FREMIN, James, missionary, born in France; died in Quebec, Canada, 2 July 1691. He was a member of the Society of Jesus, and was sent as a missionary to Canada, but at what time is unknown. In 1656'8 he lived among the Onondagas, was then for two years at Moscow, and next at Three Rivers and Cape de la Madeleine. At the earnest request of the Cayuga chief, Garaconthie (q. v.), he set out in company with Father Peter Raffein to establish a mission among the Cayugas in 1666. In 1667 he was selected to renew the mission in the Mohawk valley, which had been founded by Gogues. He remained a month at Fort Saint Anne, on Isle La Mothe, where he conducted the first Roman Catholic mission in Vermont. He was then taken by his guides to Gandouague, where a congregation of Algonquin and Huron captives had already been formed. These he gathered in an isolated cabin, and prepared for baptism. He then visited Tionnontoguero, the capital, and in a general assembly of the six villages of the Mohawks, held 14 September he reproached the tribe for their faithlessness and cruelty, and spoke at length on the advantages of peace.

Father Fremin, who was already skilled in the Huron and Onondaga dialects, learned the Mohawk very quickly, thus obtaining extraordinary influence among the tribe. As soon as the mission of St. Mary of the Mohawks was firmly established, he sent one of his associates to Albany to gain the friendship of the English, and another to Quebec to announce the results that he had obtained. In October 1668, set out for the Seneca country, where he was received with great honor. It was at his suggestion that Catharine Ganneaktena (q. v.) founded the village of La Prairie for Indian converts. He was recalled to the St. Lawrence in 1670, but returned to the mission of La Prairie, where he remained several years. He made numerous voyages to France in the interests of this mission, and is said to have been again employed among the Iroquois.