USA > Illinois > DuPage County > History of Du Page County, Illinois (Historical, Biographical) > Part 2
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At no other place in America had the In- clians lingered so long after the advent of the whites, and it is not strange that a great variety of associations had sprung up between the triple alliances of native, French and English races, as they had mingled together at the " Chicagou " portage. Here was the great carry- ing-place between the immense prairie country to the southwest, and the lakes and along the shores of Lake Michigan, from .. Chicagou " to the straits. Indian canoes were frequently passing to and fro during the summer season, and Mud Lake and the Desplaines River was in this direct line of travel. The first interest that drove the American element to Chicago was the Indian trade, and the American Fur Company was its first representative. Most of those engaged by this company were men bred on the frontier, and felt no repngnance toward the Indians, but on the contrary not a few felt a friendship for them, strengthened by years of companionship in the fascinating sports of border life, which not only level social distinc- tions, but accept a good fellowship through a rough exterior, intolerable to the uninitiated civilian, whose motto is " the tailor makes the man." Many of the Indians could make nice discriminations in issues when natural rights were at stake, and the higher law to them was a tribunal from which there was no appeal. This is not too much to say of them till they were brutalized by bad whisky, and their morals corrupted by the vices without being elevated
by the virtues of the whites. The former they could imitate, but the latter were sealed books to them. The amount of goods dispensed to them at Chicago to fulfill treaty stipulations, was often very large, and in order to distribute them equitably, men were chosen for the service whose personal acquaintance with the Indians would enable them to do it in the most satisfactory manner. On these occasions the hugh piles of goods, consisting largely of In- dian blankets were dispensed by peace-meal to the different Indian families, according to their necessities, but sometimes a discarded Indian lassie, whose place had been substituted by a white wife, came in for an extra share of finery as an offset for lacerated affections-a cheap way of satisfying such claims. Nowa- days it costs as many thousand dollars as it did then yards of cheap broadcloth.
The removal of the Pottawatomies from the country was effected in 1835-36, as before stated by Col. J. B. F. Russell.
Previous to the death of his widow, which took place in the present year 1882, she al- lowed the writer to take items from ber hus- band's journal, and the following is one of the items :
" The first party of Indians left Chicago Sep- tember 21, 1835, with the Chiefs Robinson, Caldwell and La Fromborse, and proceeded to their place of rendezvous twelve miles from Chicago, on the Desplaines-a place of meeting usual on such occasions. I met them in coun- cil and presented to them the object of the meeting, and the views of the Government re- lative to their speedy removal to their new country. They wished to defer answering what I had said to them for two days, to which I consented. Sunday, 28th, provided teams and transportation for the removal of the Indians."
The journal next proceeds to detail the par- ticulars of his thankless toil in satisfying the real and whimsical wants of his captions charge, who honored him with the appellation of father,
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HISTORY OF DU PAGE COUNTY.
and vexed him with complaints continually. Their course lay westward through Du Page County, and their first stopping place was on Skunk River, in Iowa. Patogushah started with his band to winter at this place. His was the first party to start independent of Govern- ment assistance. Robinson had command of a separate party, Caldwell another, Wabunsie another, and Holliday another, and Robert Kin- zie and Mr. Kirchival assisted Mr. Russell in superintending the whole. Fort Des Moines lay on their route to Fort Leavenworth, near which was their reservation on the Missouri River. They were to draw their supplies from the fort as stipulated by the Government at the treaty, after they had settled themselves in their new home adjacent to it.
Two years after their settlement, owing to feelings of hostility which the frontier settlers felt toward them, they were removed to Council Bluffs, from whence, after remaining a few years, they were again removed to the Kansas Territory, where they now live, diminished in numbers from 5,000 at the time they left Illi- nois to less than half that number, but they are now in a prosperous condition. The report from the office of Indian affairs in Kansas Sep- tember 1, 1878, says : "The Pottawatomies areadvancing in education, morality, Christian- ity and self-support. A majority of them have erected substantial homes, planted fruit trees, and otherwise beautified their surroundings. The average attendance at a school which the Government has provided for them is twenty- nine, from an enrollment of forty-four. The school buildings are well supplied with facili- ties for boarding and lodging the pupils, and also for teaching the females household duties.
