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What Happened To Potawatomi Chief's Gravestone, Missing For Decades?

By Heather Cherone | September 21, 2016 6:00am | Updated on September 21, 2016 8:32am
 The gravestones of Alexander Robinson and his wife, Catherine Chevalier
The gravestones of Alexander Robinson and his wife, Catherine Chevalier
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Norwood Park Historical Society

NORWOOD PARK — The answer to one of the most enduring mysteries about the earliest settlers of the Far Northwest Side is set to be the subject of a lecture hosted by the Norwood Park Historical Society.

The stones marking the graves of Chee-chee-pin-quay, the chief the Potawatomi, Chippewa and Ottawa nations — known to Chicago's earliest white settlers as Alexander Robinson — and his second wife, Catherine Chevalier, were lost for decades, leaving a hole in the history of the Far Northwest Side.

The gravestones were recovered this summer by archeologist Dan Melone and Verlyn Spreeman, a Robinson descendant. The Cook County Forest Preserve District reportedly had put the headstones in storage, perhaps in the 1950s, to protect them from vandals.

 The gravestones belonging to Alexander Robinson and his second wife were found this summer by an archeologist.
The gravestones belonging to Alexander Robinson and his second wife were found this summer by an archeologist.
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Facebook/Norwood Park Historical Society

Melone will discuss his work as the historian of the Robinson family and the continuing importance of the Robinson Family Cemetery, now just outside the city limits near Lawrence Avenue and East River Road, at 7 p.m. Sept. 28 at the Norwood Park Historical Society, 5624 N. Newark Ave.

Using recently uncovered evidence, Melone will explore how the cemetery's boundaries changed and identify those who were buried in the cemetery between 1860-1927, organizers said.

Robinson, who was one of Chicago's most prominent early residents, opened the city's first tavern at Canal and Lake streets and knew Abraham Lincoln before he was president.

For a fee, Robinson helped survivors flee the Fort Dearborn Massacre, including Chicago's first white settler, John Kinzie.

As a reward for helping persuade local tribes to abandon their territories without a fight in 1829, Robinson and his family were granted 1,280 acres along the banks of the Des Plaines River as part of the Treaty of Prairie du Chien. It is now owned by the Cook County Forest Preserve District and includes parts of Schiller Park as well as the cemetery.

The lecture is free.

For more information, go to norwoodparkhistoricalsociety.org.

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