Bourion, Father H., Marquette, Michigan, to Archbishop John Baptist Purcell, of Cincinnati, Ohio, 1868 January 26

Good Bishop Frederic Baraga is dead. During his apostleship in the frozen regions, he converted 25,000 Idians. He died as he had lived, alone in the middle of a severe winter. Only a few priests will be at his funeral. He was happy to die among his flock. Many a time he traveld in six or seven feet of snow, three or four hundred miles. How many times was he not obliged to cross rivers up to his neck in water. He slept many nights in the snow. Bourion relates how Baraga once returned triumphantly to the Sault after a missionary journey on a sleigh drawn by a small Indian dog. His sickness, the shaking palsy, began about three years ago. But he continued his labors despite the fatigue from the perpetual shaking. The attack of apoplexy which he had at the council of Baltimore was the decisivie stroke. Fortunately God provided the only remedy at the same time that he fell. The pectoral cross on which he fell inflicted a wound which caused the blood to flow abundantly. This saved his life. He insisted on returning to Lake Superior. Bourion was almost sure that Baraga would die on the way home. At Marquette they found that the priest had left the cathedral to the great scandal of the people. That gave the bishop the last stroke. He died at the age of 70 years. He was born in 1797 and came to America in 1829. His will appointed his servant Caspar Shulte as the manager of his properties until a successor is appointed. Bourion signs as pastor St. Paul's, Negaunee. :: II-5-d A.L.S. 4pp. 4to.