Full Name

Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable

Date of Birth

Around 1745

Place of Birth

St. Marc, Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti)

Education

Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable received some education in France

Spouse’s Name

Kitihawa (also known as Catherine)

Children’s Names

Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable and his wife had two children, Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, Jr. and Suzanne

Affiliated Organizations’ Names

Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable was a frontier trader, trapper, and farmer. He established a prosperous trading post and farm along the northern bank of the Chicago River near Lake Michigan around 1779. He is recognized as the founder of the city of Chicago.

Additional Information

Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable was born to a French father and a Black African slave mother. He traveled with his father to France, where he received some education. He arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1765. He migrated north, up the Mississippi River, later settling in an area near present-day Peoria, Illinois. He sold his trading post on May 7, 1800, and moved to St. Charles, Missouri. He died on August 28, 1818, in St. Charles.