Note 23 — Chapter III

Incidents recorded in the Relations, and in the parish church register of Three Rivers, show Nicolet to have been upon the St. Lawrence from December 9, 1635, to his death, in 1642, except during the ten months above mentioned. It is an unfortunate fact that, for those ten months, the record of the church just named is missing. For this information I am indebted to Mr. Benjamin Sulte. Could the missing record be found, it would be seen to contain, without doubt, some references to Nicolet's presence at Three Rivers. As the Relation of 1640 mentions Nicolet's visit to the Winnebagoes, it could not have been made subsequent to 1639. It has already been shown how improbable it is that his journey was made previous to 1634. It only remains, therefore, to give his whereabouts previous to 1640, and subsequent to 1635. His presence in Three Rivers, according to Mr. Sulte (see Appendix, I., to this narrative), is noted in the parish register in December, 1635; in May, 1636; in November and December, 1637; in March, 1638; in January, March, July, October, and December, 1639. As to mention of him in the Relations during those years, see the next chapter of this work.

It was the identification by Mr. Shea, of the Winnebagoes as the "Ouinipigou," or "Gens de Mer," of the Relations, that enabled him to call the attention of the public to the extent of the discoveries of Nicolet. The claims of the latter, as the discoverer of the Northwest, were thus, for the first time, brought forward on the page of American history.