Juliette McGill Kinzie

Juliette McGill was born in 1806, educated at Willard's Female Seminary and married John Kinzie in 1830. Attracted to Kinzie's experience in the fur trade at Mackinac and Prairie du Chien, she was enthusiastic about frontier life. John Kinzie was the US Indian Sub-agent stationed at Fort Winnebago and it was here that Juliette was a first hand witness to the Black Hawk War. Her descriptive narrative of the early years of her marriage called, "Wa-bun, the "Early Day" in the Northwest," chronicles her experiences and observations from the years 1830 to 1833. Her tale begins in Detroit. The first stop en route to Green Bay was Mackinac Island. Here she became acquainted with the Schindlers, Marianne Fisher and Madeleine LaFramboise. The couple live at Fort Winnebago untill 1833, when John resigned his post. The couple moved to Chicago where they were among the leading citizens in a growing city. While Wau-bun mainly describes Kinzie's life on the frontier, her descriptions of Mackinac and the acquaintances she makes are valuable.