How did land from Niles, Illinois become a small subdivision of Chicago on Touhy Avenue? Thank George Wittbold.

Northwest Side, where winding cul de sacs hit the strip malls of Touhy Avenue and the subdivisions bear the name of the natural features they tore down to make the subdivisions, there’s a little blip of Chicago carved out of Niles, Illinois.

There are no markers that say the blip is still Chicago. On the south side of the street and down a touch there’s a small sign that welcomes people to the North Edgebrook neighborhood of Chicago’s Forest Glen community, but on the north side of Touhy the blip is nondescriptive from the suburbs.

There’s charming older homes there. It’s a single subdivision, about 600 feet east-to-west and 1,300 north-to-south. It’s Niles to the north, east and west, but it’s legally Chicago. There’s no reason it should be Chicago, or at least not a reason that doesn’t trace to a 1920s land boom and an empire of flowers.

Heading north on Meade Avenue past the storage locker business on Touhy brings you to a subdivision that’s what subdivisions were meant to be. No megamansions that scream of status, just rows of small, single-family houses. It’s relaxing there, as Meade curves into Sherwin and then McVicker. It’s comfortable. The neighborhood feels friendly and welcoming.

The blip entered into Chicago on July 7, 1928 along with the neighborhoods of North Edgebrook and Wildwood, according to the map below.

1930 Chicago Annexation Map.

In 1928, florist Louis Wittbold wanted to turn his family’s massive properties of nurseries, orchards and greenhouses into real estate, assembling a tract of 165 acres from landowners including himself, his brother Otto Wittbold and a man named Herman Wagner.

In “what is called a record for simultaneous approval of a subdivision by county, city and regional planning authorities,” according to the Chicago Tribune, the prominent landowner pushed the deal through in March 1928. In May of that year, the land was annexed to Chicago. The homes are post-war, according to the Cook County Assessor’s Office. That’s a gap of more than two decades between homes and the land deal. 

The Wittbold family story is fascinating in its own right. Louis and Otto’s father George Wittbold, former gardener to the King of Hanover's estate, came to Chicago in 1857. He set up shop in Lakeview, soon owning huge greenhouses at School, and Halsted streets in modern-day Boystown neighborhood.

American Florest Advertisement, August 15, 1889.

As the area developed, George got in on the game, turning his Lakeview land into apartments and moving his nurseries and greenhouse operations to the north of Chicago’s Edgebrook neighborhood, which had been part of the city since 1889.

Greenhouses of the George Wittbold Company in Edgebrook, Chicago, Illinois. 

Nursery and Greenhouses of the George Wittbold Company.

Packing House and Employees of the George Wittbold Company.

Interior of a George Wittbold Company Greenhouse.

The George Wittbold Company did the original landscaping for Wrigley Field in 1914 when it was called Weeghman Park, and bragged about it in advertisements. (No, they didn’t plant the ivy, which was added in 1937.)

And in the 1920s, his son Louis pushed a massive land deal through local appoval.

The Wittbold Reality Company at 134 North LaSalle Street, Chicago, purchased the last bit of land before the deal was completed was 17 acres from Herman Wagner — “the Kellen tract.” The blip isn’t quite 17 acres and it’s a little west of the Touhy and Austin address the Tribune gave for the sale.

The tract of land was known as Wittbold's New Indian Boundary Park subdivision № 2. The entire tract of 173 acres was annexed to the City of Chicago. The property was surounded by three golf courses and the Edgebrook forest preserves.

The whole tract of land is said to have cost Wittbold approximately $750,000. The property extends from the right-of-way of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific, westward along Touhy avenue for a mile.

The land itself is of historical interest, being a part of an old grant made by the United States Government to Billy Caldwell, son of a British army officer. Billy's mother was a member of the Sauganash Indian tribe.

