Jean-Baptiste Pointe Dusable

Jean-Baptiste-Pointe-Du'Sable was the son of an African born ex-slave and a French Canadian sea captain. He was born a free black man in the Haitian city of Saint-Marc in 1745. Pointe Du'Sable was the first Haitian to appear on the United States postage stamp.

Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable 's father sent him to France to be educated, and afterwards, he worked as a seaman on his father's ships. He was a powerfully built man, well educated and cultured. He had a love for European art and at one time owned twenty-three old world art treasures. He spoke French, English, Spanish, and several Indian dialects.

At the age of 20, Pointe DuSable sailed from Haiti to New Orleans.

He escaped new enslavement and made his way North to Peoria, Illinois. There, he joined the Potawatomi Indian tribe and married a Potawatomi woman named Kittihawa also known as Catherine Pointe DuSable. He fathered a daughter, Susanne, and a son, Jean.

In 1779, Dusable built a thriving trading post on the North Bank of the Chicago River mouth, where the present-day Tribune Tower stands. The trading post consisted of a mill, bakehouse, dairy, smokehouse, workshop, poultry house, horse stable, barn and several other smaller buildings. His post was the main supply station for White trappers, traders, woodsmen, and the Indians.

In short time, the trading post became the focal point for a growing settlement called Eschikagou (Chicago). Dusable made this area as vital for merchant trading, and he sent wheat, breads, meats and furs to trading posts in Detroit and Canada. DuSable became a man of considerable wealth and means.

In 1784, DuSable brought his wife and children to Chicago. And, as DuSable was a devout Catholic, he and Catherine were properly married by a Catholic priest. In 1796, their grand-daughter became the first child born in the city of Chicago. As the history of DuSable unfolds, it leaves all history scholars puzzled by his sudden departure from such a prosperous environment. On May 7, 1800, the "father" of Chicago sold his entire wealth for a mere $1,200 and left the area. In 1818, he died almost penniless, and was buried in a Catholic cemetery in St. Charles, Missouri. The partnership of Catherine and Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable continued a longstanding Haitian tradition of inter-marriage between African and native American-Indians.

Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable was not officially recognized as Chicago's founder until 1968.