Bellenger, Joseph-Marie, 1788-1856

The easternmost of the Algonquian nations, the Micmac Indians originally inhabited a territory that extended over much of modern Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton, and including parts of New Brunswick, Quebec, Newfoundland, and eastern Maine. Among the first nations to have contact with Europeans, they became the target of Jesuit, Recollect, and Capuchin missionaries as early as 1610, when Chief Membertou became the first American Indian baptized into the Catholic Church.

During the 1640s, the Recollect Fathers established a mission at Restigouche, Quebec, on the Gaspé Peninsula, which remained active even after political control of the region passed from French into British hands, thanks in large part to the efforts of Antoine-Simon Maillard (d.1762). Having spent 27 years as a missionary in Canada, the Abbé Maillard was the first Frenchman to master the Micmac language and he collected extensive grammatical and linguistic notes which were edited, arranged, and published by Rev. Joseph M. Bellenger in the 19th century.

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