History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 34

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 34

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

SCHEDULE B.

( Referred to in the treaty containing the sums payable to indi- viduals on claims admitted to be justly due, and directed to be paid.)*

Brewster, Hogan & Co .... $343 Jacque Jenveaux $150

John S. C. Hogan. 50

Frederick H. Contraman .. 200

Brookfield & Bertrand .... 100

R. E. Heacock 100

Geo. W. McClure, U.S.A. 125 David Mckee. 180

Oliver Emmell. 300 George Hollenbeck. 100

Charles Taylor 187

Joseph Naper 71

John Mann 200

James Walker. 200 Jobn Blackston 100 Harris & McCord 175

George W. Dole .. 133

George Haverhill 60 Wm. Whistler, U. S. A. . 1000 Squire Thompson. 100 C. C. Trowbridge 2000 Louis Druillard. 350

Abraham Francis . 25

D. R. Bearss & Co 250 Dr. E. Winslow 150

Nicholas Klinger 77

Joseph Portbier 200

Clark Hollenbeck 50

Henry Enslen 75 Robert A. Kinzie I216 Josepb Ogie. .. 200 Thomas Hartzell. 400

Calvin Britin 46

Benjamin Fry . 400

Pierre F. Navarre 100

C. H. Chapman 30 James Kinzie .. 300 G. S. Hubbard 125

Samuel Godfroy 120

William Huff

· Stephen Mack, in trust for

the heirs of Stephen Mack, deceased. 500

Thomas Forsytb 1500

Felix Fontaine. 200

Jacques Mette. 200

Francis Boucher. 250

Margaret Helm 2000

O. P. Lacy 1000

Henry and Richard G. Con-

ner. .1500

James W. Craig. . 500

R. A. Forsyth, Maumee. . 1300 Antoine Peltier, Maumee .. 200 R. A. Forsyth, in trust for Mau-se-on-o-quet. 300

John E. Hunt. 1450 Payne C. Parker 70

Isaac Ifull. 1000 Foreman Evans. 32

Horatio N. Curtis 300 Ica Rice . 250

Thomas P. Quick 35

John Woodcox 40

George B. Knaggs I400

Ebenezer Read. 100

George Pomeroy. 150

Thomas K. Green. 70

William Micure, in trust for Willis Fellows. 500

Z. Cicott. IS00

Jolın Johnson.

Antoine Antilla 100

. The Senate in ratifying the treaty provided for a hoard of commissioners to examine the claims, and if found fraudulent or unjust, to re-adjust them.

R. A. Forsyth, in trust for

heirs of Charles Guion. 200 Joseph Bertrand, Sr. 652 Moses Rice. 800 James Conner. .2250 John B. DuCharme. 250 Coquillard & Comparat. .. 5000 Richard J. Hamiltoo. 500

Adolphus Chapin So John Dixon .. 140

Antoine Quilmet $800

John Bt. Chandonai, ( one

thousand dollars of tbis sum to be paid to Robert Stuart, agent of the American Fur Company, by the particular request

of John B. Chandonai) . . 2500 Lawrin Marsh . 3290 P. & J. Godfroy . 2000

Andrew Drouillard. 500

Jacob Beeson & Co. 220

Jacob Beeson. 900

Jobn Anderson. 600

Jolın Greeo .. 100

James B. Campbell .. 600

Pierre Menard, jun., in

right of G. W. Campbell 250 George E. Walker. .1000 Joseph Thebault. 50 Gideon Lowe, U. S. A. .. 160 Pierre Menard, jr 2000 Jobn Tharp. 45

Pierre Menard, jr., in

trust for Marie Tremble, 500 Henry B. Stilman. 300 John Hamblin. 500 Francois Page. 100

George Brooks. 20

Franklin McMillan 100

Lorance Shellhouse 30

Martin G. Shellhouse. 35

Peter Belair. 150 Joseph Morass. 200 John I. Wendell 2000 A. T. Hatch. 300 Stephen Downing. 100 Samuel Miller. 100

Moses Hardwick. 75

Margaret May 400

Frances Felix. 1100

John B. Bourie

500

Harriet Ewing.

