The settlement of Illinois, 1778-1830
Letter XXXIII. describes the emigration from East to West in 1816-17.
GRATIOT, Mrs. ADILE. _In early Illinois (Towns)._
A volume of newspaper clippings in the Library of the Chicago Historical Society. Mrs. Gratiot, who early lived in Galena, gives reminiscences of her life there. Describes the trouble with the Winnebago Indians.
HALL, JAMES. _Letters from the West; containing Sketches of Scenery, Manners, and Customs; and Anecdotes connected with the first Settlements of the western Sections of the United States. London: Henry Colburn, 1828._ 16mo. 385 pp.
Verbose, but not without value. One of the twenty-two letters is from Shawneetown and describes the vicinity. Illinois is defended from her foreign detractors. Routes and manner of travel receive much attention.
HAMILTON, HENRY EDWARD. _Incidents and Events in the Life of Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard, collected from personal Narrations and other Sources, and arranged by his Nephew, Henry E. Hamilton. Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co., 1888._ 189 pp.
Very valuable for the history of northern and eastern Illinois from 1818 to the close of the Black Hawk war. Most of the work is autobiographical. Mr. Hubbard was an employee of the American Fur Company. Later he was in business in Danville and Chicago.
HARDING, BENJAMIN. _A Tour through the Western Country, A. D. 1818 & 1819. New London: Samuel Green, 1819._ 8vo. 17 pp.
The inducements which Illinois offered to emigrants are described with a degree of sense rarely displayed in the period to which the work belongs by writers of advice to emigrants. The American Bottom and the prairies are described.
HARRIS, WILLIAM TELL. _Remarks made during a Tour through the United States of America, in the Years 1817, 1818, and 1819._
Describes Shawneetown (1818), and speaks of the great number of wagons, horses, and passengers which crossed the ferry there.
HECKE, J. VAL. _Reise durch die Vereinigten Staaten von Nord-Amerika in den Jahren 1818 und 1819. Nebst einer kurzen Uebersicht der neuesten Ereignisse auf dem Kriegs-Schauplatz in Sud-Amerika und West-Indien. Berlin: H. Ph. Petri_, 1820-21. 2 vols. 16mo. I., 228; II., xvi. + 326. pp.
Interesting and incorrect. The author tells well both of what he knows and what he does not know. Tells foreigners how to reach Illinois.
HENRY, WILLIAM WIRT. _Patrick Henry. Life, Correspondence, and Speeches. New York: Charles Scribners Sons_, 1891. 3 vols. I., 20 + 622; II., 652; III., 672 pp.
The third volume contains instructions issued by Gov. Henry to officers of the County of Illinois, and some correspondence of those officers.
_Historical Register of the United States. Philadelphia: G. Palmer_, 1814-1816.
II., 60-62 (second pagination) gives Capt. Heald’s official report of the massacre at Fort Dearborn on August 15, 1812.
HODGSON, ADAM. _Remarks during a Journey through North America in the Years 1819-21, in a Series of Letters: with an Appendix, containing an Account of several of the Indian Tribes, and the principal missionary Stations, &c. New York: Samuel Whiting, 1823._ 8vo. iv. + 335 pp.
The author did not visit Illinois, but he gives an interesting criticism of Mr. Birkbeck’s venture in Illinois. He conversed with persons who had visited Birkbeck’s settlement. Criticism rather unfavorable.
HOLMES, ISAAC. _An Account of the United States of America_, [1823] _derived from actual Observation, during a Residence of four Years in that Republic: including original Communications. London: Caxton Press_, 1823. 16mo. viii. + 476 pp.
Most of the author’s remarks are general. He, however, mentions Birkbeck and advises emigrants to settle in the East rather than to go West as Birkbeck advised.
HULME, THOMAS. _Journal._ In Cobbett, “A Year’s Residence in the United States of America,” 259-309. 3d ed. _Andover: B. Bensley_, 1828.
The Journal was of a journey through the West in 1817. Birkbeck’s settlement and the manner of traveling were described. Some information in regard to prices was given.
HUTCHINS, Capt. THOMAS. _A topographical Description of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina, comprehending the Rivers Ohio, Kenhawa, Sioto, Cherokee, Wabash, Illinois, Mississippi, etc.... With a Plan of the Rapids of the Ohio, a Plan of the several Villages in the Illinois Country ... and an Appendix containing Mr. Patrick Kennedy’s Journal up the Illinois River. London: T. Hutchins_, 1778. 8vo. 67 pp.
