History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 20

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 20

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).

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 juinily by John Kinzie and Alexander Wolcott," and near this the blacksmith shop of David Mckee and Joseph Porthick { 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 Ilall of Virginia.+ At Hardscrabble 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 UI. Laughton, who married, Novem- ber 11, 1830, Sophia Rates from Vermont, a sister of Mrs. Stephen Forbes who tanght school in Chicago in 1830.] The Galloways were in the cabin of Chief Robinson, 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 Weniey and John K. Clark their half-brother. In the spring of t827 Mr. Galloway moved his family to his claim at the "tirand 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 toth of June, 1829, 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 Galloway. Both the " Miller I louse,"and " Wolf Tavern " had been erected during her absence. The " Miller House," which was built as early as 1827, by Sam- uel Miller, was occupied by Miller and his wife as a dwelling and lavern, and also as the store of Miller and Archibald Clybourne The Wolf Tavern, which was rented to Elijah Wentworth the fol-

· The agency.house, owned by De. Wolcute, was not occupied by him al This time. Ile was living al the fort, of which he had charge during the absence of The troops, Probably Me. Kinzie lived at The agency-homme, as his own was fast going to ruin.

+ This must have been the cabin bought by Mark Beaubien. James Kin- sie and David Hall were keeping store on the West Side al Wolf Point as late as 184. and Dr. Fnoch Chase, now 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 1835. 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 ( 1877 ) 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 t'lybourne 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 buikling facing Elston Avenue, wax 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 ( 1877) 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 Hon. 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 l'eoria County. The following orders were is- sted by " l'eoria County Court, September 6, 1825."

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

* ** Caburb Castle," accurdling to Mers, Kinzie in " Wanbun." Il was situa- led al The southwest corner of the present North State and North Water streets. Dr. Alexander Wolcott occupied the house from :820 to slag, and frui 1838 wotil his death in t83c,

Ilgilized by Google

104

HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

At the same time ordered : " That Archihall Clybourne be appointed Constable in and for the County of Peoria, and that the Clerk of this county take his official bond." In June, 182g, the munth of his marriage, he was authorized to keep a ferry in con- junction with Samuel Miller "across the Chicago Kiver, at the lower forks, near Wolf Point, crossing the river below the Northeast branch, and in lam un 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 lund with security for one hundred dollars. The rates for ferriage to be one half the sum that John 1 .. Ingardus gets at his ferry at l'eoria." In the latter part of the same year, December 8. tszy, he was appointed one of the first trustees of the school sertum. Archibakl C'lyburne, Samuel Miller aml John B. Beaubien com- prising the board lle was made Justice of the l'ence in 1831. Jonas Clybourne and his am Archibald were the early butchers of Chicago. They furnished the garrisun at Fort Dearborn, and

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

DAVID Mr.KEE, a settler in Chicago in 1822 or '23, was born in Loudoun County, Va., December 2, 1800, Ilis parents were Scotch, and emigrated from their native country to Virginia, sub- wequently settling in l'ennsylvania, and later in Ohio. At the age of thirteen Daval 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 1921, a blacksmith was to he kept by Guvern. ment at the t'hicago agency, for the benefit of the Indians. Mr. Mckee, who was then in Cincinnati, was employed by Colonel Benjamin Kerchival, Indian Agent at Detroit, to come to Chicago in that capacity. According to his own recollection he arrived in

THE LLYBOURNE HOUSE.