500

Jobn Baldwin. 500

Isaac G. Baily. 100

James Cowan. 35 Joseph D. Lane. 50 J. L. Phelps. 250

Edmund Koberts. 50

Augustus Bona. 60

E. C. Winter & Co. .1850 Charles W. Ewing. 200 Carolina Ferry. 500 Bowrie & Minie. $500 Charles Minie 600 Francis Minie. 700 David Bourie. 150

Henry Ossum Read. 200

Francoise Bezoin ... . 2500

Dominique Rosseau John P. Hedges. 1000 500 Hanna & Taylor. . 1570 Francois Chobare. 1000

Isadore Chobare. 600

Jacob Leephart. 700

Amos Amsdeo. 400

Nicholas Boilvin. 350

Archibald Clybourne .. 200

William Connor (Michigan) 70 Tunis S. Wendall. ..

500 Noel Vassuer 800 James Abbott, agent of the

American Fur Company, 2300 - Robert Stewart, agent of

the American Fur Com-

pany . 17000

Solomon Juneau ... 2100 John Bt. Beaubien 250 Stephen Mack, jr. 350 John Lawe. 3000 Alexis Larose 1000

Daniel Whitney 1350 P. & A. Grignon 650

Louis Grignon 2000 Jacques Vieux 2000 Laframboise & Bourassa. . 1300 Heirs of N. Boilvin, de- ceased . 1000

Jobn K. Clark. 400

William G.and G.W. Ewing5000 Rufus Hitchcock 400 Reed & Coons .. 200

B. H. Laughton 1000

Rufus Downing. 500 Charles Reed. 200

Nancy Hedges 500

David Bourie. 500 $175,000

The above claims have been admitted and directed to be paid only in case they be accepted in full of all claims and demands up to the present date.

G. B. PORTER. T. J. V. OWEN. WILLIAM WEATHERFORD.

Of the $100,000 to be paid in goods and provisions, the following record and receipt for delivery appears:

Agreeably to the stipulations contained in the third article of the treaty, there have been purchased and delivered at the request of the Indians, goods, provisions and horses, to the amount of sixty-five thousand dollars, (leaving the balance to be supplied in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, thirty-five thousand dollars).

As evidence of the purchase and delivery as aforesaid, under the direction of the said commissioners, and that the whole of the same have been received by the said Indians, the said George B. Porter, Thomas T. V. Owen, and William Weatherford, and the undersigned chiefs and head men, on behalf of the said United Nation of Indians, have hereunto set their hands, the twenty-sev- enth day of September, in the year of our I.ord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.

G. B. Porter. Tshee-Tshee-chin-be-quay.

Th. J. V. Owen, Joseph, his x mark, [his x mark,

William Weatherford, Shab-e-nai, his x mark,

Jo-pen-e-bee, his x mark, Ah-be-te-ke-zhic. his x mark,

We-saw, his x mark, E-to-won-cote, his x mark.

Ne-kaw-nosh-kec, his x mark, Shab-y-a-tuk, his x mark,

Wai-saw-o-ke-ne-aw, his x mark, Me-am-ese, his x mark,

Jobn E. Schwartz .4800 Joseph Loranger 5008 H. B. and C. W. Hoffman 350 Phelps & Wendell 660 Henry Johas. 270 Benjamin C. Hoyt ... 20 John H. Kinzie, in trust for the heirs of Joseph Mir- anda, deceased. . . 250 Francis Burbonnais, Sr ... 500 Francis Burbonnais, Jr .... 200 R. A. Forsyth, in trust for Catherine Mckenzie ... . 1000 James Laird. 50 Montgomery Evans 250 Joseph Bertrand, Jr. 300 George Hunt 900 Benjamin Sherman 150

W. and F. Brewster, assig- nees of Joseph Bertrand, Sr 700

John Forsyth, in trust for .. the heirs of Charles Pel- tier, deceased 900 George B. Woodcox

William llazard. 30 James Shirby 125 Jacob Platter. 25 John B. Rourie 2500 B. B. Kercheval. . 1500 Charles Lucier .. 75 Mark Beaubien 500

