History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 11

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 875

USA > Illinois > Cook County > History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time > Part 11

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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 (Chica- 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 commission for some office, but for what particular office or from what Government, I cannot now recollect. Ile was a trader, preity wealthy, and drank freely. I know not what became of him."

About all that can be added to the few particulars

· Augustus Grignon was a grandchild of Sieur Charles DeLanglade, the first permanent white settler of Wisconsin. Delanglade served through the old French and Indian War, and became a resident of Wisconsin about $735.

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HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

related above is that in 1796 he sold his cabin to one I.c Mai, 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 hy the waters of Lake Michigan and the Checagou River, not only the first landed proprietor, but also the first disappointed man of Chicago.

1. Mai, 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, nnder date of May 14. 1786, to George Mekirna, 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 hat- tean." 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 :

lu the course of last winter [ wrote you that it is expected mat there will be a garrison at ('hicago this summer, and from lale" accounts, I have reason to expect that they will be over there this fall : and should it be the case, and ax I'have a house there al- rendly, and a promise of assistance from headquarters. I will have occasion for a good deal of liquors, and some other anicles fur that port. Wherefore, should there be a garrison at Chicago this fall, I will write for an addition of articles lo my order."

Mr. Burnett's connection with the Indian trade in this region lasted many years. It is stated in " Wan- bun " that at the time of the massacre of the Fort Dear- burn 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 Williamn 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 hy Lieutenant James S. Swearingen. In the U S. Schooner " Tracy," came from Detroit to the month of the St. Joseph River, Captain Whistler, wife and

· William Harnett, whose letters show that he was a 54. Juneph trader au early an syas, is said to have settled in the wilderness of Michigan in apto. He married Kaw ker-me, sister of Topenetc, principal chief of the St. Joseph's Isindl nf Pottawatomies, and to the children ul this marriage-John. James, Abraham, Rebecca and Nancy Burnett-certain sections of land on the St. Joseph Kiver were granted by the terms of the treaty marle at Chicago in a879. John und James, the elder sous of William llurnett, remained in Michigan; the Lafter dying near Niles in 1839 or ja. Abraham, the youngest, went with the trihr in the West, and became chief of one of the bands. His village was at the fond of a high hill about pour miles well of Topeka, in the south side of the Kansas River. This hill which es the highest elevation in camern Kans, 19 called " Barnett'n Mound," in honor of the portly old chief, whine form was a. lamiliar in the early fraudents of 'I apeka as were those of Caldwell and Shaw- bwvorr (n thr first settlers of Chicago,

+ pre "t'hirago , Antiquities " pp 50-71.

: N++ Iliary of Fart Drarburn,"

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. Susaningues

traders' huts. These were occupied by Canadian French. with their Indian wives .* She mentions the names of three : LeMai, Onilmette 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 cahin of le Mai, which he gradually enlarged and improved, until, as years rolled hy, 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 sonth, so that from its piazza "the Indian canoes conld 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-hrothers; 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. hnt 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 old home in Quebec, and there seck something to do, 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, and found an occupation that he fancied. and a chance to become apprentice to a kind master. He entered the service of the silversmith, 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 Henry H. Hurlbat, " Chicago Antiquities," p. 35. t Near the intersection of Phane and North Water streets.

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MODERN CHICAGO AND IT'S 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 heen 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 1.ord 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 abont ten years' captivity. they were taken. or found their way, to Detroit. Mar- garet became the wife of John Kinzie and the muther of his three eller 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 rame 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 nict 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 Mes. 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 18044.

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 .805 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- ed 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 af 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 MeKillip, Mr. Kinzie's step-daughter. who married Lieutenant Linai Helm of Fort Dearburn, 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.# 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- horn. which proved fatal to the latter. The facts of this unfortunate occurrence as related to the writer by an eye-witness$ 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 fart. on an errand. Having completed his business, he started to return and was followed by Lalime. Just as he passed the enclosure, and the gate was being shut fur the night, Lieutenant Helm, who was officer of the day. called ont 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 ilirk also in his belt, and while the two men were on the ground, this was thrust into his side, inflicting a fatal wonnd. During the excitement Mr. Kinzie was also wounded, and reached his home holding a bloody hand- kerchief to his side. He was concealed in the woods until night and then taken to Milwaukee hy some of the Indians, where he was kept in the house of Mr. Mirandean, the father of Mrs. Porthier, until the facts

