Jean La Lime or Lalime (died June 17, 1812) was a trader from Quebec, Canada who worked in what became the Northwest Territory of the United States.
He was killed there in 1812, in what was called the "first murder in Chicago", by John Kinzie, a trading partner of Burnett who was another early settler from Canada.
[1] After trading along the frontier and likely in Detroit, La Lime arrived in the Chicago area on August 17, 1792 as an agent for William Burnett of Canada.
[2] In letters to U.S. Secretary of War William Eustis, fort Factor Matthew Irwin[5] and Surgeon's Mate Isaac Van Voorhis[6] wrote that Kinzie murdered La Lime in an argument over Irwin informing the War Department about Kinzie corruptly obtaining the fort sutler's contract.
[7] La Lime was originally buried within sight of Kinzie's house, as the European settlement was thinly strung along Lake Michigan.