[53] (p. [221]).—Antoine Daniel was born at Dieppe, May 27, 1601; and, at the age of twenty, entered the Jesuit novitiate at Rouen. This completed, he was an instructor there, during 1623-27; then for three years studied theology at Clermont. He was, after 1630, a teacher and preacher at the college of Eu, until his departure for Canada (1632), whither he went with his brother, Captain Charles Daniel (see vol. [iv.], note [46]). He endeavored, with Brébeuf and Davost, to go at once to the Huron country; but the savages refused to take them, and they were compelled to wait for a more favorable opportunity. This came a year later, when these three returned with the Hurons who had come down to Three Rivers for trade,—reaching their destination, after a journey full of hardships and suffering, in which Daniel was abandoned on the way by his savage guides. They established themselves at Ihonatiria (see note [60], post), and Daniel remained there until his death,—except during the two years 1636-38, when he was at Quebec, attending to some Huron lads whom he had taken thither to instruct in religion and in the ways of civilization. In the summer of 1648, the Iroquois made a sudden raid, and, on July 4, surprised and utterly destroyed the town of Teanaustayé (called by the missionaries St. Joseph). Daniel, after doing all in his power to encourage and console his people, was murdered at his church door by the Iroquois; his body, riddled with arrows, was thrown into the flames that consumed the building. He was the second martyr among the Jesuits sent to New France. The Hurons called him "Antwen" (also written Antouennen), a corruption of his Christian name. He was distinguished for his humility, obedience, patience, and courage.—See Rochemonteix's Jésuites, vol. ii., p. 74.
[54] (p. [221]).—Ambroise Davost came (1632), with Charles and Antoine Daniel, to St. Anne's, Cape Breton Island (see vol. [iv.], note [46]); but in May, 1633, both missionaries went to Quebec with Champlain, who, on his way thither, had stopped at Cape Breton. In July, 1634, he was assigned to the Huron mission, where he tarried two years, returning to Quebec with Daniel in 1636. He seems to have remained there and at Montreal until 1643; then, with health broken by toil and hardship, he departed for France, but died while on the voyage.
[55] (p. [221]).—For sketch of Brébeuf, see vol. [iv.], note [30].
[56] (p. [223]).—Petite nation: an Algonkin tribe, living east of the Ottawa River, which is "even to this day," says Laverdière, "called the river of the Petite Nation." Their name was also given to the falls of the Chaudière; and to a seigniory granted, in 1674, to Mgr. de Laval, and situated some fifteen leagues below the falls. Champlain mentions this tribe (1613) as the Ouescharini (their Algonkin appellation, written by Ferland Ouaouechkaïrini).
[57] (p. [239]).—The French called this tribe Nation de l'Isle, because their principal habitat was on Allumettes Island, in the Ottawa River. Their Algonkin name was Kichesipiirini; the Huron (used by Lalemant, in Relation of 1639), Ehonkehronons. Around their island the river was obstructed by dangerous rapids, involving a portage of canoes and goods. They profited by this position to levy a toll on all travelers who passed them.
[58] (p. [239]).—Étienne Brulé, a native of Champigny, France, came to Quebec with Champlain, at an early age, probably as early as 1608. He was an interpreter for the Hurons during many years, and lived with various tribes,—spending thus eight years, according to Champlain. In 1615, he went with the latter to the Huron country, and was sent by his commander to the Carantouanais (allies of the Hurons, and probably the Andastes, living on the upper Susquehanna), to hasten the coming of their warriors on the expedition against the Iroquois. Champlain saw no more of him until three years later, when he came down to Quebec with the annual trading party of the Hurons. He told Champlain that he had been obliged to remain among the Carantouanais, and had explored the country southward to the sea (Slafter thinks, to Chesapeake Bay); had been captured by Iroquois, and narrowly escaped death by torture; but had finally succeeded in making his way back to the Hurons. After the capture of Quebec (1629), Brulé deserted to the English; but, soon afterward, he went with Amantacha to the Huron country, where (1633) he was murdered by the savages. Sagard says this was in revenge for some misdemeanor he had committed there, and that his flesh was eaten by his murderers. Champlain says that Brulé was licentious and otherwise depraved, thus setting a bad example to the savages, for which he should have been severely punished.—See Voyages (Laverdière's ed.), pp. 523, 621, 629, 1065, 1249-51; also Sagard's Canada, pp. 465-467.
[59] (p. [245]).—This was Simon Le Maistre, a merchant of Rouen, and one of the Hundred Associates,—later, a member of the royal council and receiver-general of tithes in Normandy. He aided in fitting up the expedition sent by Madame de Guercheville to found St. Sauveur (see vol. [iii.], p. [261]). Jan. 15, 1636, he obtained a seigniory on the Bruyante (Chaudière) river, extending three leagues on each side of the river, and six leagues in depth. Two weeks later, he transferred this concession to Jean de Lauson, for whom it was named Côte de Lauson.
[60] (p. [259]).—La Rochelle. Sagard mentions (Canada, p. 208) "Tequeunoikuaye, also named Quieuindohian; by the French called La Rochelle, and by us [the Récollets] the town of St. Gabriel ... the chief town of that region, and the guardian and rampart of all the towns of the Bear Nation, where they generally decide all affairs of great importance." This town was afterwards known as Ossossané; and the Jesuit mission established there was named for the Immaculate Conception.
A. F. Hunter supplies the following information regarding La Rochelle: "There is scarcely any doubt as to its location. It was on the frontier toward the Iroquois, near the pass between Cranberry Lake and Nottawasaga Bay. Du Creux's map places it (under the name of Conception) at a short distance from Nottawasaga Bay, in the S. W. part of the Huron territory; and there is, within and adjoining the sixth concession of Tiny township, a group of remains of village sites and ossuaries corresponding exactly with this position. All the references in Champlain, Sagard, and the Relations, seem to indicate the same locality. The identity is so evident, that this group has been regarded as Ossossané since the first discovery of remains there, several years ago. When first visited by Champlain, it was well palisaded, as it also was when, twelve years later, the Récollets conducted there the mission of St. Gabriel. Afterwards, its position was changed; and again, in 1636, five villages were consolidated into one. The 'feast of the dead,' witnessed by Brébeuf in that year, was held at this place. These data, and the discovery of ossuaries, indicate the existence of various village sites in one neighborhood. From the earliest visit of Champlain (1615) until the dispersion of the Hurons, it was the capital of their confederacy,—the place where the most important councils were held. Pijart founded the mission of the Conception there in 1637; and it was the headquarters of the entire Huron mission, after the destruction of Ihonatiria by a pestilence, in 1638, until the establishment of Ste. Marie-on-the-Wye. At a meeting of the Canadian Institute on March 19, 1887, the Reverend Father Laboreau, of Penetanguishene, presented to the Provincial Archæological Museum a brass finger-ring found in one of the ossuaries at Ossossané. On the seal of this ring are engraved the letters I. H. S., with a cross standing on the bar of the H."
(See Hunter's "Archæological Research in the Huron Country," at end of this volume.)