Beaubien, Jean B.

Born: 1787-XX-XX Detroit, Michigan

Died: 1864-XX-XX

Flourished: Cook County, Illinois

The son of an established French-Canadian family in Detroit, Beaubien entered the fur trade as an assistant when he was eight years old. Beaubien first came to Fort Dearborn (later the site of Chicago) in 1804. In 1818, he took a position as agent for the American Fur Company and built a trading house in Chicago. By 1825, Beaubien was the wealthiest inhabitant of Chicago.

Weston A. Goodspeed and Daniel D. Healy, eds., History of Cook County Illinois (Chicago: Goodspeed Historical Association, 1909), 1:83-84, 87; Ann Durkin Keating, Rising Up from Indian Country: The Battle of Fort Dearborn and the Birth of Chicago (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012), 67, 226; Gravestone, Beaubien Burial Ground, Lisle, IL.