History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 21

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 21

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recreation in the way of horse-racing, caused perhaps some want of attention to the ferry, and the court accordingly ordered that the ferry should be kept running "from daylight in the morning. until dark, without stopping." for the accommodation of Cook County passengers. In the same year he received a license to keep tavern, and probably soon after opened the Sauganash. When Chicago was incorporated as a town In 1833, the first election of trustees was at the house of Mr. Beaubien, which was ever a favorite resort both for purposes of business and of amusement; the merry good-

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CHICAGO FROM 1816 TO 1830.

souled landlord, and his wife, who is described as "a noble woman, and devoted Christian mother," making the Sauganash a place to be remembered by all early travelers. MIr. Beaubien married for his second and last wife Elizabeth Matthews of Aurora, by whom he had seven children. He lived in Chicago for many years, and was the last light-house keeper in the place, being appointed by President Buchanan, at a salary of $350. Ile was one of the lead- ers in the organization of St. Mary's Church, the first Catholic society in the city, toward the construction of which he paid liber- ally. Ile was a kind friend to the Indians, who at their treaty with Government in 1534 conveyed "to their good friend, Mark Bean- bien" a reservation of sixty-four acres of land at the mouth of the Caluniet, of which he received the patent signed by Martin Van Buren, nearly forty years later-having been unconscious of the gift during all those years. When Slark Beaubien came to Chicago he brought with him from Detroit a fulille, which in his hands dis- coursed sweet music in the old days, and will always be remembered in connection with the old Frenchman, who, till the last, loved his instrument, and at his death bequeathed it to the Calumet Club of Chicago, where it remains, a valued possession. Mr. Beaubien is described as being in his prime "a tall athletic fine appearing man, Frenchy and polite, frank, open-hearted, generous to a fault, and, in his glory at a horse-race." Ilis favorite dress on "great occa- sions" was a swallow tail coat with brass buttons, and, if in the summer, light nankeen trousers. llis quaint old song, in regard to the surrender of General Hull at Detroit in 1812, of which he was a witness, was sung with as much gusto, as Monie Musk and Fisher's Hornpipe were played, and the young people of the new generation listened to his music and stories with as much pleasure as did his companions in early Chicago. Ilis last visits to l'hicago were in 1877 and 1880, at the time of the Calumet Club receptions to old settlers, where his vivacity and enthusiasm gave no token of the approaching end, then so near. The children of Mr. Beanbien, as given in the Chicago Times, in an article entitled " By-gone Days," March 26, 1876, were Josette, Mark, Oliver, Joseph and Emily, (born in Detroit), Soliston, David, George, Napoleon, E.d- ward, Helena, Elizabeth, Gwinny, Frances, Monique and an infant who died unnamed-children of Mark and Monique Beaubien; and Robert, Frank, Mary, Ida, Jimmy, Jesse and Slidel, children by his second marriage. Ile died on the 10th of April, t5St. in Kankakee, III., at the house of George Mathews, who married his daughter Mary.

MADORE B. BEAURIEN, seconil child of General J. B. Beau- bien and Mah-naw-bun-no-quah, an Ditawa woman, was born July 15, 180g, at Thompson's Creek, of Grand River, Mich, Be- fore General Beaubien became agent for the American Fur Com- pany and permanently settled at Chicago, in the fall of 1813, Ma- ilore had visited Chicago where his father had again marriedl and bought a house, and as early as 1813, he says, he recollects climb- ing over the blackened ruins of old Fort Dearborn. The business of General Beaubien as Indian trader required his presence at Mackinaw, Milwaukee and Chicago during certain portions of each year and in these trips he was usually accompanied by his family- relatives of his wife (Josette La Framboise) living in all those places. Madore had not been many years in Chicago, before his father sent him to the Baptist school established by Rev. Isaac Mcl'oy, under the auspices of Government, at the place now Niles, Mich., then called the Carey Mission. In 1834, Madore was li- censed as a merchant, and soon after built a two roomed log house which was the first building on lot No. t, now the southwest corner of South Water and Dearborn streets. He brought a stock of goods from Detroit and opened a store in one of the rooms, while the other was occupied as a tailor's shop, by Mr. Anson 11. Taylor, who had arrived in Chicago in 1829, and first opened his goods at the old Kinzie house on the north side of the river. In 1832 Mr. Taylor, assisted by his brother Charles, then landlord at the Wolf Tavern, built a wooden bridge over the South Branch of