So why is there a blip of Chicago carved out of Niles? Because that’s the land Louis Wittbold owned. Why did he own a little blip just north of his family’s massive growing yards and acres of greenhouse? We may never know. Maybe it was offices, an extra greenhouse or just part of the 17 acres he picked up when Herman Wagner wanted in on the subdivision game. Whatever the reason, the long-dead florist lives on in the boundaries of Chicago.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

The Institute of Slavery in Illinois.

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In historical writing and analysis, PRESENTISM introduces present-day ideas and perspectives into depictions or interpretations of the past. Presentism is a form of cultural bias that creates a distorted understanding of the subject matter. Reading modern notions of morality into the past is committing the error of presentism. Historical accounts are written by people and can be slanted, so I try my hardest to present fact-based and well-researched articles.

Facts don't require one's approval or acceptance.

I present [PG-13] articles without regard to race, color, political party, or religious beliefs, including Atheism, national origin, citizenship status, gender, LGBTQ+ status, disability, military status, or educational level. What I present are facts — NOT Alternative Facts — about the subject. You won't find articles or readers' comments that spread rumors, lies, hateful statements, and people instigating arguments or fights.

FOR HISTORICAL CLARITY

When I write about the INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, I follow this historical terminology:

• The use of old commonly used terms, disrespectful today, i.e., REDMAN or REDMEN, SAVAGES, and HALF-BREED are explained in this article.

Writing about AFRICAN-AMERICAN history, I follow these race terms:

• "NEGRO" was the term used until the mid-1960s.
• "BLACK" started being used in the mid-1960s.
• "AFRICAN-AMERICAN" [Afro-American] began usage in the late 1980s.

— PLEASE PRACTICE HISTORICISM —

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PAST IN ITS OWN CONTEXT.

 

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Illinois, at least in five southern counties (St. Clair, Gallatin, Randolph, Edwards and Pope), did indeed embrace slavery as an institution. The supporting documents to this long-known but little-acknowledged chapter in Prairie State history have been brought to light by the Illinois State Archives through its Illinois Servitude and Emancipation Records Index from 1722-1863.

There is no mistaking what these handwritten records are: grants of emancipation; actual bills of Sale; lists of slaves being auctioned; even lists of slaves given as gifts through wills, deeds, or estate settlements. Over 2,000 names of Indians and Negroes are included in the Servitude and Emancipation Index. The records provide a fascinating and disturbing glimpse into early Illinois history.

THE FRENCH COLONIAL PERIOD

Many records date from the early French colonial period (1722-1790) and the American Period (1790-1863). The French-owned slaves, both Indian and Negro (the language used in the original documents and, for consistency, used in the listings). The French prized their slaves considered them bien-foncier (valuable property) and registered them as such.

A problem arose in 1787 when the French wanted to keep their slaves. At the time, Illinois became part of the Northwest Territory, which forbade slavery. The French influence led to the extension of slavery beyond the 1790s.

Illinoisans knew but overlooked slavery -- even until the 1860s. After statehood in 1818, the General Assembly instituted "Black Codes," which allowed indentured servitude (service to another for one to ninety-nine years). The black codes also denied legal protection to Negroes and required them to register with local governments. Blacks in Illinois were required to file a certificate of emancipation within their home county to prove the status of "free Negroes." Black laws limited the rights of blacks and, in essence, established pseudo-slavery in Illinois.

The earliest records in the state's Servitude and Emancipation Index date from 1722. Some servants' names are blank; some only have a first name listed, indicating either an unknown last name or no last name; some have full names listed, often that of their owner. Physical descriptions often accompany the mention of an Indian or Negro: "crooked left middle finger," "scar on the left temple," "5' 3," "scar on left foot from an axe wound." The French treated their slaves as items that could be bartered, traded, and sold. In 1773, Jacque LaCourse sold a "parcel of land in the prairie of Kaskaskia for a Negro boy, age 12 or 13" (no name given). Another Frenchman, Jean Huberdeau, sold a house and two lots in Kaskaskia to Antoine Bienvenu for a "mulatto girl 17-18 years old." In 1725, Onesime Fortunay sold a four-year-old male Negro child for "600, 10 x 1 walnut planks 10 feet long."

