Kinzie, Robert A.

Born: 1810-02-08 Chicago, Illinois

Died: 1873-12-13 Chicago, Illinois

In 1812, Robert A. Kinzie escaped a Native American attack on Fort Dearborn (the later site of Chicago). In 1825, Kinzie went to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, to live with his brother, John H. Kinzie, who was a clerk for the American Fur Company. He soon took his brother’s position with the company. Robert Kinzie moved to Fort Winnebago, Wisconsin, in 1829 and became a sutler at the fort, selling food and other items to the soldiers. He returned to Chicago permanently in 1830 as one of the city's first settlers. Kinzie was a fur trader, Indian trader, hardware merchant, and farmer. In November 1834, he married Gwinthean Whistler in Cook County, Illinois. He was the brother-in-law of General David Hunter. During the Civil War, he was a paymaster in the U.S. Army with the rank of major.

A. T. Andreas, History of Cook County, Illinois: The Earliest Period to the Present Time (Chicago: A. T. Andreas, 1884), 99; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Cook County, 12 November 1834, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Eleanor Lytle Kinzie Gordon, John Kinzie: The "Father of Chicago:" A Sketch (Savannah, GA: Eleanor Kinzie Gordon, 1910), 7, 30; Abraham Lincoln to Simon Cameron.