American Historical Ephemera & Photography

1p, 8 x 10 1/2 in. (creasing at folds, slight tears, toning). Contents in French. Very thin paper. "Prairie du Chien" CDS at left. 

Stampless cover addressed to "Mademoiselle Crétin," while the contents of the letter - which in fact is two separately written missives - are both directed to a "Monsieur." In the first letter Crétin authorizes "Hipolythe Verdat" to give his sister (the author's) the amount needed to settle debts. In the second letter, Crétin is apologetic for the state of his business and affairs, admitting that he did not know how bad it was. Crétin says he will not ask for anything else for a while, and indicates that the deficit should be padded with the 2,000 he already deposited with Mr. Paguet. He closes assuring "Monsieur" that he will be more cautious in the future. Aside from his debts, Crétin makes reference to baptizing a "savage" and to a large French congregation with 80 children he is teaching. 

Joseph Crétin was the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Saint Paul, Minnesota. He was born in Montluel, in the department of Ain, France, and was ordained priest 20 December 1823. In response to the arrival of Bishop Mathias Loras, first bishop of Dubuque, Iowa, who arrived in France in 1838 in search of priests for his vast diocese, Crétin volunteered to proselytize in the New World. On 16 August 1838 he embarked at Le Havre for New York. Upon his arrival in Dubuque on 18 April 1839, he was appointed vicar-general of the new diocese, a position which he held for over eleven years. In this capacity Crétin divided his time chiefly between Dubuque, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and the Winnebago Indians in the neighborhood of Fort Atkinson, in Winneshiek County, Iowa. When in 1850, St. Paul, Minnesota, became the seat of a new diocese, Crétin was appointed its first bishop.