Madone B. Beaubien

the Chicago River, near the forks-a log foot-bridge having been previously constructed over the North Branch. The following year Madore B. Beaubien was appointed one of the committee to contract for repairing these bridges. Ilis store was not a success. Looking at the courtly old gentleman of seventy-four-erect, hand- some, suave and polished, it is easy to see that the young man of twenty-one would hardly relish any confinement to the drudgery of trading and bartering with Indians. So he failed in business. but was ready for both the sports and dangers of frontier life, and until the tidings of the Black Hawk War armed him, the antrac. tions of the wolf hunt, the race or the dance, kept him from a

more useful life. Ile was Second Lieutenant of the Naperville militia company during the war, and showed himself brave and fearless. He was later First Lieutenant in Captain Boardman's Chicago company. Mr. Beaubien first married, in Chicago, Maria Boyer, daugliter of John K. Boyer, who arrived here in the spring of 1833. This marriage was dissolved by divorce. His second wife was Keez-ko-quah, an Indian woman, and on June 2. 1854. he married for his third and present wife his cousin Therese (La- framboise) llarden, formerly Watkins, the divorced wife of Thomas Watkins of Chicago, and widow of Mr. Harden. This marriage took place at the Baptist Indian Mission, in what is now Shawnee County, Kan. Mr. Beaubien left Chicago with the l'ot. tawatomies in the fall of 1840 ; resided at Council Bluffs unti! 1947, and then with the tribe went to Kansas. For many years he was one of the interpreters of the Pottawatomies, and was one of the six commissioners employed by the Nation to transact their business with the United States. In November, 1861, a treaty was made with the l'ottawatomies, by which those who so elected were given land in severalty, and those whin desired to continue tribal relations were removed to a diminished reservation. At the time of this treaty Mr. Beaubien officiated as one of the " head men " of the tribe, but with many others, elected to become a citi- zen of the United States, and received an allotment of land on ac. count of his wife and mother. Ile now resides on a farm in silver Lake Village, of which he and A. T. Thomas-afterward a resi- dent of Topeka, and Clerk of the United States Circuit Court- were the original proprietors. The first store in the village was started by Mr. Beanbien in connection with C. S. Palmier. Mr. Beaubien has three children by his third marriage-l'hilip II .. John B., and George E.

THE LAUGHTONS .- David and Bernardus Laughton were In- dian traders who early had a store at Hardscrabble on the South Branch, but about 1527-28 removed to the Desplaines, where Riverside is now. The wife of Bernardus Laughton was Miss Sophia Bates, of Vermont, a sister if the wife of Stephen Forbes, who taught the first regular school in Chicago.

RI'SSEL. E. HEACOCK was born at Litchfield, Conn., In the year 1779. While yet quite yning he lost his father. Ile after- wards learned the trade of carpenter, and worked at it with but little intermission until he was over thirty, and occasionally in after life. in the intervals of a profession which never occupied his whole time, and largely in the improvement of his own property. Ile removed to St. Louis in 1806, where he earned liberal wages, making sometimes as much as ten to fifteen dollars a day. Ilis health becoming somewhat impaired through the prevailing mala- ria, his thoughts were turned to the legal profession through the influence of a cousin, Kusel Easton, a lawyer residing at St. Louis, Mr. Kaston offered him free use of hils library and office, andl he entered on a desultory course of study, earning money at his trade

Ri Zaocacho

in the more busy seasons. lle was admitted to the Bar in 18t6. Meanwhile he had become acquainted with his future wife, and was married, in 1816, at Brownsville, Jackson Co., III., in Rebecca, second daughter of William !)zborn, a soldier of the Revolution, who had emigrated from South Carolina to settle with his family in a free state. Three sons were born to them in 1817, 18t8, and 1820, On the 24th of January, 1821, Mr. leacock was licensed to practice by the supreme Court of Illinois. In 1823 his fourth son was born, William O., now (18831 of Delaware, lowa, to whom we are indebtel for many of the facts here given. In that year, too, moved by the representations of a brother, Reuben B., of Buffalo, N. Y., he left Jonesboro, Union Co., Ill., for Buffalo, where he residled over three years, and where a daughter was born to him in 1825. In 1827 Mr. Ilea- cock again turned his face westward, intending to settle at Fort Clark, now Peoria, Ill., and arrived at Chicago, July 4. Here he concluded to remain, and took up his residence within the enclosure of Fort Dearborn, at that time unoccupied by the military : and here a second daughter was born early in 1828. About May of that year he removed to a log cabin and claim, which he had purchased of Peter Lampsett. It was abwant the center of Section 32. Town- ship 39. Range 14; "about three-quarters of a mile south- cast of the lock at Bridgeport, and one mile due south of Hardscrabble." At one of the elections in 1830, he was judge and at another clerk : and in t33t, he was one of two commissioners appointed to lay out a road from Shelbyville to Chicago. He was licensed to keep tavern, and was one of the seven justices appointed

