Jacques Marquette
The Reverend Jacques Marquette | |
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Born | |
Died | May 18, 1675 near Ludington, Michigan | (aged 37)
Other names | Pere Marquette |
Signature | |
Jacques Marquette,
Early life
Jacques Marquette was born in
Missionary Work
Marquette was first sent to the mission of Saint Michel at Sillery. Because this mission served peaceful and friendly indigenous people from different tribes, it was considered an ideal place for training new missionaries. Marquette studied the languages and customs of the Algonquin, Abenaki, and Iroquois people that he often tended to at Sillery.
In 1668, Marquette was moved by his superiors to missions farther up the Saint Lawrence River, then into the western Great Lakes region. That year, he helped Druillettes, Brother Louis Broeme, and Father Claude-Jean Allouez found the mission at Sault Ste. Marie in present-day Michigan.[13][14][15] The missionaries planted crops, then built a chapel and barns. They established friendly relationships with the Ottawa and Chippewa that were inhabiting that area, and were allowed to baptize most of the infants and people who were dying.[16] The Chippewa were exceptionally skilled at catching whitefish from the rapids in the St. Marys River.[17] People from many tribes would travel to purchase the whitefish. Marquette and the other missionaries would explain their faith to the visiting Sioux, Cree, Miami, Potawatomi, Illinois, and Menominee. They hoped that these visitors would be interested in getting their own Jesuit missionary, or "Black Robe", as they were called by the indigenous people.[18][19] In 1669, Marquette was assigned to replace Allouez at the La Pointe du Saint Esprit mission. Father Claude Dablon arrived to continue and expand the missionary work at Sault Ste. Marie.[20]
Marquette began the 500-mile journey to his new assignment in August, travelling by canoe along the south shore of Lake Superior. The party soon encountered wintry conditions on the lake and were often unable to light a fire when they went ashore at night. The party reached their destination on September 13, and were greeted by the Petun Huron.[21][22] Excited to have a Black Robe again, they quickly assembled a banquet. In addition to the Petun Huron, Marquette was tasked with missionary work for three bands of Ottawa: the Keinouche, Sinagaux, and Kiskakon. Marquette visited and attended to all four settlements. Since he felt the Kiskakon were the most ready to accept Christianity, he spent more time working with them and even lived with the families in their village.[23]
During his time at La Pointe, Marquette encountered members of the
In the spring of 1671, Marquette and his party began their journey to the new St. Ignace Mission. The canoes, loaded with men, women, children, and dogs, travelled through Lake Superior and down to the Straits of Mackinac The mission that Dablon had established for them was located on Mackinac Island. The group would be welcomed by a small group of Ottawa that already inhabited the island.[26] Shortly after the new residents arrived on the island, they became worried about the possibility of winter starvation. They had noticed that game was scarce and no corn had grown. A group of elders approached Marquette with these concerns, and Marquette agreed. In the fall, the mission was moved to the mainland at St. Ignace, Michigan.[27]
Explorations
Marquette's request to take a leave from missionary work to explore the great river was granted in 1673.Marquette joined the expedition of Louis Jolliet, a French-Canadian explorer. They departed from Saint Ignace on May 17, with two canoes and five
The group of explorers next went up the
Eight days later, the travelers found footprints near the Des Moines River and went to investigate. They were enthusiastically greeted by the Peoria who lived nearby in three small villages. Marquette and the others were welcomed by the elders, who offered accommodations and had a banquet prepared.[36][37] The men were offered many gifts by the Peoria. Since Marquette and the men were traveling, they had to decline the most of what was offered. Marquette did accept a calumet that was gifted to him by the chief. He explained that it was a symbol of peace and advised Marquette to display it as an indication of his amicable intentions. As the men left the village, the Peoria chief cautioned them against going too much further south.[38]
As the party continued south, Marquette hoped to find the Chanouananons. They were known to be friendly to French, and Marquette felt they may be interested in Christianity. They did not find the Chanouananons, but Marquette did notice iron in the Wabash area.[39] Once the summer heat and mosquitoes began to cause great discomfort, the men stopped going ashore at night. They slept in the canoes, using the sails as protection from mosquitoes.[40] This attracted the attention of some Native Americans, who pointed guns at the travelers. Marquette held the calumet over his head. He attempted to communicate by speaking Huron, but was unsuccessful. He felt they may have misunderstood the intentions of the men with guns, and that they may have been inviting them to their village. Marquette was correct. He and the other men followed them to their village, where they were fed beef and white plums.[40][41]
At the mouth of the Saint Francis River, the men spotted a village. They heard war cries and saw men jumping into the river, trying to get to them. Marquette held the calumet over his head. The elders standing on shore saw this, and called off the attack.[42] The men were invited to the village of the Michigamea. One of the Michigamea was able to speak to Marquette in the Miami Illinois language, but most of the communication was done through gestrues.[43] The men were fed fish and corn stew, then given a place to sleep for the night.[44]
