everybody -American-, French half-breeds and full blooded Indians for miles around, were on the scene, and taking a deep interest in all that wasgoing on. It was well that Mr. Galloway was not an entire stranger to the place. During his former visit he had made a num-

* John Kinrir wat. agent of the American Fur Company at this time, but Mr. Branbirn had bought of the Company its right to trade with the Indians of the vicinity.

ber of acquaintances, not to say friends, especially in the rival settle- ment of Hardscrabble, and these people combined, with the two ship-carpenters and Mr. Arthur, were disposed to make a stand for him. When noses were counted it was found that Mr. Gallo- way's friends were decidedly in the majority and Beaubien, swear- ing a blue streak in execrably mixed French and English, was forced to desist from carrying out the behests of the agent at

MRS. ARCHIBALD CLYBOURNE.

Mackinaw. Failing of finding quarters at the fort, and there being no shelter "down town," Chief Alexander Robinson in- formed Mr. Galloway that he had an old log cabin at Hardscrab- ble, which he was welcome to occupy. The offer was thankfully accepted, and as the flat-boat of Mr. Wallace* of Hardscrabble, also a friend of the new-comers, was near, the goods were hur- riedly piled into it and poled up the river to the shanty, which was located near the west branch of the South Branch, about four miles from the fort. The winter that followed was terribly severe, and the little cabin of one room, crowded besides with barrels, proved a most uncomfortable place for a family of six persons to live in. At this period of Chicago's history, the Indian was still monarch of all he surveyed. Red skins were the rule and white ones the exception, and the cabin stood near the most frequented trail that led to the Desplaines and Fox River country-it having formerly been used as a trading-house. The cabin was the farth- est in the direction of the Indians, and it was indeed, a terrible ordeal for the family to be transformed, at one move, from comfort and civilization into the very heart of savagery. The older inhab- itants, most of them brought up in the midst of savages, cared no more for an Indian than a white man-indeed they minded him less-but the same indifference could not well be expected of new- comers, the more as the women folk were left much of the time alone, Mr. Galloway being about a considerable portion of his time on his claim near the "Grand Rapids " of the Illinois. One day during the absence of Mr. Galloway, some idle rumor reached the cabin that the Indians on the Auxplaines had taken the war- path. Old settlers would have paid little attention to such a story, but the new comers were terribly frightened. Mr. Galloway was expected home in the evening, and when he did not conie, the family took it for granted that he had been brutally massacred. It was a terrible night. The snow was drifting furiously : a keen northwest wind was raking the prairie as with grape shot, and when about midnight the household was awakened by unearthly yells, and loud beatings on the door and windows, they concluded that their hour had come. The wife assumed that the husband-

* William H. Wallace. See skrich of Indian Fur-Traders at Chicago.

103

CHICAGO FROM 1816 TO 1830.

who had been detained by the severity of the storm-had been murdered, and that the fiends, still reeking with his blood, had now come to dispatch the family. It was evident that there were from a dozen to twenty Indians on the outside, yelling and rattling the door and windows. The fact was that these Indians still sup- posed the house to be a trading-post, and all they wanted was a shelter from the searching blast. Returning from an extensive hunting expedition nearly frozen, to be denied admission where they expected a warm welcome-for the fur-laden Indian was always a cheering sight to the trader-was a mystery to them which they were determined to solve. They attempted to force the door, but failed. Every night, before retiring, it was Mrs. Galloway's custom to thoroughly barricade the door, and it was so arraoged that nothing short of utter demolition would move it from its place. Mrs. Archibald Clybourne ( Mary Galloway ) was then a girl fourteen years of age, and being the eldest, was the only one her mother could depend upon for assistance. There were two axes in the cabin. One of them the mother gave to the daughter, and posted her at one window ; the other she grasped herself, and took a position near the other window. Having made this disposition of affairs, she said, " They have killed father and now they mean to kill us. But I am bound to kill one Indian at least before they do it, and you must kill another. The moment you see a head forcing its way by that window, strike." The two women stood guard the whole night, during several hours of which the Indians kept running round and round the cabin to keep warm, now and then emitting unearthly yells. Finally they gave up the effort to gain admittance and made their way to Lawton's ( Langh- ton's ) the nearest neighbor, a trader about half a mile away in a southerly direction. Here they met with a ready welcome, and with chattering teeth told how they had fared at the other place. In a few words the situation was explained to them, and, as quickly as possible, a Frenchman was dispatched to quiet the fears of the women, who were still standing as guard, fearing at any moment the return of the howling redskins. The Frenchman did his best, talking through the keyhole to make them understand that no dan- ger was to be apprehended ; but as the folks inside surmised he was only an Indian imitating a Frenchman's broken English, and that the other red-devils were close behind him in ambush, his well intended mission utterly failed of its object, and the stout-hearted women held their post until the dawn of the morning revealed that the coast was clear."

