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Jean Baptiste DuSable

c.1745 - 1818

Name: Jean Baptiste DuSable

Birthplace:

Occupation/Training:

Abolitionist Involvement: Jean Baptiste DuSable is primarily known for being the founder of the city of Chicago. Details of his early life are not known. The earliest facts about his appear when he was arrested in 1779. The charges against him at the time of his arrest were "treasonable intercourse with the enemy". It was suspected that he had been spending much time with the French, himself being bilingual. At that time, Eschikagou, was where he had settled, but the area was of interest to the French. It was assumed because of his own French speaking background that he was sympathetic to the French colonial interests. At the time of his arrest, however, it became evident that he was a highly educated man, and that he was eventually released, and he was place in charge of a settlement on the St. Claire River, where he lived until 1784. He eventually acquired several hundred acres of land in Peoria. He later returned to Chicago and lived there for 16 years, before leaving the Chicago area in the early 1800's. He is buried in the St. Charles Borromeo Cemetery in Missouri.

Family: Wife: Catherine a Potawatomi Indian. Son: Jean Baptiste. Daughter: Suzanne, Granddaughter: Eulalie. (Suzanne later merried Michael Derais.)

Place of Death: St. Charles Missouri

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