Pierre Raffeix

Pierre Raffeix (1633–1724) was a French Jesuit missionary in Canada.

Biography

He was born at Clermont-Ferrand, entered the Society of Jesus in 1653, and came to Canada in 1663. In 1668 he established near Montreal a settlement for converted Iroquois (now Kahnawake).

In 1671 he replaced Étienne de Carheil in the Cayuga mission, and afterwards went to the Seneca Indians until 1680.

Raffeix was a cartographer, as the following surviving maps bear witness:

• "Carte des regions les plus occidentales du Canada", dated 1676, and bearing a legend relating to the voyage of discovery of Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet;
• "Le lac Ontario avec les pays adjacents et surtout les cinq nations iroquoises";
• "La Nouvelle-France, de l'Océan au lac Erié, et, au sud, jusqu'à la Nouvelle-Angleterre".

After his return to Quebec he acted as procurator to the mission. He spent two years at Jeune-Lorette (1699–1700), shortly after the final migration of the remnants of the Huron nation. He died at Quebec.

References

• Campeau, Lucien (1979) [1969]. "Raffeix, Pierre". In Hayne, David (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. II (1701–1740) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pierre Raffeix". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.