Catherine Stewart. 82 Francis Mouton. . 200 Doctor William Brown 40

John B. DuCharme. 55

John Wright 15

James Galloway 200

William Marquis. 150

Louis Chevalier, adm'r of

J. B. Chevalier, dec'd .. 112 Solomon Mccullough. 100 Joseph Curtis. 50

Martha Gray 78 Edward E. Hunter. 90 David Hull ... 500

Rachel Legg 25

Peter Lamseet. 100

Robert Beresford. 200

G. W. and W. Laird. 150

M. B. Beaubien Jeduthan Smith. Edmund Weed 100

Philip Maxwell, U. S. A .. 35

I16

Nebemiah King 125

S. P. Brady . 188

James Harrington 68

Samuel Ellice. . 50

Peter Menard (Maumee) .. 500 John W. Anderson 350

David Bailey 50 Wm. G. Knaggs 100

John Hively. 150

John B. Bertrand, Sr. 50

Robert A. Forsyth. · 3000 Maria Kercheval. ·3000 Alice Hunt . 3000 Jane C. Forsyth .3000 John H. Kinzie. . 5000

Ellen M. Wolcott .5000 Maria Hunter . 5000

Robert A. Kinzie .5000

440

Henry Gratiot. Tyler K. Blodgett

128

HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

Ne-see-waw-bee-tuck, his x mark, Wah-be-me-mee, his x mark,

Kai-kaw-tai-mon, his x mark, Shim-e-nah, his x mark,

Saw-ko-nosh, We-in-co, his x mark.

In presence of

Wm. Lee D. Ewing. sect'y to Andw. Porter,

the commission,

Joseph Bertrand, jr.

R. A. Forsyth, U. S. A.,

Jno. H. Kinzie.

Madn. F. Abbott, James Connor, interpreter,

Saml. Humes Porter, J. E. Schwarz, Adjt .- Gen. M. M.

It is not now essential to the object of the historian or to the interest of the reader to know how the sixty- five thousand dollars of goods was paid, or in what the goods consisted, nor whether the chiefs who signed the receipt knew anything of the value thereof, nor whether they were drunk or sober when they signed.

The treaty was consummated-the Indian title to lands in Illinois was extinguished. After two more annual payments to the Pottawatomies who lingered in Wisconsin, the tribes disappeared from the region, and with them went many of the earlier settlers who had intermarried and thus become identified with them. The Bourassas, Laframboise, Madore B Beaubien, the Bourbonnais, the Mirandeaus (all but Victoire-Mrs. Por- thier), some of the Clark Indian children, a part of the Juneau family-in fact nearly all the half-breed families moved west with the Indians with whom they had become allied, and their descendants are to-day leaders in the tribe in the Indian Territory and Kansas, or, having severed their tribal relations, have become leading citi- zens of Kansas .*

INCORPORATION AS A TOWN. - Anticipating the results of this, which was quite sure to extinguish the Indian title in the vicinity of Chicago, the citizens felt that the time had come to take upon themselves cor- porate powers and to assume the functions of self- government as the statutes provided. Heretofore the residents of the Chicago settlement had been, legally, only citizens of Cook County, having no peculiar cor- porate powers outside those vested in the County Board, or Court of Commissioners.

In accordance with the provisions of the statutes, a preliminary meeting of the citizens of Chicago was held, August 5, 1833, to decide by vote whether or not they would assume the functions of an incorporated town. There were cast at this meeting twelve votes " for incorporation," and one "against incorporation."} The single vote in opposition was cast by Russel E. Heacock, he living at that time beyond the extreme southern border of the proposed town, although having his business and professional interests at the settlement. He moved into the town the following year.

The first election of Town Trustees was held at the house of Mark Beaubien, August 10. It is believed that every legal voter of Chicago cast his vote on that occasion. They numbered twenty-eight. The follow- ing were elected Trustees: T. J. V. Owen, 26 votes; George W. Dole, 26 votes; Madore B. Beaubien, 23 votes ; John Miller, 20 votes; E. S. Kimberly, 20 votes.