In the morning, Michigamea warriors in dugout canoes escorted them to the Akansea Quapaw.[45] They were greeted by a group of men in canoes who held up their own calumet. Marquette and the others were invited to the village. Many residents came out to see the Frenchmen.[46] A chief led them to a room where elders and other chiefs had gathered. Marquette used an interpreter to ask about what was south of them. He was told that it was extremely dangerous. The people were hostile, well-armed, and would attack anyone who could interfere with their trading arrangements.[47]
The Jolliet-Marquette expedition had traveled to within 435 miles (700 km) of the Gulf of Mexico.[31] Marquette began to consider whether the danger was worth the risk.[48] By this point, they had encountered several natives carrying European trinkets, and they feared an encounter with explorers or colonists from Spain.[31] The explorers had mapped the areas where they had been, including their flora, wildlife, and resources. After staying with the Akansea for two nights, the party decided to end the exploration.[48] On July 17, they turned back at the mouth of the Arkansas River. They followed the Mississippi back to the mouth of the Illinois River, which they had learned from local natives provided a shorter route back to the Great Lakes. They reached Lake Michigan near the site of modern-day Chicago, by way of the Chicago Portage.[49][50] The party encountered a village of Kaskaskia, who invited Marquette to return and establish a mission. When the explorers left the village, some of the Kaskaskia got in their own canoes and traveled with them to Saint Francis Xavier mission in Green Bay, Wisconsin.[51][49] Jolliet returned to Quebec to relate the news of their discoveries.[49]
Marquette and his party returned to the Illinois territory in late 1674, becoming the first Europeans to winter in what would become the city of Chicago. As welcomed guests of the Illinois Confederation, the explorers were feasted en route and fed ceremonial foods such as sagamite.[52] As Marquette had promised, he established The Immaculate Conception mission for the Kaskaskia.[53][54]
Death
In the spring of 1675, Marquette traveled westward and celebrated a public Mass at the Grand Village of the Illinois near Starved Rock. A bout of dysentery he had contracted during the Mississippi expedition sapped his health. On the return trip to Saint Ignace, he died at 37 years of age near the modern-day town of Ludington, Michigan.[55][56] His companions, Pierre Porteret and Jacques Largillier, buried his body at a spot that Marquette had chosen. They marked his burial site with a large cross. Porteret and Lagrillier continued on to St. Ignace, so they could inform those at the mission.[57] Two years later, Kiskakon Ottawa from the Saint Ignace mission found Marquette's gravesite. They cleaned his bones in preparation for their journey. Ottawa and Huron, in about thirty canoes, accompanied them back to the mission. Marquette's remains were presented to Fathers Nouvel and Piercon. They led funeral services before burying his bones in the chapel at Mission Saint-Ignace on June 9, 1677.[56][55][58]
In 2018, residents of St. Ignace, some of whom were descendants of those led by Marquette to the mission, became aware that an ounce of Marquette's bones were located at Marquette University.[59] Talks between the residents and the university began, then the Museum of Ojibwe Culture sent a formal request for the return of the bones. This request was accepted by Marquette University. Two Native American men, one an Anishinaabe elder, arrived at the university in March of 2022. They were presented with Marquette's bones, which they placed in a birch box for the return to St, Ignace.[60] Following a ceremony, the bones retrieved from the university were reburied with the rest of Marquette's bones on June 18, 2022.[61]
A Michigan Historical Marker in Ludington, MI reads:
Father Jacques Marquette, the great Jesuit missionary and explorer, died and was buried by two French companions somewhere along the Lake Michigan shore on May 18, 1675. He had been returning to his mission at St. Ignace, which he had left in 1673, to go exploring in the Mississippi country. The exact location of his death has long been a subject of controversy. A spot close to the southeast slope of this hill, near the ancient outlet of the Pere Marquette River, corresponds with the death site as located by early French accounts and maps and a constant tradition of the past. Marquette's remains were reburied at St. Ignace in 1677.[62]
Adjacent to gravesite of Marquette on State Street in downtown Saint Ignace, a building was constructed that now houses the Museum of
However, a Michigan Historical Marker in Frankfort, MI reads:
Marquette's Death: On May 18, 1675, Father Jacques Marquette, the great Jesuit missionary and explorer, died and was buried by two French companions somewhere along the Lake Michigan shore of the Lower Peninsula. Marquette had been returning to his mission at St. Ignace, which he had left in 1673 to go on an exploring trip to the Mississippi and the Illinois country. The exact location of Marquette's death has long been a subject of controversy. Evidence presented in the 1960s indicates that this site, near the natural outlet of the Betsie River, at the northeast corner of a hill which was here until 1900, is the Marquette death site and that the Betsie is the Rivière du Père Marquette of early French accounts and maps. Marquette's bones were reburied at St. Ignace in 1677.[63]