Valuable for its map of the Illinois country and a description of the settlements.
ILLINOIS AND WABASH LAND COMPANIES:—
_An Account of the Proceedings of the Illinois and Ouabache Land Companies, in Pursuance of their Purchases made of the independent Natives, July 5th, 1773, and 18th October, 1775. Philadelphia: William Young_, 1796. 55 pp.
_Memorial of the Illinois and Wabash Land Company, 13th January, 1797. Referred to Mr. Jeremiah Smith, Mr. Kittera, and Mr. Baldwin. Published by Order of the House of Representatives. Philadelphia: Richard Folwell_, [c. 1797.] 26 pp.
_An Account of the Proceedings of the Illinois and Ouabache Land Companies, in Pursuance of their Purchases made of the independent Natives, July 5th, 1773, and 18th October, 1775. Philadelphia: William Duane_, 1803. 74 pp.
_Memorial of the Illinois and Ouabache Land Companies to the honorable Congress of the United States. Intended as a full Recapitulation and clear Statement of the former Addresses, Petitions, __ Memorials, &c., of the Company; and their short and final Prayer for Redress, without Delay: presented at the Sessions_, 1802. 20 pp.
_Memorial of the United Illinois and Wabash Land Companies, to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States. Baltimore: Joseph Robinson_, 1816. 48 pp.
_Illinois, House Journal, 1824-25. Vandalia, Ill.: Robert Blackwell & Co._, 1824. 305 pp.
Contains items on slavery (pp. 13, 151-2), and tells of the election of a U. S. senator to succeed Ninian Edwards (pp. 38-9).
_Illinois Intelligencer. Edwardsville, Ill.: Hooper Warren, ed._, 1826-30.
In St. Louis Mercantile Library.
_Illinois Laws_, 1824-25. 190 pp.
Pages 50-51 give the text of an act to amend an act entitled “An act respecting free Negroes, Mulattoes, Servants, and Slaves,” approved 30th March, 1819.
_Illinois monthly Magazine. Vandalia, Ill.: conducted by James Hall._
Notes on Illinois in Volumes I. and II. (1830-1832) and the History of St. Louis in Volume II. are of some service. The articles are, however, unsigned, and are of too popular a type to be wholly relied upon.
_Illinois Revised Laws of 1833. Vandalia, Ill.: Greiner & Sherman_, 1833. 677 pp. and index.
Contains the negro codes of 1819 and 1829, respectively.
IMLAY, GILBERT. _A topographical Description of the Western Territory of North America, containing a succinct Account of its Climate, natural History, Population, Agriculture, Manners and Customs. London: J. Debrett_, 1792. 8vo. xv. + 247 pp. _3d ed._, 1797, enlarged. More valuable.
The best early authority on the subject treated. Not very full in regard to Illinois. Predicts western state-making.
KEATING, WILLIAM H. _Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter’s River, Lake Winnepeek, Lake of the Woods, __ &c., &c., performed in the Year 1823 ... compiled from the Notes of Major Long, Messrs. Say, Keating, and Colhoun. Philadelphia: Carey & Lea_, 1824. 2 vols. 8vo. I., xii. + 439; II., 459 pp. Same, _London: Whittaker_, 1825.
Contains an extremely interesting and important description of Chicago and its vicinity, and in less detail, of northern Illinois.
KINZIE, Mrs. JOHN H. (Juliette A. McGill Kinzie). _Wau-Bun, the __“__Early Day__”__ in the North-West._ New edition with an introduction and notes by Reuben Gold Thwaites. _Chicago: The Caxton Club_, 1901. xxvii. + 451 pp.
This work, which first appeared in 1856, has the best account, not by an eye-witness, of the massacre at Fort Dearborn in 1812. Mrs. Helm gives this account.
——_Narrative of the Massacre at Chicago, August 15, 1812, and of some preceding Events. Chicago: Ellis & Fergus_, 1844. 34 pp.
A valuable account, written by Mrs. Kinzie from the dictation of her mother-in-law, who was an eye-witness of the massacre. Incorporated almost verbatim in Mrs. Kinzie’s “Wau-Bun.” The edition of 1844 was the first, not the second, as stated in the Chicago Magazine, I., 103, and repeated by Dr. Thwaites.
