Joseph Marcoux (16 March 1791 – 29 May 1855) was a Canadian Catholic missionary among the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

. Fluent in

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans * Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people * Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...

, Marcoux was also known as Tharoniakanere, "the one who looks up to the sky".

Life

Marcoux travelled to the mission at St. Regis in 1812, where he was instructed by Fr. Jean-Baptiste Roupe. During the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

, Marcoux escaped the American attack on the mission on 23 October 1812. After being

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

by Roupe on 12 January 1813, Marcoux succeeded him at St. Regis. For the remaining forty-two years of his life, Marcoux worked to evangelize the Iroquois, first at St. Regis, later at other missions at

Kahnawake The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (french: Territoire Mohawk de Kahnawake, in the Mohawk language, ''Kahnawáˀkye'' in Tuscarora) is a First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawá:ke on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Queb ...

(Sault-St-Louis) and Lac des Deux Montagnes. He was a close friend and regular correspondent of Bishop Michael Power, and in 1838 joined him in signing a statement of loyalty to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

in response to rebellions in the regions around

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

. A noted linguist, Marcoux compiled early reference materials on the Mohawk language. He taught the language to

Jean-André Cuoq Jean-André Cuoq (1821–1898) was a Roman Catholic priest and a philologist in the Algonquin and Mohawk languages. Early life Jean-André Cuoq was born on June 6, 1821, to Jean-Pierre Cuoq and Rosalie Desholme, in Le Puy-en-Velay, France. He e ...

, who went on to a linguistic career of his own. In 1855, Marcoux died of

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

, at that time epidemic among the Iroquois.

Works

He wrote Iroquois grammar and a French–Iroquois dictionary. For his church and schools, he translated into Iroquois François de Ligny's ''Histoire de la vie de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ'', and published in their language a collection of prayers, hymns, and

canticle A canticle (from the Latin ''canticulum'', a diminutive of ''canticum'', "song") is a hymn, psalm or other Christian song of praise with lyrics usually taken from biblical or holy texts. Canticles are used in Christian liturgy. Catholic Church ...

s (1852), a catechism (1854), a calendar of Catholic ritual, and a number of sermons.

References

;Attribution The entry cites: **Appleton, ''Cyclopaedia of American Biography'', s. v.; **Tanguay, ''Rep. general du clergé Canadien'' **Devine, E.J., ''Historic Caughnawaga''. Montreal: Messenger Press

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcoux, Joseph 1791 births 1855 deaths Canadian Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in Canada Missionary linguists