I think all of you will enjoy this even if you are not connected immediately to this line. This is an article which was carried in the 7 Nov 1893 issue, page 3 of the Decatur Daily Republican, Decatur, Macon, IL. I will have to do this in 2-3 posts. The author of this article is Eleanor Gorin, wife of Jerome Rinaldo Gorin, he the son of John Darns and Martha Thomas Gorin, he the son of Henry and Sarah Pell Gorin. Old-Time Memories. Mrs. Eleanor Gorin, of Decatur, Ill., talks of Early Chicago. She Lived here when the city was an infant with few white people and thousands of Indians -- "Father" Walker was her step-father, andshe tellssome interesting stories of his career - reminisences of people and places in the early days. Chicago Tribune, October 26. Decatur, Ill., Oct. 25 - [Special Correspondence.] -- There dwells in Decatur a pious and motherly old lady who lived in Chicago when in the spelling-books of the '30's the name was spelled "Chickaugo," and when only a few white people and thousands of Indians were in the vicinity of old Fort Dearborn. Her name is Mrs. Eleanor E. D. Gorin, wife of the Hon. Jerome R. Gorin, who has lived in Decatur for half a century as a merchant and banker, and is a leading member of the First M.E.Church. He was at one time Eminent Commander of the Illinois Commandery, Knights Templar, and is a thirty-second degree Mason. He has a comfortable home on Prairie avenue, one of the fashionable streets in the city, and by his courtesy the Tribune correspondent was privileged to meet Mrs. Gorin and chat with her about the early history of Chicago. Five years of her girlhood, from 11 to 17, were spent among the Indians in and near Chicago, and before she left in 1838 she could speak the Indian tongue quite fluently. Even now, after the lapse of nearly sixty years, she can speak many Indian words, accompanied by the invariable but much-meaning motions of the aborinines. Mrs. Gorin was asked to give some of her recollections of Chicago, and in an easy and conversational manner she readily responded. Remembers Chicago When It Was A Baby. "O, yes," she replied. "I remember Chicago when it was a baby. I lived there when my mother said she could stand in her front door and count all the dwellings in the place. I was but 11 years old when I first saw Chicago. That was in October, 1833, just sixty years ago. I lived there five years, coming back to Decatur in 1838. My father was Isaac Fawcett and I was born in Virginia. My maiden name was Eleanor Elizabeth Douglas Fawcett. Father died after he came west, and after several years mother married the Rev. Jesse Walker, who was reverentialy called Father Walker by all of the Indians and the white people. The marriage occured in 1833 in Chicago, and the Rev. William See, a Methodist minister who lived south of Chicago, officiated. "I cannot tell exactly how big Chicago was then - I was not quite 11 years old. After Father Walker died mother and I left Chicago and came to Decatur. That was in 1838. There were over 3,000 people there then. Chicago was only a village in 1838, with only two streets - Lake street, close by the lake, and Water street, and the ground was quite marshy. The town was close to where the two Sac Nations who caused the trouble and brought on the war. Col. I. C. Pugh of Decatur, and one of my cousins were in the Black Hawk war. It was in 1834 that Billy Cullwell rode on horse back from Chicago to Washington City to have the Indian treaty ratified. Before that there were but very few white people there, only Indians and 80 soldiers in Fort Dearborn. The old fort, I remember it well. The white people were afraidto come before 1834. "In the latter part of 1833 Giote La-flambeaux and his brother-in-law, Alex. Robinson, Chief of the Pottawaxmie tribe, received money from the government in payment for the land, also blankets, blue broadcloth, blue calico, tobacco, clay pipes, ribbons, beads, etc. They had the money in two bags. They had no confidence in each other and they wanted the money counted, and they carred it to Father Walker's home. It was all in silver half dollars. They poured the money out on a table and I was present when the counting was done. I don't know how much money there was, but after it was counted it was stacked in a trunk. It was said that the Indians got about three cents per acre for the land. Chicago Begins To Grow. "After the treaty was ratified, Chicago began to grow rapidly. Eastern people kept pouring in and taking up claims. They could get land at $1.25 an acre if they were actual settlers. Father Walker was the first Methodist missionary in the West.He was sent out by the general conference which met in Baltimore, Md., and he preached to the Indians through an interpreter. He had done missionary work among the Indians before Illinois was admitted to the Union in 1818. He established the first Methodist church at St.Louis. I wish I could tell you all the good things about Father Walker. He was truly a nobleman. Everything had to be settled for the Indians by him; anything he said was 'law and gospel' with the Indians; they had perfect confidence in him and loved him dearly. They mourned for him when he died and put stripes and black dots on their faces. Because of Father's Walker's work in the early days of Chicago, I have always felt an interest in the city, but my mother bought two lots on Water street and was swindled out of them. She was to pay $500 and had paid $250 and when she went to pay the balance she learned that the party with whom she contracted had no title in them: the deal was a swindle and because of that experience I have always felt a little hurt. Those lots are quite valuable now. to be continued in next post.