USA > Wisconsin > Brown County > History of Brown County, Wisconsin, past and present, Volume I > Part 4
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HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY
news of their great discovery, and the priest settled down for the winter in the little mission station, a haven of rest for the delicate, over-worked apostle. Here during the short winter days, in the log cabin banked high with snow drifts. Marquette inscribed a careful record of summer wanderings along the mighty Mississippi, living over again the discovery and the exploration of that hitherto unknown stream.
Rumors of disaster to the French by field and flood grew rife throughout New France. The Indians became insolent and threatened to enter into a league with the English. A contagious malady appeared in 1683 at the bay which caused great mortality and the superstitious savages accused the black robes of casting upon them some spell of witcheraft. Servants of the mission- aries having been assassinated by the Indians they believed that this scourge was a revenge devised by the priests, whose lives at St. Francois were in constant danger. "Scarcely did they escape the burning of their homes and a like fate for themselves. A friendly chief who had heard some one say that they should get rid of these religions came to live near them to protect them.'
It must have been prior to this event that Allouez wrote in his report that after September he would be in the mission house alone, the savages all depart- ing "because this year there are neither ducks or acorns." Many bands of Indians passed that way whom he instructed. The Illinois in especial flocked to the mission house "in the conviction that the house of God will protect them." When they passed the church they threw tobacco all around it as a token of respect to the "greatest divinity of whom they have ever heard."
In time Father Allouez passed on to other fields leaving a competent helper to carry on the work so well begun. Those who followed him found how strong an impression had been made by the good priest's teachings, as when Father Marquette first went down to the mission of St. Esprit on Lake Supe- rior, founded by Allouez. . "The Indians were very glad to see me at first," he writes, "but when they learned that I did not know the language perfectly. and that Father Allouez who understood them thoroughly had been unwilling to return to them because they did not take enough interest in prayer, they acknowledged that they were well deserving this punishment and resolved to do better."
A remarkable relic of these early days is a beautiful silver ostensorium, pre- sented to the St. François Xavier mission by Nicholas Perrot, who, as commander of the entire western territory for many years, was most closely identified with the mission's life and work. Perrot's devotion to the Catholic church and his friendship to the Jesuits of St. Francois is shown by his gift of this receptacle for the sacred wafer in the celebration of the mass. The monstrance is richly wrought, possibly of foreign workmanship, and bears upon the base these words : "Ce soleil a esté donné par Nicholas Perrot à la mission de St. François Xavier en la Baye des Puants, 1686."
During Perrot's absence from his command in 1687, the Indians became es- pecially mutinous, burned the chapel and storehouse of the mission and forced the priests to flee for their lives. The ostensorium was buried by the mission- aries for safe keeping and remained concealed until 1802, when a French habitant plowing his arpent of land at that point brought to light the historical relic.
Doubtless the missionaries hoped to return and recover their treasure when
INDIAN EARTHENWARE KETTLE
TILDEA FUNN. Ai UNS
NY YINGT VE LLY
1
.
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HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY
less troublous times should ensue, but for more than one hundred years it remained where its original owners had buried it. La Baye successively passed through the ownership of France and England to that of the United States ; wars and treaties changed the map of our country, exploration opened up wide new stretches of territory, before this remarkably interesting relic of carly faith in Wisconsin, the oldest memento of French occupancy in the west, was reclaimed.
Father Allouez was transferred to the Illinois mission in 1676, and his posi- tion as head of St. Francois Xavier was given to Father Charles Albanel, Father André continuing his work among the tribes along the bay shore. Albanel was assisted by Antoine Silvy, and in 1678-79 Father Allouez seems to have returned in order to conduct a mission among the Outagamie and Mascoutin villages, Father Silvy working with him. In 1681, Jean Enjalran was appointed superior of the Jesuit missions in the northwest, including the one at De Pere. He re- mained in charge assisted by other priests until 1688. During Father Enjalran's incumbency the chapel and storehouse were burned, but not all of the establish- ment was destroyed, for in 1690 Nicholas Perrot held council with the tribes in "the house of the Jesuits." No mention is made of the priests in charge and for several years following little is known or told of the work accomplished, but that there were still priests in charge of the St. François Xavier mission is without doubt. The first one definitely named is Father Henri Nouvel, who was there in 1701, "borne down by the weight of nearly 80 years and by many ailments." He was relieved that same year, 1701, by Father Pierre Chardon, who was still in the Fox River field twenty-seven years later in 1728.
