French Moments in Illinois History

1673 - Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette arrived in Illinois

1675 – Marquette founds a mission at the Great Village of the Illinois, near present Utica

1680 – Fort Crevecoeur was built (site of Peoria) by Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle

1682 – La Salle and Tonty built Fort St Louis across the Illinois River from the Great Village of the Illinois site

1696 – Jesuit priest Pierre François Pinet (1660-1704?) establishes Guardian Angel mission in present Chicago

1699 – Priests of the Quebec Seminary of Foreign Missions found the Holy Family mission at Cahokia, the first permanent settlement in the Illinois country. http://www.19thcircuitcourt.state.il.us/bkshelf/resource/timeline_history.htm

1699 – With the increasing number of French settlers, France establishes the Commandery of Illinois. Judges are appointed by the commandant for each settlement to execute orders and locally try all minor cases.

1703 – The village of Kaskaskia, the second European settlement in Illinois, was established with a few French traders and their Indian wives as its first inhabitants.

1715 – French fort established in what is now the town of La Harpe.

1717 – Illinois becomes the French colony of Louisiana

1718 – John Law (167101729) is granted a French charter for colonizing the Mississippi Valley; his “Mississippi Bubble@ scheme bursts in 1720.

1722 – A French Provincial Council is established to exercise primary jurisdiction in civil as well as criminal matters – first recorded account of a court in the territory.

1730 – French troops and Indian allies, under the command of Lt. Louis Coulon de Villiers the elder, win a major battle over the Fox Indians.

1755 – The French and Indian War begins.

1763 – With the defeat of France, the Treaty of Paris, ending the war, gave all territory east of the Mississippi River to Great Britain. The English settlers tried unsuccessfully to impose English Common Law on French settlers.

1779 – John Todd (County Lieutenant of Illinois) reorganized the courts into three districts. Each district had six judges. Because of the number of French inhabitants, French law ws the basis of the reorganization. However. the influence of English Common Law was growing.

1780s – Pierre Menard of Antoine-sur-Richellieu (Canada) signs on with a trading expedition to Illinois. http://www.state.il.us/hpa/hs/Menard.htm

1849 – Étienne Cabet (1788-1856) establishes a French Icarian communal settlement at Nauvoo.