Nationality French Role Writer Name Emile Petitot | Title Father Occupation Priest | |
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Full Name Emile-Fortune Petitot Born December 3, 1838 ( 1838-12-03 ) Grancey-le-Chateau-Neuvelle, France Other names Emile-Fortune-Stanislas-Joseph Petitot;
Mitchi Pitchitork Tchikraynarm iyoye Education College du Sacre-Cœur in Grancey;
Notre-Dame-de-l’Osier Known for Canadian northwest cartographer, ethnologist, geographer, linguist, and writer Died May 13, 1916, Mareuil-les-Meaux, France Books Among the Chiglit Eskimos | ||
Father Émile-Fortuné Petitot (also known as Émile-Fortuné-Stanislas-Joseph Petitot) (Inuk name, Mitchi Pitchitork Tchikraynarm iyoyé, meaning "Mr. Petitot, son of the Sun") (December 3, 1838-May 13, 1916), a French Missionary Oblate, was a notable Canadian northwest cartographer, ethnologist, geographer, linguist, and writer.
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Early years
Petitot was born in Grancey-le-Château-Neuvelle, France. His father, Jean-Baptiste Petitot, was a clockmaker; his mother was Thérèse-Julie-Fortunée Gagneur. Petitot attended the minor seminary and the Collège du Sacré-Cœur in Grancey. In 1859, he took minor orders of the priesthood before joining the Oblates in September 1860. His training occurred at Notre-Dame-de-l'Osier, and on March 15, 1862, he was ordained in Marseilles.
Fourteen days after his ordination, he left for Canada's Mackenzie River. The young missionary Petitot traveled with Bishop Alexandre-Antonin Taché from Marseilles via Liverpool (where they were joined by another two Oblates, Constantine Scollen and John Duffy) and Montreal to St Boniface (Winnipeg) arriving there on 26th May 1862. He left St. Boniface with the Portage La Loche Brigade June 8 arriving at the Methye Portage on July 20. By August 1862, he had traveled to Great Slave Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories with the Hudson's Bay Brigade Trail.
Career
Petitot was based at Northwest Territories' missions for 12 years, including Fort Norman, Fort Providence, Fort Resolution, and Fort Good Hope. Here he collected material for his dictionary of several Athabascan languages. He also collected extensive legends of the Blackfoot, Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, Hare, and Loucheux cultures.
From 1864 through 1878, he worked on the design, decoration, and construction of the Church of Our Lady of Good Hope, designated a National Historic Site of Canada.
The late 1860s were troublesome years. In 1866, he was temporarily excommunicated, and in 1868, he developed short bouts of insanity. But in the midst of this, in 1867–68, Petitot became the first European to reach the Tuktut Nogait National Park area.
Petitot returned to France in 1874 and published his dictionaries and other works. The following year, in 1875, he spoke at the inaugural International Congress of Americanists in Nancy, France making a strong case for the Asiatic origin of Inuit and North American Indians. He was awarded a silver medal by the Société de Géographie for his Arctic maps, including the partially traveled Hornaday River, though he referred to it as Rivière La Roncière-le Noury, named in honor of the president of the Société de Géographie.
After two years in France, Petitot returned to the North, mostly helping and studying the people of the Great Slave Lake area. In late 1881, at Fort Pitt (Sask) he "married" Margarite (Margarita) Valette, a mature Metis woman. In January 1882 he was forcibly taken east by Fr Constantine Scollen, an Oblate who had traveled with him and Bishop Tache, to Canada, in 1862. He entered an asylum near Montreal. By 1883, however, his ill health forced him to end his missionary work and return to France. Honoring his scientific contributions, he was awarded the 1883 Back Prize by the Royal Geographical Society.
He became a parish priest October 1, 1886 at Mareuil-lès-Meaux, France. Here, he ministered to the sick, and published books and articles on Northern Canada. He died in 1916.