biography
pronunciation:
[mah(r)ket]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1637–75)
|
| biography:
| Catholic missionary and explorer, born in Laon, France. As a young man and a Jesuit priest, his hero was St Francis Xavier. In 1666 he went to Quebec, Canada, where he learned Indian languages and proceeded to do missionary work among the Ottawa and Huron Indians in the Great Lakes region. In 1673, he and Louis Jolliet (French explorer, 1645–1700), searched for and found (17 Jun 1673) the waters of the Mississippi R. They were the first white men to follow the course of the river, then went as far as the mouth of the Arkansas R, and returned. Marquette preached among the Illinois Indians (1674–5) until he died prematurely from ailments aggravated by his exertions. His journals remain an invaluable record of the region in those years, and Wisconsin placed his statue in the US Capitol. |
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