Jacques Marquette
Encyclopedia
Father Jacques Marquette S.J. (June 10, 1637 – May 18, 1675), sometimes known as Père Marquette, was a French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 Jesuit missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 who founded Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

's first European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
Sault Ste. Marie is a city in and the county seat of Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is in the north-eastern end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, on the Canadian border, separated from its twin city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, by the St. Marys River...

, and later founded St. Ignace, Michigan
St. Ignace, Michigan
Saint Ignace, usually written as St. Ignace, is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 2,678. It is the county seat of Mackinac County. From the Lower Peninsula, St. Ignace is the gateway to the Upper Peninsula.St...

. In 1673 Father Marquette and Louis Jolliet
Louis Jolliet
Louis Jolliet , also known as Louis Joliet, was a French Canadian explorer known for his discoveries in North America...

 were the first Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

ans to see and map the northern portion of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

.

Biography

Jacques Marquette was born in Laon
Laon
Laon is the capital city of the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.-History:The hilly district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, on June 10, 1637 and joined the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

 at age seventeen. After he worked and taught in France for several years, the Jesuits assigned him to Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

 in 1666 as a missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 to the Indigenous peoples of the Americas
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

. He showed great proficiency in learning the local languages, especially Huron
Wyandot language
Wyandot is the Iroquoian language traditionally spoken by the people known variously as Wyandot, Wyandotte, Wendat, or Huron. It was last spoken primarily in Oklahoma and Quebec...

.
In 1668 Father Marquette (French: Père Marquette) was redeployed by his superiors to missions farther up the St. Lawrence River in the western Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...

 region. He helped found a mission at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
Sault Ste. Marie is a city in and the county seat of Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is in the north-eastern end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, on the Canadian border, separated from its twin city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, by the St. Marys River...

 in present-day Michigan; and at La Pointe
La Pointe, Wisconsin
La Pointe is a town in Ashland County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The town includes all of the Apostle Islands. There is also an unincorporated community named La Pointe on Madeline Island, the largest of the Apostle Islands . The population was 246 at the 2000 census...

, on Lake Superior
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...

 near the present-day city of Ashland, Wisconsin
Ashland, Wisconsin
Ashland is a city in Ashland and Bayfield counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The city is a port on Lake Superior, near the head of Chequamegon Bay. The population was 8,695 at the 2010 census....

. Here he encountered members of the Illinois
Illiniwek
The Illinois Confederation, sometimes referred to as the Illiniwek or Illini, were a group of twelve to thirteen Native American tribes in the upper Mississippi River valley of North America...

 tribes, who told him about the important route of the Mississippi River. They invited him to teach their people, whose settlements were mostly further south. Because of wars between the Hurons at La Pointe and the neighboring Lakota people, Father Marquette left the mission and went to the Straits of Mackinac
Straits of Mackinac
The Straits of Mackinac is the strip of water that connects two of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and separates the Lower Peninsula of Michigan from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is a shipping lane providing passage for raw materials and finished goods, connecting, for...

; he informed his superiors about the rumored river and requested permission to explore it.

Leave was granted, and in 1673, Marquette was joined by Louis Jolliet
Louis Jolliet
Louis Jolliet , also known as Louis Joliet, was a French Canadian explorer known for his discoveries in North America...

, a French-Canadian explorer. They departed from St. Ignace on May 17, with two canoes and five voyageurs
Voyageurs
The Voyageurs were the persons who engaged in the transportation of furs by canoe during the fur trade era. Voyageur is a French word which literally translates to "traveler"...

 of French-Indian ancestry (now recognized as the ethnic group Métis
Métis
A Métis is a person born to parents who belong to different groups defined by visible physical differences, regarded as racial, or the descendant of such persons. The term is of French origin, and also is a cognate of mestizo in Spanish, mestiço in Portuguese, and mestee in English...

). They followed Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...

 to Green Bay and up the Fox River
Fox River (Wisconsin)
The Fox River is a river in eastern and central Wisconsin in the United States. Along the banks is a chain of cities, including Oshkosh, Neenah, Menasha, Appleton, Little Chute, Kimberly, Combined Locks, and Kaukauna. Except for Oshkosh, these cities refer to themselves as the Fox Cities...

, nearly to its headwaters. From there, they were told to portage their canoes a distance of slightly less than two miles through marsh and oak plains to the Wisconsin River
Wisconsin River
-External links:* * * , Wisconsin Historical Society* * * *...

