Jean-Baptiste Assiginack

Early in life he studied at a Sulpician school at the mission of Oka in Lower Canada where he became a Catholic.

In July 1813, Assiginack and Captain Matthew Elliott led a band of Ottawas to the Niagara peninsula.

Starting in 1827 he returned to Harbor Springs to work as a Catholic missionary, hoping a priest would soon join him, but had to carry out the efforts of Catholicizing the local Ojibwe population all on his own.

[1] After the 1828 transfer of Drummond Island to the United States Assiginack lead a large number of Ojibwe to relocate to Penetanguishene.

[2] Assiginack remained an important among the diverse communities that resettled here, and he was especially prominent among the Ojibwe who settled in the area around Manitowaning.