This reservation contains 77,357 acres of land in Jackson County. Their wealth in individual property amounts to $241,650. On their farms they have reapers, mowers, planters, cultiva- tors, and other agricultural machinery, all of the latest approved patterns. Such is the history,
and present condition of the people we drove from the soil of Du Page County, or rather our civilization obliged them to sell out to us, in- asmuch as we were mutually unendurable to each other. The bones of their fathers are now a component part of the dust beneath our feet, with no stone to perpetuate their memory, except those of Alexander Robinson and Sha- bonee, both of whom were esteemed by all who knew them for their many manly and benevo- lent traits of character, and whose lofty virtues deserve historic acknowledgment. A tomb- stone marks the grave of each, which is still beheld with respect by many who well remem- ber them. As already stated, ere the Indians had left the country, their grounds had begun to be claimed by the pioneer settlers, and his plowshare had already scarred the soil never before turned up to the mellowing influence of the sun.
The Du Page River had, from time imme- morial, been a stream well known. It took its name from a French trader who settled on this stream below the fork previous to 1800. Hon. H. W. Blodgett, of Waukegan, informs the writer that J. B. Beanbien had often spoken to him of the old Frenehman, Du Page, whose sta- tion was on the bank of the river, down toward its mouth, and stated that the river took its name from him. The county name must have the same origin. Col. Gurdon S. Hubbard, who came into the country in 1818, informs the writer that the name Du Page, as applied to the river then, was universally known, but the trader for whom it was named lived there before his time. Mr. Beaubien says it is pronounced Du Pazhe (a having the sound of ah, and that the P should be a capital). This was in reply to Mr. Blodgett's inquiry of him concerning the matter.
The county organization of the great North- west grew into, or, rather, was, reduced into its present conditions by successively subdividing the immense areas over which its first courts
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HISTORY OF DU PAGE COUNTY.
held jurisdiction after Territories and States had been established.
After the conquest of the Illinois country by Gen. George Rogers Clark, in 1778, according to the old Virginia claim, the whole Northwest was a part of her territory. This claim rested on her original charter from King James (which, ac- cording to the view taken of it by Thomas Paine, was absurd). But, without discussing its merits, let us record the commendable part this State took to preserve the fruits of Clark's conquest.
In the spring succeeding it (1779), Col. John Todd, under a commission from Patrick Henry, then Governor of Virginia, came to Vincennes, on the Wabash and Kaskaskia, Ill. (over both of which places the American flag waved), for the purpose of establishing a temporary govern- ment, according to the provisions of the act of the General Assembly of Virginia, bearing date of October, 1778. On the 15th of June, 1779, he issued the following proclamation :
ILLINOIS COUNTY, TO WIT:
Whereas, from the fertility and beautiful situation of the lands bordering on the Mississippi, Ohio, Illi- nois and Wabash Rivers, the taking up of the usual quantity of land heretofore allowed for a settlement by the Government of this country:
I do therefore issue this proclamation, strictly en- joining all persons whatsoever from making any new settlements upon the flat lands of the said rivers or within one league of said lands, unless in manner and form of settlements as heretofore made by the French inhabitants, until further orders herein given. And in order that all the elaims to lands iu said county may be fully known, aud some method provided for perpetuating by record the just claims, every inhabitant is required, as soon as conven- iently may be, to lay before the person, in each district appointed for that purpose, a memorandum of his or her land, with copies of all their vouchers; and when vouchers have never been given or are lost, such depositions or certificates as will tend to support their claims-the memorandum to mention the quantity of land, to whom originally granted, and when; deducing the title through the various occupants to the present possessor. The number of adventurers who will shortly overrun this country
renders the above method necessary, as well to as- certain the vacant lands as to guard against tres- passes, which will probably be committed on lands not on record.
Given under my hand and seal at Kaskaskia the 15th day of June, in the third year of the Common- wealth, 1779. JOHN TODD, JR.
