fur trader, Indian agent, b. Sandwich, Ontario, Canada. He spent his youth in Chicago and Detroit, and in 1818 began his career in the fur trade as clerk for Robert Stuart on Mackinac Island. In 1826 his knowledge of Indian languages won him the position of private secretary to Governor Lewis Cass of Michigan Territory; during the same year he accompanied a delegation of Ho-Chunk Indians to Washington, D.C.; and in 1827 he participated in the Treaty of Butte des Morts. In 1829 he was appointed Indian subagent at Fort Winnebago (Portage, Wis.) and served in this capacity until July 1833. After 1834 he and his wife lived in Chicago, where he held various positions, including register of the federal land office, canal collector, receiver of the public moneys, and army paymaster during the Civil War. J. A. Kinzie, Waubun (reprint, Chicago, 1932); Wis. Mag. Hist., 14; Colls. State Hist. Soc. Wis., 20 (1911); F. C. Dexheimer, comp., Sketches of Wis. Pioneer Women [Ft. Atkinson, 1925]; WPA field notes.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the John Harris Kinzie Letters for details.

View newspaper clippings at Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]