Glenn

THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following works from the Miami Archives should be read and considered within the historical context in which they were 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 documents were published.

THE ST. JOSEPH MISSION- part 1 of 6 (manuscript pgs. 24-29)
The Mississippi Valley Historical Review:

Volume XVII, June 1930- March 1931

published quarterly by the Mississippi Valley Historical Association

Board of editors: Thomas P. Abernethy, Oliver M. Dickerson, James A. Woodburn, James C. Malin, Reginald C. McGrane, John C. Parish, Charles W. Ramsdell, Carl Wittke

Managing Editor: Arthur C. Cole

(*PLEASE TAKE NOTE: DUE TO ITS LENGTH, THIS ARTICLE IS DIVIDED INTO 6 PARTS. A LINK TO THE NEXT CONSECUTIVE PART EXISTS ON THE BOTTOM OF EACH PAGE.)

By George Pare

The Huron Mission, founded by Brebeuf in 1634, was the beginning of Jesuit missionary activity in the region of the Great Lakes. During the furious westward raids of the Iroquois beginning in 1648, it was utterly destroyed. No tribe could withstand the onslaughts of the fierce warriors from central New York. The Huron fled from Ontario to Mackinac, and then to northern Wisconsin. They were followed by the Sauk from the Saginaw Valley, and the Miami and Potawatomi from southern Michigan. Within ten years the southern peninsula was a "No Man's Land," a depopulated barrier between the fury of the Iroquois and the swarming tribes that had sought refuge beyond the western shore of Lake Michigan.

The renewal of missionary activity, primarily a search for the dispersed Huron, brought Menard and Allouez through the Ottawa River route into Lake Superior, and then westerly along its southern shore. But De Tracy and De Courcelles had scotched the Iroquois in 1666, and the refugees were gradually drifting back to their old haunts. They congregated along the St. Mary's River, teeming with whitefish, and in the curve of Green Bay where miles of wild rice soughed over the shallows. The two strategic mission sites became St. Ignace, and St. Francis Xavier at Green Bay. From these two centers the missionaries first worked southward, but always west of Lake Michigan, to develop what they called the Illinois mission field. When the tribes that had been expelled from southwestern Michigan felt that it was safe to return, the missionaries followed them and established the first Jesuit mission in the Lower Peninsula, the St. Joseph Mission.

Unfortunately, the history of this mission is only imperfectly known. The Jesuit Relations as a series were discontinued in 1672, and from that time we can only piece together such bits of information concerning the mission as lie scattered about among contemporary writings. For its later history, we are fortunate in being able to draw upon the extant baptismal register.

The origin of the St. Joseph Mission must be sought in the return of the Miami and Potawatomi to southwestern Michigan. The first of these tribes in its flight from the Iroquois had apparently gone as far west as Iowa. Later the Miami removed to the upper Fox River in Wisconsin. (Louis Phelps Kellogg, The French Regime in Wisconsin and the Northwest (Madison, 1925), 99). Here they were visited by Allouez, to whose preaching they listened with eager interest (Relation of 1671). By 1679, a number of them had already been for some time in the vicinity of the upper St. Joseph River, for La Salle encountered them there while searching for the portage to the Kankakee on his first journey to the Mississippi (Pierre Margry, Decouverters et Etablissements des Francais Paris, 1871, I, 463, hereafter cited as Decouvetes).

The Potawatomi, we are told in the Relation of 1671, "had been driven by fear of the Iroquois from the lands which lay between the lake of the Hurons and that of the Illinois [Lake Michigan]." They had settled first on some islands at the entrance to Green Bay, and later on the Wisconsin mainland, where Allouez came in contact with them as early as 1667. About the year 1680, they began moving southward around the end of Lake Michigan and into the valley of the St. Joseph River (Kellogg, op. cit., 271).