. William Forsyth kept a hotel in Detroit many years, and dird there in 174: Robert, une of his arms, was in the service of the American Cinvernment ilaring the War of 1812. 1 Inunan, who became Majur Thomas Forsyth, I.S.A., was born in Detroit, December 1, 1721. Before the War of 18ra. he was Indian Agent among the Peatuwatumies at Peoria Lake. He was taken primmer with his family, at the destruction of Proria by Captain Craig, in the latter part of the wthe year, and went with the French inhabitants of the place to St. Louis, un- der the supposition that the French had made an alliance with the Indians, and that he was in the league. The cruel mistake caused much and terrible suffer- eng, and excited the deepest indignation of Major Forsyth. After the War of 1Bis, he was sent a. U.S. Indian Agent among the Sauks and Foxen, with whomn he remained many years. He died at St. Louis, October 29, 1835. Colonel Robert Forsyth, an early seudent of Chicago, was the son of Major Thomas Forsyth. George, another son of William Forsyth, was lost in the woods war Detroit. August 6, 1778.

. " History of Milwaukee."

+ Name we given by Arthur M. Kinsir, her nephew.

: " Chicago Antiquities."" p. 167.

% Strs. Jimeph Purthier, who was living at the time in the family of An. toine Onilortte.

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HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

of the case were known, and it was safe for him to return. Mr. Lalime had warm friends at the fort, and until it was known that the killing was accidental and the struggle, on Mr. Kinzie's part, in self-defense, great anger was excited, and many threats were made against him. The verdict rendered by the officers at the fort, on the examination of the circumstances, was " justifi- able homicide," and Mr. Kinzie returned to Chicago as soon as his wound was healed.

Save this affair, time passed peacefully away for eight years. Then came the fright of April, 1812, when the dwellers at " Lee's Place " were murdered by the Indians, followed, on August 15, by the massacre of the garrison of Fort Dearborn .*

Mr. Kinzie removed his family to the fort for pru- tection, at the time of the Indian outrage of April 7, and they were yet living there when it was evacuated on the 15th of August. Having determined to accompany the troops himself, hclieving he could afford them some protection, he entrusted his family-now consisting of wife and four children (John H., nine years of age, and Ellen, Maria and Robert, younger) to the care of his clerk, John Baptiste Chandonnait, and two friendly In- dians upon whose fidelity he could rely, who were to convey them in a boat to his former home at Bertrand on the St. Joseph River, Mr. Kinzie left the fort with the garrison. The boat, leaving a little later, had been taken only to the mouth of the river, where now is the foot of Madison Street, when a message was received from Mr. Kinzie, ordering it to proceed no further. The family accordingly remained at that point under the pro- tection of the friendly Indians, until, after the loss of about two-thirds the number of the garrison, the mas- sacre was stayed by the surrender of the survivors, with the stipulation that their lives should be spared, and they should be delivered at some British post. It being then considered safer for the Kinzie family to return, they were taken to their home, where they remained three days ; saved from the fury of the Indians who had come from a distance to participate in the massacre, and to whom the family were unknown, by the strong personal friendship and tireless vigilance of the neighboring chiefs, Black Partridge, Waubansee and Caldwell the Sauganash, who proved in this emergency that an In- dian can be a faithful friend. On the 18th of August, the whole family, including Mrs. Helin,t the daughter- in-law of Mr. Kinzie, were safely conducted by boat to St. Joseph River, and remained at Bertrand until the following November, under the protection of the Chief Topenebe brother of the wife of William Burnett, the Chicago trader). All except Mr. Kinzie (who followed in December) were then taken to Detroit, and delivered to Colonel McGee, the British Indian agent, as prisoners of war. On Mr. Kinzie's arrival he was paroled by General Proctor, and the family took possession of the okdl family residenee. After a short time the British commander became suspicious that Mr. Kinzie was in correspondence with General Harrison, and ordered his arrest. After two fruitless attempts, both of which were thwarted by the vigilance and energy of the Indian friends of Shaw-nee-aw-kee, General Proctor succeeded in procuring his arrest, and sent him to Fort Malden, at the mouth of the Detroit River, where he was impris- oned. He remained in confinement until the result of the battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813, showed General Proctor that some safer place must be found for

. See history of Fort Dearborn, following this.