sometimes extended their trade to Mackinaw. When the Black Hawk War, in 1832, brought crowils of frightened settlers from the country to the shelter of the fint, 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 t'hi- 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. Ile left, at that time, his widow, still living in Chicago with her dlaughter, Mrs, Parks, and ten living children : Sarah Ann (Mrs. Vincent Barney) born March 24. 1830, still alive ; Margaret E. (\Irs. Richard Holden) born October 10, 1831, Huw living In Chi- cago : Martha Ann, born November 18, 1833, still living in Chi- cago : James A., horn October 14, 1835, now in the old business of his father, at 441 North Clark Street ; John H., bora June 27, 1838, died September, 1875. (see his record) in Military History- Zouaves) ; William H., born April 14. 1640, now a resident of Chicago : llenry C., born May 2, 1842, lives at Desplaines ; Mary V., now wife of J. C. Parks, general manager of the North Chi- cago Rolling-mills, born Novemher 16, 1844: Charles A., still living In the old house, born Detuber 2, 1847 ; Frank, now with firm of firegory & Cooley, born April 5, 1857. They had two buys and one girl who ilied in infancy.

Mr. Clybourne's record as an old pioneer is unclouiled by any of the prevalent vices of the time, Ile liveil 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 rellginas faith he was a member .f the then quite unpopular and unevangelical sert known as Univer- salists. lle 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 11. Long, he must have left Fort Wayne May 29, 1823, and reached Fort Dearleen June 5 uf "the following month. Mr. Mekce found but two houses on the north side of the river on his arrival-those of John Kinzie and It. Alexander Wideott. The third house was built near the agency- hintse, by Joseph Purthier, and the fourth by Mr. McKee himself. All these houses were of logs-the agency-house being afterward claplmarded part way up. In June, 3827, 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- mene, About the time of his marriage, or somewhat before, he was appointed mall-carrier for the tiuvernment between Fort Dear- lern aml Fort Wayne, and made monthly tripas between those places during 1827-28. His route from Chicago was vin Niles, Mich., and Elkhart, Ind. The journeys were made on horseback, carry. ing his mail-bag, camping equipments and lastly his rifle, upoa which he relied for his daily food. The time of his average trip was fourteen day's-the shortest was ten days. He resided in Chi- cago until 1832, at which time he owneil four lots near the present site of the Northwestern Railroad depot. This land he soll for $8oo. and with the money purchased a farm in DuPage County. where he lived until 1874. He moved frum this farm and settled upon anuther near Aurora, Kane County, where he died April 9. 1581.

THE MIK INDEAU AND PORTIHIER FAMILIES .- Among the few houses built on the north skle of the river prior to 1826. was one which was built and occupied by Joseph Purthier, a blacksmith amd striker for Mr. McKee. The widow of Mr. l'orthier is be-

Mg szed by Google

105

CHICAGO FROM 1816 TO 1830.

lieved to be the only person, now living, who saw and remembers any circumstances which transpired in Chicago, prior to the wwwst- cre of 1812. She is the fifth child of Jean Baptiste Mirandean, the carliest permanent white settler in Milwaukee and a sojourner In Chicago in t8t1. She is now living ( September, 183] } at Bay View near Milwaukee, and retains a vivil and clear recullection of very carly times in Chicago, which are deemeil of historic value, as they were given at two different interviews, between which suffi- cient time had elapsed to test the reliability of her recollection. Without prompting nn the part of the interviewer, she currobor- ated all statements made at the first. She is the 'good Victoire." mentioned by Mrs. Kinzie in "Waulmun " (p. 369), and the fam- ily servant of John Kinzie and Dr. Wolcott. tienevieve and Jean Baptiste, with the amusing "Tomab," who accompanied John 11. Kinzie and Lieutenant Hunter to Fort Winnebago in (833, were her sister amil brothers. The family recurd kept by her father was destroyed after his death, and Mrs. l'orthier can- not give the exact date of her birth, but from collateral evidence it is believed to have been in 1800 or 1801." What follows is as given by Mrs. Porthier herself in August and September, 1883 :

" My mother was an Ottawa woman; my father was a French- man. lle was a good scholar, a very handsome man, and had many bouks. Ile taught us children to speak French, and we all leanied to speak Indian of the tribe and mother. We had no schools nor education. I never learned te read or write. My father had his house in Milwaukee, where he traded with the In- dians and did some blacksmithing for them, and for other traders. He fixed guns and traps for them. Before the fort was lmirned ( August, 1St2 ) my father was duwn to the fort-the year before - and did blacksmith work there. The family went ilown while he was there, and sume of us lived in the Quilmette house, across the river from the fort. My sister Madaline ( afterward the wife of John K. Clark ) and I saw the fight between old John Kinzie and Lalime when he ( Lalime ) was killed.

