The Pioneer Missionary of the Northwest
Remembering Father Brouillet, an early missionary who faced the turbulent years of the Whitman Massacre.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
On February 4th, the Very Rev. J.B.A. Brouillet died at Providence Hospital, Washington City, at the age of 70. Father Brouillet was among the earliest pioneers to the Pacific Northwest, having left his home in Canada with Bishop Blanchet in 1843 to undertake missionary duties among the Indigenous peoples. Arriving in Vancouver in 1844, he eventually went to the Walla Walla valley, the great rendezvous, and was stationed there at the time of the Whitman massacre in 1847. For years, he labored to clear himself of the unjust charge that he had incited the Indians to the commission of that deed. Careful researchers, unbiased by religious interest, acquitted Father Brouillet of all complicity in that outbreak. Father Brouillet was a man of fine presence, great suavity of manner, and well read in polite literature. The inhabitants of Washington have cause to remember him.
“Father Brouillet was a man of fine presence, great suavity of manner, and well read in polite literature.”
Father Brouillet's legacy is tied to the complex, often violent history of colonial missionary work in the Pacific Northwest. The 'Whitman Massacre' remains a touchstone for discussions about how historical narratives are shaped by religious and political biases of the time.
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