Historical Society Gets History Lesson

How do you celebrate a 175th birthday? Do you do it with cake? Do you find someone who was around in the beginning?

could not find a 175-year old person to talk about the initial building of the but it did the next best thing. It found storyteller Paddy Lynn to portray someone who was there.

There was a spaghetti dinner provided by the as well as cake.

Lynn brought Caroline Wright, the daughter of Daniel Wright and the first Caucasian to live in Lake County, to life Friday for more than 50 people at the Patty Turner Center as the Historical Society celebrated the 175th birthday of the cabin—the oldest existing structure in Lake County.

Before Lynn gave her history lesson, Deerfield Historical Society leader Donna Stupple told the group how close the cabin itself came to the wrecking ball. “The bulldozer was up against its wall when it was discovered,” Stupple said describing how it was hidden while a developer was at work.

The building was relocated to the Historic Village where he has been for the last 42 years.

Speaking in the character of Caroline Wright, Lynn gave a new meaning to words in the local vocabulary. Not only Daniel Wright Woods, but Mettawa and Aptakisic became more real. The Ott cabin was built two years after Wright erected structures for his family as they moved from Ohio.

Appropriately Lynn gave everyone a history lesson learning how Wright traveled up the Des Plaines River. “He heard the soil was very rich north of Ft. Dearborn,” she said. Ft. Dearborn was the settlement which became Chicago.

Originally Lake County was known as Half Day and Lynn dispelled the popular myth the name came from the length of time it took to travel from Chicago to the vicinity of modern day Half Day Road.

“That’s how long it took once they rode horses and had stage coaches,” Lynn said. “(Potawatomi) Chief Aptakisic was so strong he could do the work in half a day it took an ordinary man a day to do.”

Chief Mettawa was a successor to Aptakisic who befriended Daniel Wright when Wright arrived in the area, built a home and brought his family shortly thereafter. “It was built on Indian hunting ground,” Lynn said of the house.

One night the family saw a struggle between two Native Americans outside the cabin. Daniel Wright could not watch one man beating another who was drunk. He used a shovel to send the attacker packing, according to Lynn.

“The next day Chief Mettawa came with some others to find the man who was attacked,” Lynn said. “My father didn’t know their language but he understood when Chief Mettawa said, ‘we had been wanting to get rid of him for a while (the attacker).’ He left.”

Wright sent the attacker packing and had Mettawa’s gratitude.