Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable was born in St.Marc, Haiti (or St. Domingue as Haiti was known then) around 1745 of a French father and a Black African Slave mother. There is a paucity of information in the historical record as pertains to DuSable’s life in Haiti prior to his migration to New Orleans around 1765. Many scholars suggest that DuSable may have had French Canadian origins. However most biographers generally agree that the majority of evidence regarding his origins leads to the conclusion that he was a mulatto from present day Haiti.
Once in New Orleans, DuSable made the epic journey up the Mississippi River where in the mid to late 1770’s he built a home and cultivated approximately 30 acres of land in Peoria, Illinois. He maintained excellent relations with Native Americans and lived among indigenous tribes where he married Catherine, the daughter of Potawatomie Chief Pokagon in a tribal ceremony. This common law marriage was solemnized in a Catholic church in Cahokia, Illinois in 1778. Jean-Baptiste and Catherine had two children, Jean-Baptiste Jr. and Suzanne. In 1793 or 1794 Suzanne married Jean-Baptiste Peltier. Suzanne bore a daughter Eulalie in Chicago in October of 1796. Historical evidence suggests that DuSable must have settled in Chicago prior to 1779. [Click Here To Read More]
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