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HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

for Cook County, September to, 1831. He seems to have liven une of the first justices to hold court : but as lawyer ir Justice his business was not large in 1831. In 1832 it was but little better, Chicago's greatest interest of that year centering In the Blank Hawk War and the Asiatic cholera ; and leacock maile a living chietly by his trade, About 1832 there appeared in a Unffalo paper several letters from him to his brother, a merchant of that place. dewrilang Chicago and the territory immediately to the west, in glowing terms-the beauty of the country amil the fertility of its snit. Be referred to the land grant by Congress for the constrike. tinn of the Illinois & Michigan Canal : and, to show the entire feasibility of the project, stated that in high water bouts passer from the South Branch of the Chicago Kiver into the Desplaines. anıl that by this means the American Fur Company transported their annual supplies to their trading posts on the Illinois River and it- tributaries. "At a meeting for incorporation of Chicago as a town, August to.1833, of the thirteen votes cast his was the only one against the incorporatun, which showed at least exceptional tidelity toccun. viction and independenre of opinium, recognized as characteristic of the man, At the Indian treaty of September 26, 1833, he re- ceived one hundred dollars. Meanwhile in the summer of 1833. the Chicagu schnol section was subdivided, and all but four of its one hundred and forty-two blocks sold-at auction for $38,965, on a creda of one, two and three years on the petition of the inhabit- ants, " Several of these luts came into possession of Mr. Heaconk. among others, Lot 7, Bluck tt7, frontage south on .Adams Street. which he ilesigned for a residence. He was among the original subscribers to the first Chicago newspaper in November, 1533. That his children might be nearer school, he removed, in 1:34. into a house on the east bank of the South Branch, a little south of Randolph Street. The lands aremul Chicago leing thrown on the market in 1934, Mr. Hleacock becante as extensive a purchaser as his means would permit, being one of the must sanguine ment uf his day as to the great developntent in store for the then insig. miticant town. He pre-empted the quarter section upon which his purchase from Lampsett was situated, going to Danville, Vermillion tousty, the nearest land-office in 1834. for his land certificate. In the spring of 1335. he built a house on what he supposed was bis Int. only to find that he was on Munroe Sirret, nut Adams, whither he proceeded to remove it on rollers. " This love," says his son, "he occupiedl, off and on, until his death." llere his fifth som and youngest cold was born. Under date of August 5. 1835, we find him advertised as attorney, which is perhaps au imlication that he did not seek re-election as a Justice ; anil he appears as at- torney in the Chicago directories until 8848 Besides his profession. he cultivated some land at his place un the South Branch, calleil Heacuek's Point, where he had been licensed to keep a tavern in April, ES3t, Ilis investments in real estate were large for the perusal, in accord with his anticipations ed Chicago's future, aml Jed tn munch distress of mind and financial embarrassment in the years succeeding the panic of 1837. It was perhaps owing to the pressure of this misfortune in his declining years that he was dis- abled by a stroke of paralysis in 1843, from which he never com- pletely rallied. During the cholera epidemic of t849, he theil with his family to a farm he owned at Summit, where he himself, his wife. and two sons were attacked, and died in quick wece sion between the 25th and 30th of June. In the protracted discussion of the canal question, Afr. Hencock, with his strong individuality took an independent and isolated attitude in favor of a less deep and there. fore less expensive excavation, where he got the mistaken nick- name of " Shallow C'ut." With the name he received such flippant atal superficial censure from P'ress and platform as usually falls to the lot of those who dare alissem from the public opinion of the hour. Ilis views prevailed, however, in the end." " As a publir speaker." says Judge Goulrich. " he was pleasing, instructive and often clo- quent : his carnest aud straightforward caitspokennews, his fine cuss- versational powers, his generosity aml frankness of character, and his Inexhaustible fund of narrative and anceilute made hisn ment companionable," Iu politie's he was a Jackson Democrat, but also a Free-soiler, and an carnest adversary of the dominant influence of the South in national affairs, " Ile was not regarded as a bril. liant lawyer," continues Mr. Gorelrich, "and though the first on the groum) he was soon crowded out of practice by the younger and more active members of the predessiun." It is however truc that there were always lawyers enough for all the law business that offered ; and | leacock in those first years, 1827 to IS35, made more inoney as a carpenter than as a lawyer or justice. "Ile was," says Judge Caton, "a very fair lawyer :" amil adds : "When on one occasion my youritfal presumption got the better of me, the old man gave me the best dressing down I ever got."