The first meeting of the new board was held August 12, at which little was done except to organize. Thomas J. V. Owen was chosen president, and Isaac Harmon was appointed clerk. It was agreed that the meetings should hereafter be held at the house of Mark Beaubien.

At the session of September 3, George W. Dole was appointed Town Treasurer; and another free ferry

* For further concerning the Pottawatomies, sce the preceding Indian history in this volume.

t For vaters' lists, and other details concerning the early town elections, see corporate history.

established across the Chicago River at Dearborn Street. Charles H. Chapman was appointed ferryman.

The limits of the new town were, on November 6, extended so as to embrace not far from seven-eighths of one square mile. The boundaries were: Jackson Street, on the south; Jefferson and Cook streets, on the west; Ohio Street, on the north; and north of the river, by the lake, and south of the river, by State Street, on the east.

November 7, Benjamin Jones was appointed Street Commissioner, and Isaac Harmon, Collector, his fees to be "ten per cent on all money put into the treasury."

December 4, the corps of town officials was com- pleted by the appointment of George Snow as As- sessor and Surveyor, and John Dean Caton as Corporate Attorney.

CHICAGO FROM 1833 TO 1837 .- The close of the year 1833 found Chicago a legally organized town. Its population at the time has been variously estimated at from one hundred and fifty to one thousand. No record of any enumeration of the inhabitants is extant, and all statements as to the actual population at that time . are estimates, based on the whims, impressions, or rumors of the time. It required a population of 150 to form a corporate town organization, and it is not probable that Chicago had more than the required number. Based on the number of voters (twenty-eight) at the first election, and allowing a population of five to each voter, the resident population was 140 in August, 1833, at the time the first election was held. The influx drawn in during the Indian treaty, in September, added largely to the permanent population of the town, as many who came here at that time re- mained. The population on January 1, 1834, was not far from 250.

The new town of Chicago as organized in the fall of 1833, although as small in population as the law would allow, had all the required elements of civilization within itself.

The village was built along the south side of Water Street and westerly toward the settlement at the forks. There were scattered shanties over the prairie south, and a few rough, unpainted buildings had been impro- vised on the North Side between the old Kinzie house and what is now Clark Street. All together it would, in the light of 1883, have represented a most woe-begone appearance, even as a frontier town of the lowest class. It did not show a single steeple nor a chimney four feet above any roof. A flagstaff at the fort, some fifty feet high, flaunted, in pleasant weather and on holidays-a weather-beaten flag, as an emblem of civilization, patri- otic pride, national domain, or anything else that might stir hearts of the denizens of the town. The buildings of the fort were low posted, and none of them exceed- ing two low stories in height. Approaching the village hy land from the south, one would see on emerging from the oak woods, near Twenty-third Street, a good stretch of level grass, the lake on the right, woods along the borders of the main river, and, lying on the back- ground of the green woods, only a thin cloud of smoke from the shanty chimneys, a line of almost indefinable structures, and the flag over the fort, if perchance it was fying. \ brown path, where the grass had been trod- den out, led to the fort, and another, better trodden and wider, led across the prairie towards the forks where the Sauganash Hotel then flourished. A letter from Charles Butler, a brother-in-law of William B. Ogden, written from New York December 17, 1881, is here given as relevant to a description of the town at this time. The letter somewhat anticipates the history as

129

CHICAGO IN 1833-37-

regards its subsequent growth and development, and brings Hon. William B. Ogden upon the stage before his time, but is given entire, nevertheless. It reads as follows :

