Jacques-François le Sueur

Jacques-François le Sueur , also known as François Eustache , Jacques François, and Jacques, was an 18th-century French Jesuit missionary and linguist, of the Abnaki missions in Canada.

Life

Although the principal facts of le Sueur's work and writings are well known, there is uncertainty as to dates, places, and even his proper name. This uncertainty is probably largely due to the burning of the St. Francis mission, with all its records, by the English in 1759. According to different sources, he was born either near Coutances, Normandy, or in Lunel, in Languedoc, on either 22 July 1685 or 1686; he died either at Montreal, 28 or 26 April 1760, or at Quebec, in 1755. Under the influence of le Sueur, the previously faltering Bécancour mission became one of the most active in North America.

Works The writings of le Sueur included prayers, sermons, a catechism, etc., in the Abnaki language, as well as a now-lost 900-page Dictionary of Abnaki. The original French manuscript is preserved at St. Francis mission, Pierreville, Canada, and was published in the "Soirées Canadiennes" of 1864. Manuscript copies are kept in Collège Sainte-Marie de Montréal, and with the Wisconsin Historical Society.