History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 11

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728

USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 11
USA > Ohio > Belmont County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 11

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CHAPTER VII.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND EXPLORATIONS BY THE FRENCH-THE JESUIT MISSIONS-MARQUETTE, LA SALLE AND OTHERS- FRENCH MOVEMENTS ON THE LAKES AND THE OHIO-VIR- GINIA'S JEALOUSY OF FRENCH DESIGNS-ENGLISH EFFORTS TO EXPLORE AND SETTLE THE OHIO VALLEY-THE OHIO COMPANY -CONTINUATION OF THE FRENCH DESIGNS.

THE French were the first Europeans to make settlements on the St. Lawrence river and along the great lakes. Quebec was founded by Sir Samuel Champlain in 1608, and in 1609, when Sir Henry Hudson was exploring the noble river which bears his name, Champlain ascended the Sorelle River, and discovered, embosomed between the Green Moun- tains, or "Verdmont," as the chivalrous and poetic Frenchman called them, and the Adirondaeks, the beautiful sheet of water to which his name is indissolubly attached. In 1613 he founded Montreal.

During the period elapsing between the years 1607 and 1664, the English, Dutch, and Swedes alternately held possession of portions of the Atlantic coast, jealously watching one another and often involved in bitter controversy, and not seldom in open battle, until, in the latter year, the English became the sole rulers, and maintained their rights until the era of the Revolution, when they in turn were compelled to yield to the growing power of their colonies and retire from the field.

The French movements, from the first settlement at Quebec, and thenee westward, were led by the Catholic missionaries. Le Caron, a Franeiscan friar, who had been the companion and friend of Champlain, was the first to penetrate the western wilds, which he did in 1616, in a birch canoe, exploring Lake Huron and its tributaries.

Under the patronage of Louis XIII. the Jesuits took the ad- vance, and began vigorously the work of Christianizing the savages in 1632. Inspired with a lofty and intense zeal for their religion, they boldly took their lives in their hands, and rushed into the unknown wilderness, bearing aloft the Cross, even to the western extremity of Lake Superior.

In 1634, three Jesuit missionaries, Brebeuf, Daniel, and Lalle- mand, planted a mission on the shores of the lake of the Iroquois (probably the modern Lake Simeoe), and also established others along the eastern border of Lake Huron.

From a map published in 1660, it would appear that the Freneh had, at that date, become quite familiar with the region from Niagara to the head of Lake Superior, including consid- erable portions of Lake Michigan.

In 1641, Fathers Jogues and Raymbault embarked on the Penetanguishine Bay for the Sault St. Marie, where they ar- rived after a passage of seventeen days. A crowd of two thou- sand natives met them, and a great council was held. At this meeting the French first heard of many nations dwelling beyond the great lakes.

Father Raymbault died in the wilderness in 1642, while enthusiastically pursuing his discoveries. The same year, Jogues and Bressani were captured by the Indians and tor- tured, and in 1648 the mission which had been founded at St. Joseph was taken and destroyed, and Father Daniel slain. In 1649, the missions St. Louis and St. Ignatius were also destroyed, and Fathers Brebeuf and Lallemand barbarously tortured by the same terrible and unrelenting enemy. Literally did those zealous missionaries of the Romish Church "take their lives in their hands," and lay them a willing sacrifice on the alter of their faith.

It is stated by some writers that, in 1654, two fur-traders accompanied a band of Ottawas on a journey of five hundred leagues to the west. They were absent two years, and on their return brought with them fifty canoes and two hundred and fifty Indians to the French trading posts.

They related wonderful tales of the countries they had seen, and the various red nations they had visited, and described the lofty mountains and mighty rivers in glowing terms. A new impulse was given to the spirit of adventure, and scouts and traders swarmed the frontiers and explored the great lakes and adjacent country, and a party wintered in 1659-60 on the south shore of Lake Superior.

In 1660, Father Mesnard was sent out by the Bishop of Que- bec, and visited Lake Superior in October of that year. While crossing the Keeweenaw Point he was lost in the wilderness and never afterwards heard from, though his cassock and bre- viary were found long afterwards among the Sioux.

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

A change was made in the government of New France in 1665. The Company of the Hundred Associates, who had ruled it since 1632, resigned its charter. Tracy was made Viceroy, Courcelles Governor, and Talon Intendent .* This was called the Government of the West Indies.

