The Chicago Massacre of 1812: With Illustrations and Historical DocumentsKirkland, Joseph
History
The Chicago Massacre of 1812: With Illustrations and Historical Documents
Kirkland, Joseph
Chicago (Ill.) -- History; Fort Dearborn Massacre, Chicago, Ill., 1812
The treaty of Greenville, 1795, having restored peace on the border,
Mr. Isaac McKenzie, the father, received tidings of his children,
and went to Detroit to see them. The two young mothers, with their
children, returned with their father to their old home, to which
arrangement both of their husbands consented. A final separation was
not intended, but time and distance divorced them forever. Mr. Kinzie
afterwards moved to St. Joseph's, where he married a Mrs. McKillip,
the widow of a British officer. Margaret married Mr. Benjamin Hall,
of Virginia, and Elizabeth married Mr. Jonas Clybourn of the same
place. David, the oldest son of Benjamin Hall and Margaret, made a
journey to Chicago in 1822, and he remained there three years. On
his return to Virginia his flattering account of the place induced
a number of persons to emigrate thither. The first of these was
Archibald Clybourn, the eldest son of Elizabeth, who remained a
permanent resident and an esteemed citizen, well known to thousands
of the present inhabitants of Chicago. His mother was Elizabeth the
captive, who, with her second husband, Mr. Clybourn, soon afterwards
came to Chicago. Mr. Benjamin Hall was another of the Chicago
pioneers who emigrated to Chicago in consequence of David Hall's
commendations of its future promise. Margaret, the captive, was his
aunt, and to him the writer is indebted for the detail of Margaret's
and Elizabeth's history. Mr. Hall is now a resident of Wheaton. He
came to Chicago in 1830 and was the proprietor of the first tannery
ever established there.
[Illustration: ARCHIBALD CLYBOURN.]
[Illustration: James Kinzie (signature)]
Elizabeth Kinzie, daughter of John Kinzie, became the wife of Samuel
Miller, of a respectable Quaker family in Ohio. She was highly
respected by all who knew her. Her husband kept the Miller House, at
the forks of the Chicago River. James Kinzie came to Chicago about
1824, and was well received by his father. [James is mentioned by Mr.
Kinzie in a letter written in 1821, given later in this article].
This is the romantic story taken by Mr. Blanchard from the lips of
the nephew of one of the captive girls, and given in his valuable
history. Some of the circumstances stated as fact may be questionable,
especially the "marriage" of the girls to Mr. Kinzie and Mr. Clark.
Their summary removal by their father, and their marriage to other
men, considered with the marriage of Mr. Kinzie and Mr. Clark to other
women, seems to cast doubt upon the occurrence of any ceremonies, civil
or religious. Those relations were lightly held at that time and place.
There is doubtless a "bend sinister" somewhere, but it seems unlikely
that James Kinzie and Elizabeth and Samuel Miller would have left the
legitimacy of the more distinguished branch of the family unassailed if
it had been assailable. (It is said that Mrs. Miller did chafe under
the scandal.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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