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

It is uncertain which of the Seneca towns had been burnt in advance by its
inhabitants although some scholars have speculated that it was Ganondagan (Jordan
2004:25). After Denonville, approximately fifteen years passed before the Jesuits
returned and resumed their efforts in 1702. The Jesuits were allowed to resume their
work, largely owing to Garnier’s diplomacy in Montreal where he translated Callière’s
peace treaty to the Huron. Upon leaving Montreal, he headed straight back to Seneca
territory (Canadian Biography 2009). He remained there until presumably 1709 when
“at the instigation of Peter Schuyler, four of the Five Cantons denounced the treaty of
1701, and Garnier again returned to Sault-Saint-Louis” (Canadian Biography 2009).
Unfortunately, the 1702-1709 Iroquoian missions are not adequately documented.
In European eyes, the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht ceded present-day New York as a whole
to the British, even though the vast majority of this territory effectively was in Indian
hands. Britain, a growing Protestant empire under monarchs William and Mary,
refused to allow the French Jesuits to remain. As a result Garnier, Raffeix and their
contemporaries were forced to withdraw their ministry and head east towards
Montreal (Dictionary of Canadian Biography 2009). Sources do not indicate when
Garnier left the mission (Dictionary of Canadian Biography 2009), but his companion
Father Vaillant was replaced in 1707 by Father d’Heu. Only two years later, however,
d’Heu was escorted to Canada by forty Seneca warriors in order to ensure his safety.
This spelled the end of the Jesuit missions to the Seneca and the other Iroquois of New
York (Bihler 1956:96).
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