The Jesuit missions were taken under the care of the new government, and thenceforward became the leaders in the movement to Christianize the savages.

In the same year (1665), Pierre Claude Allouez was sent out by way of the Ottawa river to the far west, via the Sault St. Marie and the south shore of Lake Superior, where he landed at the bay of Chegoimegon. Here he found the chief village of the Chippewas, and established a mission. He also made an alliance with them and the Sacs, Foxes, and Illinois, against the formidable Iroquois. Allouez, the next year (1666), visited the western end of the great lake, where he met the Sioux, and from them first learned of the Mississippi River, which they called "Messipi." From thence he returned to Quebec.

In 1668, Claude Dablon and Jacques Marquette established the Mission at the Sault called St. Marie, and during the next five years Allouez, Dablon, and Marquette explored the region of Lake Superior on the south shore, and extending to Lake Michigan. They also established the missions of Chegoimegon, St. Marie, Mackinaw, and Green Bay.

The plan of exploring the Mississippi probably originated with Marquette. It was at once sanctioned by the Intendent, Talon, who was ambitious to extend the dominion of France over the whole West.

In 1670, Nicholas Perot was sent to the West to propose a congress of all the nations and tribes living in the vicinity of the lakes; and, in 1671, a great council was held at Sault St. Marie, at which the Cross was set up, and the nations of the great Northwest were taken into an alliance with much pomp and ceremony.

Various opinions were used regarding the course of the Mis- sissippi. One was that it ran to the southeast in the Atlantic below Virginia, another that it flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, and the third that it discharged its mighty waters into the Gulf of California.

On the 13th of May, 1673, Marquette, Joliet, and five voyagers embarked in two birch canoes at Mackinaw and entered Lake Michigan. The first nation they visited was the " Folles- Avoines," or nation of Wild Oats, since known as the Meno- monies, living around the "Baie des Puans," or Green Bay. These people, with whom Marquette was somewhat acquainted, endeavored to persuade the adventurers, from visiting the Mis- sissippi. They represented the Indians on the great river as being bloodthirsty and savage in the extreme, and the river itself as being inhabited by monsters which would devour them and their canoes together.t

Marquette thanked them for their advice but declined to be guided by it. Passing through Green Bay, they ascended Fox river, dragging their canoes over the strong rapids, and visited the village, where they found living in harmony together tribes of the Miamis, Mascoutens,t and Kikabeux, or Kickapoos. Leaving this point on the 10th of June, they made the portage to the " Owisconsin," and descended that stream to the Mississippi, which they entered on the 17th with a joy, as Marquette says, "which he could not express."S

Sailing down the Mississippi, the party reached the Des Moines river, and, according to some, visited an Indian village some two leagues up the stream. Here the people again tried to persuade them from prosecuting their voyage down the river. After a great feast and a dance, and a night passed with this hospitable people, they proceeded on their way, escorted by six hundred persons to their canoes. These people called themselves Illinois, or Illini. The name of their tribe was Peruaca, and their language a dialect of the Algonquin.

Leaving these savages, they proceeded down the river. Passing the wonderful rocks, which still excite the admiration of the traveler, they arrived at the mouth of another great river, the Pekitanoni, or Missouri of the present day. They noted the condition of its waters, which they described as "muddy, rushing and noisy."

Passing a great rock,|| they came to the Ouabouskigon, or Ohio. Marquet shows this river to be very small as compared with the Illinois. From the Ohio, they passed as far down as the

Akamsca, or Arkansas, where they came very near being de- stroyed by the natives; but they finally pacified them, and, on the 17th of July, they commenced their return voyage.

The party reached Green Bay in September without loss or injury, and reported their discoveries, which were among the most important of that age. Marquette afterwards returned to Illinois and preached to the natives until 1675.

On the 18th of May of that year, while cruising up the east- ern coast of Lake Michigan with a party of boatmen, he landed at the mouth of a stream putting into the lake from the east, since known as the river Marquette. He performed mass, and went a little apart to pray, and being gone longer than his companions deemed necessary, they went in search of him, and found him dead where he had knelt. They buried him in the sand.

While this distinguished adventurer was pursuing his labors, two other men, of a different stamp, were preparing to follow in his footsteps and make still further explorations, and, if possible, more important discoveries. These were the Cheva- lier Robert de la Salle and Louis Hennepin.

