The terms of the unethical “Whiskey Treaties” written between 1834-37 between the U.S. and Native Americans in the Great Lakes region allowed the government to relocate numerous groups of Potawatomi and other members of the Three Fires Confederacy to chosen sites west of the Mississippi River. Chief Menominee did not sign the Treaty of 1836 that was written in central Indiana, and he led a resistance movement from his village in northern Indiana that consisted of approximatel

A discovery was made recently in the archives of the DuPage County History Museum of a note belonging to early settlers of the county who arrived in the area around 1835.* The Torode family established a farm in Brush Hill, west of Chicago along Salt Creek, where the family also built a dam across the creek to power a sawmill. One of the sons of the original Torode family members wrote about his recollection of "Chief Shabony and Family," who "used to pass by our house in the

In Reminiscences of Early Chicago , John Wentworth provides an overview of the economic crisis that befell the country around 1837 due to massive land speculation in former partially settled states such as Illinois. The population growth was staggering as white settlers displaced Native Americans whose leaders had ceded land to the U.S. through treaties that were largely unethical. There also was forced removal of indigenous people due to the 1830 "Indian Removal Act," which

While Benjamin Fuller's courageous trek on horseback from New York to this area in 1834 to find land for his expanding family is a well- known aspect of the history of Fullersburg, Ben's personal attributes of proactivity and innovation are not as widely recognized. Ben was able to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing environment during the early Settlement Era by adapting to change and educating himself in order to accomplish the tasks at hand for pioneer living. George