The foregoing is the first official act of the Americans to organize civil government over the Northwest. The Virginia cession of 1784, rendered it a nullity, and the entire coun- try with its 2,000 French inhabitants, and its 10,000 Indian population was virtually under no national jurisdiction during a period of several years.
Even when St. Clair was appointed Gov- ernor in 1787, the English still held possession of Detroit, Michilimacinac, St. Joseph on Lake Michigan, Prairie du Chien and Sandusky, and contrary to treaty stipulations, retained these posts till July, 1796. This retention did not bring on any conflict of authority between St. Clair and Lord Dorchester, who then, as Governor of Canada, extended his rule over all the towns on the upper lakes, and Oswego on Lake Ontario. The reason for this was because Washington gave instructions to St. Clair to do nothing which might offend the English, but wait until amicable negotiations should secure our rights. The attitude of Spain was then a constant menace and threat against the North- west. This power held the mouth of the Mis- sissippi River, and all the Territory on its west side indefinitely-perhaps to the Pacific coast, (if she could circumvent the English in her claims to what she ultimately held there). Early in 1779, war was declared between these two powers ; and the Spanish of St. Louis, in their zeal to strike a blow at the English, formed an expedition against the British post at St. Joseph, under command of Capt. Don Eugenio Pierre. It started January 2, 1781, with a force of sixty-five men, surprised and took the place, and by virtue of this conquest made an attempt (absurd as it was fruitless) to annex the terri-
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HISTORY OF DU PAGE COUNTY.
tory intervening to Spain, which would be all Northern Illinois. Balked in this attempt at the treaty of Paris, which established the Mis- sissippi as our Western boundary, Spain sub- sequently closed the port of New Orleans against the commerce of the Northwest, and contrary to treaty stipulations of 1795, retained possession of Natchez and one other port on the east bank of the Mississippi, at the same time forbidding the navigation of the river to the western people, except on condition that they would secede from the Atlantic States and make themselves an independent nation under protection of the Spanish Government. These were the conditions on which they might secure the Mississippi as a thoroughfare to the seas.
Gen. James Wilkinson, after the death of Gen. Wayne, succeeded to the command of the United States forces in the West, and to him the Baron de Carondelet, the Spanish Govern- or of Louisiana, sent a messenger named Thomas Powers, with a request that he would send no foree against the posts on the east bank of the Mississippi, held by Spain, but would wait for the delivery of the posts till the matter could be negotiated amicably. Powers, at the same time, tried to bribe the people of the Northwest to declare themselves independent, and offered them $100,000 and the free navigation of the Mississippi if they would do so-a paltry sum whereby to corrupt a State, even if the State were capable of the treachery, and its record serves rather to reveal the low Spanish esti- mate of patriotism than any honor of which an American need be proud, for having rejected the bribe. Orders were issued for the arrest of Powers, as soon as the nature of his mission became known to Washington, but he evaded pursuit and found his way back to his master, the feeble old dotard, who was Spanish Gov- ernor of New Orleans at the time.
Great as his folly was in attempting to divide the union of the States, the matter was a cause
of mueh solicitude and anxiety in the minds of our statesmen at the time, and it required their utmost exertions to prevent armed expeditions from the Northwest from going down the river and forcing a passage to the gulf. John Jay, one of our ablest men, counseled mod- eration, under an assurance that by waiting a short time, the force of events would secure our rights without war. These rights on the Lower Mississippi were not secured fully till 1798, during the summer of which year the Spaniards reluctantly gave up their forts on the east bank of the Mississippi, and Gen. Wilkinson erected Fort Adams on the spot occupied by one of them, which was just above the thirty-first degree of north latitude. From that time henceforward, the navigation of the Mississippi was never closed against the commerce of the Northwest, till by the rebels in 1861, who kept it closed three years, when by the courage of not a few Du Page County soldiers, with others, it was opened.
It has already been stated that the whole Illinois country had been officially organized as Illinois County by action of the Governor of Virginia in 1779, which became annulled in 1784 when that State ceded the Northwest to the United States.
