|
Father
Jacques Marquette, SJ |
THE UNITED STATES, 1898, the Trans-Mississippi Exposition Issue, Scott 285
the first stamp to commemorate a Jesuit
based on a painting by William Lamprecht at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Born in Laon, France, Marquette entered the Jesuits at seventeen years of age, and was sent to the Canada missions in 1666. He took easily to the native languages and began work at Sault Ste. Marie. He established a mission on the west side of Lake Superior in 1669, and at St. Ignace in 1671. He and Louis Jolliet undertook together an exploration of the Mississippi River which Indians had told them about. They started in May of 1674 with five men and two canoes. They crossed Lake Superior, descended the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers to the Mississippi, and down to its junction with the Arkansas River before turning back and ascending via the Illinois. On December 4, 1674 he built a rough log cabin on the Chicago river and wintered there, the beginnings of the what would become the city of Chicago. He fell sick and died May 18, 1675. More
CANADA, 1987, Scott 1128
THE UNITED STATES, 1968, the 300th anniversary of his explorations, Scott
1356
THE UNITED STATES, 1998, reissue of the Trans-Mississippi stamps using the original dies and in two colors, Scott 3209a
from the mini sheet below, Scott 3209
The original intention to print this set in two colors had to wait a century before being realized.