THREE FRIENDLY CHIEFS AND THE OLDEST RESIDENT.

ALEXANDER Romssox ( Che-che-pin-qual, a chief of the United l'ottawatomies, Chippewas and Oftawas, was kom at Mack. " ti received ninely-five signatures, embracing most of sle principal citizens,

inaw, 1762, according to popular belief, and his age as stated at the time of his death, although the years of his life are somewhat alnubtfnl. His father was a Scotch trader who had been an officer in the British army, and his mother was an Ottawa woman." Ile married at Mackinaw and moved with his wife to the St. Joseph in Michigan, where he became an Indian trader, and. it is said, an associate of Juseph Bailly, With other friendly l'ottawatomies he did all in his puwer to shield the Americans from the fury of the hostile Inilians, at the time of, and alter, the Fort Dearborn may- socre. Ile arriveil on the scene too late to do anything to prevent the massacre, of which he was a witness ; but, on his return to St. Joseph, he received and sheltered the family of Mr. Kinzie, who received from himself and wife " all possible kindness and hospi- tality for several months." + Not contining their good deeds to the family of Mr. Kinzie, the generous host and hostess, Finding that C'aptain aml Mrs. Ileall, who had been brought to St. Joseph by Jean Baptiste \'handonnais, clerk of Mr. Kinzie, were in dan. ger of being recaptured and taken back to the Kankakee. he carried them safely in a bark canoe to Mackinaw, a distance of three hun- dreil miles, where they were surrendered to the British command- an1. It is not known just when Robinson settled in Chicago, hut he Itail been here, at least two seasons, and with Antoine tilmette hail cultivateil the field belonging to the fort, raising thereon corn. when C'aplain Bradley arrived to rebuild Fort Dearborn in isif, In 1425 his personal property was assessed at $200, by the l'eoria County Assessor. He served in 1823 and 1826 as Indian interpre ter umuler |tr. Wolcott, at a salary of $36s. during the latter year. Ile is recorded as a voter in t'23, 1826 and tsjo, and on June S of the latter year was licensed tu keep tavern in Chicago, He had owned prior to this time, a cabin or trading-pint at Hardscrabble. but vacated it before the6, On September 28, 1826, he was mar- ried by John Kinzie, J. P., to Catherine Chevalier, daughter of Francois aml Mary Ann Chevalier. Francreis Chevalier was chief edf a united band of Pottawatomies, Ottawas and Chippewas ; with his village at the Calumet. At his death, Robinson became chief of the band. At the treaty of I'rairie du Chien, July. t829, he was granted two sections of laml on the Desplaines ; by the treaty uf Camp Tippecanoe, October 20. 1832, a life annuity of $200, and by the Chicago treaty of September. 1833, an adilitional an- nuity of $300. Ilis exertiems, with those of Billy Caldwell, pre- vented the tribe from joining the Sauks in the Winnebago War of 1#27. and Black Hawk in 1532. During the latter part of his resi- dence in Chicago, he lived at Wolf Point, where he had a store or trading-luise. After the Indians were removed beyond the Mis- sissippi, he settled with his family on his reservation on the lies. plaines, where he lived until his death, which occurred April 22. 1572. His wife aliel August 7, 1460. They were both, with two sons and a daughter-in-law. buried un the bank of the river near the okel home,

BitLY CALDWELL (Sanganash), Que uif the most conspicuous, as well as one of the most notable, characters identified with the history of early Chicago, was an Indian half-lireed. He was the son of a C'olanel Callwell, an Irish officer in the British army stationed at Detroit, and was born about the year 1780. Ilis mother was a l'ottawatomie, and is said to have been remarkable for her beauty and intelligence. Billy received a good education at the Jesuit schools of Detroit and learned to speak and write the French and English languages fluently. lle also acquired the knowledge of a number of Indian dialect4. Little is known in