Legacy
In the early 20th century Marquette was widely celebrated as a Roman Catholic founding father of the region.[64]
Places
- Marquette County, Michigan;[65] Marquette County, Wisconsin
- Several communities, including: Marquette, Michigan; Marquette, Wisconsin; Marquette, Iowa; Marquette, Illinois; Marquette Heights, Illinois; Pere Marquette Charter Township, Michigan;[66] and Marquette, Manitoba
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Marquette Island in Lake Huron
- Lake Marquette in Minnesota; Marquette Lake in Quebec
- Pere Marquette River and Pere Marquette Lake, which drain into Lake Michigan at Ludington, Michigan
- Marquette River in Quebec
- Pere Marquette Park in Milwaukee, WI
- Pere Marquette State Park near Grafton, Illinois
- Marquette Catholic High School, Alton, IL
- Marquette Academy Catholic High School, Ottawa, IL
- École Père-Marquette, a high school in Montreal, Quebec
- Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois
- Hotel Pere Marquette, Peoria, Illinois
- Marquette Park, Gary, Indiana
- Marquette Park, Mackinac Island, Michigan
- Marquette Park, St. Louis, Missouri
- Pere Marquette Beach, a public beach in Muskegon, Michigan
- Pere Marquette State Forest, in Michigan
- The Pere Marquette Railway
- "Cité Marquette," former US-City-Base (1956–1966) built by Americans based on the NATO Air Force Base in Laon, France(his birthplace).
- towboat company using a silhouette of the Pere in his canoe as their emblem.[67]
- Pere Marquette Hotel in Peoria, Illinois
- Marquette Avenue, a large street in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Monuments
Marquette is memorialized by various statues, monuments, and historical markers:
- Father Marquette National Memorial near Saint Ignace, Michigan[68]
- Chicago Portage National Historic Site, along with Louis Jolliet, near Lyons, Illinois
- Statues have been erected to Marquette various locations, including at Detroit, Michigan; Fort Mackinac, Michigan; Marquette, Michigan; Milwaukee, at Marquette University; Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, Utica, Illinois; Laon, France; the National Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol; the Quebec Parliament Building
- The Legler Branch of the Works Projects Administration.[69]
Marquette has been honored twice on postage stamps issued by the United States:
- A one-cent stamp in 1898, part of Catholic priestis honored by the U.S. Postal Department.
- A 6-cent stamp issued September 20, 1968, marking the 300th anniversary of his establishment of the Jesuit mission at Sault Ste. Marie.[71]
Bibliography
- Donnelly, Joseph P. (1985). Jacques Marquette, S.J. (1637–1675). Chicago: Loyola University Press.
Gallery
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Sketch of Marquette
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Ca. 1681 map of Marquette and Jolliet's 1673 expedition
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"Marquette on the Mississippi", 1898 issue
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"Marquette explorer", 1968 issue
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Michigan Historical Marker: "Marquette's Death"
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Memorial to Marquette in his birthplace ofLaon, France
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Marquette statue at the United States Capitol
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Alfred Laliberté's Marquette sculpture at Quebec Parliament Building
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Statue of Marquette in Detroit, Michigan
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Statue of Marquette at Fort Mackinac
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Statue of Marquette in Marquette, Michigan
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Statue of Marquette in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
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Marker commemorating Marquette's wintering location in 1674–75, today in Chicago
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Pere Marquette Memorial inUtica, Illinois
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Portrait of Marquette at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium
See also
- Jacques Marquette (sculpture), a 2005 public art work by artist Ronald Knepper
- Pere Jacques Marquette (Queoff), a 1987 public art work by Tom Queoff
- Sagamite
- Marquette (disambiguation) for other places, buildings and geographic objects named after Marquette
- Chicago Portage
- Chicago Portage National Historic Site
Notes
- ^ "Jacques Marquette". Encyclopædia Britannica. March 25, 2024.
- ^ Melody, John. "Archdiocese of Chicago" The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. February 23, 2012
- JSTOR 44210720– via JSTOR.
- ^ a b c d ""Jacques Marquette", Biography". biography.com. August 2, 2023.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. "Father Jacques Marquette and the Indians of Upper Michigan". Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia: 40–41.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. "Father Jacques Marquette and the Indians of Upper Michigan". Records of the American Catholic Historical Society: 41.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. "Father Jacques Marquette and the Indians of Upper Michigan". Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia: 42.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. "Father Jacques Marquette and the Indians of Upper Michigan". Records of the American Catholic Historical Society.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph (1968). Jacques Marquette, S.J., 1637-1675. Chicago: Loyola University Press. p. 85.