The French occasionally mortgaged slaves, leased their services at public auctions, gave slaves as gifts, or used slaves as settlements in estates. One slave was listed as "collateral for a loan" in 1793. Another notes that a "7-year-old Negro girl valued at 300 livres" (pounds) was given as a wedding gift to Paul Reame and Marie Louise Lasonde on January 30, 1743." An estate settlement in 1739 records this transaction: "To Catherine is given a Negro boy named Ignace."

From reading these documents, French settlers in Illinois were very matter-of-fact about the Sale and disbursement of their human property.

"Sold for 1500 livres in 'flour, hams or money, Chocolas, a male Negro ─ 1740."

"Female Indian slave sold for 800 livres in 'notes or flour' ─ 1740"

"Gift of 2 Indian slaves to my minor children, Marie and Pierre ─ from Marie Rose Terier in St. Clair County on December 20, 1830." A Christmas present, perhaps?

These sales were not limited to the local area. In one instance, money for an Illinois slave sale ended up halfway around the world: "Sale of male Negro slave named Mouca, a negress named Marie and their children, a boy, Joseph, and 2 girls, Marie and Ursulc... for 4500 livres, of which Vivareine (Jean Batiste Vivareine) has been paid 2900 livres. The remainder is owed to the Royal Indies Company."

The Index includes 56 Indian slaveowners, and not only do the notations provide information about the Indian leaders but also insight into the relationship between several Indian tribes and the French. A dated June 28, 1745, trade agreement between Alarie J. Baptiste and Guillaume La Doucier clarifies that "traders agree to abide by various rules, including they will buy no Nakitoches or Chonis (Shawnee) slaves."

One record provides information about The Fox Nation and its chief. A court document from the future St. Clair County dated June 8, 1765, states: "Marie, a free Fox Indian woman, formerly serving Chauvin. She was taken prisoner by the French during their war with the Fox. Due to ill-treatment, she left Chauvin, who illegally traded her to Trudeau for 2 young Indian slaves. Court has seen the written testimony of May 16, 1765, by the great chief of the Fox nation, that his niece is a free woman, and also the testimony of the great chief Mequac. The court wishes to avoid a war with the Fox nation and finds for the plaintiff, who is declared free... Chauvin is ordered to return the 2 slaves he took in exchange for her."

Other listings offer insight into another tribe, the Chickasaws (sometimes spelled "Chicacha"). The deposition of Pierre Chabot, dated November 11,1740, concerns a "female Chicacha slave who formerly belonged to the late Charles Neau... [Said] slave was returned to the Chicachas who came to find her... with a promise of reimbursement to Neau." In a July 2, 1770 petition regarding a fugitive slave, we learn of the Chickasaws. "Fagot La Garciniere has learned from some recently arrived Chickasaws that a mulatto he sent 2 years ago to Blouin to be sold had escaped to the Chickasaw village with an Indian of Blouin's last December and is now in the hands of English traders there. They will repay the traders, collect the slaves for Fagot, and distribute gifts to the Indians."

These records are crucial to understanding people, places, occupations, and terminology. A bill of Sale from April 25, 1748, identifies the parties and their "sale of a female Indian slave, about 30 years old, by Marie Fafard, wife of Louis Netivier of Fort de Chartres, to Pierre Messager, a trader in Illinois, for 400 livres in 100 livres of powder and 50 ecus (coins) of cloth, at port prices."

THE AMERICAN PERIOD
The archives slave registry also contains 649 items documenting emancipations. On February 7, 1827, Martha Praten of Gallatin County freed twenty-two slaves, ages one to twenty-eight, some bearing no last name, others with Praten's surname. Her handwritten statement reads: "I, Martha Praten of Gallatin, to carry into effect the will of my late husband.. .and to affect my own will... do freely and voluntarily emancipate, set at large, and restore to their natural liberty the following named Negro slaves of mine which I have raised myself and brought out to this state for the purpose aforesaid." Included are Hercules, Ailsy, Lucy, Anna, and Elsy-Anne.

