KUHN, or KINO, Eusebius Francis,
missionary, born in Trent, Austria, about 1650; died in Magdalena, Sonora, in
1711. He entered the Society of Jesus at an early period, and after completing
his studies was appointed professor of mathematics in the University of
Ingoldstadt, but resigned and went to Mexico as a missionary.
He not only devoted himself to the conversion of the
Indians, but to bettering their social condition. Receiving permission to preach
in Sonora, he set out from Mexico, 20 October, 1686, and met on the way Father
Salvatierra. Together they formed the project of converting and subjecting to
Spain all the inhabitants from Mexico to Oregon.
Father Kuhn was to undertake the territory of Sonora and
the Pima country, which embraced most of the present territory of Arizona. After
entering Sonora he learned the different dialects of the inhabitants, and formed
vocabularies and elementary works for the use of his assistants and successors.
He is said to have baptized with his own hand over 48,000 of the natives, and
caused them to adopt civilized life.
He was constantly thwarted in his efforts by the cruelty
of the Spaniards, and his denunciations of the violence and oppression with
which the Indians were treated at length moved the Mexican council. Regulations
were made for the protection of the Indians; but they were never observed, and
he often saw his converts dragged from their homes and compelled to work in the
mines.
He entered Arizona, 13 March, 1687, built chapels
everywhere, made peace between hostile tribes, "and," says Clavigero in the "Storia
della California," "if he could have obtained additional missionaries and not
been hampered by constant impediments, calumnies, and false reports, he would
then have easily converted all the tribes between Sonora and the rivers Gila and
Colorado."
In 1698 he set out on a tour of inspection of his
mission stations, and traveled on foot a thousand miles through a rugged country
inhabited only by savages. He made several such journeys during the subsequent
years of his ministry, and between 1693 and 1697 founded the missions of Santa
Maria Somanca, Gueravi, Cocospera, San Cayetano, and San Xavier del Bac.
The last was the largest rancheria in Arizona, having
176 houses and 803 Indians. He founded fourteen missions, most of which were
abandoned after his death. He wrote "Explicacion astronómica del Cometa que se
vió en todo el orbe en 1680 y 1681" (Mexico, 1681); "Mapa del paso por tierra á
la California," published by Reverend L. Gobicu (1706)" and several manuscript
works, which he deposited with the Jesuits in Mexico, and which were used by
Reverend Miguel Venegas in his "Historia de California."
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