Dablon, Claude

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DABLON, CLAUDE

Missionary; b. Dieppe, France, c. 1618; d. Quebec, Canada, May 3, 1697. After entering the Society of Jesus he was sent to Canada in 1655 and with Pierre Chaumonot, SJ, was charged with establishing a mission among the Iroquois at Lake Ganentaa (Syracuse, N.Y.). In 1661 he accompanied Gabriel Druillettes, SJ, on an unsuccessful expedition to find the "Northern Sea." In collaboration with Claude Allouez, SJ, he drew up the map of all the posts visited by the two missionaries on Lake Superior. This "Map of the Jesuits" was considered a masterpiece in its time and has rendered valuable service to many researchers. Dablon served as superior general of the Jesuit missions of New France (167180, 168693), was the editor of the Relations (167279), and wrote a description (1678) of Jacques marquette's expedition down the Mississippi River.

Bibliography: t. j. campbell, Pioneer Priests of North America, 16421710 (New York 190819) 1:110133. j. delanglez, Frontenac and the Jesuits (Chicago 1939); "Claude Dablon, 16191697," Mid-America 26 (1944) 91110. sister marie de saint-jean-d'ars, Claude Dablon et la Nouvelle France, 16551697 (Doctoral diss. unpub. U. of Montreal).

[l. pouliot]