. At that point the French later built the trading town of Portage, named for its location. From the portage, they ventured forth, and on June 17, they entered the Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

 near present-day Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
Prairie du Chien is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,911 at the 2010 census. Its Zip Code is 53821....

.

The Jolliet-Marquette expedition traveled to within 435 miles (700 km) of the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

 but turned back at the mouth of the Arkansas River
Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. The Arkansas generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's initial basin starts in the Western United States in Colorado, specifically the Arkansas...

. By this point they had encountered several natives carrying European trinkets, and they feared an encounter with explorers or colonists from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. They followed the Mississippi back to the mouth of the Illinois River
Illinois River
The Illinois River is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately long, in the State of Illinois. The river drains a large section of central Illinois, with a drainage basin of . This river was important among Native Americans and early French traders as the principal water route...

, which they learned from local natives provided a shorter route back to the Great Lakes. They reached Lake Michigan near the site of modern-day Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, by way of the Chicago Portage
Chicago Portage
The Chicago Portage connects the watersheds and the navigable waterways of the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes. It crosses the continental divide that separates the Great Lakes and Gulf of St. Lawrence watersheds from the Gulf of Mexico watershed.Near Chicago, the St...

. In September Marquette stopped at the mission of St. Francis Xavier, located in present-day Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...

, while Jolliet returned to Quebec to relate the news of their discoveries.

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
Sagamite
Sagamité is a native-American stew made from hominy or Indian corn. Additional ingredients varyingly include vegetables, wild rice, brown sugar, animal fat, beans, smoked fish or animal brains....

.

In the spring of 1675, Marquette traveled westward and celebrated a public mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...

 at the Grand Village of the Illinois
Grand Village of the Illinois
The Grand Village of the Illinois, also called Old Kaskaskia Village, is a site significant for being the best documented historic Native American village in the Illinois River valley...

 near Starved Rock
Starved Rock State Park
Starved Rock State Park is a state park in Illinois, characterized by the many canyons within its 2360 acres. Located just southwest of the village of North Utica, in Deer Park Township, LaSalle County, Illinois, along the south bank of the Illinois River, the park hosts over two million visitors...

. A bout of dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...

 which he had contracted during the Mississippi expedition sapped his health. On the return trip to St. Ignace, he died at age 38 near the modern town of Ludington, Michigan
Ludington, Michigan
Ludington is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 8,357. It is the county seat of Mason County.Ludington is a harbor town located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Pere Marquette River...

.

A Michigan Historical Marker at this location reads:
The Ojibway Museum on State Street in downtown St. Ignace is in a building that was constructed over Marquette's gravesite during urban development.

Legacy and honors

Father Marquette is memorialized in the names of many towns, geographical locations, parks, a major university, and other institutions:
  • Marquette University
    Marquette University
    Marquette University is a private, coeducational, Jesuit, Roman Catholic university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1881, the school is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities...

     in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin
    Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...

    .
  • The towns of Marquette, Michigan
    Marquette, Michigan
    Marquette is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Marquette County. The population was 21,355 at the 2010 census, making it the most populated city of the Upper Peninsula. Marquette is a major port on Lake Superior, primarily for shipping iron ore and is the home of Northern...

    , Marquette, Wisconsin
    Marquette, Wisconsin
    Marquette is a village in Green Lake County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 169 at the 2000 census. The village is located within the Town of Marquette...

    , Marquette, Iowa
    Marquette, Iowa
    Marquette is a city in Clayton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 421 at the 2000 census. The city, which is located on the Mississippi River, is named after Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette, who along with Louis Joliet discovered the Mississippi River just southeast of the city on...

    , Marquette, Illinois
    Marquette, Illinois
    Marquette is an unincorporated community in Bureau County, Illinois, United States. Marquette is located on Illinois Route 29 east of De Pue....

    , Marquette Heights, Illinois and others.
  • Marquette County, Michigan
    Marquette County, Michigan
    -National protected areas:* Hiawatha National Forest * Huron National Wildlife Refuge* Ottawa National Forest -University:Northern Michigan University is a four-year university, established in 1899, located in Marquette, Michigan, on Michigan's Upper Peninsula...

    , Marquette County, Wisconsin
    Marquette County, Wisconsin
    Marquette County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of 2000, the population was 15,832. Its county seat is Montello.-Geography:...

    .
  • Marquette Island
    Marquette Island
    Marquette Island is the largest of the 36 islands in the Les Cheneaux archipelago of northern Michigan, United States. Located in Mackinac County on the north shore of Lake Huron, the island has a small summer population. It is 6.5 miles long and 3.5 miles wide...

     in Lake Huron
    Lake Huron
    Lake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrologically, it comprises the larger portion of Lake Michigan-Huron. It is bounded on the east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the west by the state of Michigan in the United States...