LAUSSAT, Count. _The military Title of Louisiana and the Territory of Illinois, dated New Orleans, Jan. 12, 1804, and signed by Count Laussat, Napoleon’s Ambassador. It is also the order to Gen. De Lassus to deliver the Territory over to Capt. Amos Stoddard, of the U. S. Artillery._
Original manuscript letter, in French, in the Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield, Ill.
LOOMIS, CHESTER A. _The Notes of a Journey to the Great West in 1825._ 28 unnumbered pages, six chapters. Printed without place, name of publisher, or date.
The writer entered Illinois in the present Vermilion county, went south to the Wabash, west to Vandalia, then to Kaskaskia. His observations are acute and readable. Describes Vermilion county salines, Illinois farm products, pioneer homes, and the inconvenience attendant upon traveling on horseback. Bound with other pamphlets in the Champaign (Illinois) Public Library.
——_A Journey on Horseback through the Great West, in 1825. Visiting Alleghany Towns, Olean, Warren, Franklin, Pittsburg, New Lisbon, Elyria, Norfolk, Columbus, Zanesville, Vermilion, Kaskaskia, Vandalia, Sandusky, and many other places. Bath, N. Y.; Plaindealer Press._ 27 unnumbered pages.
The writer was from Rushville, Ontario county, N. Y. Same as the preceding. In library of State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
_McLean County Historical Society, Transactions of the._ Vol. II. _Bloomington, Ill.: Pantagraph Printing and Stationery Co._, 1903. 695 pages.
Some facts of interest concerning the first school in the county, and the early settlers and their manner of living, are given by those old settlers who were chief actors.
_Mandements des Évêques de Québec. Québec: Imprimérie Générale A. Coté et Cie._, 1887-88. I., (1659-1740), 588; II., (1741-1806), 566; III., (1806-1850), 635; IV., (1850-1870), 794 pp.
A valuable collection of manuscripts. They tell of a monopoly on sending missionaries to Illinois, and one letter (II., 205) gives a good idea of the worldliness of the Kaskaskians of 1767. The first two volumes alone concern us.
MASON, EDWARD G. (_Editor_). _Early Chicago and Illinois. Chicago: Fergus Printing Co._, 1890. 521 pp.
This volume is the fourth of the collections of the Chicago Historical Society. It is one of the most valuable collections for the study of early Illinois history. Contains, among other things, Pierre Menard Papers, John Todd Papers, John Todd’s Record-Book, Lists of Early Illinois Citizens, and Rocheblave Papers.
MEEKER, Dr. MOSES. _Early History of the Lead Region of Wisconsin. In Wis. Hist. Coll._, VI., 271-96. _Madison, Wis.: Atwood & Culver, State Printers_, 1872.
Very valuable. Dr. Meeker came to Galena in 1822 and settled there in 1823. The article gives the history of the settlement of the lead region to 1825.
_Michigan pioneer and historical Collections. Lansing, Mich._, 1877-1900. 29 vols.
Valuable for the French and British periods of Illinois history.
_Mount Carmel, Articles of Association, for the City of. Chillicothe: John Bailhache_, 1817. 4to. 22 pp.
Mt. Carmel was to be, and now is, on the west bank of the Wabash in what is now Wabash county, Illinois. The articles drawn up by the proprietors and their agent contain curious provisions in regard to the support of church and school. Some Puritanic rules are given. (In _Ill. Local Hist. Pam._, VII., in Library of Wisconsin State Historical Society.)
_Niles’ weekly Register, Baltimore._
Of great value for the period 1811-1830. Its notices of foreign immigration are extensive.
OGDEN, GEORGE W. _Letters from the West. New-Bedford: Melcher & Rogers_, 1823. 126 pp.
Describes several of the Illinois towns, and characterizes their inhabitants. A part of the work is plagiarized from Harding, _Tour through the western Country_. Reprinted in Thwaites, _Early western Travels_, XIX.
_Olden Time_, I., 1846, 403-15. _George Croghan’s Journal of his Route._
Interesting sketches of the French.
OWEN, A. R. _Ums Jahr 1819 und 1829._ In _Deutsch-Amerikanische Geschichtsblätter_, Jahrgang 2, Heft 2, pp. 41-43. _Chicago: April_, 1902.
