CHAPTER XI 

 HOME OF CHIEF KILLBUCK 



FRENCH ISLAND 



FOR MANY YEARS THE HOME OF CHIEFS 



SHEUBANA AND OLD KILLBUCK 



WHEN SETTLED BY A FRENCH 



FUR TRADER NAMED 



LA BONTA 



The first white man to settle on French Island 

 was a French fur trader by the name of LaBon- 

 ta. He settled here for the purpose of trading 

 and trafficing with the early hunters and trap- 

 pers who had settled along the Kankakee at 

 that time. As I have said before the War De- 

 partment granted a few of the Pottowattomies, 

 those who had been friendly to the whites, per- 

 mission to stay in the Kankakee Region, There 

 were two or three French families on the island 

 who had settled there years before and for this 

 reason it derived its name "French Island." 



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