There is no reason for doubting that there had been converts among these two tribes during their stay in Wisconsin, and that the missionaries kept in touch with them after their migration. But the identity of the first missionary to visit them in Michigan is as much a matter for conjecture as the time from which we can date a permanent establishment. That a resident mission has contemplated as early as 1686 is disclosed by the following land grant on the St. Joseph River made to the Jesuits by the Government in Quebec, and confirmed by the French King.

The concession made to Father Dablon, and the other missionaries of the Society of Jesus established in the said region on October 1, 1686, by the Sieur Marquis de Denonville and of Champigny, of a stretch of land of twenty arpents fronting on the River St. Joseph, heretofore called of the Miamis, which falls into the south of the lake of the Illinois and of the Outagamis, by twenty arpents in depth at the place they shall find the most suitable for the erection of a chapel and residence, and for the planting of grain and vegetables, to be held by Father Dablon and other missionaries above mentioned, their successors and assigns in perpetuity as their own property as is stated in the said concession.

Versailles, May 24, 1689 (Margry, Decouvertes,V, 35).

Today the St. Joseph River winds through the fertile farms and orchards of Berrien County. The natural advantages which the early American settlers were quick to perceive had been no less apparent to the Indians, and to the missionaries. Some unknown French scout reporting to the officials in Quebec, in 1718, was enthusiastic in his praise of the lands watered by the river.

'Tis a spot the best adapted of any to be seen for purposes of living and as regards the soil. There are pheasants as in France; quail, and perroquets; the finest vines in the world, which produce a vast quantity of very excellent grapes, both white and black, the berry very large and juicy, and the bunch very long. It is the richest district in all that country (E.B. O'Callaghan (ed.), Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York (Albany, 1855), IX, 890).

Somewhere in this earthly paradise the missionaries selected a spot for their house and chapel. We have no reason for believing that the location was other than the one visited by Charlevoix in 1721. According to his reckoning, it was twenty leagues, about sixty miles, from the mouth of the St. Joseph to the mission. This must be understood as the actual distance traveled by his canoe in following the tortuous course of the river. Upon leaving the mission, he gives the distance to the portage by which the Kankakee may be reached as six leagues, about eighteen miles. The portage, first used by La Salle, began about two and three-quarters miles northwest of the center of South Bend (For a description of the portage, see George A. Baker, The St. Joseph-Kankakee Portage (South Bend, 1899).

From these data we must conclude that the mission was situated on the river anywhere from one to three miles south of the present city of Niles, Michigan. Even though the locality has been carefully gone over, the site of the mission has not yet been accurately determined. From Charlevoix's account, we gather that the Miami had a village on one side of the river, and the Potawatomi one on the other, and that the chapel and residence of the missionary were in the Potawatomi village. At the time of his visit in 1721, Fort St. Joseph had been in existence for many years, and this too, he tells us, was on the Potawatomi side. (For details regarding Fort St. Joseph, see Michigan Pioneer Collections, XXVIII, 179 ff.; XXXV, 545ff.; XXXIX, 280ff. The site of the fort is marked by a huge granite boulder, unveiled July 4, 1913. It may be well to remind the reader that this fort must not be confused with the one built by La Salle at the mouth of the river. This was called the Fort of the Miami, and was destroyed a few months after its erection). In Bellin's map of 1744, which accompanies the first edition of Charlevoix's works, the fort is located on the southern bank of the river. (Charlevoix's writings relating to New France were first published in Paris in 1744.)

When did the Jesuits begin their establishment on the St. Joseph? Who was the first priest to labor in this new field? It is impossible to give a satisfactory answer to these questions in the present state of our knowledge. Much has been written upon the matter so fanciful and unreliable as to be useless. It is commonly stated that Father Allouez was the founder of the St. Joseph Mission, but the statement rests more upon inference than upon evidence.