Mrs. Clybourne described the appearance of Chicago in the winter of 1826, as a black and dreary expanse of prairie, with occasional patches of timber. At the mouth of the Chicago River. which was then at the foot of Madison Street, stood the cabin of Jean Baptiste Beaubien, and his shanty warehouse, somewhat nearer the lake. Where the river turned to the south, at the point where Rush-street bridge now crosses the stream, was old Fort Dearborn. On the other side of the river, nearly opposite the fort a double log house occupied jointly by John Kinzie and Alexander Wolcott, * and near this the blacksmith shop of David Mckee and Joseph Portbick ( Porthier ). At the forks of the river, on the South Side, a cabin used for a store, owned and occupied by James Kinzie and David Hall of Virginia.t At Jlardscrabble there were five or six cabins, several of which were occupied by the Lafram- boises, of whom there were four : Francis Sr., Francis Jr., Joseph and Claude. Another was occupied by Mr. Wallace, another by Barney Lawton. [Bernadus H. Laughton, who married, Novem- ber 11, 1830, Sophia Bates from Vermont, a sister of Mrs. Stephen Forbes who taught school in Chicago in 1830.] The Galloways were in the cabin of Chief Kobinson, and there was still another, but Mrs. Clybourne had forgotten the occupant. The Clybournes were on the North Branch-Jonas and wife, his sons Archibald and Henley and John K. Clark their half-brother. In the spring of 1827 Mr. Galloway moved his family to his claim at the "Grand Rapids," and there Mary became acquainted with Archibald Cly- bourne, whose business as drover and butcher took him often to that region, and on the 10th of June, IS29, she became his wife, the marriage taking place at the frontier cabin on the Illinois. They were married by Rev. Isaac Scarritt. On the 12th of June the young couple reached Chicago, and Mrs. Clybourne found that several changes and improvements had been made since she left the cabin at Hardscrabble as Mary Calloway. Both the " Miller House." and " Wolf Tavern " had been erected during her absence. l'he " Miller House," which was built as early as 1827, by Sam- uel Mitler, was occupied by Miller and his wife as a dwelling and tavern, and also as the store of Miller and Archibald Chbourne The Wolf Tavern, which was rented to Elijah Wentworth the fol-

* The agency-house, owned by Dr. Wolentt, was not occupied by him at this time. He was living at the fort, of which he had charge during the theence of the troups. Probably Mr. Kinzie lived at the agency-house, as his own was fast going lu ruin.

+ This must have been the cabin bought by Mark Braubien. James Kin- sir and David Hall were keeping store on the West Side at Wolf Point as late as tags, and Dr. Enuch Chase, and of Milwaukee, was their clerk.

lowing year, was occupied in the summer of 1829 by James Kinzie and wife, and his father-in-law, Rev. William See. Mr. and Mrs. Clybourne remained at the Miller House two days, and on the 14th of June went to their home on the North Branch of the river, at "Clybourne Place," near the North Chicago rolling-mills, Archibald and his wife lived with his parents until IS35. In Sep- tember of that year he built a small frame house on the "Elston Road," now Elston Avenue, into which he moved with his family. then consisting of wife and three children. In 1836 he erected the main building of brick, a spacious building facing the south. It was described in 1877 as standing "a veritable patriarch among its surroundings." "In its day it was the most pretentious resi- dence in the city-though it is doubtful if the limits of the corpor- ation extended to that point at the time- and it is now ( IS77 ) the oldest brick building in the city, and with one exception, an old rookery on the northeast corner of Lake and Canal streets, the old- est structure of any sort. The Clybourne mansion- so called in its days of glory-is a curious structure. It contains about twenty rooms. Toward the west it presents the appearance of a plain double two-story brick, with an ordinary entrance in the center. That which is now the front of the building facing Elston Avenue, was once its side, the real front of the old time facing south, toward Chicago, and this has a spacious columned porch. When built there was neither street nor landmark to determine how the structure should face, except the proprietor's personal preference, and now ( IS77) by a freak of the surveyor, or other cause, the building stands in the middle of the lot, the main front facing an adjoining lot instead of the street. The brick for the structure was made near its site, and the maker was he who subsequently became very intimately associated with the history of Chicago,

DAVID HALL.

under the name of llon. Francis C. Sherman, founder of the Sherman House, and many times elected to the honorable position of Mayor."

Archibald Clybourne was the first Constable of Chicago, when it was a precinct of Peoria County. The following orders were is- sued by " Peoria County Court. September 6, 1825."

" Ordered : That the first precinct contain all that part of the County cast of the mouth of the Dul'age Kiver, where it empties its waters into the Auxplaines River, and that the elections be held at the agency-house or Cobweb's Hall."*

* " Cubweb Castle." according to Mrs. Kinzie in " Wanbun." It was situa- led at the vwithwest vorner idf the present North State and North Water street. Dr. Alexander Waleatt occupied the house from :8:0 in 1323, aml from 18.8 until his death in 18 ;.