A year later, on July 21, 1828, John McCallister emancipated 61 slaves, ages 1 to 80. Ponso, a forty-five-year-old slave; his wife, Jenny; and their nine children were all freed, and Ponso was given all of McCallister's carpenter tools upon the latter's death.

Although emancipations were occurring, Illinoisans continued to indenture their "servants." Throughout both the French and American periods, Indians and Negroes willingly indentured themselves. On December 17, 1810, George, a twenty-year-old Negro, became an indentured servant to David Black in Pope County for 60 years-- until December 17, 1870. The record, however, doesn't indicate an indenture or willingness on the part of George to serve. The history shows the parties knew they were entering a business transaction, as David Black "purchased George from Thomas Dunlanson of Christian County in Kentucky for $400." One can only wonder what happened to George after his servitude was outlawed in Illinois before his "service" expired.

In some indenturing, the servant was paid for agreeing to be indentured. In 1794, George, a free Negro, agreed to serve William Musick for seven years for $200. An 1808 record notes that a woman named Phebe "obligates herself to serve William Morrison for 4 years in return for 10 cents." Obviously, some cases included participants who were already free but compelled by the need for money to sign indentures.

Some slaves paid to obtain their freedom. An emancipation document executed on June 19, 1828, between William Davis and his slave, David Davis, states: "For the payment of $100 paid every June 19 until 1831, William Davis will set free and emancipate David as soon as the payments are made, $300 total."

While some were eager to emancipate, others, including influential leaders of the state, chose to continue as slave owners. Four Illinois governors owned slaves: Shadrach Bond, the first Illinois governor (1818-1822), had two women indentured to him in 1807, Hannah and Prudence Hansberry, aged 16. According to the 1820 census, Bond owned 14 slaves. When he died in 1832, he bequeathed 9 slaves to his wife and daughters.

Illinois' second governor, Edward Coles (1822-1826), inherited 20 slaves from his father before living in Illinois. To the shock of his family, Coles freed his slaves, came West, and eventually bought 6,000 acres near Edwardsville, hiring some of his freed slaves to work his farm. In Coles' inaugural address, he asked for abolishing the indenture system and Black Codes, called for the kidnapping of freed blacks to stop, and supported emancipation for descendants of slaves brought to Illinois during the French period. His speech openly accused Illinoisans of practicing a system of slavery that many refused to admit. Two years later, the Illinois legislature had an anti-slavery majority, but little changed.

Illinois' third governor, Ninian Edwards (1826-1830), Mary Todd Lincoln's brother-in-law, bought and sold indentured servants, rented them out for forced labor, and did not free his slaves, who worked on his Kentucky plantation. In an 1832 register of Blacks, Edwards lists his slave, Charles, as "my property."

Illinois' fourth governor, John Reynolds (1830-1834), owned seven slaves and emancipated them over 20 years.

The last emancipation documented in the Archives' Illinois Servitude Index did not occur until 1863, when Marva Reed was legally freed from Aaron Shook in St. Clair County. That same year the Illinois legislature proposed a resolution objecting to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, but then-Governor Richard Yates dismissed the General Assembly before such resolutions could be enacted. It wasn't until 1865 that Illinois and the rest of the country ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery in the nation.

The Servitude and Emancipation Index also opens a window on early Illinois social mores. Slave Marie Jeanne was accused of murdering her child on July 15, 1748. The court record reports:

"denunciation... by Jerome Matis, of a Negro slave leased to him by Madame Lasource, acting as guardian of Marie Vincennes. The slave was pregnant when she was leased to him; on July 3, he noticed she seemed near to delivery, but she denied being pregnant. On July 4, she gave birth to a soft mass of flesh, but not to a child, in the presence of Madame Beauvais, at the house of Joseph Braseau, where .Matis lives. On the following Sunday, July 7, Monsieur and Madame Braseau found the arm and parts of the skull of a child at their doorstep, and upon searching the premises, found a grave and several other pieces of the body in the pig sty and the barn. Matis accuses the slave of murdering her child. Jeanne 'denies having murdered her infant and also denies any knowledge of having born a living child."