La Salle was a native of Rouen, in Normandy, where he was born about the year 1635. He renounced his inheritance by entering a seminary of the Jesuits, and was educated for the ministry. Obtaining his discharge, he embarked for Can- ada in 1667, to seek wealth by commerce, or fame by new dis- coveries in America. Like many intelligent men of his day, he became intensely interested in further discoveries in the new world, cherished a project of seeking by way of Canada a passage to China, and conceived the idea of exploring the passage to the great South Sea, which by many was then believed to exist. He communicated his ideas to the Governor- General, Count Frontenac, and desired his co-operation. The Governor at once fell in with his views, which were immensely strengthened by the reports brought back by Marquette and Joliet, and advised La Salle to apply to the king of France in person, and gave him letters of introduction to the great Col- bert, then Minister of Finance and Marine. Accordingly, in 1675, he returned to France, where he was warmly received by the king and nobility, and his ideas were at once listened to and every possible favor shown him.

He was made a Chevalier, and invested with the seigniory of Fort Catarocouy, or Frontenac (now known as Kingston), upon condition that he would rebuild it, as he proposed, of stone.

Returning to Canada, he wrought diligently upon the fort until 1677, when he again visited France to report progress. He was received, as before, with favor, and at the instance of Colbert and his son, the king granted him new letters patent and new privileges. On the 14th of July, 1678, he sailed from Rochelle, accompanied by thirty men, and with Tonti, an Italian, for his lieutenant. They arrived at Quebec on the 13th of September, and after a few days delay, proceeded to Fort Frontenac.

Father Louis Hennepin, a Franciscan friar, of the Recollect variety, was quietly working in Canada on La Salle's arrival. This remakable man was born at Ath, Belgium, about the year 1640. After his entrance into the Franciscan order, his roving disposition was gratified by several tours through Europe, and in 1675 was sent to Canada. He preached for a while at Quebec, but his love of adventure seems to have greatly ex- ceeded his taste for the ministry. In 1676 he went to the In- dian mission at Fort Frontenae, when he started on a tour among the Five Nations. During this visit among the Iroquois he traveled extensively among the different tribes, both to ob- tain their favor and gain information of the unknown country. He traveled over portions of the headwaters of the "la Belle Riviere," as the French called the Allegheny and Ohio, and stopped at several Indian villages. His solitary presence in this valley was about the year 1677, a little over two hundred years ago. He returned to Quebec early in 1678, and being a man of great ambition, much interested in the discoveries of the day, he was appointed by his religious superiors to accon- pany the expedition fitting out for La Salle.

Sending agents forward to prepare the Indians for his com- ing, and to open trade with them, La Salle himself embarked on the 18th of November, in a little brigatine of ten fons, to cross Lake Ontario. This was the first ship of European build that ever sailed upon this fresh-water sea. Contrary winds made the voyage long and troublesome, and a month was con- sumed in beating up the lake to the Niagara river. Near the mouth of the river the Iroquois had a village, and here La Salle constrneted the first fortification, which afterwards grew into the famous Fort Niagara. On the 26th of January, 1679, the keel of the first vessel built on Lake Erie was laid at the

#The duties of Intendent included a supervision of the policy, justice, and finance of the province.

+Sec legend of the great bird, the terrible " Piasa," that devoured men, and was only over- come by the sacrifice of a brave young chief. The rocks above Alton, Illinois, have sonte rude representations of this monster.

ĮPrairie Indians.

¿ Marquette's journal,

|The grand tower.

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

mouth of Cayuga creek, on the American side, about six miles above the falls.

In the mean time La Salle had returned to Fort Frontenac, to forward supplies for his fortheoming vessel. The little barque on Lake Ontario was wreeked by earelessness, and a. large amount of the supplies she carried was lost. On the 7th of August the new vessel was launched amid great rejoieings, and made ready to sail. She was of about seventy tons burden.

