John Altham (1589 – November 5, 1640), also known as John Gravenor, was a British

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionary who came to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

to preach to the Native Americans.

Life

He was born in Warwickshire, England, in 1589. In November 1633, he and fellow Jesuit Andrew White set sail with Governor Leonard Calvert and arrived in the Chesapeake Bay area in March 1634. Upon landing, he obtained a hut from its Indian owner, which he fitted up for religious service, and it was afterward known as "the first chapel in Maryland." He performed his missionary work among the Indians around Kent Island from 1634Curran, Robert Emmett. ''Papist Devils: Catholics in British America'', CUA Press, 2014, p. 48
/ref> till his death from yellow fever, in nearby

St. Mary's, Maryland St. Mary's City (also known as Historic St. Mary's City) is a former British colonization of the Americas, colonial town that was Maryland's first European settlement and capital. It is now a large, state-run historic area, which includes a recons ...

, in 1640.

References

*''Who Was Who in America, Historical Edition 1607-1896.'' Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1967. 1589 births 1640 deaths 17th-century English Jesuits People from Warwickshire {{UK-RC-clergy-stub