Thus ends the story of St. François Xavier Mission, one of the most inter- esting and important episodes in western history. Three separate places received the name, for Father Allouez made careful investigation before establishing a permanent retreat. It was first given to the Oconto mission in the winter of 1669 and 1670. In that same season a cross was planted on the heights of Red Banks among the Pottawatomies and Winnebagoes, which Allouez also includes under the same name. Finally the well built house and adjoining buildings on the shore at the Rapides des Pères, became the central and definite mission of St. François Xavier.
Still engaged in mission labors death overtook Father Allouez on August 6, 1689, two years after the religious house founded by him at La Baye was reduced to ashes. Today the township and village of De P'ere hold in their names the anglicized fragments of the French "Rapides des Pères." Railroad tracks and manufactories crowd the river front, where two hundred and forty- one years ago only a solitary Jesuit mission house reared its log walls. In place of a primitive fish weir made of boughs and running irregularly across the rapids, where dusky, painted savages speared the fish below, a solid bridge of steel spans the stream and a great paper mill shows when evening falls its hundred electric eyes of light.
Yet on the grassy banks of the government lock and looking up the river it is comparatively easy to resuscitate the setting for that far off picture of an earlier century, and close to the steel traeks where traffic is busiest a bronze tablet on a granite boulder commemorates the fact that: "Near this spot stood the Chapel of St. Francis Xavier, built in the winter of 1671-72 by Father Claude Allouez, S. J., as the center of his work in christianizing the Indians of
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HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY
Wisconsin. This memorial tablet was erected by the citizens of De Pere and unveiled by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, September 6, 1899."
Jesuit missionaries connected with and residing at St. Francois Xavier mis- sion : Claude Allouez, Louis Andre, Charles Albanel, Jacques Marquette, Antoine Silvy. Jean Enjalran, Henri Nouvel, Pierre Chardon.
(References for Chapter V: Jesuit Relations, Vols. 52, 53, 54; A. C. Neville, Historic Sites on Green Bay; Catholic Church in Wisconsin. )
CHAPTER VI
NICHOLAS PERROT AND THE FUR TRADE
For two hundred years the absorbing interest in Canada and its dependency La Baye was the fur trade, the great commerce of the northwest. When the embryo United States of America was comprised in a series of little isolated sea coast towns under English and Dutch rule, New France was a united colony embracing within its boundaries, a territory of some 200 miles. This colony, which did not in 1680 number all told more than 10,000 souls was destined to blaze the trail of exploration and civilization through the great lakes region with the one dominating influence to give impetus to French valor and dis- covery-the all embracing fur trade.
It caught within its snare Cardinal Richelieu, the controlling power in far off France during the early part of the seventeenth century and the organiza- tion known as the One Hundred Associates, Canada's largest fur company, was the result. Other monopolies followed, that sought to engross entirely the lucrative peltry traffic until this far reaching commerce which at first bid fair to enrich the French colony became its bane and ultimate ruin. Louis XIV while coveting the profits of the fur trade realized when too late its fatal results; the evil that indifference to settled colonization had wrought in his North American possessions. He strove vainly in the latter part of his long reign to stem the flood that threatened to wreck his powerful influence in the western world. but England, well established by this time, and in league with the warlike Iroquois confederacy, defied the futile efforts of impoverished and demoralized Canada to dislodge her from her share of the beaver traffic. The inevitable encounter came and the final fall of New France was the result.
Green Bay and the Fox River valley early became an important point towards which the voyageur whether priest, explorer, or bush ranger cast longing eyes, for all were, directly or otherwise interested in this rich fur producing terri- tory where according to Jean Nicolet at one banquet alone one hundred and twenty beavers were eaten. The beaver was indeed until the Frenchman taught the Indian its value in trade, a delicacy much relished at savage feasts, the little animal being roasted whole and eaten in its fat.
