[1] George Davenport was born in 1783 in Lincolnshire, England, becoming an apprentice to his uncle, a merchant captain, and going to sea at an early age.

In the fall of 1803, shortly after arriving with a cargo from Liverpool, Davenport was arrested with the rest of his crew while in port at St. Petersburg when the Czarist Russian government acceded to Napoleon's embargo on British vessels (the "Continental System").

After he was discharged, Davenport became a successful merchant and traded with the local tribes in the Illinois and Iowa territories for several years.

[6] In 1826, he resigned his position to become an agent for John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company with Farnham and oversaw its interests from Iowa to the Turkey River.

Two years later, he and six others (including close friend Antoine LeClaire), purchased a large tract of land along the Mississippi River opposite the island.

Davenport departed the American Fur Company following the signing of the treaty and retired to private life on his Rock Island estate.

Accounts differ as to the nature of the assault, as one version claims he was shot by the burglars while another states the elderly Bowman[clarification needed] was severely beaten when his assailants found there was far less money in the safe than they had first believed.

The suspects were traced to a loosely organized Middle West ruffian gang, operating out of northern Illinois, known as the "Banditti of the Prairie".

Detective and bounty hunter Edward Bonney volunteered to infiltrate the gang and was able to arrest eight men, including Robert H. Birch.

Two received prison sentences [8] while another three, Granville Young and brothers John and Aaron Long, were later arrested and executed for the crime.

[9] In October 1845, shortly before their execution, Young and the Long brothers were photographed by daguerreotypists Thomas Martin Easterly and Frederick F.

[10] One of the earliest buildings to be built on Rock Island, Davenport's home still exists and remains one of the oldest residential landmarks in northern Illinois.