Not sufficiently definite, reliable, or extensive to be of much value.
PALMER, JOHN. _Journal of Travels in the United States of North America and in Lower Canada, performed in the year 1817. London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones_, 1818. vii. 456 pp.
Pages 411-20 are on Illinois. Too inaccurate to be of great value, although some information in regard to roads may be used. Tells of routes, methods, and cost of travel.
PALMER, JOHN MCCAULEY. _Personal Recollections of John M. Palmer. Cincinnati: The Robert Clarke Co._, 1901. 631 pp.
The writer came to Illinois in 1831, but he had previously lived in Kentucky, and he gives some facts concerning slavery that are of value.
PARKISON, Col. DANIEL M. _Pioneer Life in Wisconsin._ In _Wis. Hist. Coll._, II., 326-64. _Madison, Wis.: Calkins & Proudfit_, 1856.
The author came from Tennessee to Madison county, Illinois, in 1817; in 1819, to Sangamon county, Illinois; in 1827, to Galena, Illinois. Gives a valuable statement concerning the feeling of Yankees toward Southerners, tells of the first sermon in Sangamon county, and of the Winnebago war of 1827.
PECK, Rev. JOHN MASON. _A Guide for Emigrants_ (1831), _containing Sketches of Illinois, Missouri, and the adjacent Parts. Boston: Lincoln & Edmands_, 1831. 336 pp.
Contains a great amount of fairly accurate information. Its description of cities is especially useful. Page 184 gives an amusing and instructive illustration of the need of energy and work in even a frontier settlement (1829).
——_Memoir of John Mason Peck, D. D., edited from his Journals and Correspondence. By Rufus Babcock. Philadelphia: Am. Baptist Pub. Soc._, 1864. 12mo. 360 pp.
Not in good literary form. Throws much light upon the moral and religious life in Illinois and Missouri from 1817 to 1857.
——_The Religion and Morals of Illinois prior to 1818. In Reynolds, Pioneer History of Illinois_. Pp. 253-275.
The writer came to Illinois before 1818, and knew many of the persons of whom he wrote.
_Pennsylvania Packet and daily Advertiser. Philadelphia_, 1785-89; _Apr._, 1789; _Mar._, 1790; _Apr.-Dec._, 1790. In Library of Wisconsin State Historical Society.
August 23, 1790, the expression of apprehension of the depopulation of the East by emigration to the West is said not to be well founded.
_Peoria County, Illinois, Marriage Licences, 1825-1855._ On file in the court house in Peoria, Ill.
The early names show the French origin of the inhabitants. The absence of clergymen is noticeable.
PIKE, Lieut. ZEBULON MONTGOMERY. _An Account of a Voyage up the Mississippi River, from St. Louis to its Source; made under the Orders of the War Department, by Lieut. Pike, of the U. S. Army, in the Years 1805 and 1806. Compiled from Mr. Pike’s Journal._ A 68 page pamphlet without place, publisher, or date.
Locates the largest Sauk village. These reports are of extreme importance. An edition including the trip of 1807 was issued in 1895 by Harper, F. P., New York. 3 vols. $10.00.
_Pioneer of the Valley of the Mississippi, The. Rock Spring, Ill.: Rev. J. M. Peck, editor._
Issue of April 24, 1829, in St. Louis Mercantile Library.
PITTMAN, Capt. PHILIP. _The present State of the European Settlements on the Mississippi, with a geographical Description of that River; illustrated by Plans and Draughts. London: J. Nourse_, 1770. viii. +99 pp. 8 maps.
Describes the settlements in Illinois and gives a map of the region. Of great value.
Criticism in _Narrative and Critical History of America_, VI., 702.
_Regulators of the Valley._
Charles M. Eames, in his _Historic Morgan and Classic Jacksonville_ (1885), says that a vigilance committee with the above title was formed in 1821, or thereabouts, to rid the country of horse-thieves and robbers. “A regular constitution was drawn up and subscribed to, and this paper is still in existence.” C. M. Eames, son of the now deceased author, in a letter of Oct. 7, 1903, said that he had made an unsuccessful search for the manuscript.
REYNOLDS, JOHN, _My own Times, embracing also, the History of my Life. Belleville, Ill._, 1855. Reprinted, _Chicago: Fergus Printing Co._, 1879. iv.+395 pp. $7.50.