+ Mrs. Margaret (McKillip) Helm was the daughter of Mrs. John Kinzie, by her former marriage. She was married in Detrint in ,808, to Lieutenant Lainai T. Helm. Ile was statiuned at Furt Dearborn, at the time of the mas- sacre, and Mrs. Helm was residing ut the fort. They were both wounded- neither fatally.

American prisoners. Mr. Kinzie was then taken to Quebec to be sent thence to England. The vessel upon which he was placed, when a few days out, was chased by an American frigate and driven to Halifax, and, on a second attempt to make the passage, sprung a-leak, and was obliged to return to port. Mr. Kinzie was once more confined in Quebec, but soon released and allowed to return to his family in Detroit, then the headquarters of General Harrison.

While residing in Detroit, Mr. Kinzie was a witness to the treaty made with the Indians at Spring Wells, near that post, on September 8, 1815. He is on record, October, 1815, as a partner of Thomas Forsyth. In 1816, John and Eleanor Kinzie conveyed several pieces of land, one of which, described as " where I now live, and have built and made improvements," is dated June 24, 1816. In the same year-probably in the autumn- Mr. Kinzie returned with his family to Chicago, and the " Kinzie House " again became his home. He engaged in trade with the Indians, and also resumed his occupa- tion of silversmith. After the reorganization of the American Fur Company, in 1817, although not appointed agent of the company, he was on intimate and confi- dential terms with the agents at Mackinac, and con- tinued to do a large business as an independent trader .* Writing to Mr. Kinzie, from Mackinac, June 22, 1817, one week after his arrival there, as agent of the Ameri- can Fur Company, Ramsey Crooks says, " I am happy to learn your success in the late campaign, and sincerely hope it may continue. I look for a visit from you soon, but should that be inconvenient yet, for some time, any commands you may in the interim favor us with shall be duly attended to." In a letter written to Governor Cass, a day later, he speaks of the success of Mr. Kinzie in his ventures during the past year. By letters pub- lished elsewhere in this volume, it will be seen that Mr. Kinzie was actively engaged in the fur trade, after his return to Chicago, in 1816. In September, 1818, he signed as a witness, with title of sub-agent, the treaty of St. Mary's, Ohio. In the summer of 1818, he sent his son John to Mackinac, to be indentured to the American Fur Company. Mr. Crooks writes to Mr. Kinzie, August 15, 1818, that John reached the place "in good health, which has continued ever since." It woukl seem that he sent his son in company with Mr. Chan- donnait. his former clerk, as Mr. Crooks alludes to the fact of buying skins brought by him-the price of which does not meet his (Kinzie's, "expectations."

On the 5th of June, 1821, Mr. Kinzic was recom- mended as Justice of the Peace for Pike County-ap- parently the first for that district, but it does not appear that he was commissioned

In all the letters written by Mr. Crooks to Mr. Kinzie he speaks in terms of commendation of John, and the following letter of Mr. Kinzie-the only one from his pen now accessible, shows his appreciation of the value of meriting the confidence of the agents of the Company, and enables the reader to form a just estimate of the man. The letter is to his son, at Mack- inac, and is dated August 19, 1821:

"Dear Son :- I received your leller by the schooner. Nothing gives me more satisfaction than to hear from you and of you. It does give both myself and your mother a pleasure to hear how your con- duct is talked of by every one that hopes you every advantage. Kather let this stimulate you to continue the worthy man, for a good name is better than wealth, and we cannot be too circumspect in our line of conduct. Mr. Crooks speaks highly of you, and Iry lo continue the favorite of such worthy men as Mr. Crooks, Mr. Stewart and the other gentlemen of the concern. Your motherand

* See letters of Ramsey Crooks, " Fur Trade and Traders."

+ Spelled Chandonait, Chandonnais, Chandonet ; pronounced alske.

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MODERN CHICAGO AND ITS SETTLEMENT.

all of the family are well, and send their love to you. James is here, and I am pleased that his returns are such as lo satisfy the Girm.

** I have been reduced in wages, owing to the economy of the Government. My interpreter's salary is no more, and I have but $100 10 subsisi on. It does work me hard sometimes 10 provide for your sisters and brothers on this, and maintain my family in a deceni manner. I will have to take new measures. I hale 10 change houses, but I have been requested to wait Conant's arrival. We are all mighty busy, as the treaty commences to-morrow, and

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History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 11

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas Number of Pages: 875

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 875