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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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