The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1898-04-30
FREDERICK BARAGA.
Interesting Biography of the
Great Indian Mis-
siOnary.
AMONG INDIANS AT L'ANSF.
Hon. Peter Whites Letter.
Baraga's First Indian
Grammar.

l
Among the commercial cores
pondents in the Lake Superior re-
gions during the 'fifties, few
still survive. One of the number is
! the Hon. Peter White, president of
the First National bank of Mar
quette, who for more than half IA
century has been identified with f.
nancial and mining operations in
the upper peninsula, and who at
times acted as the fiduciary of
Frederick Baraga,
81 first knew Bishop Baraga, he
writes, sat the time Father Baraga
at LAnse, in 1850. His residence
was few miles distant from the To-
cation of the present town of Bar
aga. There was u population at the
Roman Catholic mission of about
800 Chippewas, 100 or more half
breeds, and from 20 to 30 French
men, who had intermarried with
Chippewa women. Father Baraga
was the devoted friend of these pco-
pie; they all loved him and almost
worshipped him. He purchased
from the government, for the
families of his mission, tract of
land, which he divided into large
lots, on which he built houses for
each family; he partly furnished
these dwellings and gave the heads
of each cooking stove, furniture,
clothing and a supply of provisions,
to commence housekeeping in
civilized manner He taught them
TO read, write and to sing, and how
to lead Christian lives. Heinstruct-
cd them as to the cultivation of the
soil, provided them with seed and
other requisites He translated
portions of the Bible into their
language, prayers and hymns, com
piled IL grammar, spellcr and reader
for them and had these separate
works in the Chippewa language
printed at his own expense. He
provided and paid teacher to in
struct the Indians and their child
ren. They gathered around him
like band of children, and listened
to the words of wisdom he had al
ways ready for them. Should any
of them become sick he provided u
physician and medicine. Father
Baraga probably had lived among
these Chippewas during twenty
years, ministering to their spiritual
and temporal welfare before he was
created Bishop of Sault de Ste
Marie and Marquette. Occasionally,
some sick call would come to him
from Houghton, Eagle Harbor, the
Cliff mine, the old Albion mine or
some other mining location on Ke-
weenaw Point. | have known him
to respond to these sick calls in
the dead of winter, alone and on
snowshoes very laborious journeys
they were, full of peril and unlimlt-
ed hardship and undertaken to ad-
minister the last rites to dying
Christian. There was no other
priest for years in all that region.
The houses Father Baraga caused to
be built for the people of his mission
were not large, but they were ade- |
quate to their condition and wants; |
most of them had been accustomed |
to living in wigwams. The houses |
were mostly one story or one and II /
half stories high, with good win
dows and doors, but enclosed with |
plain boards. Each had a brick or |
stone chimney, and probably cost
from $500 to 500, while the furni-
ture cost not to exceed $500 for
each. | cannot give you the size of
the lots, but they were from 200 to
300 feet square, and the grantees or
their descendants still occupy them.
The place is still called the Roman
Catholic mission, but its population
has dwindled down to about third
of its former number On the op
postc shore of the bav, where at
corresponding period there was a
Methodist mission comprising
many souls, not more
than $50 remain. / have
one of Father Baraga's S grammars.
The title reads: "A Theoretical
and Practical Grammar of the
Ochipwe Language; Spoken by the
Chippewa Indians, also by the Al
Ottawa and Pottawotomie
Indians, with but little difference,
etc, by Frederick Baraga, mission
AIRY at L'Anse, Lake Superior; De-
troit, Jabez Fox, Printer, 1870 "
Mr.. White concludes as follows:
1T is a great pleasure to me to be,
even in a small way, of any assist
ance to you in such noble task as