author
J. Seymour (Josiah Seymour) Currey
1844–1928
A careful chronicler of Chicago and Illinois history, he turned local stories, frontier episodes, and civic growth into readable narrative history. His books remain closely tied to early Chicago, especially Fort Dearborn and the people who helped shape the city.
1 Audiobook
The Story of Old Fort Dearborn
by J. Seymour (Josiah Seymour) Currey
About the author
Born in 1844 and writing as J. Seymour Currey, he became known for preserving the history of Chicago and Illinois in an energetic, accessible way. He is best remembered for works such as The Story of Old Fort Dearborn and the multi-volume Chicago: Its History and Its Builders, books that helped record the city’s early years, its rapid growth, and many of the figures connected with that story.
Currey also contributed to larger reference and memorial projects about Illinois, including biographical and historical compilations. Across these works, his focus stayed on turning regional history into something vivid and usable for general readers as well as later researchers.
He died in 1928. For listeners interested in early Chicago, frontier conflict, and the making of Illinois, his writing offers a direct window into how the region’s past was being remembered and organized in the early twentieth century.