Allouez, Claude Jean

Allouez, Claude Jean, an early Jesuit explorer of the Northwest, was born in France in 1620. He went to Quebec in 1658, and spent some years in the Algonquin missions on the St. Lawrence. In 1665 he founded the Mission of the Holy Ghost at Chegormegon, on Lake Superior. He then began collecting data concerning the Mississippi; explored Green Bay, where he founded the Mission of St. Francis Xavier; and labored among various tribes of Indians. In 1676 he permanently established at Kaskaskia, Ill., the mission begun by Marquette; but in 1679 retired at the approach of La Salle. His last field of labor was among the Miamis on St. Joseph's River, where he died in 1690. His contributions to the Jesuit Relations, concerning the ideas and manners of Indians of that time, are said to possess great value.