The fur trade being the life of Canada the colonial government favored the scheme of sending its young men to gain the trade of those remote tribes who dwelt on the large bay that was tributary to Lake Michigan, for the Jesnit Relations of this period state that the Hurons kept away from Canada, and in 1653 the keeper of the government store in Montreal had not bought a beaver skin in a year, so difficult were they to obtain.
Out of this traffic in beaver skins arose an evil which paralyzed the growth and morals of New France. The active and vigorous youth of the colony
27
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HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY
took to the woods, where they were independent of civil or religious control. Not only were profits great, but in the pursuit of them there was a fascinating element of adventure and danger.
To control this forest trade the government issued annual licenses to the number of twenty-five with privileges varying in different years. Baron LaHon- tan who visited La Baye in 1684 says that each license authorized the departure of two canoes loaded with goods. One canoe only was afterward allowed. bearing three men with about four hundred pounds of freight. This traffic in licenses was the occasion of graft and corruption. As might have been expected many more than the specified number were issued, and were purchased by those who sold to others, to merchants or voyageurs at a price varying from 1,000 to 1.800 francs.
Speculation ran riot, legitimate trade was almost entirely at a standstill and in the meantime the youth of Canada became demoralized and worthless. caring for no other pursuit than that of ranging the woods, with or without a license as the case might be, for with such an extent of country it was impossi- ble for the King's officers to control them.
Baye des Puans and its tributary streams harbored usually in the numerous Indian villages that edged the shores, two or three of these wood rangers, or coureur de bois as they came to be designated, who camped with the Indians as did Radisson and Groseillers, partaking of Indian hospitality, which was always free, and bartering their store of goods for packages of pelts as the Indian hunt- ers brought them in. The story of the coureur de bois, those Robin Hoods of New France, forms a separate chapter in wilderness chronicles. Not all were renegades, but the name became a synonym for much that was loose and undis- ciplined. Part of the warp and woof of our history, closely identified with the missionaries and acknowledging the authority of the church above that of the king or governor, these first of commercial travelers acted as both traders and soldiers, and were alike the despair and defence of the Jesuit priests and the home colony. In many cases they reaped the large profits which the king and his fur company wished to control, and paddled inland waterways. the spirit of adventure strong within them. With swagger and determined air of com- mand they intimidated double their number in . savages, debauched the Indians with brandy and stirred up strife among the various tribes.
Belonging to this guild of early fur traders but of different fiber was Nicho- las Perrot, who with Father Allouez stands out most prominently in our his- tory during the seventeenth century. When the rare relic of French occupancy in Wisconsin, the silver ostensorium was found, the name of its owner, Nicho- ias Perrot, was almost unknown. Not until the French and Canadian archives were searched, and histories of the eighteenth century referred to, was it dis- covered that the name of Perrot constantly occurs in the annals of New France between the years 1665 and 1700. For forty years, largely by his own unaided efforts. he held this territory for France and the king. An honesty of purpose in his intercourse with French and Indians made him notable in that age of false dealings, and his influence with the latter was unequaled. Successive governors of New France. De la Barre. Denonville. Frontenac. all called upon Perrot for assistance in time of need. even Dulhut, that intrepid spirit, acknow]- edging that Nicholas Perrot was the only man who could influence the Baye
SOLEIL A ESTE
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IMONIE PAR IVA
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CSI
OSTENSORIUM PRESENTED BY NICOLAS PERROT
: PU3. 4C LIEKARY
ANTSA LENAX ANS TILDEA FOUNDATIONS.
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HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY
des Puans tribes to the extent of bringing them into line for war sallies against the Iroquois. His courage was absolute, and as we review this period we marvel at the indomitable indifference to personal danger shown in deadly crises by this famous coureur de bois.
Brought by his parents to the Canadian colony when very young, Perrot was enrolled, a mere lad in the service of a priest, as an engagé or donné. He managed the canoe when the father went forth on a missionary voyage, cooked, hunted, did the work of a servant, and in return received instruction, and much valuable experience. Around the camp-fire and in the Jesuit's house he heard of this unexplored part of the world. "Our Jean Nicolet," said the fathers proudly, "has gone farther west than any other Frenchman;" so at the age of twenty-one, in the year 1665, Perrot with a trading outfit started for La Baye.
