[11] (p. [47]).—François Joseph le Mercier was born at Paris, Oct. 4, 1604, and, at the age of eighteen, entered the Jesuit novitiate. In 1635, he came to Canada, and labored in the Huron mission until its destruction; he was at Ossossané in 1641-42, and at Ste. Marie-on-the-Wye in 1644. In June, 1656, he went, with other Jesuits, on the mission to the Onondagas, returning to Quebec the following year. He remained on the St. Lawrence during the rest of his labors in Canada, being superior of the missions in that province from August, 1653, until 1658, and again from 1665 to 1670. In November, 1659, he was assigned to a mission at Côte de Beaupré, where he labored nearly a year, being declared vicar of Quebec in October, 1660. Sommervogel says that Le Mercier returned to France in 1673, and was then sent to Martinique as superior of that mission, where he remained until his death, June 12, 1690.
Le Mercier, as superior, wrote various Relations of the Canadian missions, which will appear in later volumes of this series. The Hurons named him Chaüosé; the Iroquois, Teharonhiagannra.
[12] (p. [49]).—Echom (correctly spelled Echon): see vol. [v.], note [44].
[13] (p. [55]).—Anguien river: named for the eldest son of the prince of Condé, whose titular designation was duke of Anguien, or Enghien, from the city of that name in Hainault, near Brussels. The nobleman thus referred to (also mentioned in Relation for 1636, chap. i.) was later known as "the great Condé;" in 1642, he married a niece of Richelieu. The last scion of the house of Condé who bore this name was the unfortunate Louis Antoine, duke of Enghien, court-martialed and shot at Vincennes, March 21, 1804, by order of Napoleon Bonaparte.
The Anguien River cannot well be identified; the name does not appear on maps of that time.
[14] (p. [59]).—Petite Nation: see vol. [v.], note [56].
[15] (p. [61]).—Jean de Quen was born at Amiens in May, 1603, and became a Jesuit novice Sept. 13, 1620, at Rouen. His studies were pursued at Paris; and he afterwards became a teacher in the colleges at Amiens (1630-31), and Eu (1632-35). Coming to Canada in the summer of 1635, he was employed for several years at Quebec—at the college, and at Notre-Dame de Récouvrance. In 1640, he was at Sillery, of which mission he was the head from 1641 to 1649. During this time, he also made evangelizing journeys to neighboring tribes: and, at times, labored in the Ste. Croix mission at Tadoussac, and at Three Rivers. In June, 1651, he went on a mission to the Oumaniwek tribe, and apparently spent the ensuing two years in labors with this and other tribes on the upper Saguenay, with his headquarters at Tadoussac. To him is ascribed the honor of having, while engaged in this work, discovered Lake St. John. In 1655-56, he was superior of the missions of New France, and seems to have remained at Quebec until his death, which occurred Oct. 1, 1659, occasioned by a contagious fever brought on a French vessel, whose sick and dying sailors De Quen was nursing at the hospital.
In August, 1878, the demolition of the old Jesuit College at Quebec brought to light the remains of De Quen, Du Peron, and Jean Liégeois. For detailed accounts of this discovery and its attendant circumstances, with valuable historical information regarding this and other buildings in that city, see Faucher de Saint-Maurice's Relation des fouilles dans le Collège des Jésuites (Quebec, 1879); also Rochemonteix's Jésuites, vol. i., pp. 225-227, 456-465.
[16] (p. [61]).—Concerning these Turkish pirates, and others, see vol. [iv.], note [29].
[17] (p. [65]).—André Richard (here written Antoine, apparently by some error), born Nov. 23, 1600 (or 1599), became a Jesuit, Sept. 26, 1621, at Paris. A student successively at Paris, La Flèche, and Rouen, he was a teacher at Amiens (1624-26), Orleans (1626-28), Caen (1629-30), and Nevers (1631-33). In February, 1634, he departed for Canada, and, with Perrault, was stationed at Cape Breton, replacing Daniel and Davost. Richard remained at this mission about six years, being then sent to Miscou as a co-worker with Jean d'Olbeau, who had gone there in the preceding year; the latter fell ill with scurvy in December, 1642, and, afflicted with paralysis resulting therefrom, he was obliged to leave for France in the following summer—dying, however, while on the voyage, through an accidental explosion of powder, which destroyed the ship.