Jean Baptiste Point du Sable 1745-1818
First Settler of Chicago
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable moved from Haiti to present-day New Orleans, Louisiana, with explorer Jacques Clemorgan in 1764. There, Du Sable met Choctaw, an American Indian from the Great Lakes. Du Sable, Clemorgan, and Choctaw moved to Illinois. They spent their time trapping animals in the woods for food. Clemorgan took the animal furs downstream to New Orleans and sold them.
While trapping with Choctaw, Du Sable came to know Chief Pontiac, of the Ottawa nation. Chief Pontiac asked Du Sable and Clemorgan to arrange a peace treaty between the Ottawa, Miami, and Illinois nations. Du Sable arranged a meeting and peace was restored among the three nations. He quickly became well known among these groups and others in the midwest.
Du Sable was well known for trading goods throughout the midwest. His trading post became a small community with a church, school, and store. Eventually, he had buildings, docks, a mansion house with fruit orchards, and livestock. Some people came from Quebec because of difficulties with the English. Many people wanted to buy land from Du Sable but instead he just gave it to them. Although Chicago did not officially become a city until 1837, its founding took place many years before when Du Sable opened his trading post beside the Chicago River.
Critical Thinking
What happened as a result of Du Sable becoming friends with Choctaw?