, 1881-05-08
EARLY CHICAGO.
"Reminiscences of the Garden City
Forty-seven Years Ago.
John L. Wilson Jots Down Few
H.. Incidents of 1884.


| at Saperyille.
ID the Editor Of The Chicago Tribune.
CHICAGO, April lit was forty-Seven years
ago the present week that first arrived in Chi
/ c1go, and thinking that it might interest your
! readers, will jot down n few things from mcm-
t ory us thoy arise At that time there wus gar
| rison here to protect us from the Indians. Capt.
| Luther Nichols, who died this week. was soldier
IN it, coming hero with Scott's army In 1852
David Mckee, recently deceased, was tho black
smith for the garrison. Mark Deaubic1l, recent
| IL deceased, kept tho Sauganash Hotel. Eli B.
| Wtlliu,ns, who was buried Monday last, WAS the
last Of tho four Presidents Of the village before
Chicago was city. have q map made by the
late John s. Wright Of tho city III 1854, and On It
| In that ycar I marked every lot that was then
| built upon, and sent 1t to my father In Albany,
| n. Y. On his death I found it among his papers,
md had it framed. It now hangs In tho Office of
| Gurlon S. Hubbard, u Washington street, and
is quite curiosity. There we're but nineteen
lots built upon on the West Side, and nota build
| ing south of Lake street on the South Side. a
| better idea eau be formed by looking at tho
| map.
MIR. Williams informed mc that when he was
| President of tho village tho Trustees passed au
! act to plow ditch both sides Of Clark street
from Twelfth to the river, IN order to drain the
/
when he, as President Of the village, went to
Strachan s. Scott, bankers, to borrow tho money,
| they required him individually to indorse the
| note to make it good four city tax this year Is
| s., COO. Tho village fathers also thought it
| would be we'll to plow up the public square ut
the same time nnd SOW 1t with clover In order to
show strangers where it was, and it was done.
Mr.. Williams lost in his trunk, ut tho time of tho
great tire. the papers pertaining to the goveru-
ment OF the village. The old settlers are often
asked what WAS tho first OF everything IN Cht-
| cago, people arc 80 anxious to know how tho
city began. It would be fur beyond tho provi
| of n newspaper article to undertake to say how
@ Was 1hn a eoa m M 1hnv ?od ao"P bnve
copous notes Of many thtngs that occurred at
an early ony. well US Of persons, but they are
the fire. The first settler. was q San
Domingo negro named John Baptiste
asaP "a who ds,ot set tha s9 Sf eqG s soa %
who sold i to John Kinzio: father to ]ohn H.,
the first white child born in Chicago, In lso5. and
is tho wife Of Gen. David Hunter, Of the army:
All Of tho others are dead. The first vessel
brought iuto the harbor wis the Westward 11o
from OsweVo, n. y, Capt Leonard c. uugunn
in 1853. She was towed over tho bar by five yoke
OF oxcli. The Captain Is now an invalid ut the
County Hospital.
THE FIRST PUBLIC STRUCTURE
was Il "pourd.' built upon tho public. square.
directly across the street from the Board of
Irade Building (w9s VI t is sngyesve; The 9st
was called a " fracas.' and was committed BY
Marx Beaubien, and for which he fined $40
him that the cuss that Mark whaled was too
mean to live, and should have been killed. the
fine was subsequently, re1nitted. Postage IN
Over 800 miles. Is cents; then ISL: cents 123z and
GA It was rated by pieces, not By weight, as
and peek into it, to see how many pieces it con.
taned. No envelopes were used, US they would
have been subject to postage. Letters almost
invariably were sent G. .. D., although those
hieroglyphcs were not In vogue in those days.
There Was little coin In tho country then, aud
it was hard to get enough to set letter out Of
the Office this was ater than 1891. Corn was 10
cents and oats live cents bushel all through
the country in ''store pay" bohea- ponchong,
about as course ns the heads Of red-ciovcr. The
natiye teas were sassafras. sage, and some other
varieties. There was no '.Iaeer" in those
maker). aud but two fellow citizens descended
from "Afric's sunny fountains " Peter Nc
f fron 1ndias @ ] GOLDEN strand There rev were mo no
such horrible nonstrosi1ies as brass bands and
base-baIl, and but one piano tMrs. John II. Kin
Detroit and the Pactc Ocean ia those days.
The steamer William Penn came around
RFS
born once year. Our barreled PORK, whisky,
butter; 1lour, wi9dow-sash, % p!ala doors etc,
bacon, etc, from the Wabash in the summer
and fnll OF tne year. inc hoosiers taxing
oack salt. conee' brown s1eet1ne, Ano Iar 70
grease tne Wneeis WIN. Once IN "ni'e one
would come into tho store TOR some "ndd!e
grease tresln}, Win "nlcn 70 anoltt tne strings
oi his instrument In tnose oaxs men were yir-
tlous anu women happy. tIherc were 1ew
women hcre) inere wus qtscnAtgeu M soidler
h ~ All. ~ a ~ To,,, ~ :. s.er., Isas th
boys used to say he moved away bcca,1sc he was
afraid he might die and there would bo no one |
here to wake" hinl at any ratc, he enlisted |
nrNfn ST. LDuiS Under ten. I{nrnnv Wp
county and the stone for our inst Court House |
was brought from Lockport. n. =. via fie Erie |
Canal md Inkes Ask aav ..old settler if he |
rememLcrs anu case Of rheumatism here for the |
first twenty Years after be came to Chicago cx-
ccpt Perry, the barber who brought it with him |
firm, Nav York (atarrh and Eeurnlpia werr,
also almost If not quite unknown ia tint time.
Fever and ague. bilious fever. the prairie itch |
rr wabash scratchcs," as the Hoosiers use d to !
clll it, were very prevalent: indeed almost in
dispcnsablc in the euriy settlement Of the coun-
frv 1ownrds ocrmorion
There was lille poultry here Mt an ear1y dav. |