Following the same route as did Nicolet thirty-one years before Perrot reached in due time Baye des Puans, "Curiosity induced him to form the acquaintance of the Pottawatomie nation, who dwelt at the foot of the Baye des Puans, who had heard of the French, and their desire to become acquainted with them." This would indicate that Perrot was the first Frenchman that this Algonquin tribe had met, but it is certain that they were living with the Winnebagoes at Red Banks at least as early as 1637-8 and doubtless some of them must have seen Jean Nicolet. In the ensuing years they spread along the shores of the bay. When Allouez first encountered them in 1669, they had also taken possession of Huron (Washington) Island, and some of their bands were dispersed over the mainland at the entrance of the bay.
When Perrot reached the Pottawatomie village he found war imminent between that tribe and the Menominees across the bay. The latter while hunt- ing with the Outagamis had by mistake slain a Pottawatomie and in revenge these incensed tribesmen deliberately tomahawked a Menomince who was among the Puans. The resolve to negotiate a peace between these neighboring tribes was Perrot's initial experience in this sort of diplomacy of which in later years he became a master. Among Indians in general the first act of friendship was the smoking of the calumet-the pipe of peace-a religious rite of great sig nificance, for it indicated that in offering the pipe a chief accepted the treaty of peace and adopted the stranger as a brother.
This method of "talking with strangers" Perrot also speaks of in his memoirs as "singing the calumet, which is one of the notable marks of distinction con- ferred by the Indians, for they render him who has had that honor a son of the tribe, and naturalize him as such."
In the Menominee village after a harangue of great length and power Perrot presented to the offended tribe a gun, and a porcelain collar with the words : "You are angry against the Pouteouwatemis, whom you regard as your enemies but they are in much greater number than you, and I very much fear that the prairie people will join them in a league against you." At this prophecy the father of the murdered Menominee arose and took from Perrot the porcelain collar. He lighted silently the calumet and presented it first to their distinguished visitor, who after taking a few puffs returned it, when it was handed in turn to each of the company. Then the chief began to sing, holding the calumet in one hand and the porcelain collar in the other. He passed on and out of the cabin
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HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY
as he sang, holding up the calumet and collar toward the sun. Advancing and retreating he made the circuit of the village and again entered the lodge, where he declared that he attached himself wholly to the French, "from whom his tribe hoped for life and for obtaining all that is necessary to man."
The Pottawatomies were at this time decidedly anxious over the fate of one of their bands who had made the trip to Montreal for the first time, and whom they feared had fallen a prey to the fierce Iroquois. Accordingly they had recourse to Perrot's guide, who was a master juggler. That false prophet built himself a little tower of poles and therein ensconced himself invoking all the infernal spirits to tell him where the Pottawatomies were. Perrot rebuking him for his trickery made a calculation of the probable length of time that it would require for the voyage and stay in Montreal, with such good success that when the canoes appeared close on the time predicted, and the travelers were informed that there was a Frenchman in their midst who had protected them in times of danger, they carried the coureur de bois "in a scarlet blanket { Monsieur de la Salle was also honored with a like triumph at Huron Island ) and made him go around the fort, while they marched in double files in front and behind him." The chief then gave an account of his voyage, "he did not forget Onontio who had called them his children and had regaled them with bread, prunes, and raisins, which seemed to them great delicacies."
Perrot, at this time, met and formed an alliance with the Sakis, Puans and Outagamies, as well as the Pottawatomies and Menominees. These tribes he locates as follows: "The Pottawatomies took the southern part of the bay, the Sakis the northern : the Puants as they could not fish, had gone into the woods to live on deer and bears." In the spring of 1670, Perrot induced a large num- ber of these mixed tribes to make the trip into Canada for the great annual trading festival. In order to bring the fur trade home to the colonists the king ordered an annual fair to be held at Montreal. Hither came fleets of birch canoes laden with Indians and furs brought from the forest, under the guidance of coureurs de bois.
