Document Signed by Dowling John (1 results)

This Dubliner emigrated to Baltimore and then to Illinois, setting up the first trading post (which still stands today) in the then-booming frontier town of Galena in that state's northwest corner, future adoptive hometown of Ulysses S. Grant; Dowling became the largest iron dealer in the Upper Mississippi and important early Galena business and civic leader, elected alderman in 1841 and mayor in 1843. DS, 1p, 7½" X 12", Crawford County, Wisconsin, 9 November 1831. Very good. Lightly and evenly age toned, with faint original folds evident, but strong and attractive. Boldly penned legal document penned by Crawford County clerk J. Brisbois, a local justice of the peace, related to the early fur trading family of that name, most notably French-Canadian voyageur Michel Brisbois (1759-1837); he signs at lower left in his official capacity. In it, he attests that John Dowling, Oliver Cherrier (1815-1905) and Julien LaRiviere (1801-72) "Do acknowledge to owe unto the United States of America the sum of twenty five Dollars each to be levied on your several goods and chattles, Lands and tenements upon Condition that whereas John Dowling is admitted and allowed by the County Court. to Keep a Tavern for the space of one year. in the village of St Friole." Stipulations are spelled out: He "Shall keep and Maintain good order and rules and sufer [sic] no Disorder nor unlawful games to be used in his said house. and shall not break any Laws for the regulations of taverns." At the conclusion, Dowling signs boldly, and his business partners Cherrier and LaRiviere each make their "X" mark alongside their names. While Dowling's reputation is most closely associated with Galena, this document shows that his business interests spread widely, as "St Friole" -- St. Feriole Island -- lies about 30 miles north of Galena. It was there that this island alongside Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, became the center of that area's fur trade and site of Fort Crawford. Very scarce and quite unusual.