The Marquette family had been well-respected for many years, as numerous members had served in the military and taken civil posts.

The superior of the Jesuit mission in New France, Father Jerome Lalemant, needed missionaries to work with the Five Nations.

Because this mission served peaceful and friendly indigenous people from different tribes, it was considered an ideal place for training new missionaries.

Marquette studied the languages and customs of the Algonquin, Abenaki, and Iroquois people that he often tended to at Sillery.

[10][12] In 1668, Marquette was moved by his superiors to missions farther up the Saint Lawrence River, then into the western Great Lakes region.

That year, he helped Druillettes, Brother Louis Broeme, and Father Claude-Jean Allouez found the mission at Sault Ste.

They established friendly relationships with the Ottawa and Chippewa that were inhabiting that area, and were allowed to baptize most of the infants and people who were dying.

[16] Marquette noted that the Chippewa were great businessmen and exceptionally skilled at catching whitefish from the rapids in the St. Marys River.

Marquette and the other missionaries would explain their faith to the visiting Sioux, Cree, Miami, Potawatomi, Illinois, and Menominee.

They hoped that these visitors would be interested in getting their own Jesuit missionary, or "Black Robe," as they were called by the indigenous people.

[18][19] In 1669, Marquette was assigned to replace Allouez at the La Pointe du Saint Esprit mission.

Father Claude Dablon arrived to continue and expand the missionary work at Sault Ste.

[20] Marquette began the 500-mile journey to his new assignment in August, travelling by canoe along the south shore of Lake Superior.

In addition to the Petun Huron, Marquette was tasked with missionary work for three bands of Ottawa: the Keinouche, Sinagaux, and Kiskakon.

Since he felt the Kiskakon were the most ready to accept Christianity, he spent more time working with them and even lived with the families in their village.

[23] During his time at La Pointe, Marquette encountered members of the Illinois tribes, who told him about the important trading route of the Mississippi River.

[4] Marquette was eager to explore this river and asked for permission to take a leave from missionary work, but he first had to attend to an urgent matter.

When Marquette's party left the village, they were accompanied by two Miami that would assist them in finding their way to the Wisconsin River.

They ventured forth from the portage and entered the Mississippi near present-day Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin on June 17.

The chief explained that it was a symbol of peace and advised Marquette to display it as an indication of his amicable intentions.

When the explorers left the village, some of the Kaskaskia got in their own canoes and traveled with them to Saint Francis Xavier mission in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

[48] Marquette and his party returned to the Illinois territory in late 1674, becoming the first Europeans to winter in what would become the city of Chicago.

As welcomed guests of the Illinois Confederation, the explorers were feasted en route and fed ceremonial foods such as sagamite.

[52][53] In the spring of 1675, Marquette traveled westward and celebrated a public Mass at the Grand Village of the Illinois near Starved Rock.

On the return trip to Saint Ignace, he died at 37 years of age near the modern-day town of Ludington, Michigan.

[54][55] His companions, Pierre Porteret and Jacques Largillier, buried his body at a spot that Marquette had chosen.

A spot close to the southeast slope of this hill, near the ancient outlet of the Pere Marquette River, corresponds with the death site as located by early French accounts and maps and a constant tradition of the past.

[61]Adjacent to gravesite of Marquette on State Street in downtown Saint Ignace, a building was constructed that now houses the Museum of Ojibwa Culture.

Marquette had been returning to his mission at St. Ignace, which he had left in 1673 to go on an exploring trip to the Mississippi and the Illinois country.

[62]In the early 20th century Marquette was widely celebrated as a Roman Catholic founding father of the region.