" THE LALIME HOMICIDE .- It was sunset when they used to shut the gates of the fort Kinzie and Lalime came out together and soon we heard Lieutenant llelm call init for Mr. Kinzie to look out for Lalime, as he had a pistol. Quick we saw the men come together; we heard the pistol go off, and saw the snake. Then they fell down together. I don't know as Lalime got up at all but Kinzie gut home pretty quick. Itlood was running from his shoulder where Lalime had shot him. In the night he packed up some things, and my father took him to Milwaukee, when he staid till his shoulder got well and he found he wouldn't be troubleil if he came back. You see Kinzie wasn't to blame at all. Ile ilidin't have any pistol nor kasfe-nothing. After Lalime shut him and Kinzie got his arms around him, he ( Lalime ) pulled out his dirk and as they fell he was stableed with his own knife. That is what they all saul. I didn't see the knife at all. I don't reinem- ber where Lalime was buried. I don't think his grave was very near Mr. Kinzie's house. I don't remember that Mr. Kinzie ever look care of the grave. That is all I know about it. I don't know what the quarrel was aboul. It was an old une -- business. I guess.

" After Mr. Kinzle came back (1816) he came up to Milwaukee and visited my father and tunk me to live with him. ( We were wat there when the fort was burned-we had gone bark to Mil- waukee. } I lived with him until he died, then I married Joseple Porthier. llc was a Frenchman, and a kind of blacksmith, Ile worked for McKee."

Victoire Miramdezu, who has partially told her own story, ahuve, was married at Fort Dearborn to Joseph Porthier, by Colo. nel J. B. Beaubien, J. P., November 5, 1825. She lived in Chi- cagu until 1835. when Mr. Porthier, wife and three children, re- muved to Milwaukee, where he had bought a quarter section of land. Mr. Porthier died in 1875, and was buried in Milwaukee. Ilis wilkow lives near Bay View, south of the city of Milwaukee, in a small lasse built for her by the okl settlers of that city. Hler large family of children, like her brothers and sisters, have all died of consumption-the last daughter during the late summer nf 1833-anıl the sorrowfui old lady is indeed alone. When speak- ing of her early friends in Chicago-the Kinzies. Wolcents, Beau biens and the many members of her trilw, her sad refrain is ever "demul-all gune." Her little home, though plain to poverty, is a model of neatnews and order, and the garden, tended by her own hands, is bright with Howers and vines She speaks French, En. glish, and several Indian dialects well. It is well saidl of her in the " Milwaukee History : " " If she could have had the advan- tages of an cilucatiun. Mirs. Porthier would have been a remarka- ble woman, as her memory is almost as accurate as a written re- cond : her powers of perception are wonderful, and her ileas of right and wrong rigidly aml justly correct. But her ckning years

" The Milwautre History, in a foot note trferitilg to a platement of Dr. E.noch Chas, that she was preludily boru in 1-04, says: " She was born in the Memoranda .**

are dreary enough-shorn as they are of relatives aml friends, pinched by poverty and burdened by sorrow.' It is indeed sad that this solitary woman, forming perhaps the only living link con. necting the present with the "by-gone days" of Chicago and Mil waukce, should clee her days In poverty and an ever present dread of being the recipient of public charity.

