Henri Membertou
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Henri Membertou (died 18 September 1611) was the sakmow (Grand Chief) of the Mi'kmaq First Nations tribe situated near Port Royal, site of the first French settlement in Acadia, present-day Nova Scotia, Canada. Originally sakmow of the Kespukwitk district, he was appointed as Grand Chief by the sakmowk of the other six districts.
Chief Membertou is notable for being the first Native leader to have been baptized in New France, on Saint John the Baptist Day, 24 June 1610, along with 21 of his family members, by Abbé Jessé Fléché, as a sign of alliance and good faith. It was at this time that he received the baptismal name Henri, after the late king of France, Henri IV.
He first met the French when they arrived to build the Habitation at Port-Royal in 1605, at which time, according to the French lawyer and author Marc Lescarbot, he said he was over 100 and recalled meeting Jacques Cartier in 1534. After building their fort, the French left in 1607, leaving only two of their party behind, during which time Membertou took good care of the fort and them, meeting them upon their return in 1610.
In addition to being sakmow or political leader, Membertou had also been the head autmoin or spiritual leader of his tribe — who believed him to have powers of healing and prophecy. Both Lescarbot and explorer Samuel de Champlain wrote of having witnessed him conducting a funeral in 1606 for Panoniac, a fellow Mi'kmaw sakmow who had been killed by the Armouchiquois or Passamaquoddy tribe, of what is now Maine. Seeking revenge for this and similar acts of hostility, Membertou led some 500 warriors in a raid on the Armouchiquois town, Chouacoet, present-day Saco, Maine, in July, 1607, killing 20 of their braves, including two of their leaders, Onmechin and Marchin.
He is described by the Jesuit Pierre Biard as having maintained a beard, unlike other Mi'kmaq males who removed all facial hair. He was larger than the other males and despite his advanced age, had no grey or white hair. Also, unlike most sakmowk who were polygamous, Membertou had only one wife, who was baptised with the name of "Marie". Lescarbot records that the eldest son of Chief Membertou had the name Membertouchis (Membertouji'j, baptised Louis Membertou after the then-King of France, Louis XIII), while his second and third sons were called Actaudin (absent at the time of the baptism) and Actaudinech (Actaudinji'j, baptised Paul Membertou). He also had a daughter, given the name Marguerite.
Biard relates how, when Membertou's son Actaudin became gravely ill, he was prepared to sacrifice two or three dogs to precede him as messengers into the spirit world, but when Biard told him this was wrong, he did not, and Actaudin then recovered.
Shortly after this, in late 1611, Membertou himself fell ill, finally passing away in fall of that year. In his final words he charged his children to remain devout Christians.
