Jacques Lespérance Marquette
...r Marquette, a Jesuit priest. Father Marquette excelled in languages and mastered six Native American languages. The priest established his first mission at Troi-Rivieres, halfway between Quebec and Montreal. He established many different missions between then and finding the Mississippi River. On December 8, 1672, Louis Jolliet landed at Marquette’s mission. His task was to find the Mississippi River. The two explorers set out in the middle of May 1673. The following month, the two voyages entered the Mississippi River. They turned back in mid-July, after sailing down the Mississippi to a place close to the border of Arkansas and Louisiana. Although Jolliet went on to Montreal to report the discoveries, Marquette was ill and stayed at a mission near what is now known as DePere, Wisconsin. He was healed in the summer of 1674. Jacques moved on to Kaskaskia because he promised to set up a mission there. His illness came back forcing him to spend th...