When Nicholas Perrot was an old man he wrote his memoirs in which he gave careful description of the Indian tribes among whom he had passed so many years. In these words he speaks of this voyage which proved an important event in the life of the young man of twenty-six: "More than goo Ottawas descended to Montreal in canoes, we were five Frenchmen."
A considerable portion of this large fleet was composed of Baye des Puans Indians, brave enough on their own soil, but terrified in strange waters where an Iroquois band might be encountered at any moment. At last, however, the protracted strain was at an end, and on an evening in July the great band of savages disembarked at Montreal and drew their canoes up on the beach. These visits of western Indians were the occasion for wild debauch throughout the colony. It meant for many of the Indians their first general meeting with white men, their first taste of intoxicating liquor. The priests and sober inhabitants sought to enforce order, but the soldiers showed themselves as undisciplined as coureurs de bois and increased rather than quelled disorder.
Just before the conclave broke up an Indian belonging to Perrot's band was caught pilfering from a soldier and received summary punishment. Riot and bloodshed were now added to dissipation, and La Motte, a much esteemed
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HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY
officer, was sent for in hot haste to prevent by force of arms an uprising of the fierce "upper country savages." Perrot too was summoned, and by his efforts the disturbance was quelled, the soldier put under arrest, and the savages mollified with some pacific talk and the presentation of a few gewgaws. The affair, however, did not end here, for the Indians although quieted at the time cherished revenge, and when in the autumn of that same year Fathers Dablon and Allouez came to the bay the coureurs de bois complained that because of the ill treatment received by the bay Indians while in Montreal they took every opportunity to plunder traders' goods and otherwise maltreat them.
The priests held a council with the congregated tribes, and reprimanded them severely for their misdemeanors, telling the older chiefs that they, being wiser than the others, would be held responsible for these evils, and would incur the displeasure of the governor. As they discoursed to their naked auditors Père Dablon says their gravity was greatly put to the proof for a guard of these native warriors marched up and down before the door of the lodge aping the movements of the soldiers they had seen on guard before the governor's house in Montreal. "We were almost overcome with laughter." he writes, "although we were treating of solemn matters, the mysteries of our religion and the neces- sity of belief if they would escape from everlasting fire."
The Montreal incident was also instrumental in bringing Nicholas Perrot to the attention of Marquis de Courcelles of Quebec, who recommended him to Intendant Talon as the man best suited to accompany Simon Francois Dau- mont, Sieur de Lusson, westward, and assist him in gathering representatives of all the Indian tribes at the Sault Sainte Marie where was to be held the following year, 1671, the great ceremony of taking formal possession of the whole northwestern territory for France and its king, Louis XIV.
When asked by Intendant Talon if he were willing to undertake this task for the government Perrot replied, "You must know Monsieur, that I am ever at your service, and stand ready to obey you." Admirably did the brave coureur de bois succeed not only in this undertaking for the honor of his coun- try, but in all succeeding years. At the Sault in May, 1671, met the allied tribes, fourteen in all, for those too wary to undertake the voyage sent gifts and homage by their comrade and representative Nicholas Perrot. Father Allouez made the opening address wherein he glorified the king of France as a great warrior, who led in person his armies to battle, and slew his thousands amid universal carnage.
This fine bit of word painting delivered in the Algonquin tongue deeply impressed his listeners, and when at the close St. Lusson called upon those present · to swear allegiance to this valiant monarch, the Indian whoop rose wildly in unison with the French cries of "vive le roi." During this tumult Perrot advanced and planted in the earth a stout pole of cedar, and beside it a large cross, both surmounted by the arms of France, while the chant of priests and soldiers sounded across the rushing waters of la Sault Sainte Marie, and St. Lusson drawing his sword took possession of an unlimited extent of unex- plored country "in the name of the most high, mighty and redoubtable monarch, Louis 14th of the name, King of France and Navarre."
During the ensuing years, although continuing his interests in the west, Perrot was much of the time at Three Rivers, Canada. Ile had married, and his wife, Marie Madeline Raclot, brought him a small dower with which he
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