Chaumonot, Pierre Marie Joseph

Chaumonot, Pierre Marie Joseph, a Roman Catholic missionary, was born near Chatillon-sur-Seine in 1611. He entered the society of Jesus at Rome in 1632; went to Canada in 1639; was sent to the Huron River mission, and remained there till 1650; became missionary, to the Onondagas in 1655, and, with father Claude Dablon, founded a permanent mission on the banks of the lake where the city of Syracuse now stands. In November, 1655, these missionaries began the construction of St. Mary's chapel, which was the first church in New York state where mass was offered. This was the beginning of extensive missionary work among the Indian tribes, carried on by the early heroic Catholic missionaries, such as Mercia, Menard, Ragueneau, Duperon, and others. Chaumonot died at Lorette, near Quebec, Feb. 21, 1693. He wrote a grammar of the Huron language. See Shea, Catholic Missions, p. 98241; De Courcy and Shea, Hist. of the Cath. Church in the United States, p. 314.