La Salle christened his vessel the "Griffin," in honor of the arms of Count Frontenae. Passing aeross Lake Erie, and into the small lake, which they named St. Clair, they entered the broad waters of Lake Huron. Here they encountered heavy storms, as dreadful as those upon the ocean, and after a most tempestuous passage they took refuge in the roadstead of Michilimackinac (Maekinaw), on the 27th of August. La Salle remained at this point until the middle of September, busy in founding a fort and eonstrueting a trading-house, when he went forward upon the deep waters of Lake Michigan, and soon after cast anehor in Green Bay. Finding here a large quantity of furs and peltries, he determined to load his vessel and send her baek to Niagara. On the 18th of September she was sent under charge of a pilot, while La Salle himself with fourteen men, proceeded up Lake Michigan, leisurely examining its shores, and noting everything of interest. Tonti, who had been sent to look after stragglers, was to join him at the head of the lake. From the 19th of September, to the 1st of No- vember, the time was oceupied in the voyage up this inland sea. On the last named day, La Salle arrived at the mouth of the river Miamis, now St. Joseph. Here he eonstrueted a fort, and remained nearly a month waiting for tidings of his vessel ; but, hearing nothing, he determined to push on before the winter should prevent him. On the 3d of Deeember, leaving ten men to garrison the fort, he started overland towards the headwaters of the Illinois, aeeompanied by three monks and twenty men. Aseending the St. Joseph river, he erossed a short portage and reached the The-a-ki-ki, sinee corrupted into Kankakee. Embarking on this sluggish stream, they eame shortly to the Illinois, and soon after found a village of the Illinois Indians, probably in the vicinity of the roeky bluffs, a few miles above the present eity of La Salle, Illinois. They found it deserted, but the Indians had quite a quantity of maize stored here, and La Salle, being short of provisions, helped him- self to what he required. Passing down the stream, the party on the 4th of January eame to a lake, probably the Lake Peoria, as there is no other upon this stream. Here they found a great number of natives, who were gentle and kind, and La Salle determined to eonstruet a fort. It stood on a rise of ground near the river, and was named Creve-Cœur* (broken heart), most probably on aeeount of the low spirits of the eommander, from anxiety for his vessel and the uneertainty of the future. Possibly he had heard of the loss of the "Griffin," which had oeeurred on her downward trip from Green Bay ; most proba- bly on Lake Huron. He remained at the Lake Peoria through the winter, but no good tidings eame, and no supplies. His men were diseontented, but the brave adventurer never gave up hope. He resolved to send a party on a voyage of explora- tion up the Mississippi, under the lead of Father Hennepin, and he himself would proceed on foot to Niagara and Fron- tenae to raise more means and enlist new men ; while Tonti, his lieutenant, should stay at the fort, which they were to strengthen in the mean time, and extend their intereourse with the Indians.

Hennepin started on his voyage on the last day of February, 1680, and La Salle soon after, with a few attendants, started on his perilous journey of twelve hundred miles by the way of the Illinois River, the Miami, and Lakes Erie and Ontario, to Frontenae, which he finally reached in safety. He found his worst fears realized. The "Griffin" was lost, his agents had taken advantage of his absenee, and his ereditors had seized his goods. But he knew no sueh word as fail, and by the middle of summer he was again on his way with men and supplies for his band in Illinois. A sad disappointment awaited him. He found his fort deserted, and no tidings of Tonti and his men. During La Salle's absenee the Indians had beeome jealous of the French, and they had been attaeked and harassed even by the Iroquois, who eame the long distance between the shores of Lake Ontario and the Illinois River to make war upon the more peaeeable tribes dwelling on the prairies. Uneertain of any assistance from La Salle, and apprehensive of a general war with the savages, Tonti, in September, 1680, abandoned his position, and returned to the shores of the lakes. La Salle

reached the post on the Illinois in Deeember, 1680, or January, 1681. Again and bitterly disappointed, La Salle did not sue- eumb, but resolved to return to Canada and start anew. This he did, and in June met his lieutenant, Tonti, at Maekinaw.

Hennepin, in the meanwhile, had met with strange adven- tures. After leaving Creve-Cœur, he reached the Mississippi in seven days; but his way was so obstructed by iee that he was until the 11th of April reaching the Wiseonsin line. Here he was taken prisoner by some northern Indians, who, how- ever, treated him kindly and took him and his eompanions to the falls of St. Anthony, which they reached on the first of May. These falls Hennepin named in honor of his patron saint. Taking to the land, they traveled to the northwest, an estimated distanee of two hundred miles, to the villages of the Sioux. Hennepin and his companions remained here for three months, treated very kindly by their captors. At the end of this time they met with a band of French, led by one Sieur de Luth,* who, in pursuit of game and trade, had penetrated to this country by way of Lake Superior. With his band Hen- nepin and his companions returned to the borders of eivilized life in November, 1680, just after La Salle had gone baek to the wilderness. Hennepin returned to Franee, where, in 1684, he published a narrative of his wonderful adventures.

