René Ménard (2 March 1605 – 4 July 1661?) was a French

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionary explorer who traveled to

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, 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 Kingdom of Great Br ...

in 1641, learned the language of the

Wyandot Wyandot may refer to: Native American ethnography * Wyandot people, who have been called Wyandotte, Huron, Wendat and Quendat * Wyandot language, an Iroquoian language * Wyandot Nation of Kansas, an unrecognized tribe and nonprofit organization ...

, and was soon in charge of many of the satellite missions around

Sainte-Marie among the Hurons Sainte-Marie among the Hurons () was a French Jesuit settlement in Huronia or Wendake, the land of the Wendat, near modern Midland, Ontario, from 1639 to 1649. It was the first European settlement in what is now the province of Ontario. Eigh ...

. Ménard also worked with the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

, and was said to speak six Indian dialects.Kellogg, Louise P.
"The First Missionary in Wisconsin"
''The Wisconsin Magazine of History'', Volume 4, number 4, June 1921. He survived the continuous attacks from the Iroquois on the Huron.

Biography

René Ménard was born in Paris on 2 March 1605. He joined the Jesuits there on 7 September 1624. After the usual course of studies at La Flèche, Bourges, and Orleans, he set out from Dieppe in the beginning of May 1640. Arriving at Québec he was assigned to work among the Hurons, laboring first, however, among the Nippissings. From 1651 to 1656 he was the superior at Trois-Rivières. From 1656 to 1658 he was a missioner to the Cayuga, and later to the Oneida.Corrigan, Michael. "Register of the Clergy Laboring in the Archdiocese of New York", ''Historical Records and Studies'', Vol. 1, United States Catholic Historical Society, 1899 p. 24
/ref> In 1660, Ménard was sent west from

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

with a trading party of

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

and the

fur traders The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

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and Groseilliers, heading for what is now northern

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, aiming to establish a mission among the Ottawa. The 55-year-old Ménard didn't expect to return. The night before departure he wrote to a friend, Leaving

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, ; ) is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

, Québec at the end of August, they paddled for six weeks up the St. Lawrence, up the

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (, ) is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...

, and across

Georgian Bay The Georgian Bay () is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To its northwest is t ...

. The party didn't go easy on the frail Father. Separated from the French traders and his assistant, he was forced to paddle continuously and carry heavy loads with meager rations. When they passed

Sault Ste. Marie Sault Ste. Marie may refer to: People * Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, a Native American tribe in Michigan Places * Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada ** Sault Ste. Marie (federal electoral district), a Canadian federal electora ...

into

Lake Superior Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. Lake Michigan–Huron has a larger combined surface area than Superior, but is normally considered tw ...

, Father Ménard had penetrated further into the Great Lakes region than any Western official before.Schmirler, A. A. A.
"Wisconsin's Lost Missionary: The Mystery of Father Rene Menard"
''The Wisconsin Magazine of History'', Volume 45, number 2, winter, 1961-1962. After his party's canoe was destroyed by a falling tree in mid-October, Ménard wintered with some Ottawas at

Keweenaw Bay Keweenaw Bay is an arm of Lake Superior in North America. It is located adjacent to the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan, to the southeast of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Keweenaw Bay is 22 miles long and 12 miles wide at the mouth. The he ...

near what is now

L'Anse, Michigan L'Anse ( ) is a village and the county seat of Baraga County, Michigan in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,874 at the 2020 census. The village is located within L'Anse Township in the Upper Peninsula and partially inside the L'A ...

. He sheltered in a hut he made of tree branches and at times he subsisted on fish begged from the Indians and boiled moss. Despite the hardships and resistance from many Indians, he baptized and taught the Christian faith. In the spring he heard that a band of Hurons in the interior was starving, and he set off to minister to them, though he himself had only a bag of sturgeon and some dried meat. He and a

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

r nicknamed L'Esperance walked and canoed down into what is believed to be present-day Taylor County in north central Wisconsin. At a rapids a

day's journey A day's journey in pre-modern literature, including the Bible and ancient geographers and ethnographers such as Herodotus, is a measurement of distance. In the Bible, it is not as precisely defined as other Biblical measurements of distance; the ...

from the Huron village, Ménard, now weak with hunger himself, became separated from his companion, and disappeared. His cassock and breviary were later found among the Dakotas. Bishop Laval of Québec wrote of Ménard and the fur traders, "Seven Frenchmen attached themselves to this

Apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary. The word is derived from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", itself derived from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to se ...

, they to catch

beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

s, he to gain souls." A roadside sign in Iron County, Michigan, along the Michigamme River claims Father Ménard died there on 4 July 1661. A granite monument in Lincoln County, Wisconsin, indicates that he disappeared while portaging around Bill Cross Rapids in the nearby Wisconsin River.

References

External links

''René Menard: A Life Story Which Connects the Finger Lakes Region of New York with France, Québec, Georgian Bay and Wisconsin''
by Alexander McGinn Stewart
''The Wisconsin Journey''
by Kurt Leichtle

Chapter VIII describes Menard's final mission. {{DEFAULTSORT:Menard, Rene 1605 births 1661 deaths 17th-century French Jesuits Clergy from Paris Explorers of Canada Explorers from Paris French Roman Catholic missionaries Jesuit missionaries in New France Missing person cases in Wisconsin People from pre-statehood Michigan People from pre-statehood Wisconsin

Biography

See also

References

External links