George Fordon(1803-1876)
Western Exploration
Having arrived in the New World June 2, 1831, George Fordon, his wife Anna and their
four children faced an expanding young America. In 1831, there were only 24 states in the
Union (Missouri being the most recent) and Andrew Jackson was president. The population of
the entire country was a mere 12,866,020 people.1
2
1 Johnson, Otto, ed. The 1993 Information Please Almanac (Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1993) page 821.2 Paullin, Charles O., Atlas of the historical geography of the United States, Carnegie Institution…, 1932, plate 76.
61
The family now needed a home. Apparently leaving his wife and children somewhere in
the Eastern US (probably New York), George set out to investigate possible homesteads. We
are given a brief glimpse of this venture in A History of Ontario County and Its People:
During the entire year following [arrival in the United States, George] traveled
through what was at that time the "far west," now comprising the states of
Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, in search of a locality suitable for a home for his
family. …in the summer of 1831, [he traversed] a distance of thirty-five miles
along the sandy beach of Lake Michigan, and saw no white man with the
exception of his traveling companion. They stopped that night in the now great
city of Chicago, which was then a mere trading post, and the proprietor of the
best and only hotel in the place was a Frenchman, who had married a squaw.3
George could have ridden on horseback throughout these travels, but there were some
roads able to handle wagons in good weather and also waterways. Although we can not be
certain, George's traveling companion was probably his brother-in-law, William Oustoby.
William came to the United States with George and family4 and he was probably also searching
for fertile farmland to settle on.
The above reference to a hotel run by a Frenchman who had married a squaw is a highly
interesting one. There is no tavern, inn or hotel in Chicago in 1831 matching exactly this
description. However, a man from New York State5 described an almost identical experience
while traveling to Chicago in 1832-1833:
From Michigan City to Chicago, a distance of about sixty miles, the journey was
performed by me on horseback. There was but one stopping place on the way,
and that was the house of a Frenchman named Bayeux, who had married an
Indian woman.6
3 Milliken, Charles F., A History of Ontario County and Its People, Vol. II (Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York, 1911) page 15.4 Bentley, Elizabeth P., Passenger Arrivals at the Port of New York 1830-1832, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, MD, 2000, page 27.5 The man, Charles Butler, lived in Geneva, Ontario County NY at the time –nearly the same place George Fordon would later settle.6 Andreas, A. T., History of Chicago from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, vol.I, Chicago, A. T. Andreas Publisher, 1884, page 129.
62
Surely this must be the same place George and his companion stopped. The Frenchman
Bayeux’s name was really Joseph Bailly7 and his wife’s name was Marie De la Vigne, a French-
Ottawa Indian woman. Their family and little cluster of buildings close to Lake Michigan
served as one of the few permanent outposts of human habitation in the area. Many travelers
found a much needed meal and night’s rest at the Bailly’s (or Bailey’s).8 The place proved a
memorable one for George, who years later would recount the story to his grandchildren.9
10
Bailey’s place along the shore of Lake Michigan in 1830
7 Bailly, Joseph (7 Apr. 1774 – 21 Dec. 1835) name anglicized from baptismal name Honore-Gratien-Baille de Messein; also found in records as Joe Baies, Bayeux.Available 25 April 2006: http://www.earlychicago.com/encyclopedia.php?letter=BSee also: Goodspeed & Blanchard, Counties of Porter and Lake Indiana, Chicago, 1882, page 16,20.8 Available 25 April 2006: http://www.earlychicago.com/encyclopedia.php?letter=B9 Milliken, page 15.10 From: An Improved Map of the Surveyed Part of the Territory of Michigan by John Farmer, 1830.Available 24 April 2006: http://members.tripod.com/IanHistor/maps/ihr20.html
63
The route George and his travelling companion reportedly followed, “along the sandy
beach of Lake Michigan,” was probably what historians refer to as the “Lake Shore Trail”11 in a
region known as the Calumet (an area stretching roughly from Michigan City to Chicago, so
named for the rivers running through it). In an era before real roads, this trail was, “the first
major thoroughfare of the Calumet.”12 The firmly packed sand (under good conditions), absence
of fallen trees, rivers and ravines made it the line of least resistance to pioneer travel.13 The only
reason for following the Lake Shore Trail west was to reach Fort Dearborn (Chicago) and the
wilderness beyond.
Chicago itself at the time George visited was less than impressive. Many period
descriptions speak of swamp and mud and tensions with Indian tribes. Fort Dearborn constituted
the largest collection of buildings but wasn’t really a place for travelers to come and find shelter.
The real center of things was a place called Wolf Point where the taverns were. The population
in 1831 is estimated at around 60 people.14 This did not count the various passers-through and
traders that were always present at the time. For whatever reason, the wilderness there
persuaded George, "that that section of the country was still in too wild and unsettled a
condition. He returned to the East."15
11 Meyer, Alfred, “Circulation and settlement patterns of the Calumet region of Northwest Indiana and Northeast Illinois (The first stage of occupance…,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol.44, no.3, September 1954, page 252.12 Meyers, Alfred, “Circulation and settlement patterns of the Calumet region of Northwest Indiana and Northeast Illinios (The second stage of occupance….,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol.46, no.3, September 1956, page 318.13 Meyers, Alfred, “Circulation and settlement patterns of the Calumet region of Northwest Indiana and Northeast Illinios (The second stage of occupance….,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol.46, no.3, September 1956, page 318.14 Pierce, page 44.15 Milliken, page 15.
64
16
Chicago in 1830
17
Wolf Point, Chicago in 1833
16 Map of Chicago in 1830, from:Andreas, illustration insert between pages 112-113.17 Available 24 April 2006: http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Landmarks/S/Sauganash1.html
65
18
An idealic view of Fort Dearborn and nearby houses, 1831.
18 Available 2 November 2005: http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/Images/WER1236.html
66