Joseph de La Roche Daillon (died 1656, Paris) was a French

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missionary A missionary is a member of a 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.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

to the

Huron Indians The Wyandot people, or Wyandotte and Waⁿdát, are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. The Wyandot are Iroquoian Indigenous peoples of North America who emerged as a confederacy of tribes around the north shore of Lake Ontario w ...

and a

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Récollet The Recollects (french: Récollets) were a French reform branch of the Friars Minor, a Franciscan order. Denoted by their gray habits and pointed hoods, the Recollects took vows of poverty and devoted their lives to prayer, penance, and spiri ...

'' priest. He is best remembered in Canada as an explorer and missionary, and in the United States as the discoverer of oil near the Allegany River. He was the son of Jacques de La Roche, seigneur of Daillon in Anjou, and of Jeanne Froyer of La Baronnière. La Roche's career as a missionary lasted less than five years in the 1620s.

Arrival in Quebec and among the Hurons, 1625

La Roche arrived at

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from

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to N ...

on June 19, 1625, to become a missionary to the

Hurons The Wyandot people, or Wyandotte and Waⁿdát, are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. The Wyandot are Iroquoian Indigenous peoples of North America who emerged as a confederacy of tribes around the north shore of Lake Ontario w ...

. His superiors having requested him to go and lend his assistance to Father Nicolas Viel, a missionary to the Hurons, he had already gone as far as

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from the city of ...

in the company of St. Jean de Brébeuf, when he learned of Father Viel's death, which had occurred on June 25. Both Hurons and French then persuaded them to turn back. On July 14, 1626, he set out again, and after a successful trip made in Huron canoes, he at last arrived at the village of Toanché.

Trip to Western New York & the oil discovery, 1626-1627

La Roche left the Hurons on October 18, 1626, choosing to minister to the Neutrals, so-called because they remained neutral between the Huron and Iroquois. The Neutrals lived near the modern-day sites of both Hamilton and Buffalo and along the

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and Niagara rivers. At the time, the Neutrals had 28 villages, as reported by de la Roche. La Roche settled on the east bank of the Niagara, north of the present site of Buffalo. He lived in the area for three months, learning the Neutral language and teaching them on Christian topics. The trip ended poorly, however. The Hurons, unhappy with the French presence, portrayed La Roche as a sorcerer, and the Neutrals nearly put him to death. He escaped west and returned to the Hurons. La Roche was probably the first European to see

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(or at least the second;

Étienne Brûlé Étienne Brûlé (; – c. June 1633) was the first European explorer to journey beyond the St. Lawrence River into what is now known as Canada. He spent much of his early adult life among the Hurons, and mastered their language and learne ...

may have also seen them during his exploration and pass-through of the territory), although

Louis Hennepin Father Louis Hennepin, O.F.M. baptized Antoine, (; 12 May 1626 – 5 December 1704) was a Belgian Roman Catholic priest and missionary of the Franciscan Recollet order (French: ''Récollets'') and an explorer of the interior of North Amer ...

was the first to describe it. He also spent time with the

Neutral Nation The Neutral Confederacy (also Neutral Nation, Neutral people, or ''Attawandaron'' by neighbouring tribes) were an Iroquoian people who lived in what is now southwestern and south-central Ontario in Canada, North America. They lived throughout ...

(the Attawandaron) south of

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and estimated the population as 40,000. The next summer, in 1627, he joined a group of nomadic Indians and traveled along the course of the

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to the area of present-day Cuba Lake. Local natives, the

Wenrohronon The Wenrohronon or Wenro people were an Iroquoian indigenous nation of North America, originally residing in present-day western New York (and possibly fringe portions of northern & northwestern Pennsylvania), who were conquered by the Confeder ...

or Wenro, showed him a petroleum creek, which they used for medicinal purposes. This is the first account of oil in North America. La Roche was one of the few Europeans to reach what is now Western New York before the

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

-led invasion of the territory that began approximately ten years after his departure.

Leaving the Hurons and Canada, 1628-1656

In 1628, he went to Trois-Rivieres with the Hurons on a trading trip. From there he journeyed to Quebec City, and was ministering there in May 1629. When the English briefly took control of Quebec City in 1629, the Catholic missionaries were forced to leave the province. La Roche was the Latin language interpreter during the capitulation. He left Quebec on September 9, 1629, and died in Paris in 1656. La Roche published an account of his voyage to and sojourn among the Neutrals, describing their country and their customs, and mentioning the oil he discovered.

Gabriel Sagard Gabriel Sagard, O.M.R., ( ''fl.'' 1614–1636) was a French lay brother and Recollect friar, a reform branch of the Order of Friars Minor known for their strict poverty. He was among the first Christian missionaries to New France, and is nota ...

and Chrétien Le Clercq reproduced it in their writings, in a more or less abridged form.

Legacy

La Roche's discovery of oil makes him a notable figure in the history of

Western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all sources agree WNY i ...

and

Northeastern Pennsylvania Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA) is a geographic region of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that includes the Pocono Mountains, the Endless Mountains, and the industrial cities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Hazleton, Nanticoke, and Car ...

, where he's typically called ''De La Roche D'Aillon''. Interest in him grew after the Pennsylvania oil boom starting in 1859. De La Roche Hall, the main science building at St. Bonaventure University, is named for the friar. Exterior details on the building have a petroleum theme in honor of his discovery.

References

"La Roche Daillon, Joseph de"
in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography

External links

* "Joseph de La Roche Daillon" by Odoric-M. Jouve in the

Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...