Ma Laweh Contained

detail of the events of his life, but we know that he took an active part against the Americans in the War of t812. In person he was large and commaniling, of great strength and power of endurance. At first his Indian name was "Straight Tree." on account of his fine appearance, but he is better known by the name of Sauganash. or the Englishman. Ile early fell under the influence of Tecum. seh, became the secretary of that warrior, and was intimately asso- ciated with him from 1807 until Tecumseh's death. Very little is known of Caldwell's career as a warriner, for upon the subject of the war he was always remarkably reticent. Hle undoubtedly was engageil in munt of the battles of actions in which Tecumseh was engaged, and he was often sent by his chief im important missions. lle and Shaw-bo-nee. do not appear to have been present at Fort Dearborn before or at the time of the massacre, but we find them

" W'is. Hist. Calls, t " Waubun." p. Iva.

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CHICAGO FROM 1816 TO 1830.

both here the next day when they were instrumental In saving the family of John Kinzie. It is altogether likely that they were the runners sent by Tecumseh to the Pottawatnmies to Inform them in regard to the fall of Fort Mackinac and to bring them as far as possible in league with him. The inchlent of his saving the Kin- zie family is related in the sketch given elsewhere of the life of John Kinzic. Callwell participated in the battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813, where Tecumseh was killed, but what active ser- vice he was engaged in after that is not known. The credential he gave Shawbonee shows that he was a captain in the British Indian Departinent as late as t8t6. That document reads as follows :

" This is to certify that the bearer of this name, Chamblic. was a faithful companion to me during the late war with the United States. The bearer jalned the Inte celebrated warrior Tecumseh, of the Shawnee nation, in the year t807, on the Wabash River, and remained with the above warrior from the commencement of hostilities with the United States. until our defeat at Moravian Town, on the Thames, October 5, 1813. 1 also have been witness to his intrepidity and courage as warrior on many occasions, and he showed a great deal of humanity to those unfortunate sons of Mars who fell into his hands.

"B. CALDWELL, Captain I. D.

"Amherstburg. August, t816."

At what time Caldwell took up his residence near Fort Dear- born is not definitely known, but probably about the year 1820. Chicago was still a trading post, but the fort had been rebuilt and an Indian Agent resided here. It was a central point where the Indians gathered to receive their annuities and du their trading. In 1826 we find Caldwell duty appointed Justice of the l'eace for Peoria County, but he probably was setlum called upon to act in his official capacity. He was a voter, and his name appears on the poll lists of 1826 and 1830. He usually officiated as one of the clerks of the election. By the treaty with the Pottawatomies held at Prairie du Chien in 1820, two and one-half sections of land on the Chicago River were granted to him, and by the subsequent treaties of 1832 and 1833 an annuity aggregating one thousand dollars was bestowed by the Government. The land was located on the North Branch, about six miles from the junction with the main river. This land he sohl at an early day. There was also a house built for him by the Department for Indian Affairs on the North Side near where is now the corner of State Street and Chi- cago Avenue. He was always, after his removal to Fort Dearborn. the unchangeable friend of the whites, and his influence with his tribe was exerted to preserve peace. In t$27 at the time of the threatened outbreak by the Winnebagoes, and when the latter were doing all in their power to engage the Potawatomies in a war with the whites, it was the influence of Caldwell and Shawbonee that pre- rented it. And again in 1832 he prevented his people from allying themselves with Black Hawk in his desperate raid on the white settlements. C'aldwell was very desirous of teaching his people the habits and customs of the whites. He wanted them to become educated and civilized. When Mr. Watkins started a schoot in 1832, Caklwell offered to pay the tuition and buy books and clothes for all Indian children who would attend school, if they would dress like the Americans, but it is stated none of them accepted. Neither did he approve the Indian custom of polygamy, and he never had but one wife. He found in her however a tem- per sufficiently hot for several, and his cabin is said to have often resounded with her animated tones, when rating her liege lord. She is said to have been a sister of the chief "Vellow Head", and a daughter of Nee-sent-ne-meg, one of the principal participators in the massacre of t812. They had ane son who died in youth. James M. Bucklin, the chief engineer of the Illinois & Michigan Canal in 1830, sayx of Caldwell:

" From Billy Caldwell, a half-breed, with some education and great intelligence, who had explored the country in every direction, I often procured valuable infunnation during my explorations, It was he who first suggested making a feeder of the Calamic River."

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History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 21

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