    .
  • Pere Marquette State Park
    Pere Marquette State Park
    Pere Marquette State Park is an 8,050-acre protected area in southwestern Jersey County, Illinois, United States. It is located near the city of Grafton, Illinois, at the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Illinois River...

     near Grafton, Illinois
    Grafton, Illinois
    Grafton is the oldest city in Jersey County, Illinois, United States. It is located near the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 674. Prior to the Great Flood of 1993, Grafton had enjoyed a stable population of nearly...

    .
  • Marquette Catholic High School, in Alton, Illinois
    Alton, Illinois
    Alton is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois, United States, about north of St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 27,865 at the 2010 census. It is a part of the Metro-East region of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area in Southern Illinois...

    .
  • Father Marquette National Memorial
    Father Marquette National Memorial
    Father Marquette National Memorial pays tribute to the life and work of Jacques Marquette, French priest and explorer. The memorial is located in Straits State Park near St. Ignace in the modern-day U.S. state of Michigan, where he founded a Jesuit mission in 1671 and was buried in 1678...

     near St. Ignace, Michigan.
  • Pere Marquette Beach
    Pere Marquette Beach
    Pere Marquette Beach in Muskegon, Michigan is a park comprising of public beach on Lake Michigan. In 2004 the beach appeared on lists of certified clean beaches published by the National Healthy Beaches Campaign and the Clean Beaches Council....

    , a public beach on Lake Michigan
    Lake Michigan
    Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...

    .
  • Pere Marquette State Forest
    Pere Marquette State Forest
    The Pere Marquette State Forest encompasses lands in Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula, on the western side of the state. Counties within the Pere Marquette are: Leelanau, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Mason, Lake, Osceola, Oceana, Newaygo and Mecosta.There are...

    , in the State of Michigan.
  • Pere Marquette Township, Michigan.
  • Marquette Park
    Marquette Park (Gary)
    Marquette Park, originally called Lake Front Park, is a municipal park completely surrounded by the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Its primary elements include 1.4 miles of white sand Lake Michigan beaches, inland ponds, impressively high sand dunes, wetlands, a lagoon and indigenous oak...

     in Gary, Indiana
    Gary, Indiana
    Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...

    .
  • The Pere Marquette River
    Pere Marquette River
    The Pere Marquette River is a river in the State of Michigan. The main stream of this river is about long, running from Lake County, Michigan just west of Reed City into the Pere Marquette Lake, and from there into Lake Michigan....

     in the Michigan
    Michigan
    Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

    .
  • Place Jacques Marquette, Laon, France (his birthplace).
  • "Cité Marquette", former US-City-Base (1956-1966) built by the Americans who were based on the NATO Air Force Base in Couvron (38th Bombardment Wing), Laon, France (his birthplace).
  • Marquette Park in Chicago, Illinois
  • Marquette Road in Chicago, Illinois
  • Marquette Building
    Marquette Building (Chicago)
    The Marquette Building, completed in 1895, is a Chicago, Illinois landmark that was built by the George A. Fuller Company and designed by architects Holabird & Roche. The building is currently owned by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation...

     in Chicago, Illinois
  • Hotel Pere Marquette in Peoria, Illinois
    Peoria, Illinois
    Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...

  • Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
  • Marquette High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
  • Marquette High School, Michigan City, Indiana.
  • Marquette High School, Bellevue, Iowa


In addition, statues in Marquette's honor have been erected in several places, including the Parliament Building, Quebec, Canada; at Marquette University; Detroit, Michigan; and Fort Mackinac, Michigan. Other types of memorials were erected, including those at his birthplace in Laon, France; and St. Mary's Church, Utica, Illinois.

See also

  • Sagamite
    Sagamite
    Sagamité is a native-American stew made from hominy or Indian corn. Additional ingredients varyingly include vegetables, wild rice, brown sugar, animal fat, beans, smoked fish or animal brains....

  • Marquette
    Marquette
    -Locations:United States*Marquette, Iowa*Marquette, Kansas*Marquette, Michigan**Roman Catholic Diocese of Marquette*Marquette, Nebraska*Marquette , Wisconsin**Marquette, Wisconsin, village within the town*Marquette County, Michigan...

    for other places, buildings and geographic objects named after Father Jacques Marquette.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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