Background
Jean Nicolet was born in 1598 in Cherbourg, France, whence his father, Thomas Nicolet, was carrier of the mail to Paris. His mother, Marguerite de la Mer, was from a neighboring town, both parents being of Norman ancestry.
Jean Nicolet was born in 1598 in Cherbourg, France, whence his father, Thomas Nicolet, was carrier of the mail to Paris. His mother, Marguerite de la Mer, was from a neighboring town, both parents being of Norman ancestry.
Jean was familiar with the sea and ships and was quick to respond when Samuel de Champlain, founder of New France, asked the lad to accompany him to the New World. It was Champlain's policy to bring over promising French youths and to place them among the Indians to learn their languages in order to become interpreters. They were also to learn the lore of the wilderness and to be able to explore the unknown hinterland.
Nicolet was twenty years old when he landed in New France; the same year he went with some of the French-allied Indians to live on Allumette Island, high up on Ottawa River. There he dwelt for two years, learning the native language and Indian woodcraft, but, unfortunately, he never learned to swim.
During his residence on Allumette Island he went on a peace mission to the Iroquois.
On his return, Champlain sent him further from the colony to live among the Nipissing. In 1624 he was appointed their official interpreter, dwelling somewhat apart, much revered by the tribesmen.
In 1633, after the English occupation, he returned to Canada and became official interpreter for the colony with headquarters at Three Rivers.
Jean Nicolet's name was practically unknown until the middle of the nineteenth century, when John G. Shea, studying the sources of early Canadian history, found in the Jesuit Relations an account of Nicolet's western journey and discovered that he was the first known visitor to Lake Michigan and Wisconsin.
Shea dated his voyage west in 1639. Immediately, Western historians took up the subject, and published all that could be found about the man and his discoveries. Benjamin Sulte proved conclusively that the voyage took place in 1634, the year before Champlain's death. Nicolet's biographers give a short but vivid description of his voyage. He accompanied a mission flotilla to Huronia, where he secured a large canoe with seven Hurons to paddle it. Mounting Lake Huron, he passed the Straits of Mackinac, entered a deep bay on the west side of Lake Michigan, and there, near the bottom of Green Bay, found the tribe he was seeking, called the Winnebago or "Men of the Sea. " He had hoped to find Orientals and discovered only a new tribe of Indians. With them he made a treaty of alliance; hundreds came to see the "Manitou-iriniou"--that is, the "wonderful man. " They feasted him and admired him and thought him descended from the gods. How far Nicolet explored in this region is a matter of controversy. Probably he did not go far inland, for he returned to Huronia by the autumn. The next year he was again at his post at Three Rivers, which he never again left for western traveling. He was drowned during a storm on the St. Lawrence, calling to his companion as his boat overturned: "Sir, save yourself; you can swim, I cannot; as for me, I depart to God. " Nicolet's biographers were the Jesuit missionaries who highly esteemed him and declared he was "equally and singularly loved" by both French and Indians.
Nicolet Champlain was persistent, steadfast, he loved the wilderness, and had a talent for adventuring.
On October 7, 1637 Nicolet married Marguerite Couillard.
