Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable was an entrepreneur who was recognized in 1968 as being the "Father of Chicago, Illinois."

Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable was the son of a French sea captain and an African-born ex-slave. He was born around 1745, in Saint Dominique, Haiti. His father sent him to France to be educated, and he learned to speak English and Spanish in addition to his mother tongue, French. He became an aficionado of European art and owned several fine pieces. When he returned from France, he went to work on his father's ships. When Du Sable was about twenty, he undertook a voyage to New Orleans. The vessel sank and Du Sable was injured. When he arrived in New Orleans without his identification papers, he discovered the port had been taken over by the Spanish government. He was in danger of being captured and sold as a slave, but was rescued by French Jesuit priests who protected him until he was well enough to travel again.

He travelled up the Mississippi river to the St. Louis area, then settled in a frontier area near what is now Peoria, Illinois. Du Sable was accepted by the local Potawatomi Indians and took a Potawatomi woman as his common law wife. He called her Catherine, and they had a son and a daughter together. They were officially married some years later when a priest became available. They prospered financially and eventually owned over 800 acres of land in the Peoria area.

Du Sable briefly acted as an intelligence agent for the British during the Revolutionary War, but they suspected him of having strong sympathies with the French government, which was aiding the colonists in their rebellion, and they jailed him for a short time, after which he ceased spying for them.

In the late 1770s Du Sable headed north to explore the region near the shores of the Great Lakes. He saw potential in a marshy area which had been passed over by previous European explorers. Whites in the area had been fearful of attacks from hostile Native Americans. Du Sable, however, got along well with various Indian tribes, and he knew several of their languages. He stayed and built a five-room house, the first permanent structure in the area. (It stood in what is now downtown Chicago.) In 1780 Du Sable was appointed to the post of liaison officer between the territorial government and the Port Huron Indians. The Indians had requested his appointment to the position. Around 1782 Du Sable established a trading post which grew in success, becoming well-known all around the Great Lakes region. The trading post became the main supply source for fur trappers, traders, and Indians in the area. After a few years, Du Sable's trading post also supplied staple food items to trading posts in Canada and Detroit. It had a mill, bakery, dairy, smokehouse, poultry house, and workshops, barns, and stables. Du Sable's business thrived, and he owned much livestock; he became quite wealthy. In 1784, he brought his wife and children to live with him in Chicago (the word "eschikagou", in a local Indian language, meant something like "stinky-smelling place"--they called the area that because of the swamps.) Du Sable's granddaughter was born in 1796; she was the first baby born in Chicago.

For unknown reasons, in 1800 Du Sable sold his property in the Chicago area for $1,200 and moved to Missouri to live with some of his children and grandchildren. He died in 1818, and his fortune was gone. He was buried in the Catholic cemetery in St. Charles, Missouri. []

Susan Robinson

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