" In the winter of 1832-33 I was spending some time with my friend Arthur Bronson in New York as his guest. Among other topics we discussed that of a visit to the Western country the fal- . lowing summer for information and pleasure. The recent occur- rence of the Black Hawk War (which took place in 1832, the . previous summer) had directed attention to that region of country west of Lake Michigan (where it had taken place) in the northern part of Illinois and southern portion of the then Territory of Wis- consin. We decided on the plan of a journey to Chicago, the ensuing summer. My residence was then at Geneva, in Ontario County, in the western part of the State of New York, and it was arranged that )Ir. Bronson would leave New York in June follow- ing and I would join him at Geneva. Having settled upon this plan, we directed our attention to obtaining some information in regard to that region of country and the methods of traveling. General Scott, who had charge of the campaign against the Black Hawk Indians, *and who had but recently returned from the West, was a friend of Mr. Bronson's and he applied to him for informa- tion on the subject. General Scott had been very much impressed by his visit, with the extent, beauty and attractions of that portion of the United States, and he expressed the opinion to Mr. Bronson that Chicago in the future settlement of the country, would be likely to become an important town. In further prosecution of his inquiries he was advised to apply to Mr. Daniel Jackson, then a leading merchant of this city (New York), who was engaged in the business of furnishing Indian supplies, and Mr. Bronson had re- course to him. On going to the store and stating the object of his visit to Mr. Jackson, the latter responded to his application with interest, and said that he would then introduce him to a man from Chicago, who at that moment happened to be in his store making purchases of Indian goods. This was Robert A. Kinzie, and Mr. Bronson was introduced to him. The result of this interview with Mr. Kinzie (from whom Mr. Branson obtained all the information needed far the journey) was a voluntary offer on the part of Mr. Kinzie to Mr. Bronson, that, if the latter and his friend had in view the purchase of any property in the West, or if they should desire to purchase any when there, he had an interest in some land in Chicago which he would sell to us, and he gave Mr. Bronson a description of the property, stating the quantity, terms, etc., with the privilege of considering it and of deciding whether he would take it or not, after we should have seen it. The land thus offered was one-fourth interest in the north fractional half of Section ten( 10). in common and undivided, on which Kinzie's addition to the town of Chicago was afterwards laid out-Mr. Robert A. Kinzie as one of the heirs at law of his father being entitled to one-fourth part thereof.

"In the summer of IS33, in accordance with the arrangement previously made in the winter, as above stated, Mr. Bronson and I proceeded on our Western journey. We stopped at Niagara Falls, to which place we were accompanied by our respective families, from whom we parted there, and went on tn Buffalo, where we took a steamer for Detroit. We duly arrived at Detroit, where we remained some time. Arrangements were then made for the jour- ney to Chicago. The country between Detrait and Chicago was then a comparative wilderness, and the route to Chicago was by what was known as the Indian Trail, which traversed the southern portion of the Territory of Michigan in a southwesterly course from Detroit through Ypsilanti to White Pigeon I'rairie, where it approached the northern boundary line of the State of Indiana, and passing through South Bend and LaPorte Prairie (the Door prairie) to Michigan City. Preparatory to the journey, we provided a wagon and pair of horses and two saddle horses, and arranged with a young man, named Gholson Kercheval, who was familiar with the route, having been connected with the Indian agency at Chicago, to accompany us all the way from Detroit to Chicago: we laid in supplies, provisions and groceries, such as we thought might be needed on the way. The journey occupied several days. On arriving at White Pigeon Prairie, where there was a settlement, we were so attracted by the beauty of the country that we stopped several days there and made short excursions in the vicinity. At LaPorte they were just then establishing the site of the county town, now the city of Lal'orte, and a Government agency for the sale of lands. It was about this time that this portion of the State of Indiana was hrought into market by the Government for sale.

" We arrived at Michigan City late in the evening. There was but a single house there at which we could stop. It was kept by General Orr. We there met with Major Elston, of Crawfords-

. It is well known that General Scott did not reach the ground until hos tilities were over.

ville, who had become the purchaser of the section of land on which Michigan City was laid out, and he had just then completed a survey and map of the town, which he exhibited to us, and offered to sell us lots. It was a great novelty to us, this map of Michigan City, and in the morning. when daylight came, and we could look out upon the land around us, the novelty was still more striking. for a more desolate tract of sand and barren land could hardly be conceived of. There was scarcely a tree or shrub to distinguish it, much less any houses ; it was literally in a state of nature. Major

Elston had been attracted to it by the fact that it was the only place on Lake Michigan, within the territory of the State of Indi- ana, where it might be possible at some future time to establish a commercial port in connection with the navigation of the lake; and this distant vision of possibilities attracted his attention at this early day, and the first step towards its realization had now been taken by him in the survey. and map just then completed of Michigan City.