104

HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

At the same time ordered : "That Archibald Clybourne be appointed Constable in and for the County of Peoria, and that the Clerk of this county take his official bond." In June, IS29, the month of his marriage, he was authorized to keep a ferry in con- junction with Samuel Miller "across the Chicago River, at the lower forks, near Wolf Point, crossing the river below the Northeast branch, and to land on either side of both branches, to suit the convenience of persons wishing to cross." It was ordered that "said Clybourne and Miller pay a tax of two dollars and execute a bond with security for one hundred dollars. The rates for ferriage to be one half the sum that John L. Bogardus gets at his ferry at Peoria." In the latter part of the same year, December S. 1829, he was appointed one of the first trustees of the school section, Archibald Clybourne, Samuel Miller and John B. Beaubien com- prising the board. He was made Justice of the Peace in 1831. Jonas Clybourne and his son Archibald were the early butchers of Chicago. They furnished the garrison at Fort Dearborn, and

the sect in Chicago, and, as a layman, ought ever to rank as one of the fathers of that church ; a father to whom the many who now hold to his faith in these latter days may point with pride, and whose memory may well be cherished by them with enduring affec- tion.

DAVID MCKEE, a settler in Chicago in 1822 or '23, was born in Loudoun County, Va., December 2, 1800. His parents were Scotch, and emigrated from their native country to Virginia, sub- sequently settling in Pennsylvania, and later in Ohio. At the age of thirteen David was placed in a blacksmith shop in Cincinnati to learn the trade, and was there employed until 1821, when he made a short visit to New Orleans. By the terms of the Indian treaty made at Chicago in 1821, a blacksmith was to be kept by Govern- ment at the Chicago agency, for the benefit of the Indians. Mr. McKee, who was then in Cincinnati, was employed by Colone! Benjamin Kerchival, Indian Agent at Detroit, to come to Chicago in that capacity. According to his own recollection he arrived in

THE CLYBOURNE HOUSE.

sometimes extended their trade to Mackinaw. When the Black Hawk War, in 1832, brought crowds of frightened settlers from the country to the shelter of the fort, the Clybournes and John Noble and sons fed nearly the entire population until the pioneers could return to their homes. The Clybourne family, with the rest of Chi- cago, took refuge in the fort until the danger was past. Mr. Cly- bourne lived on the old place until his death, August 23, 1872. He left, at that time, his widow, still living in Chicago with her daughter, Mrs. Parks, and ten living children : Sarah Ann (MIrs. Vincent Barney) born March 24, 1830, still alive ; Margaret E. (Mrs. Richard Holden) born October 10, 1831, now living in Chi- cago ; Martha Ano, born November 18, 1833, still living in Chi- cago ; James A., born October 14. 1835, now in the old business of his father, at 441 North Clark Street ; John II., born June 27, 1838, died September, 1875, (see his record in Military History- Zouaves) ; William H., boro April 14, 1840, now a resident of Chicago : Henry C., boro May 2, 1842, lives at Desplaines ; Mary V., now wife of J. C. Parks, general manager of the North Chi- cago Rolling-mills, born November 16, 1844; Charles A., still living in the old house, born October 2, 1847 : Frank, now with firm of Gregory & Cooley, born April 5, 1857. They had two boys and one girl who died in infancy.

Mr. Clybourne's record as an old pioneer is unclouded by any of the prevalent vices of the time. He lived the life of an unselfish and guileless man, and went to his rest full of years and not lacking the full measure of honors that honesty and a broad charity for his fellow-men could bring, In his religious faith he was a member of the then quite unpopular and unevangelical sect known as U'niver- salists. He was one of the earliest and stanchest supporters of

1822, but as he accompanied from Fort Wayne to Chicago the ex- ploring expedition of Major Stephen H. Long, he must have left Fort Wayne May 29, 1823, and reached Fort Dearborn June 5 of the following month. Mr. McKee found but two houses on the north side of the river on his arrival-those of John Kinzie and Dr. Alexander Wolcott. The third house was built near the agency- house, by Joseph Porthier, and the fourth by Mr. McKee himself. All these houses were of logs-the agency-house being afterward claphoarded part way up. In June, 1827, Mr. McKee was mar- ried. by John Kinzie, J. P., at the residence of the latter, to Wealthy, daughter of Stephen J. Scott, of Gros Point, now Wil- mette. About the time of his marriage, or somewhat before, he was appointed mail-carrier for the Government between Fort Dear- horn and Fort Wayne, and made monthly trip , between those places during 1827-28. His route from Chicago was via Niles, Mich., and Elkhart. Ind. The journeys were made on horseback, carry- ing his mail-bag, camping equipments and lastly his rifle, upon which he relied for his daily food. The time of his average trip was fourteen days-the shortest was ten days. Ile resided in Chi- cago until 1832, at which tim- he owned four lots near the present site of the Northwestern Railroad depot. This land he sold for $Soo, and with the money parchased a farm in Dul'age County, where he lived until 1874. He moved from this farm and settled upon another near Aurora. Kane County, where he died .April 9, ISSI.

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 26

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