In August, 1681, La Salle was again on his way up the lakes, and on the 3d of November we find him at the mouth of the St. Joseph, as confident as ever. Here he remained until the middle of Deeember, getting ready for the trip down the Illi- nois. Instead of following his former route by way of the Kankakee, he took a new route by way of the Chicago river. The party consisted of twenty-three Frenchmen, eighteen eastern Indians, ten Indian women, and three children, and traveled on foot, conveying their baggage on sledges. They left the present site of the great eity of Chieago about the 5th of Janu- ary, 1682, and on the 6th of February reached the Mississippi. On the 13th they proceeded on their voyage, and, after various adventures, reached the mouth of the Mississippi upon the 6th of April, 1682. They examined the three great channels by which the river reaches the sea, and on the 9th of April ereeted a column, surmounted by a cross, and affixed the arms of Franee, with this inseription :

" LOUIS THE GREAT, KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE, REIGNING APRIL 9, 1682.

At this ceremony formal possession was taken of the great river and all the countries bordering upon it or its trbutaries in the name of the King; the whole eoneluded with salutes and eries of Vive le Roy.

La Salle and his party now retraeed their steps towards the north. They met with no serious trouble until they reached the Chickasaw Bluffs, where they had ereeted a fort on their downward voyage, and named it Prudhomme. Here La Salle was taken violently siek. Unable to proceed, he sent forward Tonti to communicate with Count Frontenae. La Salle him- self reached the mouth of the St. Joseph the latter part of Sep- tember. From that point he sent Father Zenobe with his dis- patehes to represent him at eourt, while he turned his attention to the fur trade and to the projeet of completing a fort, which he named St. Louis, upon the Illinois river. The preeise loeation of this work is not known. It was said to be upon a roeky bluff, two hundred and fifty feet high, and only aeeessible upon one side. There are no bluffs of such a height on the Illinois river answering the deseription. It may have been on the roeky bluff above La Salle, where the rocks are perhaps one hundred feet in height.

Upon the completion of this work La Salle again sailed for Franee, which he reached on the 13th of December, 1683. A new man, LaBarre, had now sueeeeded Frontenae as Governor of Canada. This man was unfriendly toward La Salle, and this, with other untoward eireumstanees, no doubt led him to attempt the colonization of the Mississippi eountry by way of the mouth of the river. Notwithstanding many obstaeles were in his path, he sueeeeded in obtaining the grant of a fleet from the King, and on the 24th of July, 1684, a fleet of twenty-four vessels sailed from Roehelle to Ameriea, four of which were destined for Louisiana, and carried a body of two hundred and eighty people, ineluding the erews. Discord soon broke out between M. de Beaujeu and La Salle, and grew from bad to worse. On the 20th of September they reached the island of St. Domingo. During their stay here the fearful Southern

*The site of the work is at present unknown.

*From this man undoubtedly comes the name of Duluth.

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

fever broke out, and La Salle himself was at the brink of death. When he recovered he learned that the ship containing his supplies had been taken by the Spaniards. But the Chevalier bestirred himself and procured new supplies, and on the 20th of November the first of the fleet set sail for Louisiana, bear- ing La Salle and Joutel, the historian of the voyage. For a month they were knocking about in the gulf, and when they finally approached the main land they found they had missed the river altogether. Getting out of patience, La Salle deter- mined to land some of his men and search along the shore for the river.

Joutel was sent out with his party, which left on the 4th of February, and traveled eastward three days, when they came to a great stream which they could not cross. Here they made signals by building great fires, and on the 13th two of the vessels came in sight. The stream was sounded and the vessels were anchored under shelter. But again misfortune overtook La Salle, and the vessel which carried his provisions was wrecked by negligence, or purposely, and the bulk of the supplies was lost. At this juncture, M. de Beaujeu, his second in command, set sail and returned to France. La Salle now constructed a rude shelter from the timbers of his wrecked vessel, placed his people inside of it, and set out to explore the surrounding country in hope of finding the Mississippi. He was, of course, disappointed ; but found on a stream, which he named the Vaches, a good site for a fort. He at once removed his camp, and, after incredible exertions, constructed a forti- fication sufficient to protect them from the Indians. This fort was situated at Matagorda Bay, within the present limits of Texas, and was called by La Salle, Fort St. Louis.

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History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 11

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 728

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728