Chapter 11 cont. ENTERS GOVERNMENT SERVICE About this period, at the solicitation of Governor Clark of Missouri, Antoine LeClaire enteered the service of the government and was placed at school that he might acquire a proper knowledge of the English language.  At that time he could speak French and Spanish fluently.  In 1818 he was sent to Fort Armstrong and there acted as interpreter under Captain Davenport, and the same year returned to Peoria, where in 1820 he married the granddaughter of Acoqua (The Kettle), a Sac chief.  The same year he was sent to Arkansas to watch the movements of Indians in that locality.  He was returned to Fort Armstrong in 1827 and was present as interpreter in 1832 when the treaty was made by which the United States purchased of the Sac and Fox tribes the territory west of the Mississippi river.  The treaty, on account of the presence of cholera among the soldiers at Fort Armstrong, was entered into on the Iowa shore opposite to the island.  Here the great chief of the Sacs, Keokuk, whose admiration for LeClaire could never be concealed, made a reserve of a section of land which he donated to Mr. LeClaire's wife, requiring as the only condition that Mr. LeClaire should build his house on the section and on the spot then occupied by the marquee of Genreal Scott in making the treaty, which condition Mr. LeClaire afterward fulfilled to the letter.  The Sacs and Foxes also, gave him another section of land at the head of the rapids, where the village of LeClaire now stands.  The Pottawattamies in the treaty of Prairie du Chien reserved two sections on the Illinois side which they presented to Mr. LeClaire.  On this reservation now stans the thriving city of Moline.  The treaty was ratified by congress the following winter.  In the spring of 1833 Mr. LeClaire erected a small building in the then Fox village, "Morgan," which had occupied this ground for years previous.  Of the tribe havng this as their headquarters Ma-que-pra-um was the head warrior and Poweshiek the head chief.  In the fall of 1834 the Sacs and Foxes left here for the Cedar river. In 1833 Mr. LeClaire was appointed postmaster of Davenport, the first one to occupy that position in the town, and also justice of the peace, to settle all matters of difference between the whites and Indians.  His jurisdiction extended over all the territory purchased of the Sacs and Foxes west of the Mississippi from Dubuque on the north to Burlington on the south.  The population of Burlington at that time was about 200 - that of Dubuque, about 250.  Antoine LeClaire was an accomplished linguist.  As has been stated, he spoke French and Spanish, understood thoroughly and conversed in fourteen Indian dialects, and by reason of this mainly was present as interpreter at many other treaties, that of the Great and Little Osages, in St. Louis in 1825; that of the Kansas at St. Louis, in 1825; of the Chippewas at Prairie du Chien in 1829; the Winnebagos at the same place in August, 1829; at the same place with the Sacs and Foxes in 1826; also at Prairie du Chien with the Winnebagos in 1832; at the treaty of Fort Armstrong held on the Iowa side with the Sacs and Foxes at Davenport in 1836; at Washington with the Sacs and Foxes in 1837; and with the Sacs and Fox tribes at Agency, now Wapello county, Iowa in 1842. Debbie Clough G-erischer G-erischer Family Web Site http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ Assistant CC, Iowa Gen Web, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ List Manager for: IASCOTT-L * G-erischer-L * D-encker-L Fitzpatirck-L * V-lerebome-L * Huntington-L * Otis-L * Algar-L EIGS-L * Pickens-L * McNab-L * Patris-L - Rankin-L