DABLON, CLAUDE. - Jesuit, missionary among the Red Indians, b. at Dieppe on 21 Jan. 1619; d. at Québec on 3 May 1697. Having landed at Québec in 1655, he took part in several expeditions among the Oroni and the Irochesi; he explored Hudson Bay in order to establish mission centres there and to find a western passage to the sea, then called that of China; he was the first to report the rich copper mines in the region of Lake Superiore; he assigned Fr. G. Marquette to the expedition that led to the discovery of the upper Mississippi. He also produced the first plan for linking Lake Eric to the Illinois River by a canal. Having founded the residence of Sault-Ste-Marie, he was appointed superior of all the Canadian missions (1686–93). His numerous letters and reports are still of great historical value, clear and comprehensive.
DABLON, CLAUDE
BIBL.: Sommervogel. II, cols. 1773–75; R. G. Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, 72 vols., Cleveland 1896–1901 (v. indice); C. da Rochemonteix, Les Jésuites et la Nouvelle France au XVIIe siècle, II, Parigi 1896; III, ivi 1896, passim; T. J. Campbell, Pioneer Prints of North America, I, 2nd ed., Nuova York 1913, pp. 110–33. Celestino Testore
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“DABLON, CLAUDE.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IV (1950), p. 655. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/dablon-claude.