Claude-Godefroy Coquart (February 2, 1706 – July 4, 1765) was a Jesuit priest who probably arrived in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

in 1739. He was almost immediately assigned to accompany La Vérendrye to the western forts. He was to replace Father Jean-Pierre Aulneau who had died in the massacre on Lake of the Woods in 1736. They left for the west in June, 1741 and Coquart was left at either

Fort Michilimackinac Fort Michilimackinac was an 18th-century French, and later British, fort and trading post at the Straits of Mackinac; it was built on the northern tip of the lower peninsula of the present-day state of Michigan in the United States. Built aroun ...

Fort Kaministiquia Fort Kaministiquia (former spellings include Fort Camanistigoyan, Fort Kanastigoya, Fort Kamanastigoya and others), was a French fort in North America. It was located on the north shore of Lake Superior at the mouth of the Kaministiquia River, in ...

because of the riskiness of starting a new mission further west. We do know that he was aware of, and wrote about La Colle's raid on the Sioux of the Prairies in 1741. Coquart joined the La Vérendryes at

Fort La Reine Fort La Reine was built in 1738 and is one of the forts of the western expansion directed by Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye, first military commander in the west of what is now known as Canada. Located on the Assiniboine River w ...

in 1743 and returned east with the senior La Vérendrye when La Vérendrye lost the commandant post in 1744. He was the first recorded missionary in present-day Manitoba and the first to travel so far west.

References

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''Metis Culture 1741-1742''
* * People from Melun 1706 births 1765 deaths Roman Catholic missionaries in Canada French Roman Catholic missionaries 18th-century French Jesuits Jesuit missionaries in New France {{NewFrance-stub

See also

References