"From Michigan City to Chicago, a distance of about sixty miles, the journey was performed by me on horseback. There was but one stopping place on the way, and that was the house of a Frenchman named Bayeux, who had married an Indian woman. At Calumet River, which was crossed on a float, there was an en- campment of Pottawatomie Indians. There were some trees on the westerly bank of the river, and in some of these the Indians had hammocks. In making the journey from Michigan City to Chicago I followed the shore of the lake nearly the whole distance.

" I approached Chicago in the afternoon of a beautiful day, the 2d of August, (1833) : the son setting in a cloudless sky. On. my left lay the prairie, bounded only by the distant horizon like a vast expanse of ocean ; on my right, in the summer stillness, lay Lake Michigan. I had never seen anything more beautiful or captivating in nature. There was an entire absence of animal life, nothing visible in the way of human habitation or to indicate the presence of man, and yet it was a scene full of life ; for there, spread out before me in every direction, as far as the eye could reach, were the germs of life in earth, air and water. I approached Chicago in these closing hours of day, 'So calm, so clear, so bright,'-and this was the realization of the objective point of my journey.

" But what was the condition of this objective point, this Chi- cago of which I was in pursuit, to which I had come ? A small settlement, a few hundred people all told, who had come together mostly within the last year or two. The houses, with one or two exceptions, were of the cheapest and most primitive character for human habitation, suggestive of the haste with which they had been put up. A string of these buildings had been erected with- out much regard to lines on the south side of the Chicago River (South Water Street). On the west side of the South Branch, near the junction, a tavern had been improvised for the entertainment of travelers, erected by James Kinzie. but kept by a Mr. Crook (?) ; and there we found lodgings. On the north side of the Chicago River at that time, there was but a single building, known as the Block Hause. I crossed the river in a dug-out canoe about oppo- site to it. My recollection is that the house which had once been occupied by Mr. Kinzie, the Indian Agent, on the North Side, near the lake shore, had been previously destroyed by fire. The Gov- ernment had just entered upon the harbor improvement of the Chi- cago River ; the work was under the charge of Major Bender. Fort Dearborn was a military establishment, and just at this time there was a transfer of a company of United States troops from Green Bay or Sault Ste. Marie to Fort Dearborn, under the cam- mand, I think, of Major Wilcox, accompanied by the Rev. Jere- miah Porter, as chaplain, to whom I had a letter of introduction. On the morning after my arrival, in walking out, I met a gentle- man from whom I inquired where he could be found, and on tx- hibiting my letter, he said he was the person and that he was then on his way to attend the funeral of a child, and he asked me if I would accompany him as it was near by, which I did. On going to the house, which was one of the kind I have described, new and cheap, we found the father and mother ; the dead child lay in a rude coffin. There was no one else present except the parents, Mr. John Wright, Dr. Kimball, Mr. Porter and myself, and it be- came a question how the remains of the child should be conveyed to the cemetery, which was on the west side of the North Branch of the river. I recollect that while we were attending this simple service, we were interrupted by the noise of a hammer af a work- man outside, who was engaged in putting up a shanty for some new-comers, and Mr. Porter went out and secured the assistance of this workman. We acted as bearers in conveying the remains of this poor child from the house to the grave and assisted in bury- ing it.

" Emigrants were coming in almost every day in wagons of various forms, and, in many instances, families were living in their covered wagons while arrangements were made for putting up shelter for them. It was no uncommon thing for a house, such as

130

HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

would aoswer the purpose for the time being, to be put up in a few days. Mr. Bronson himself made a contract for a house, to be put up and hnished in a week. There were, perhaps, from two to three hundred people in Chicago at that time, mostly strangers to each other. In the tavern at which we staid, the partitions were chiefly upright studs, with sheets attached to them. The house was crowded with people-emigrants and travelers. Many of them could only find a sleeping-place on the floor, which was covered with weary men at night.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 34

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