Then there followed a hiatus in organized government here till St. Clair, who was ap- pointed Governor in 1787, had established courts in the Northwest the next year, in 1788. These courts did not extend their jurisdiction to the Illinois country till 1790, at which time Illinois Territory became organized as one of the four counties in the Northwest, and was named St. Clair County, and was represented in the Territorial Legislature held at Fort Washington (Cincinnati), by Shadrack Bond.
On May 7, 1800. when the Territory of In- diana was set off, which embraced both of the present States of Illinois and Indiana, the same general laws which had hitherto prevailed in the Northwest were continued in operation in
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HISTORY OF DU PAGE COUNTY.
Indiana Territory, and no civil subdivisions into new counties were made, till the 28th of April, 1809, at which time Illinois Territory was set off and divided into two counties-Randolph and St. Clair-by Nathaniel Pope, Secretary under Ninian Edwards, its Governor.
St. Clair County embraced its Northern por- tion, including the present county of Du Page, which then had only transient white inhabitants in the employ of French fur traders.
The next change in counties made was Sep- tember 14, 1812, when Governor Edwards es- tablished the county of Madison, which em- braced the whole portion of the territory north of a line extending along the south side of the present county of Madison due eastwardly to the Wabash River, which included the present connty of Du Page.
No further civil divisions were made while Illinois remained a territory, but an issue came up, on bringing it into the Union, of vital im- portance not only to the locality of Du Page and its adjacent counties, but to the nation itself.
The terms by which the Northwest was ceded by Virginia to the United States pro- vided for the number of States into which it might be subdivided, which was to be five at most, and the ordinance also provided that in the event of five States being made of the ter- ritory, two should be constituted out of the territory north of a due east and west line drawn through the territory, intersecting the southern extremity of Lake Michigan.
This being the law, the people of Illinois had no expectation that the northern boundary of the State could go farther north than this point when it should apply for admission into the Union. Wisconsin Territory had already been set off in 1805, with its southern limits on a line dne west from the southern limits of the lake, in accordance with what nobody had yet questioned as the construction of the law.
Thus matters stood when it was proposed to
bring Illinois Territory into the Union, in 1818. Judge Nathaniel Pope then analyzed the whole situation, and, by the force of his logic, explained away the legal objections to the extension of the State of Illinois to a point farther north than the act of cession from Virginia had provided as just told.
First let us state his arguments for the change, and these were the substance of them : Lake Michigan, connected by water communi- cation with the Eastern States, and indissolu- bly bound the interests of the country adjacent to it to them. The Mississipppi River and its tributaries exerted the same in- fluence in a southern direction with the South. Give Illinois a good frontage on Lake Michi- gan, with the port of Chicago the terminus of the canal to be built, and a mighty State would be formed, holding the destinies of both sec- tions within its grasp-the middle link in the chain, and the strongest one. Here was an object worth working for, and he laid the case before Congress to bring it about. He con- tended that Illinois could claim the whole of Wisconsin if Congress chose to give her such dimensions, inasmuch as the ordinance left it optional with the United States to divide the territory into only three States, in which case Indiana must reach from the Ohio River to the British possessions, and Illinois from Cairo to the British possessions. But that Wisconsin was powerless to establish a boundary which should conflict with the powers of the United States, who had power to embrace her whole area within the limits of Illinois. He carried his measure through both Houses, and the northern line of Illinois was established on the parallel of 42° 30', where it now is. If he had failed in this, Du Page County would now have been a part of Wisconsin, and perhaps Illinois would not have had so strong a Union element when the issue came up in 1861 whether the United States was to be divided or rent in two.
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HISTORY OF DU PAGE COUNTY.
The following are Judge Pope's words on the subject, which, as we look back upon the events which have since taken place, seem to have been prophetic : "A very large com- merce of the Center and South would be found both upon the lakes and upon the rivers. As- sociations in business, in interest and of friend- ship would be formed, both with the North and the South. A State thus situated, having such a decided interest in the commerce and in the preservation of the whole confederaey, can never consent to disnnion; for the Union cannot be dissolved without a division and disruption of the State itself."
