Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/196

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HENNEPIN
HENNI

solicited Recollet fathers as chaplains of the posts that he intended to establish. Among those as- signed to him was Father Hennepin. The latter accompanied the Sieur de la Motte in a brigantine, reached the outlet of Niagara river, 6 Dec, 1678, and chanted a Te Deum in thanksgiving. Leaving the vessel, he went in a canoe to the mountain- ridge, where a rock still bears his name, and after ascending the heights of Lewiston came in sight of the cataract. He then went with his compan- ions to Chippewa creek in search of land suitable for a colony, and, returning the next morning, was the first to offer mass on the Niagara. He then began the erection of a bark house and chapel at the Great Rock on the east side, where La Motte was building Port de Conty. He then travelled through the great lakes as far as Mackinaw, where he arrived, 26 Aug., 1679. After reaching Peo- ria, on the Illinois river, where La Salle built Fort Crevecoeur, Hennepin, bv his orders, set out with two men in a canoe, 29 Feb., 1680, to ascend the Mississippi river. He descended the Illinois to its mouth, and, after sailing up the Mississippi till 11 April, fell into the hands of a large party of Sioux, who carried him and his companions to their country. Here he discovered and named the falls of St. Anthony. He spent eight months among the savages, when he was rescued by Dan- iel Greysolon du Lhut (q. v.), who enabled him to reach Green Bay by way of Wisconsin river. He passed the winter at Mackinaw and returned to Quebec 5 April, 1682. There is reason to sup- pose that before this time he was invited by some Roman Catholics in Albany to become their pas- tor. On his return to Europe he was named guar- dian of the convent of Renty in Artois. He re- fused to return to this country, and, having had several quarrels with his superiors, withdrew to Holland in 1697 with their permission. Here he gained protectors at the court of William III. Al- though he abandoned the religious dress in order to travel in Holland without exciting attention, he did not renounce his vows, and always signed him- self Recollet missionary and notary apostolic. His first work was " Description de la Louisiane nou- vellement decouverte au sud-ouest de la Nouvelle France, avec la carte du pays, les moeurs et la ma- niere de vivre des sauvages " (Paris, 1685 : Italian translation, Bologna, 1686 ; German translation, Nuremberg, 1689 ; English translation, by John G. Shea, New York, 1880). It was dedicated to Louis XIV., and contains a narrative of La Salle's first expedition, and Hennepin's own exploration. In his "Nouvelle decouverte d'un tres-grand pays situe dans l'Amerique, entre le Nouveau-Mexique et la mer Glaciale" (Utrecht, 1697; Amsterdam, 1698), Hennepin asserts that he descended to the mouth of the Mississippi, and explains that he did not treat his travels with sufficient detail in the first volume, because he did not wish to annoy La Salle or take from him during his life the glory of dis- covering the Mississippi. His last work is " Nou- veau voyage dans un pays plus grand que l'Europe, entre la mer Glaciale et le Nouveau-Mexique, de- puis 1679 jusqu'en 1682, avec les reflexions sur les entreprises du sieur La Salle"' (Utrecht, 1698). Both this work and the preceding are dedicated to William III. In his preface he replies to those who doubted the possibility of his having sailed down and up the Mississippi in the time he men- tions. The most interesting thing in the books of this missionary is his picture of savage life. He knew the Indians well and paints their man- ners vividly. Hennepin's story of his voyage down the Mississippi obtained general credence, notwith- standing the difficulty of reconciling its dates, un- til the publication of Jared Sparks's " Life of La Salle," since which it has been much doubted. A " Bibliographv of Hennepin's Works " has been published bv John G. Shea (New York, 1880).


HENNESSY, John, R. C. bishop, b. in Ireland about 1825. He began his labors in this country as a missionary priest in the diocese of St. Louis, and was pastor of churches in New Madrid and Gravois from 1850 till 1855, when he became pro- fessor of dogmatic theology and holy scripture in the Roman Catholic theological seminary at Caron- delet, Mo., and two years afterward was appointed superior of that institution. He was subsequently attached to the cathedral in St. Joseph, Mo., and in 1864 officiated at St. Joseph's church there. In April, 1866, he was consecrated bishop of Dubuque, Iowa. Early in his ministry he founded the Hos- pital of mercy at Davenport, Iowa, established St. Joseph's college there in 1873, and the same year was instrumental in founding St. Malchy's priory at Creston, Union co., the first English-speaking community of Benedictines in the United States. Bishop Hennessy was one of the fathers of the third plenary council of Baltimore, Md., in 1884.


HENNESSY, William J., painter, b. in Thom- astown, County Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1839. He came to New York with his family when he was ten years old, entered the National academy in 1856, and became an artist.. Since 1870 he has re- sided in London, England, but has spent most of the time in Normandy. He was made an associate of the National academy in 1862, academician in 1863, and has been a member of the New York artists' fund society since its organization. He has been successful as an illustrator, and his paint- ings in oil and water-colors include " On the Sands," " Autumn : the New England Hills," " An Even- ing on the Thames," "New England Barberry Pickers," " The Votive Offering," " Normandy Cider Orchard " (1880); "Jocund Spring" (1881)"; "With the Birds" (1883); "'Twixt Dav and Night " (1884) ; and " Flowers of May " (1885).


HENNI, John Martin, archbishop, b. in Obersanzen, Switzerland, 13 June, 1805 ; d. in Milwaukee, Wis., 7 Sept., 1881. After studying in the gymnasia of St. Gall and Zurich, he went to Rome in 1824, where in 1827 he met Bishop Fen wick, of Cincinnati. At the request of that prelate he volunteered for the United States mission, and immediately after his arrival entered the seminary at Bardstown, Ky., to complete his studies for the priest- hood. He was ordained, 2 Feb., 1829, and appointed pastor of the German Catholics of Cincinnati, and professor in the Athenaeum of that city. He was soon transferred to Canton, Ohio, but in 1834 was recalled to Cincinnati and made pastor of Holy Trinity church and vicar-general of the diocese. In 1835 he visited Europe, where he published a pamphlet in German, describing the religious condition of southern Ohio. After his return in 1836 he founded, and edited for some time) the "Wahrheits-Freund," the first German Roman Catholic paper published in the United States. He also organized the St. Aloysius's orphans' aid society. During the ten years when he resided in Cincinnati he was a leader in everything that tended to the welfare of the German immigrants who were beginning to come in large numbers into the west. He was present as theologian to Bishop Purcell at the fifth provincial council of Baltimore in 1843, and laid before that body a plan for a seminary for the education of priests to minister among the Germans. The council petitioned the pope to create a new diocese at Mil-