Thursday, October 16, 2008

17th Century Jesuit Missionary To Maryland

Father Andrew White and the Village of Portobac

Maryland is fortunate in having many documents that survive from initial European colonization, and most of those are in print or otherwise publicly accessible. One of the earliest compilations of early Maryland documents is Clayton Colman Hall's (1910, 1925) Narratives of Early Maryland, 1633-1684, reprinted by Heritage Books (1988) of Bowie, Maryland.

Among the passages from the annual letters of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) to their superiors in Europe is one reporting on the efforts of Father Andrew White in the region in 1642. It mentions that the so-called Empress of/from Pascataway (Piscataway) had been baptized in St. Mary's City and there was learning English.

Link (here) Port Tobacco Archaeological Project

Read

FATHER ANDREW WHITE, S.J., AND THE INDIANS BY THE REV. RICHARD H. TIERNEY, SJ.


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