Du Page County is a part of this strip of land, the title of which was held in dispute be- tween the States of Illinois and Wisconsin, and on the decision of the issue which decided the question of ownership to it, being a momentous one ; for it must not be forgotten that when the "tug of war" came in the Legislature of the State as to vital questions on sustaining the Union, the loyalists had nothing to spare in or- der to turn the scale, and then it was that the influence of the part of the State which laid be- tween its northern line and a line drawn due west from the southern limits of Lake Michigan, suddenly arose into prominence, and verified the arguments that Judge Pope made in 1818 in favor of the line of 42' 30', as the northern line of the State; and here it should not be omitted, that the influence of our Mr. Lincoln himself, potent as it was, in the immaculate foot-prints which he had left behind in the State, before he left it for the White House, though it had an equal share with the northern tier of counties in preserving the unconditional loyalty of the State, was barely sufficient. These remin- iscences are no dream ; they are founded on reality, and must ever stand as a memento that our county, together with adjacent ones, was in that crisis the local hinge on which the issue turned, and to record this in history is but an act of justice.
Crawford County was among the first organ- ized on the admission of the State into the Union, and included all the territory north of its present locality. It was soon reduced in its area by the organization of Clark County, whose dimensions extended from its present boundary over the entire northern part of the State like its predecessor, which had in turn been laid out on a grand scale, and reduced in proportion as the progress of settlements had made it neces- sary to subdivide the great northern wilderness into new counties.
The next change in counties affecting the northern part of the State was January 31, 1821, under Gov. Bond, at which time Pike County was organized, which took in all the ter- ritory in the State north of the southern line of the present Pike County, the Illinois and the Kankakee Rivers.
Du Page was then a part of Pike County till the 28th of January, 1823, when the county of Fulton was established, comprising all of Pike County except the portion south of the north line of the present Fulton County, which change brought Du Page under the jurisdiction of Ful- ton County, of which Lewistown was the county seat.
All these civil changes were previous to any permanent white settlement, and there is no record that any of the traders or Indians whose erratic habits gave a temporary residence in what is now our county, ever applied to the constituted authorities for any purpose. Why should they? If any of the traders had a dis- pute, they settled it on the spot, perhaps by a " knock down argument," or if they wanted to marry any of the brunette beauties of the prai- rie, first they must be accomplished in the manly arts of hunting, or their chances would be slender of winning them. Next (to do the Indians justice), if any of the daughters of the higher-minded class of Indians had made themselves indispensable to the happiness of any of the traders, either French or American,
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HISTORY OF DU PAGE COUNTY.
it required no small measure of eireumspec- tion to gain the father's consent to the marriage, and to do this a sound body and a reasonable discrimination of the principles of justice on the part of the suitor was necessary.
These essentials being satisfactorily ar- ranged, the marriage itself was only a promise of fidelity on both sides, and did not in the es- timation of these sons of the wilderness need the record of official authority either to make it binding or to strengthen its force. A few of these marriages were permanent, and the writer has interviewed the offspring of some of them who are now esteemed members of society amongst us.
Peoria County was the next civil division under which Du Page fell. It was organized June 13, 1825, with the following boundaries: " Beginning where the line between Town- ships 11 and 12 north intersects the Illinois River ; thence west with said line to the range line between Ranges 4 and 5 east ; thence south with said line to the range line between Townships 7 and 8 ; thenee east to the line be- tween Ranges 5 and 6; thence south to the middle of the main channel of the Illinois River ; thence up along the middle of the main channel of said river to the place of be- ginning." On the 7th of December, the county was divided into three Election Precincts, of which Alexander Woolcott, John Kinzie and John Baptiste Beaubien were Judges.
John Dixon was Clerk of the county, and so remained till his resignation, May 1, 1830, when Stephen Stillman was appointed.
Cook was the next organized county of the now reduced area of Northern Illinois wilder- ness. It took in at first the present counties of Lake, MeHenry, Will, Du Page and Iroquois, the act organizing it bearing date of March 1, 1831. It had three voting precincts-the Chi- cago, the Hickory Creek and the Du Page, the latter of which included the present county of Du Page and portions of Will.
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