Jeanne was imprisoned in Kaskaskia until the next convoy shipped her to New Orleans to stand before the "Superior Council." Another slave, Catherine, witnessed the attempted suicide of her owner, Jacque Felix Theodore Carton, on August 2, 1786. Neighbors, upon hearing a shot in Carton's house, "opened a window there and observed him on the floor near his bed in a cloud of gun smoke, two pistols by his side, one was recently fired. Carton's left side showed a powder burn and a bullet hole. Catherine, his Negro slave, was in the corner of the room then and went to the parish priest... who found Carton still breathing."

Poor treatment of slaves occurred in both the French and American periods. Judge Delaoere Flaucour passed judgment against a slaveowner on May 7, 1743, for "Interrogation and flogging of several Negro and Indian slaves accused of plotting to desert and stealing a pirogue (a long narrow canoe made from a single tree trunk)." Judge Flaucour convicted the slaves of desertion but suspended their sentence on the pleas of the master, who promised to watch his slaves more carefully. The judge also ordered that "the Slave Code be read aloud for 3 Sundays, to prevent the plea of ignorance in such cases."

Another slave, John Baxe, who assaulted his owner, Francois Bastien, received the following sentence: "To make public apology upon his knees to Bastien, whom he assaulted... the death penalty is not invoked, but [Baxe] shall be beaten on three different days,..." While one court entry shows the granting of emancipation, another on the same date records the auction of a slave family.

The truth about Illinois' slave past has taken nearly three centuries to surface. And while the stories behind the documents might be lost forever, the old court records are fascinating and pose many unanswerable questions. What happened to these marginalized people? How did their lives in post Civil-War Illinois play out? Are their descendants still among us today, or did they move West seeking illusive freedom on the frontier? The answers may never be known.

Further reading: 

The History of Negro Servitude in Illinois and of Slavery Agitation in that State; 1719-1864

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

Lincoln, the Illinois county that never was.

The Illinois General Assembly created most of the state's counties in the 1820s and 1830s and added several additional ones in the 1840s and 1850s for a total number of 102 counties. During the antebellum period[1], the legislature considered and created many other counties, which never materialized because the electorate voted against their formation in a referendum, failing to complete the enabling act requirements. One example of this was the 1867 effort to create the state's 103rd county — Lincoln County — named for Illinois' greatest citizen and recently assassinated president, Abraham Lincoln. 

The proposed Lincoln County was
sandwiched between Champaign
and Vermilion counties, but never
found a home on any Illinois map.

As a means for the state to honor Lincoln, Champaign County Representative Clark R. Griggs introduced a bill to create Lincoln County on January 17, 1867.

The House unanimously passed the bill by a vote of seventy-nine to zero, and the bill moved to the Senate, which also unanimously passed it twenty-four to zero. 

The bill became law on March 9, 1867. The proposed county would consist of lands from western Vermilion and eastern Champaign counties. It would be a small, thin county, thirty-six miles long and from eleven to seventeen miles wide. The act called for a referendum for voters from both counties to approve the measure four months later.

On July 9, 1867, voters went to the polls to cast their ballots for or against the formation of the new county. While no county seat had yet been selected, citizens of Homer felt that their town had the best chance to become the county seat and strongly supported the new county.

However, residents of Danville, Champaign, Urbana, and Rantoul strongly opposed the new county because it would "haggle off a strip" of both counties, lessening the size of each. South Homer township voted 301 to 8 for the county, but the rest of the townships in Champaign and Vermilion counties overwhelmingly defeated it. 