JEAN BAPTISTE MIRANDEAU, the father of Mrs. Porthier. was an educated French gentleman belonging to one of the first fam- ilies of Quebec, Ile studied fur the prieshund, but on the eve el taking orilers abandoned his Intention, and about the close idf the Revolutionary War left Queher with John Vieux for the northwest. Ile became an employé if the American Fur Company, and tradeil some years In the Lake Superior region and afterwant un the Wa hansh. He came to Milwaukee about the year 1795, bringing with him his Indian wife whum he had recently married, and to whom

MRS. VICTOIRE MIRANDEAGI PORTHIER .*

he was faithful until his death, which occurred in 1520. Ile built a house in Milwaukee and around it had a well cultivateil garden.t " He was a religious man, aml had prayers in his house every evening. Ilis library was quite large, and he spent all his leisure time in reading .. Ile was a tall Inte looking man, with crisp curly Itair. Ile was a great favorite uf his wild neighbors, who proni- ised him all the land between the river and the lake as far as the North Point, when they made the treaty for the sale of their lands, but he dieil before that treaty, amil Mr. [ Solomon ) Juneau ste- ceeded him as the chief white man in Milwaukee. His widow survived him until 1838, and was well known to many of the early settlers of Milwaukee . . Mr. Mirandeau was the first white man who ever moved here. spent his married life here, died aml was buried here ( Milwaukee)."

The children of Mr. Mirandeau were ten. Jean Baptiste Ist, was poisoned when a child, at the mouth of Rock River, 'Madaline ist, was accidentally drowned in the Milwaukee River. Madaline Ad came to Chicago, for a time lived in the family of Lalime, the Indian Interpreter, and afterwards became the wife of John K. Clark, and died leaving a daughter who still lives at Milwaukee. The fourth chikl was Joseph ; the fifth, Victoire |Mrs. Joseph Por- thier). Then came Louis, Jean Baptiste 2d. Rosanne, Genevieve atkl Thomas. Jean Baptiste and Genevieve were servants in John Kinzie's and Dr. Wolcott's families, and Tluimas the youngest was

. The nhlest resident of Chhagu living, Taken from a photograph in August. 1883.

+ From address of Dr. Enoch Cha- Irtide tid Seti'ers' Club of Milwau- kre. Btr. Chase says he has known the htalov of the Mirandean family thirty. five years.

Google

106

HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

the " Tomah " of " Waubun." Nearly all of the younger chikiren died in Kansas. After the death of Mr. Mirandeau, his widow. left with no relatives or friends except among the Indians, took up her abode among them, and the papers and books of her husband were lost or destroyed Mr. Mirandeau was an intimate friend of John Kinzie, and probably placed his children in his family that they might escape, as far as possible, the influence of the Indians.

STEPHEN H. Scorr and family came to the West from Iten- nington, N. Y., a small place about twenty-eight miles from Buf- falo. Although the family did not settle, as a family, directly in Chicago, one of the sons, Willis, lived here continuously from 1826

to 1832, and after removing to the neighboring town of Waukegan, returned again to Chicago about 1866-67. The daughters also mar- ried and lived in Chicago. Stephen Scott started for the West in. tending to settle at St. Joe, Mich., but on arriving at that place concluded to cross to Chicago. The schooner, bringing his family and effects, arrived at Chicago .August 20. 1826. After looking about the country in the vicinity a little, Mr. Scott decided to settle at Gros Point, now Wiimette, and departed for that place with his family, by schooner, sending word to one of hissons-Willard-who had remained behind with a portion of the goods at St. Joe, to bring them to that point The family landed at Gros Point on the 220, and as soon as possible a log cabin was erected, in which the family lived until t83t. Willis, however, returned immediately to Chicago where he worked around the fort for a time as hostler fur the Post- surgeon, 11r. Finlay, and also worked for the Clybournes. About the year 1329 or 1930, Archibald Clybourne made a journey to Vir- ginia to get a girl strong and willing to come to Chicago and assist his mother, who was growing old and unequal to the tasks of pioneer life. Ile brought back with him a relative, Louisa H. Caldwell, sister of Archibald Caldwell, who with James Kinzie built the Wolf Point Tavern, Willis Scott became acquainted with this girl at Mr. Clybourne's, and on the Ist of November. 1830, she became his wife, the marriage ceremony being performed by Rev. William See. The Scott family remaining at Gros Point con- sisted of a son Willard and three daughters, all of whom were mar- ried while residing there. Wealthy Scott, married, January 23. 1827, David Mckee, and lived on the north side of the river near the font or what is now North State Street, where their son, Stephen J. Scott MeKee was born September 18, 1830 .*

