Missionary and explorer; born in
Laon, France, in 1637.
In his youth he entered the order of Jesuits, and at the age of twenty-nine years sailed for
Canada as a missionary.
After residing eighteen months at Thre Rivers, on the
St. Lawrence, learning the dialects of the Montagnais and other
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Indian tribes—also the
Huron and
Iroquois— he went to
Lake Superior in 1668, and founded a mission at
Sault Sainte Marie, or Falls of St. Mary, at the outlet of the lake.
The next year he was sent to take the place of
Allouez among the Ottawas and Hurons, but these tribes were soon afterwards dispersed by the
Sioux, and he returned with the Hurons to
Mackinaw, near the strait that connects Lakes
Michigan and
Huron, where he built a chapel and established the mission of St. Ignatius.
Hearing of the
Mississippi River, he resolved to find it, and in 1669 he prepared for the exploration of that stream, when he received orders to join
Joliet in a thorough exploration of the whole course of the great river.
That explorer and five others left
Mackinaw in two canoes in May, 1673, and, reaching the
Wisconsin River by way of
Green Bay,
Fox River, and a portage, floated down that stream to the
Mississippi, where they arrived June 17.
Near the mouth of the
Ohio River savages told them it was not more than ten days journey to the sea. Voyaging down the great river until they were satisfied, when at the mouth of the
Arkansas River, that the
Mississippi emptied into the
Gulf of Mexico, and not into the
Atlantic or
Pacific Ocean, they concluded to return, to avoid captivity among the Spaniards farther south.
They had accomplished their errand, and travelled in open canoes over 2,500 miles. Passing up the
Illinois River instead of the
Wisconsin, they reached
Green Bay in September.
There, at a mission,
Marquette was detained a whole year by sickness.
In 1674 he sent an account of his explorations of the
Mississippi to
Dablon, the superior of the
Jesuit mission in
Canada, and set out on a journey to
Kaskaskia, but was compelled, by his infirmities and severely cold weather in December, to stop at the portage on the
Chicago, and there he spent the winter.
At the close of March, 1675, he resumed his journey, reached
Kaskaskia in April, erected a chapel, and celebrated the Easter festival in it. Warned by his infirmities that his life was near its end, he attempted to return to
Mackinaw.
He crossed
Lake Michigan to its eastern shore, and, entering the mouth of a small stream that bore his name long afterwards, he prepared to die there.
His attendants (two Frenchmen) bore him tenderly to a bed of leaves in the shadows of the forest.
Then, asking for some holy water which he had prepared, and taking a crucifix from his neck and placing it in the hand of one of his companions, he desired him to keep it constantly before his eyes while he lived.
With clasped hands he pronounced aloud the profession of his faith, and soon afterwards died, May 18, 1675.
His companions buried him near, and erected a cross at his grave.
His remains were afterwards taken to
Mackinaw, where they still repose.
The following account of his arrival at “the lake of the Ilinois” is from his
Narrative:
After a month's navigation down the
Mississippi, from the 42d to below the 34th degree, and after having published the gospel as well as I could to the nations I had met, we left the village of Akamsea on July 17, 1673, to retrace our steps.
We accordingly ascended the
Mississippi, which gave us great trouble to stem its currents.
We left it indeed, about the 38th degree, to enter another river which greatly shortened our way, and brought us, with little trouble, to the lake of the Ilinois.
1
We had seen nothing like this river for the fertility of the land, its prairies, woods, wild cattle, stag, deer, wildcats, bustards, swans, ducks, parrots, and even beaver, its many little lakes and rivers.
That on which we sailed is broad, deep, and gentle for 65 leagues.
During the spring and part of the summer the only portage is half a league.
We found there an Ilinois town called
Kaskaskia, composed of seventy-four cabins.
They received us well, and compelled me to promise to return and instruct them.
One of the chiefs of this tribe, with his young men, escorted us to the
Ilinois Lake, whence at last we returned in the close of September, to the
Bay of the Fetid, whence
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we had set out in the beginning of June.
Had all this voyage caused but the salvation of a single soul, I should deem all my fatigue well repaid; and this I have reason to think, for, when I was returning, I passed by the Indians of
Peoria.
I was three days announcing the faith in all their cabins, after which, as we were embarking, they brought me on the water's edge a dying child, which I baptized a little before it expired, by an admirable Providence for the salvation of that innocent soul.
