Jacques Marquette S.J. (June 1, 1637 – May 18, 1675), sometimes known as Père Marquette or James Marquette, was a French Jesuit

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

who founded

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

's first European settlement, Sault Sainte Marie, and later founded Saint Ignace. In 1673, Marquette, with Louis Jolliet, an explorer born near

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

, was the first European to explore and map the northern portion of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

Valley.

Early life

Jacques Marquette was born in

Laon Laon () is a city in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History Early history The holy district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance. ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, on June 1, 1637. He came of an ancient family distinguished for its civic and military services. Marquette joined the Society of Jesus at age 17. He studied and taught in France for several years, then the Jesuits assigned him to

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...

in 1666 as a

to the

indigenous peoples of the Americas The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

. When he arrived in Quebec, he was assigned to Trois-Rivières on the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

, where he assisted Gabriel Druillettes and, as preliminary to further work, devoted himself to the study of the local languages and became fluent in six different dialects.Spalding, Henry. "Jacques Marquette, S.J." ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''
Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. February 15, 2019

Explorations

In 1668, Marquette was moved by his superiors to missions farther up the Saint Lawrence River in the western

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

region. That year he helped Druillettes found the mission at Sault Ste. Marie in present-day Michigan. Other missions were founded at Saint Ignace in 1671 ( Mission Saint-Ignace) and at La Pointe on Lake Superior in present-day

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. At La Pointe, he encountered members of the

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

tribes, who told him about the important trading route of the Mississippi River. They invited him to teach their people, whose settlements were mostly farther south. Because of wars between the Hurons at La Pointe and the neighboring Lakota people, Marquette left the mission and went to the Straits of Mackinac; he informed his superiors about the rumored river and requested permission to explore it.

Leave was granted, and in 1673 Marquette joined the expedition of Louis Jolliet, a French-Canadian explorer. They departed from Saint Ignace on May 17, with two canoes and five voyageurs of French-Indian ancestry. They sailed to Green Bay and up the Fox River, 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. Many years later, at that point, the town of Portage,

was built, named for the ancient path between the two rivers. They ventured forth from the portage, and on June 17, they entered the Mississippi near present-day Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. The Joliet-Marquette expedition traveled to within of the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

but turned back at the mouth of the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United ...

. By this point, they had encountered several natives carrying European trinkets, and they feared an encounter with explorers or colonists from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. They followed the Mississippi back to the mouth of the Illinois River, 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 (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, by way of the

Chicago Portage The Chicago Portage was an ancient portage that connected the Great Lakes waterway system with the Mississippi River system. Connecting these two great water trails meant comparatively easy access from the mouth of the St Lawrence River on the Atl ...

. In September, Marquette stopped at Saint Francis Xavier mission in present-day Green Bay, Wisconsin, while Jolliet returned to Quebec to relate the news of their discoveries. 2009-0618-StIgnace-JacquesMarquetteGrave

2009-0618-StIgnace-JacquesMarquetteGrave

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 Sagamité is a Native American stew made from hominy or Indian corn and grease (from animal fat). Additional ingredients may include vegetables, wild rice, brown sugar, beans, smoked fish or animal brains. Caddo sagamité was thick soup made ...

Death

In the spring of 1675, Marquette traveled westward and celebrated a public

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

at the

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. It was a large agricultural and trading village of Native A ...

near Starved Rock. A bout of dysentery he had contracted during the Mississippi expedition sapped his health. On the return trip to Saint Ignace, he died at 37 years of age near the modern town of Ludington, Michigan. After his death, natives from the Illinois Confederation returned his bones to the chapel at Mission Saint-Ignace. A Michigan Historical Marker at this location reads: Adjacent to gravesite of Marquette on State Street in downtown Saint Ignace, a building was constructed that now houses the Museum of Ojibwa Culture. However, a Michigan Historical Marker in Frankfort, MI reads:

Legacy

Places

* Marquette County, Michigan; Marquette County, Wisconsin * Several communities, including:

Marquette, Michigan Marquette ( ) is a city in Marquette County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 20,629 at the 2020 United States Census, which makes it the largest city in the Upper Peninsula. Marquette serves as the seat of government of Marque ...

;

Marquette, Wisconsin Marquette is a village in Green Lake County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 150 at the 2010 census. The village is located within the Town of Marquette. Marquette uses the postal code 53947. Geography Marquette is located at (43 ...

;

Marquette, Iowa Marquette is a city in Clayton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 429 at the time of the 2020 census, up from 421 in 2000. The city, which is located on the Mississippi River, is named after Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette, who a ...

;

Marquette, Illinois Marquette is an unincorporated community in Bureau County, Illinois, United States, located on Illinois Route 29 Illinois Route 29 (IL 29) is a two to four lane state road that runs south from U.S. Route 6/Illinois Route 89 at Spring Valley ...

;

Marquette Heights, Illinois Marquette Heights is a city in Tazewell County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,824 at the 2010 census. Marquette Heights is a suburb of Peoria and is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Marquett ...

; Pere Marquette Charter Township, Michigan; and Marquette, Manitoba *

Marquette University Marquette University () is a private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Martin Henni, the first Bishop of the diocese of ...

and Marquette University High School in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

* Marquette Island in Lake Huron * Lake Marquette in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

; Marquette Lake in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

* Pere Marquette River and Pere Marquette Lake, which drain into Lake Michigan at Ludington, Michigan * Marquette River in

; Pere Marquette River in

* Pere Marquette Park in Milwaukee, WI *

Pere Marquette State Park Pere Marquette State Park is an 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. The park is located ...

near Grafton, Illinois * Marquette Catholic High School, Alton, IL * Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois * Hotel Pere Marquette, Peoria, Illinois * Marquette Park, Gary, Indiana * Marquette Park, Mackinac Island, Michigan * Marquette Park, St. Louis, Missouri * Pere Marquette Beach, a public beach in Muskegon, Michigan *

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, ...