Several townships failed to tally one vote to support it, and West Urbana township defeated it 503 to 2. The final tally showed nearly a 4,000 vote majority against the new county. Lincoln County, which would have been the state's 103rd county, was never established. This was the General Assembly's last effort to create a new county in Illinois. Clark Griggs served only a single term in the Illinois legislature. While Griggs' effort to create a county honoring Abraham Lincoln failed, another of his bills in the General Assembly was quite successful. Griggs introduced the bill and campaigned hard for the creation and location of the Illinois Industrial University at Champaign. The land-grant university later became the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

Illinois Periodicals

Edited by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

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[1] The antebellum period refers to the years after the War of 1812 (1812-15) and before the Civil War (1861-65). The development of separate northern and southern economies, the nation's westward expansion, and a spirit of reform marked the era. These issues created an unstable and explosive political environment that eventually led to the Civil War.

The Kaskaskia Indian Reservation in Illinois.

---

In historical writing and analysis, PRESENTISM introduces present-day ideas and perspectives into depictions or interpretations of the past. Presentism is a form of cultural bias that creates a distorted understanding of the subject matter. Reading modern notions of morality into the past is committing the error of presentism. Historical accounts are written by people and can be slanted, so I try my hardest to present fact-based and well-researched articles.

Facts don't require one's approval or acceptance.

I present [PG-13] articles without regard to race, color, political party, or religious beliefs, including Atheism, national origin, citizenship status, gender, LGBTQ+ status, disability, military status, or educational level. What I present are facts — NOT Alternative Facts — about the subject. You won't find articles or readers' comments that spread rumors, lies, hateful statements, or people instigating arguments or fights.

FOR HISTORICAL CLARITY

When I write about the INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, I follow this historical terminology:

• The use of old commonly used terms, disrespectful today, i.e., REDMAN or REDMEN, SAVAGES, and HALF-BREED are explained in this article.

Writing about AFRICAN-AMERICAN history, I follow these race terms:

• "NEGRO" was the term used until the mid-1960s.
• "BLACK" started being used in the mid-1960s.
• "AFRICAN-AMERICAN" [Afro-American] began usage in the late 1980s.

— PLEASE PRACTICE HISTORICISM —

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PAST IN ITS OWN CONTEXT.

 

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The Kaskaskia Indian Reservation, just west of Murphysboro in Jackson County, Illinois, has been all but forgotten.

The name Kaskaskia is the anglicized version of the tribal term "Kaskaskahamwa," which means "he who scrapes it off using a tool." The Kaskaskia tribe was part of the once-powerful Illinois Confederacy.

sidebar

The Illinois (aka Illiniwek or Illini) is pronounced as plural: (The Illinois') was a Confederacy of Indian tribes consisting of the Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Peoria, Tamarais (Tamaroa, Tamarois), Moingwena, Mitchagamie (Michigamea), Chepoussa, Chinkoa, Coiracoentanon, Espeminkia, Maroa, and Tapouara tribes that were of the Algonquin family. They spoke Iroquoian languages. The Illinois called themselves "Ireniouaki" (the French word was Ilinwe).

In 1673, representatives of the French government came to The Illinois County and observed where the native tribes were living. They discovered that the Kaskaskia were living in the vicinity of the present-day city of Peoria; the Peoria were living on the western, or Missouri, side of the Mississippi River, just south of Alton; the Cahokia was near Wood River; the Tamaroa lived between East St. Louis and Alton, and the Mitchigamie lived in the southern tip of the state.

Jean Baptiste Ducoigne, Kaskaskia chief, was born in 1750 to a French father and a Tamoroa Indian mother. He was baptized as an infant at the Church of St. Anne outside of Fort de Chartres (after whom the Perry County town of DuQuoin is named). Ducoigne was made chief of the Tamaroas in 1767. It was the same year the Illinois Confederacy dissolved when Indians from the Michigan tribe murdered notable Chief Pontiac. In retaliation, the other tribes drove the Michigans onto Starved Rock (<--- fact or fiction?) and starved them to death.