PERMELIA ScorT was married. July 21, 1829, to John K. Clark whom she survived : Deborah, who was the widow of Munson Watkins when she came to the West, was married again to Joseph Bauskey, a Frenchman, May 5, 1828. Mr. Itauskey died of cholera In Chicago in 1832. Willard married Caroline Hawley. July 21, 1829, and was long a resident of Naperville. III. After the family had lived at Gros Point five years, it was discovered that Mr. Scott's claim was on the reservation granted by tiovernment to Antoine Ouilinette ; and he removed to Desplaines, and took charge of a tavern owned by the Laughton brothers, where now is the site of Riverside. This tavern was quite pretentious for the times, and a favorite resort of the Chicago people. Mrs. Kinzie, in that wonderful picture of carly Chicago and the vicinity, " Wau- bun," mentions a call she made there in 183t, where she found carpets, a warm stove, and other luxuries not common at that day.

MARK BEAUBIEN, a younger brother of General J. B. Beaubien, was born in Detroit in the year 1800, When very young, he mar- ried in that city, Mademoiselle Munique Nadeau; the children of this union being sixteen, five of whom-Josette, Mark Jr., Oliver. Joseph and Emily were born in Detroit. In 1826, Mr. Beaubien came to Chicago to visit his brother, and de- cided to make the place his home. lle tells the story of his arrival thus:t "I arrived in Chicago in the year of 1826, from Detroit; came with my family by team ; no road only Indian trail. I had to hire an Indian to show me the road to Chicago. I camped out, doors and bought a log house from Jim Kinzie, There was no town laid out ; didn't expect no town. When they laid out the town, my house laid out in the street: when they laid the town I bought two lots where I built the old. Sauganash, the first ; frame house in Chicago." The frame building mentioned above, and called "the Sauganash " in honor of the Chief Itilly Caldwell, was at the southeast corner of the present Lake and Market streets. The old log house which Mr. Beaubien bought of

· See Sketch of David Mckee.

+ " Chicago Antiquities, " P. 330,

: An error; there had been a frame house built for Bilty Caldwell.

"Jim Kinzie," formed a wing of the new building which is de- wribed in "Wanbun " as "a pretentious, white two-story building with bright blue wouden shutters, the admiration of all the little circle at Wolf Point." Mr. Iteaubien commenced hotel keeping in the log cabin which he bought of Mr. Kinzie, and continued the business in the Sauganash, remaining in the latter, which became a very famous house of entertainment, until 1834. In the latter year he completed another house on the northwest corner of Wells and I.ake streets, which was called the " Exchange Coffee House," and first kept by Mr. and Mrs. John Murphy. It seems probable that the Sauganash was afterwards called the "Eagle Exchange," as one of Mr. Beaubien's daughters, Mrs. Emily (Beaubien) 1.c l'age, states that she once lived in the first frame building in Chi- cago, " called the Eagle Exchange on Market street, near the corner of Lake." Early in 183t, nt a meeting of the Commissioners Court of Cook County, Mr. Beaubien filed his bond with James Kinzie as security, agreed to pay into the county treasury fifty dollars, and was licensed to run a ferry across the South Branch of the Chicago River-the first ferry in the town. All citizens of Cook County were to be ferried free with their "traveling apratus," but outsiders were to pay specified rates. A scow was pur- chased of Samuel Miller for sixty-five dollars, and Mark entered upon his duties. During that year the Canal Commissioners held a meeting at Chicago, and the extra ferriage on their account was paid by Cook County. The ferryman charged for his services $7.33. He was licensed as a merchant during t831, and the com- bined duties of landlord and storekeeper, with occasional hours of

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 Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 20

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