Father Claude Allouez left Three Rivers in 1665 to begin his missionary career in the West. Four years were spent along the southern shore of Lake Superior, and his first visit to Green Bay occurred in December, 1669. Meanwhile, Dablon and Marquette had come into the field; and the next year saw the beginnings of the establishment at St. Ignace. Father Allouez was now definitely assigned to the Indians of Wisconsin, where he remained for six years with headquarters at another mission which he founded in the neighborhood of Lake Winnebago. In 1676, he was ordered to the promising field which had been opened by Marquette's journey to the Mississippi, but which had been left vacant since his death. He spent a few months with the Kaskasia and Illinois Indians, and then returned to Wisconsin. A second visit to the Illinois country, in 1678, was prolonged until 1680, and followed by a return to the northern missions. (See sketch of Allouez in John G. Shea, Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley New York, 1853, 67.)Here we lose sight of Father Allouez until 1683.

In that year, the Jesuit Superior in Quebec, Father Beschefer, forwarded to his provincial in France a report upon the Jesuit missions. The Ottawa mission is thus described. "In The Outaouc missions we include not only the outaouacs or upper Algonquins.... We also include the hurons who reside at st. Ignace . . . the Pouteouatamis along the bay des Puants: . . the Makoutens and the ouiamis; the Kischigamins, along Lake Ilinois; and The Ilinois themselves, as we more nearly approach the south. We have houses with chapels at sault de ste Marie, at st. Ignace, at st. francois de Borgia, and at st. francois Xavier. . . . The missionaries frequently go on journeys among the surrounding nations...." (Reuben Gold Thwaites (ed.), Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (Cleveland, 1896-1901), LXII, 193. The St. Francis Borgia Mission was situated a short distance from the Huron Mission at St. Ignace.) Speaking of Father Allouez the report continues: ". . . his special mission is among the Miami and the Illinois where he labors with as much ardor as if he were in the prime of life." He follows the Indians into the woods on their hunting trips, is deterred by no hardships, and has succeeded in erecting a chapel. But Father Allouez is soon to be withdrawn for, "we shall be obliged to discontinue that mission because the Iroquois have gone to continue the war with more ardor...."

The report, dated October 21, was written with evident knowledge of what was taking place in the West. La Salle and his faithful lieutenant, Tonty, hearing rumors of an Iroquois invasion, had begun in December, 1682, the building of Fort St. Louis near the present town of Utica, Illinois. (See Francis Parkman, La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West Boston 1880, Appendix to chap. xvi.) The fort was completed in March of the following year, and Tonty was left in command while La Salle returned to France. A year later the Iroquois advanced as Father Beschefer had predicted, besieged the fort for six days, and then withdrew. From Tonty's memoir we gather that Father Allouez had meanwhile been recalled to Mackinac.

...The winter passed, and on March 20, 1684, being informed that the Iroquois were about to attack us, we prepared to receive them and dispatched a canoe to M. de la Durantaye, Governor of Missilimakinak for assistance in case the enemy should hold out against us a long time . . . M. de la Durantaye, with Father Daloy, a Jesuit, arrived at the fort with about sixty Frenchmen whom they brought to our assistance, and to inform me of the orders of M. de la Barre to leave the place.... (The Memoire or Relation is in Margry, Relations et Memoires Inedits Paris, 1867, 1-36).

The next mention of Father Allouez comes three years later. After the death of La Salle, a remnant of his followers succeeded in finding the Mississippi and returned to Quebec. From March 19, 1687, the date of the assassination, the little party slowly struggled northwards and it was not until September that they reached Fort St. Louis. Joutel, who wrote the journal of their wanderings, thus describes their entry.

. . . On Sunday, the 14th, having resumed our journey . . . about two in the afternoon we arrived at Fort St. Louis where we greatly surprised those who were there, since they were not expecting us.... After the usual greetings, we went up to the fort, where we found the Frenchmen under arms, and they fired several volleys on our arrival to show their delight. As soon as we entered the fort M. Cavelier asked the location of the chapel in order to render thanks to God for having so happily conducted us.... (Journal of Henri Joutel in Margry, III, Decouvertes, 91-535. For this passage see pp. 477-79. The M. Cavelier referred to was the Sulpician brother of La Salle. The other priest in the party was Father Anastasius Douay, a Recollect who left France with La Salle on his ill fated expedition.)

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