Chief Jean Baptiste Ducoigne was born in 1750. At 17, he was named the chief of the Kaskaskia Indian tribe. As chief, he actively participated in the Revolutionary War by traveling from Illinois Country to Virginia to meet with Thomas Jefferson and General Marquis de Lafayette. He was also instrumental in negotiating treaties with the government to secure land for the Chaokias, Tamaroas, and Kaskaskia Indian tribes. The city of DuQuoin is named after him.

The tribes of the Illinois Confederacy were rivals of the Iroquois, Sioux, and, most notably, the Shawnee. The best-known battle between these tribes occurred in 1802 and was fought between the Kaskaskia and Shawnee. Both tribes constantly fought over hunting grounds. It was mutually decided to hold one final battle, with the winner dominating the contested grounds. The Shawnee, who lived along the Wabash River, met the Kaskaskia at the Big Muddy River in present-day Franklin County. The battle ensued, and the Shawnee drove the Kaskaskia within twenty miles of the old French city to which the latter tribe gave its name.

The Kaskaskia were nearly annihilated. After the defeat of the Kaskaskia, the supremacy of the Illinois Confederacy over their rivals continued to diminish. By 1832, almost 70 years after moving from Peoria to Fort de Chartres to seek protection, the Illinois Confederacy barely numbered 300. Those who remained were on a half-mile wide by two-mile-long reservation along the Big Muddy River in Sand Ridge Township -- The Kaskaskia Reservation.

Their stay at Sand Ridge was a short one. After a few months along the banks of the Big Muddy, the surviving members of the Kaskaskia, Peoria, Cahokia, Tamaroa, and Mitchigamie tribes signed a treaty on October 27, 1832, with the United States at Castor Hill, near St. Louis. The treaty was signed by William Clark, Co-Captain of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He was then employed as the government's western Indian agent after his return from the Voyage of Discovery. Clark was regarded by the natives and the government as being very fair and honest. Among others who signed on behalf of the government were Pierre Menard and Clark's son, Meriwether Lewis Clark.

In this treaty, the Confederacy ceded all lands the tribes held in Illinois. In exchange, the tribes received 96,000 acres in northeastern Kansas, which was promised to be theirs forever. Besides this land in Kansas, the Peoria, the name the tribes collectively adopted after signing the treaty, received an annual payment of cash or farm supplies, whichever they preferred, for improvements to the land at Sand Ridge and the area surrounding Fort de Chartres. 

Chief Ducoigne's daughter, Ellen, kept the 350-acre property near Kaskaskia, Illinois. According to historical records, Ellen Ducoigne, daughter of Jean Baptiste Ducoigne, a Kaskaskia chief, was reserved 350 acres of land near Kaskaskia as part of a treaty between the Kaskaskia tribe and the United States in 1832. Superintendent of Indian Affairs William Clark arranged this treaty. Ellen Ducoigne's land was situated in Randolph County, Illinois. 

The Jean Baptiste Ducoigne house at Kaskaskia.

Shortly after the treaty was signed, the ragged Indians were rounded up and led west by a local man known only as Worthen. In Kansas, the renamed Peoria were given farm implements that were as foreign to them as the land itself. The tribes of the former Illinois Confederacy never fully adjusted from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to that of farmers. On the Great Plains, they continued to decline. In 1950, only 439 Indians remained out of the twelve native tribes of Illinois.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

The Marquette and Jolliet "Cross" Chicago, Illinois. 1907

At the request of Count Frontenac, governor of New France (Canada) and emissary to King Louis XIV, French-Canadian fur trader Louis Jolliet (Jolliet, the correct spelling) and French Jesuit missionary Father Jacques Marquette set out from the Straits of Mackinac in 1673 to explore North America and search for the Mississippi River.

They aimed to find a waterway connecting the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.

