Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/627

The Indians looked upon him as a sorcerer, and this idea was strengthened when the small-pox broke out among them after his arrival. Still he succeeded in establishing St. Mary's on the Wye, the first missionary settlement in the west. He was next sent to Ossossane, from which the mis- sionaries had been driven. He spent a year among the Indians of this settlement, and was then ordered to Arondaendronnon. Here he formed a vocabulary of the dialect of the tribe, collecting the words in the cabins, and gathering materials for a philological work. He then started with Brebeuf on a journey eastward, intending to preach the gospel among the Attewandaronks, a tribe of the neutral nation dwelling on both sides of Ni- agara. A journey of four days brought him to the first village of that nation, named Kandoucho. He was well received ; but the arrival of pagan Hu- rons, who said he was a magician, changed the feeling of the people, and he very narrowly es- caped death. He left Kandoucho, and visited eighteen Indian towns, but met with no success, and so determined to return to Kandoucho. He fell sick on the way, and was cared for by an In- dian woman in a snow village. He stayed with her twenty-five days, learning the language of the place, and" was successful in adapting the diction- ary and grammar of the Hurons to the dialect of this nation. On his return to the neutral nation his labors were not successful, and he left them after a stay of five months. He then went to the settlement of St. Michael, where he labored suc- cessfully until 1648, when the Christian Indians were defeated and their tribe nearly extermi- nated by the Iroquois. He accompanied the sur- vivors of the disaster to St. Joseph's island in Lake Huron, where they endured fearful suffering. The French government gave them the island of Orleans, and thither Father Chaumonot accompa- nied them. He now compiled his grammar and dictionary for the Huron and all kindred languages. The grammar was published in 1870 by the Que- bec literary and historical society. When he h?d organized the Indians of Orleans lie went among the Iroquois of Onondaga in 1655 and preached with great success, having won the women by his denunciation of polygamy. He left this mission in 1658 and went to Montreal, .where he founded in 1663 tlie Society of the lioly family. He was then sent as military chaplain to Fort Richelieu at the mouth of the Sorel. He shortly returned to his Hurons, however, and the rest of his life was spent among them. He built the chapel of Notre Dame de Foye for their benefit, and some years later the Santa Casa of Loretto.

CHAUNCEY, Charles, jurist, b. in Durham, Conn., 11 June, 1747; d. in New Haven, Conn.. 28 April, 1823. He was admitted to the bar in No- vember, 1768, removed to New Haven, and became state's attorney in 1776. He was a judge of the superior court from 1789 till 1793, and was for forty years a lecturer on jurisprudence. Judge Chauncey was the principal founder and the presi- dent of the first agricultural society in Connecti- cut. He was given the degree of A. M. by Yale in 1779, and that of LL. D. by Middlebury in 1811.— His sen, Charles, b. in New Haven, 17 Aug., 1777 ; d. in Burlington, N. J., 30 Aug., 1849, was gradu- ated at Yale in 1792, and received the degree of LL. D. from the same college in 1827. He removed to Philadelphia, was admitted to the bar there in 1799, and soon attained distinction, though he had for competitors such men as John Sargeant and Horace Binney. He declined various civil and ju- dicial offices, ijreferring to practise law.

CHAUNCEY, Isaac, naval officer, b, in Black Rock, Conn., 20 Feb., 1772; d. in Washington, D. C, 27 Jan., 1840. Entering the merchant service very young, he commanded a ship at nineteen, and made several successful voyages to the East Indies in the ships of John Jacob Astor. On the organi- zation of the navy he was made a lieutenant, 17 Sept., 1798, and was acting captain of the frigate " Chesapeake" early in 1802. He distinguished himself in several actions off Tripoli, was thanked by congress for his services, and voted a sword, which he never received. He became master, 23 May, 1804,

and captain,

24 April, 1806. At the beginning of the war of 1812, Capt. Chauncey, then in command of the navy-yard at New York, was appointed to com- mand on all the lakes except Champlain, and en- tered on his duties at Sackett's Harbor on 6 Oct. From that time till the close of the war vessels were built and equipped with unequalled rapidity. The " Mohawk," a 42-gun frigate, was launched in thirty-four days after her keel was laid, and the corvette " Madison " was launched in nine weeks from the day when the first tree composing her frame was cut in the forest. Chauncey co-oper- ated with the land forces under Pike in April, 1813, in capturing York (now Toronto), and, on 27 May, in the capture of Fort George, which caused the evacuation of the entire Niagara frontier, and in the same year superintended the building of ships at Sackett's Harbor. On 27 Sept., Chaun- cey attacked and put to flight, in York bay, the British fleet under Sir James Yeo, whom he had hitherto been unable to bring to action. The " Pike," his flag-ship, was on this occasion man- oeuvred and fought in a manner ever since a theme of admiration in the navy. Before the whole American squadron could get into action, the en- emy bore up, Chauncey following. A heavy gale stopped the chase, and prevented the destruction of the British fleet. On 5 Oct.. Chauncey cap- tured five vessels, with part of a regiment of sol- diers. In August and September, 1814, he block- aded Sir James Yeo's fleet for six weeks. He afterward commanded the Brooklyn navy-yard and the Mediterranean squadron, and with William Shaler, consul, negotiated a treaty with Algiers. He served on the board of navy commissioners at Washington, and became its president in June, 1833, holding the office till his death. He was a model of gallantry, energy, and skill. His remains were buried in the congressional cemetery at Wash- ington, where a marble monument has been erected to his memory. — His son, John S., naval officer, was b. in New York about 1800 ; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 10 April. 1871. He entered the service as midsliipinan. 1 Jan.. 1812, became passed midship- man in 1821, and in 1822, while on the sloop " Pea-