Jean Baptiste Beaubien

Beaubien, Jean Baptiste (1787-Jan. 25, 1873) known as John Beaubien or Colonel Beaubien later in his life; born at Detroit to Jean Baptiste and Josette [n%C3%A9e Bondy] Beaubien, who married in 1777; one among 10 children born within a large (15 other children from the fathers earlier marriage) well established French Canadian family (originally Cuillerier dit Beaubien [see dit entry] assumed in 1712, in honor of Sieur Michel De Beaubien, an ancestral family member); prior to 1800, Jean Baptiste served as an apprentice to Joseph Bailly at the St. Joseph River; in 1804, by which year he had traded in Milwaukee and Mackinac, he made his first visit to Chicago and moved there permanently in 1811; he is first listed as a visitor in John Kinzie’s account books under the name [sic] Beaubonien on July 6, 1810, then on Dec. 9, 1811 as J.B. Beaubien, then on Jan. 12, 1817 and in September 1820 in conjunction with John Crafts; he built his first house on the E side of the south branch, about a quarter mile S of the Forks; later he may have owned, at one time or another, every house at the lakeshore S of the Chicago River; in 1812, after the massacre, he bought the Leigh House (closest to the fort) from Leighs widow, although he had moved with his family to Milwaukee shortly before the massacre; he returned in 1818 to reside permanently in Chicago. In 1817, Beaubien bought for $1,000 the larger Dean house at the mouth of the river and began to build an even larger house between the two that became known as the Beaubien House. In the autumn of 1818, he was appointed American Fur Co. agent, but in 1822 John Crafts took over the agency and Beaubien worked under him as subagent; that year he is also listed with [see] James Kinzie "for trade at Milliwakie" on an American Fur Co. invoice of August 14; in July 1827, during the Winnebago scare, he organized a local company of militia; from 1827 to 1835 he held the Chicago area trade concession of the American Fur Co.; in 1828 Judge Norman Hyde of the Peoria probate court appointed Beaubien administrator of the estate of John Kinzie, in 1830 Judge Hyde appointed him administrator of the estate of François LaFramboise, Jr., and in the same year appointed him appraiser of the Wolcott estate. In 1830, he purchased from the government lots 1 and 2 in block 17, and additional land in blocks 18 and 36 [see Maps, 1834, John S. Wright], but later sold part of the land to Madore Beaubien and William Jones (block 17), to Seth Johnson and Robert Stewart [Stuart?] (block 36) and to Solomon Juneau (block 18); voted in the August 2, 1830, election, serving as one of three judges; is listed on the Peoria County Census of August 1830. Beaubien was listed among "500 Chicagoans" on the census which Commissioner Thomas J.V. Owen took prior to the incorporation of Chicago as a town in early August 1833, and signed the Chicago Treaty document as a witness, and received $250 for a claim at this treaty. In May 1835 he bought the Fort Dearborn reservation [75.69 acres] through the local government land agent for $94.61, but the purchase was later declared invalid by the U.S. Supreme Court ("Beaubien land case"), and the land became the Breese & Beaubien Addition to Chicago, Sidney Breese having been one of Beaubiens attorneys and a party in the dispute with the federal government; late that year, filed a claim for wharfing privileges for lot 5, block 36. Between 1840 and 1858, he lived on his farm near Hardscrabble. His first Ottawa wife, name unknown, bore him a daughter, Marie; with his second Ottawa wife, Maw-naw-bun-no-quah (Mahnobunoqua), sister of Shabbona, he had Charles Henry and Madore; she died in 1811; in 1812, he married Josette, housemaid of the Kinzies and daughter of François LaFramboise; together they had George (died early), Susan, Monique, Julie, Alexander, Ellen [Helene Maria?], Philippe and Henry (twins), Marie Louise, Marguerite, Caroline, and William; Josette died in 1845; with his fourth wife, Catherine Louise Pinney (married in 1855), he had Isadore, Maurice, Pauline, and Claudia; his children totaled 19. Jean brought the first carriage to Chicago and, in 1834, shipped from Detroit Chicagos second piano, for the benefit of his daughters who had been sent to Detroit to be educated [see Ashbel Steele for the first]. He served as public administrator for Cook County; was elected a colonel of the Sixtieth Regiment of the Illinois Militia on June 7, 1834, at the house of Stephen Forbes on the Des Plaines River; 1839 City Directory: John B., Michigan Avenue, between Lake and South Water streets; in 1850 he was commissioned to or adopted the title of "Brigadier General"; died at Lisle where he had lived since 1858, and there buried in the Beaubien Cemetery [see Monuments section]. Jean Baptiste Beaubien School, 5025 N Laramie Ave.; street name: Beaubien Court (120E, from 150 N to 186 N). [10aa, 28, 42, 131a, 159, 226, 243, 319, 357, 404, 421a, 429, 491, 585a] [12] http://www.earlychicago.com/encyclopedia.php?letter=b

One of Chicago's earliest settlers, he moved to Naperville in 1858. Son of Joseph Beaubien, and brother of Mark Beaubien. He was married 4 times and had about 20 children. In the early 1800's he married Mah-naw-bun-no-quah, an Ottawa, then in 1812 married his third wife, Josette LaFramboise (d. Sep. 1845), lastly married Louise Pinney in 1855. Additional info added by contributor Dean McMakin.

Apparently his first and/or second wife, and some of his children, were buried on his land in Chicago, which was taken by the city some time before he moved to Naperville.

Known children by first two wives: Marie Charles Henry Madore Benjamin

Children by Josette LaFramboise: George Susan Monique Julie Alexander Ellen Philip Henry Marie Margaret Caroline William

Children by Catherine Louise Pinion: Isadore Maurice Pauline Claudine

When Jean Marie Beaubien was born on 5 September 1787, in L'Assomption, Essex, Ontario, Canada, his father, Joseph Cuillèrier, was 35 and his mother, Marie-Josephte Douaire de Bondy, was 26. He married Régina Meny on 4 April 1815, in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons. He died on 2 April 1841, in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States, at the age of 53, and was buried in Saint Anne's Church Cemetery, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States.