archaeological and textual records - eCommons@Cornell - Cornell ...

Indeed, the majority of Christians mentioned at any of the Seneca missions
appear to be individuals from other Nations (JR 58:239), including the two devout
man Fremin mentions by name: Jacques Atondo and Francois Tehoronohiongo (JR
54:85). Both men were Christian Hurons. Jacques Atondo was said to have lived his
life in “continual prayer” (JR 54:85). Francois Tehoronohiongo, formerly the host of
the late Father Le Moyne in Huron Territory, raised his entire family in the faith, and
overwhelmed Fremin when he said he been praying for over twenty years to see a
priest again (JR 54:87-89). As such, Francois personally ensured Father Fremin’s
accommodation and protection (JR 54:119).
By contrast, only a handful of Seneca converts are noted in such narrative
detail, and many of these instances are deathbed conversions. At St. Jacques, Garnier
recounts the conversion of an unnamed Seneca man of “great age and station” who,
after rejecting the Jesuit’s proselytizing numerous times, came to embrace the faith,
oddly enough, by dreaming that baptism would cure his ailment. Garnier arrived at the
man’s cabin and passed the night and the next day and night with the man in prayer.
On the second morning, Garnier baptized him, and the day after, he died (JR 55:81-
93). More optimistically, in the Relation from 1669-1670, Fremin recorded baptizing a
mother and daughter (who died) from a “more influential class of Tsonnontouen” (JR
54:91). The surviving mother, once instructed in the faith, became extremely devout in
hopes of joining her daughter in heaven. She also made it a point to “have her slaves
instructed, and to make them pray to God; and through her alone, it can be said more
than twenty persons have been brought to God” (JR 54:93). Likewise, around 1673,
Garnier ministered to a young woman, who chose to convert at the end of her life,
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