, in Michigan * The Pere Marquette Railway * "Cité Marquette," former US-City-Base (1956–1966) built by Americans based on the NATO Air Force Base in

Couvron Couvron-et-Aumencourt () is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Aisne department The following is a list of the 799 communes in the French department of Aisne. ...

(

38th Bombardment Wing The 38th Combat Support Wing is an inactive wing of the United States Air Force. Its last assignment was with Third Air Force at Ramstein Air Base, Germany from 2004 until 2007. The mission of the wing was to enhance support to Third Air Forc ...

Laon, France Laon () is a city in the Aisne department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographica ...

(his birthplace). *

Marquette Transportation Company The Marquette Transportation Company is a marine transportation company based in Paducah, Kentucky, United States. According to the company website, Marquette operates over 800 barges with a fleet of more than 50 line-haul vessels, over 60 inl ...

, a

towboat A pusher, pusher craft, pusher boat, pusher tug, or towboat, is a boat designed for pushing barges or car floats. In the United States, the industries that use these vessels refer to them as towboats. These vessels are characterized by a squar ...

company using a silhouette of the Pere in his canoe as their emblem. * Marquette Building in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

; Marquette Building in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

; Marquette Building in Saint Louis, Missouri;

Pere Marquette Hotel The Peoria Marriott Pere Marquette, is a historic 14-story hotel in downtown Peoria, Illinois, United States. Built in 1926, the building is Peoria's only surviving example of an upscale 1920s hotel. It was listed on the National Register of His ...

in Peoria, Illinois *Marquette Avenue, a large street in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Monuments

Marquette is memorialized by various statues, monuments, and historical markers: * Father Marquette National Memorial near Saint Ignace, Michigan *

Chicago Portage National Historic Site The Chicago Portage National Historic Site is a National Historic Site commemorating the importance of the Chicago Portage in Lyons, Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located in Chicago Portage Forest Preserve and the Ottawa Trail ...

, along with Louis Jolliet, near

Lyons, Illinois Lyons is a village in Lyons Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 10,817. The Chicago Portage National Historic Site is located in Lyons. History Lyons was incorporated in 1888, though activi ...

* Statues have been erected to Marquette various locations, including at Detroit, Michigan; Fort Mackinac, Michigan; Marquette, Michigan; Milwaukee, at

; Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, Utica, Illinois; Laon, France; the National Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol; the Quebec Parliament Building *The Legler Branch of the Chicago Public Library displays "Wilderness, Winter River Scene," a restored mural by Midwestern artist R. Fayerweather Babcock. The mural depicts Marquette and Native Americans trading by a river. Commissioned for Legler Branch in 1934, the mural was funded by the

Works Projects Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

. Marquette has been honored twice on

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

s issued by the United States: * A one-cent stamp in 1898, part of Trans-Mississippi Issue, which shows him on the Mississippi River; This is the first time a Catholic priest is honored by the U.S. Postal Department. * A 6-cent stamp issued September 20, 1968, marking the 300th anniversary of his establishment of the Jesuit mission at Sault Ste. Marie.Tessa Sabol.
Trans-Mississippi Exposition Commemorative Stamp Issue and National Identity at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
" National Postal Museum. Accessed May 2, 2017.

Bibliography

Gallery

File:Marquette.jpg, Sketch of Marquette File:Marquette and jolliet map 1681.jpg, Ca. 1681 map of Marquette and Jolliet's 1673 expedition File:Stamp US 1898 1c Trans-Miss.jpg, "Marquette on the Mississippi", 1898 issue File:Marquette 1968 Issue-6c.jpg, "Marquette explorer", 1968 issue File:Marquette's Death - Michigan Historical Marker.jpg, Michigan Historical Marker: "Marquette's Death" File:Jacques Marquette Memorial in Laon France 2007-12-01.JPG, Memorial to Marquette in his birthplace of

File:Marquette NSHC.jpg,

Gaetano Trentanove Gaetano Trentanove (February 21, 1858 – March 13, 1937) was an Italian and American sculptor. Biography Trentanove was born in Florence, Italy, a goldsmith's son. He studied at the Florentine Academy; he was later named honorary scholar of ...

's Marquette statue at the United States Capitol File:Jacques Marquette.jpg, Alfred Laliberté's Marquette sculpture at Quebec Parliament Building File:JMMarquette.jpg, Statue of Marquette in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

File:Pere Marquette Mackinac 2007.jpg, Statue of Marquette at Fort Mackinac File:PereMarquetteMarquetteMI.jpg, Statue of Marquette in

File:FrMarquetteStatue.jpg, Statue of Marquette in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin File:Marquette Winter Monument Chicago.JPG, Marker commemorating Marquette's wintering location in 1674–75, today in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

File:Pere Marquette Memorial - Utica, IL.jpg, Pere Marquette Memorial in Utica, Illinois File:22-16-118-marquette.jpg, Portrait of Marquette at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium

Notes

External links

''Iconographic sources of jesuit father Jacques Marquette fictitious portraits''
Web Robert Derome, Professeur honoraire d'histoire de l'art, Université du Québec à Montréal.
''The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents 1610 to 1791'', including Marquette's journal (Chapters CXXXVI – CXXXVIII)
* Thwaites, Reuben G.br>''Father Marquette''
New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1902. {{DEFAULTSORT:Marquette, Jacques 1637 births 1675 deaths 17th-century French Jesuits Burials in Michigan Deaths from dysentery Explorers of Canada Explorers of the United States French explorers of North America French Roman Catholics People from Laon People of Louisiana (New France) People of New France Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)