Marquette and Jolliet navigated 2500 miles by canoe in 120 days, and while they didn't find a direct waterway, what they did see, with help from local Native Americans who knew it well, was a short portage. On this route, they could carry their canoes overland (and at certain times of the year, when the water was high enough, continue through the water) and ultimately connect Chicago and the Mississippi. That little portage was very important indeed. It changed the future of Chicago, placing it right in the middle of a waterway that stretched all the way from the St. Lawrence River to the foot of the Mississippi. It would also change everything for the Native Americans.

The "Chicago portage" was later excavated into the Illinois and Michigan Canal and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. During their explorations on the return trip up the Chicago River, Marquette camped for the winter of 1674 at a spot where Damen Avenue intersects with the Sanitary and Ship Canal.

In 1907, a large cross was erected to honor Marquette and Jolliet. The cross is no longer on the site, but a plaque still marks this critical early exploration into this area.

In 1907, grateful local business owners commemorated the expedition of French-Canadian fur trader Louis Jolliet and French Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette by placing a large cross and a plaque where Damen Avenue meets the Sanitary and Ship Canal.

Old photographs document an early mahogany cross where Robey Street [now Damen Avenue] ended on the left bank of the West fork of the South arm of the Chicago River. It was designed by Thomas A. O'Shaughnessy and erected on September 28, 1907, by the Willey Lumber Company, guided by the Chicago Historical Society.

A tablet on the back side of its concrete base was inscribed: “In memory of Father Marquette, S.J., and Louis Jolliet of New France (Canada) first white explorers of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers and Lake Michigan, 1673, navigating 2500 miles in canoes in 120 days. In crossing the site of Chicago, Jolliet recommended it for its natural advantages as a place of first settlement and suggested a lakes-to-the-gulf waterway, by cutting a canal through the "portage" west of here where begins the Chicago Drainage-Ship Canal. Work on this canal was begun Sept. 3, 1892, and it received the first waters of Lake Michigan, Jan. 2, 1902. This remarkable prophecy made 234 years ago is now being fulfilled. This end of Robey Street is the historic "high ground" where Marquette spent the winter 1674-1675. "To do and suffer everything for so glorious an undertaking." Marquette’s Journal. Erected Saturday, Sept. 28, 1907 by the City of Chicago and Chicago Association of Commerce.”

Photograph shot from across the Chicago River.

This text was taken in 1907. ["... It would only be necessary to make a canal, by cutting through but half a league of prairie, to pass from the foot of the lake of Illinois to the river Saint Louis... which falls into the Mississippi..." Relation de la descouverte de plusieurs pays situez au midi de la Nouvelle-France, faite en 1673 - Quebec, le 1er Aout, 1674].

This original cross was sawed off and carried away by vandals on August 11, 1914, but was replaced by a very similar cross on May 16, 1915. Also shown in the 1907 photograph is a small iron cross to the left of the large wooden one, with its history. It is said to have memorialized only Father Marquette, who has been present in this location since at least 1898 and still exists in 1950. On February 29, 1924, a Chicago Daily Tribune article announced that the large wooden cross would have to be removed because a bridge needed to be built across the river at the lower end of Robey Street, with a replacement to be considered nearby. This replacement was not another cross but the Marquette 1930 bas-relief sculpted monument with a bronze plaque.

The circle on this picture indicates the approximate site where the cross was.

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The Marquette Cross Chicago, Illinois - 1973.
(This cross was for Marquette only)

A 20-foot rough cedar cross at 2639 South Damen Avenue, just north of the bridge over the Chicago River's south branch, with an inscribed bronze plaque: "Near this Site Father Jacques Marquette, S.J., Missionary, Explorer and Co-discoverer of the Illinois River, spent the Winter of December 1674 to March 31, 1675."

This photograph is from a 1976 Chicago Tribune article.

Erected during the tricentennial observances of the voyage by Marquette and Jolliet, the cross was dedicated by John Cardinal Cody on September 1, 1973. The cross is no longer there as of 2008.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.