Verbose, but has much wheat among the chaff. Covers the period from 1800 to 1853. The first edition is now very rare.
ROSS, HARVEY LEE. _The early Pioneers and pioneer Events of the State of Illinois. Chicago_, 1899.
A medley of facts, written by a pioneer of 1820. The author was acquainted with both Cartwright and Lincoln, and speaks of them and of pioneer events with authority. Tells of a trip from New Jersey by wagons.
SCHOOLCRAFT, HENRY ROWE. _Summary Narrative of an exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820; resumed and completed, by the Discovery of its Origin in Itasca Lake, in 1832. By authority of the United States. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, & Co._, 1855. 596 pp.
The book is chiefly of interest to us because of its description of Chicago.
——_Travels in the central Portions of the Mississippi Valley: comprising Observations on its mineral Geography, internal Resources, and aboriginal Population. Performed under the Sanction of Government, in the Year 1821. New York: Collins & Hannay_, 1825. 459 pp.
The writer descended the Wabash, the Ohio, and then ascended the Mississippi and the Illinois to Chicago. His descriptions of places, peoples and things are well written and are a chief historical source.
SCHULTZ, CHRISTIAN. _Travels on an inland Voyage through the States of New-York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and through the Territories of Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi and New-Orleans; performed in the Years 1807 and 1808. New York: Isaac Riley_, 1810. 2 vols. I., xviii.+206; II., 224 pp.
Has an interesting description of Illinois settlements.
SMITH, WILLIAM HENRY, _Editor. The St. Clair Papers. The Life and public Services of Arthur St. Clair ... with his Correspondence and other Papers. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co._, 1882. 2 vols. I., viii.+609; II., 649 pp.
Much information concerning Illinois under the Ordinance of 1787. Criticisms: _Nation_, XXXIV., 383; _New York Tribune, June_ 16, 1882.
_Stories of the pioneer Mothers of Illinois. A collection of Manuscript Letters from the pioneer Women of the State, giving their early Experiences. Collected for the World’s Columbian Exposition and afterward deposited in the Illinois State Historical Library._
Especially valuable for information on reasons for immigration and on methods of traveling.
STORROW, SAMUEL A. _The North-West in 1817._ In _Wis. Hist. Coll._, VI., pp. 154-87. _Madison, Wis.: Atwood & Culver, State Printers_, 1872.
The narrative, which is in the form of a letter to Maj.-Gen. Brown, was first published in pamphlet form. The letter is dated Dec. 1, 1817. It deals chiefly with the country to the north of Illinois, but the author visited Chicago, was entertained at Fort Dearborn, and wrote of the desirability of an Illinois-Michigan canal.
TENNEY, H. A. _Early Times in Wisconsin_. In _Wis. Hist. Coll._, I., pp. 94-102. _Madison, Wis.: Beriah Brown_, 1855.
Written in 1849. Gives considerable information concerning the Galena region. Tells of the size of Galena and of Springfield, Ill., in 1822. Criticism: _Draper MSS., Z_ 24.
THOMAS, Judge WILLIAM. _Reminiscences._ Printed in the _Jacksonville, Ill., Weekly Journal, Apr._ 18, 1877. Clipping bound in _Ill. Local Hist. Pamphlets_, V., in Library of Wisconsin State Historical Society.
The article is of extreme interest to a student of early society in Illinois. The author settled in Jacksonville, Ill., in 1826. His observations were unusually acute. He was a lawyer and a teacher. He tells of Yankees vs. Southerners, of early lawlessness, and of early Galena.
——_Winnebago Outbreak of 1827._ In _Chicago Tribune, Apr._ 7, 1877. Reprinted from the _Jacksonville (Ill.) Journal_ of Aug. 17, 1871.
The article is important because the writer was a volunteer in the campaign against the Winnebagoes.
THWAITES, REUBEN GOLD. _Narrative of Morgan L. Martin. In an Interview with the Editor_ [Thwaites]. In _Wis. Hist. Coll._, XI., pp. 385-415. _Madison, Wis.: Democrat Printing Co., State Printers_, 1888.
Page 398 gives an estimate of the population of Galena, which Martin visited in 1829.
TILLSON, CHRISTIANA HOLMES. _Reminiscences of early Life in Illinois._ Privately printed—as late as 1870. iv.+138 pp.
A very rare book. Copy in the Chicago Historical Society Library. The best