LE MOYNE, Simon, French missionary, born in France in 1604; died in Cap de la Magdeleine, Canada, 24 November, 1665. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1623, came to Canada in 1638, and was assigned to the Huron mission. In 1639 he helped to establish the mission of St. John among the Arenda tribe, he continued among the Hurons up to 1650, and on 2 July, 1653, set out from Quebec to found an Iroquois mission. He ascended the St. Lawrence, entered Lake Ontario, and, after sailing among the Thousand islands, reached a fishing village at the mouth of Oswego river. After converting" a large number of the savages, including some of the chiefs, he returned to Quebec on 11 September, where the favorable account which he gave of the disposition of the Iroquois excited great exultation. On the petition of the Mohawks he was assigned to them in 1656. He was the first to discover the salt springs of Onondaga, an account of which he gave to Dominie Megapolensis, of New Amsterdam. He visited the latter city in 1658, and was received with much kindness. After his return to the north he wrote three polemical treatises in favor of the claims of the Roman Catholic church, which he forwarded to the Dutch clergyman. The vessel conveying the long rejoinder that the latter sent to Quebec was wrecked on the way. In 1661 he was asked by the governor to go again among the Iroquois, who were inflicting heavy losses on the French. He left Montreal on 21 July, and, although Mohawk parties threatened his life as he ascended the St. Lawrence in his canoe, he at last reached Onondaga and was welcomed by the sachems. He prevailed on them to send deputies to Montreal to make peace, and with them nine of the French prisoners, he spent the winter at Onondaga, where he visited the sick assiduously during an epidemic. He also visited Cayuga, and his missionary labors extended as far as the Seneca country. He was sent back to Quebec in the summer of 1662.