MIAMI INDIANS ETHNOHISTORY ARCHIVES

THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be read and considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed. The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the opinions or standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are, rather, indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the document was published.

Jesuit Relations, 1702

Thwaites in: Jesuit Relations, 1:221, 223.

pp. 221, 223.

(page 221)

. . . Across the St. Lawrence river, to the South, extend the five nations of the Iroquois. There are among them seven stations of the Evangelists, scattered through a hundred and fifty leagues. Of these, six were destroyed in the war which arose between the French and Iroquois, about the year 1682. Peace, together with the recall of the missionaries, in the year 1702 restored all things to their previous condition.(see fn. 51) Among these Missions of the Iroquois, that one is especially flourishing which is named for St. Francis Xavier, at Montreal.(see fn. 52)

Above the Iroquois, toward the west and North, between the fortieth and forty-fifth parallels, one may see two great lakes joined by a narrow strait; the larger one is called the lake of the Illinois,(see fn. 53) the other the lake of the Hurons.(see fn. 54) These are (page 223) separated by a large peninsula, at the point of which is situated the Mission of St. Ignatius, or Missilimakinac.(see fn. 55) Above these two lakes there is a third, greater than either, called lake superior. At the entrance of this lake has been established the Mission of Ste. Marie at the Sault.(see fn. 56) The space between this and two smaller lakes is occupied by the Outaouaki, among whom the Society has many stations. Three such citadels of religion (for thus it is proper to call the Missions), whence she leads forth her soldiers and unfurls her sacred standards, have been located about the lake of the Illinois; the first, among the Puteatamis, and called the Mission of St. Joseph; another, among the Kikarous, Maskoutens, and Outagamies, and possessing the name of St. Francis Xavier;(see fn. 57) the third, among the Oumiamis,(see fn. 58) has the name of the Guardian Angel. Below the lakes which have been mentioned, above Florida, the Ilinois roam through most extensive territories. There, a very large station, named from the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mother, is divided into three Missions, and extends as far as the river Mississippi. Upon the banks of the same river is situated the mission of Baiogula, at the 31st parallel of latitude;(see fn. 59) and it extends down that stream towards the gulf of Mexico.
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51. The French Jesuits definitely abandoned the Iroquois field in 1687, owing to the rising power of the English. In 1701, Bruyas was again on the ground, being joined the year following by De Lamberville, Garnier, and Le Valliant, and later by D'Hue and Le Marieul. The entire party was driven out in 1708, and many of their Iroquois converts retired with them to the mission of Caughnawaga, near Montreal.

52. The Iroquois Mission of St. Francis Xavier was founded in 1669, by Iroquois Christians,- emigrants from the "castles" of the Five Nations. The mission was finally removed to Sault S. Louis, on the St. Lawrence, and called Caughnawaga, from the Indian village of that name on the Mohawk, where had also been a Jesuit mission.

53. Lake Michigan. Called Lac des Puants on Champlain's map of 1632, in reference to the Winnebago tribe (Puants) on Green Bay; in several of the Relations, and on Marquette's map (1674), it is styled Lac des Illinois, from the Illinois Indians upon its southern coast; Allouez calls it (1675) Lac St. Joseph, because of Fort and River St. Josephs on the southeast coast; Coronelli's map (1688) honors the Dauphin by calling the lake after him; Hennepin comes the nearest to modern usage, in his name, Michigonong.

54. Lake Huron, which has figured under many titles, in the old maps and chronicles. This name has reference to the Indian family upon its eastern shores. Champlain first named it La Mer Douce ("The Fresh Sea"), and later Lac des Attigouantan, after the chief tribe of the Hurons; Sanson's map (1657) names it Karegnondi; Coronelli's map (1688) christens it Lac d'Orleans; Colden in one place gives it as Quatoghe, and in another as Caniatare. Lac des Hurons first appears in the map accompanying the Relation for 1670-71.

55. The mission of St. Ignace was founded by Marquette, in 1670, on Point St. Ignace, on the mainland north of and opposite the Island of Michillimackinac (now shortened to Mackinaw or Mackinac, as fancy dictates). The term Michillimackinac variously spelled, was applied by the earliest French not only to the island and straits of that name, but in general to the great peninsula lying north of the straits.

56. The mission of Sault Ste. Marie, at the outlet of Lake Superior, was founded by Rainbault and Jogues in 1640. The place was always an important rallying-point for the natives, and naturally became the center of a wide-spreading fur trade, which lasted, under French, English, and American domination in turn, until about 1840.

57. The Western mission of St. Francis Xavier was founded by Allouez in 1669, at the first rapids in the Fox River (of Green Bay), on the east side of the river, in what is now the city of Depere, Wis. An important Indian village had from the earliest historic times been located there.

58. Outaouaki=Ottawas; puteatamis=Pottawattomies; Kikarous=Kickapoos; Outagamies=Foxes; Oumiamis=Miamis.

59. Bayagoulas, one of the Louisiana missions, of which Father Paul du Ru, S. F., was in charge in 1700. Shea's Catholic Missions, p. 443.

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