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Jacques Marquette
1637-1675
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Jacques Marquette was born in Laon, France. He
became a Jesuit priest, and, at his own request, was sent to New France in
1666 where he studied Native American languages under a missionary at Trois
Rivières. In 1668 he was sent as a missionary to the Ottawa, spent a
winter at Sault Ste Marie, and in 1669 reached La Pointe mission on
Chequamegon Bay near the western end of Lake Superior. Marquette
accompanied the Ottawa and Huron as they fled from Sioux attacks to the Straits of Mackinac (between
Lake Michigan and Lake Huron) and founded a new mission on Point St.
Ignace.
Rumors had been heard about a large river in the
south (the Mississippi), and the French hoped that this river would lead
them to the Pacific Ocean. Marquette was appointed by Frontenac, governor of New
France, to accompany Louis Joliet as chaplain and missionary on an
expedition to find this river. In 1673 Joliet, Marquette and five other men
began their expedition by following Lake Michigan to Green Bay. Here they
canoed up the Fox River, crossed over to the Wisconsin and followed that
river downstream to the Mississippi. The first Native Americans they encountered were
the Illini, who were very friendly to the expedition and presented them
with a peace pipe to use for the remainder of the journey.
The further the expedition went, the more convinced
they became that the Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of Mexico and not the
Pacific as they had hoped. As they approached the Arkansas River they were
told by friendly local tribes that the sea was only ten days away and that the
French would encounter hostile tribes. They also noticed the presence of
Spanish trade goods among the friendly Native Americans and not wanting to be
captured by either tribes hostile to the French or by the Spanish, the expedition decided
to return north. The Illini tribe showed them an easier route to Lake
Michigan which was to travel up
the Illinois River and cross over to the Chicago River .
After his return from the Mississippi expedition,
Marquette stayed at Mackinac, recovering his health and writing a journal
of the voyage, which was first published in Théévenot's Recueil
de voyages in 1681. In late 1674, Marquette decided to return to the
Illini
tribes to preach and found a mission. He arrived around Easter in 1675, but
because his health was deteriorating, he decided to return north to
Mackinac. He died of dysentery on the trip back. In 1677, Marquette's body
was moved to St. Ignace.
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