- ^ a b Spalding, Henry. "Jacques Marquette, S.J." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. February 15, 2019
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. Jacques Marquette, S.J., 1637-1675. p. 97.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. "Father Jacques Marquette and the Indians of Upper Michigan". Records of the American Catholic Historical Society: 42–43.
- ^ Monet, J., "Marquette, Jacques", Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. "Father Jacques Marquette and the Indians of Upper Michigan". Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia: 43.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. Jacques Marquette, S,J,. 1637-1675. p. 112.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. Jacques Marquette, S.J., 1637-1675. p. 122.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. "Father Jacques Marquette and the Indians of Upper Michigan". Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia: 43.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. Jacques Marquette, 1637-1675. p. 117.
- ^ Chmielewski, Laura (2018). Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet: Exploration, Encounter, and the French New World. New York: Routledge. p. 1.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. Jacques Marquette, S,J,, 1637-1675. pp. 129–130.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. Jacques Marquette, S.J., 1637-1675. pp. 131–133.
- ISBN 9780252045219.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. Jacques Marquette, S.J., 1637-1675. pp. 140–142.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. Jacques Marquette, S,J,. 1637-1675. p. 158.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. Jacques Marquette, S.J., 1637-1675. p. 164.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. Jacques Marquette, S.J., 1637-1675. pp. 171–172.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. Jacques Marquette, S.J., 1637-1675. pp. 176, 179.
- ^ The painting was rendered as an engraving on a US commemorative postage stamp, 1898 (Illustration)
- ^ Chmielewski, p. 76
- ^ Chmielewski, p. 81
- ^ ISBN 0-393-30175-3
- ^ a b Chmielewski, p, 81
- ^ Chmielewski, pp. 82-84
- ^ Chmielewski, p. 84
- ^ Walczynski, p. 101
- ^ Chmielewski, pp. 88-89
- JSTOR 1185857.
- ^ Chmielewski, pp. 90-92
- ^ Chmielewski, pp. 95-96
- ^ a b Chmielewski, p. 96
- ^ Walczynski, p. 118
- ^ Walczynski, p. 120
- ^ Walczynski, p. 121
- ^ Chmielewski, p. 101
- ^ Walczynski, p. 121
- ^ Chmielewski, p. 101
- ^ Walczynski, p. 122
- ^ a b Chmielewski, p. 105
- ^ a b c Campbell, T.J., "James Marquette", Pioneer priests of North America, 1642–1710, Vol. 3, Fordham University Press, 1910
- ^ Chmielewski, p. 109
- ^ Chmielewski, p. 109
- ^ "Odd Wisconsin Archive: Beer and Sweet Corn". wisconsinhistory.org. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013.
- ^ Donnelly, Joseph. Father Jacques Marquette and the Indians of Upper Michigan. p. 44.
- ^ Bilodeaqu, p. 355
- ^ JSTOR 44373868.
- ^ a b "Marquette, Jacques 1637 - 1675". November 3, 2013. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
- JSTOR 42952126– via JSTOR.
- ^ Dixon, pp. 23-24
- JSTOR 42952126. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
- ^ Magnuson, Jon (June 15, 2022). "The Bones of Jacques Marquette". ChristianCentury.org. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
- ^ "The Return". Cedar Tree Institute. December 2, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
- ^ "Michigan Historical Markers". michmarkers.com. Archived from the original on March 31, 2009. Retrieved July 26, 2008.
- ^ "Marquette's Death".
- ^ Katherine D. Moran, The Imperial Church: Catholic Founding Fathers and United States Empire (Cornell University Press, 2020).
- ^ "Bibliography on Marquette County". Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University. Retrieved January 20, 2013.
- ^ "Focus on our history: How county was named". Ludington Daily News. October 3, 1987. p. 2. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
- ^ "Home | Marquette Transportation Company". marquettetrans.com. Marquette Transportation Company LLC. 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
- ^ "Term: Marquette, Jacques 1637 – 1675". wisconsinhistory.org. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013.
- ^ Chicago Public Library. About Legler Branch.
- ^ Haimann, Alexander T., "Arago: people, postage & the post. 1-cent Marquette on the Mississippi". National Postal Museum. Accessed May 2, 2017.
- ^ Tessa Sabol. "Trans-Mississippi Exposition Commemorative Stamp Issue and National Identity at the Turn of the Twentieth Century." National Postal Museum. Accessed May 2, 2017.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Jacques Marquette, S.J.". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
External links
Media related to Jacques Marquette at Wikimedia Commons
- Iconographic sources of jesuit father Jacques Marquette fictitious portraits, Web Robert Derome, Professeur honoraire d'histoire de l'art, Université du Québec à Montréal.
- The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents 1610 to 1791, including Marquette's journal (Chapters CXXXVI – CXXXVIII)
- Thwaites, Reuben G. Father Marquette New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1902.