UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2005, postmark from Charlevoix, Michigan
CANADA, postmark from the St. Urbain in the Charlevoix region of Quebec, Canada, which covers a territory of 6,000 square kilometers and is located in the heart of the Laurentian shield (the oldest soil on earth). It has a population of 30,000.Charlevoix, Michigan, once known as Pine River, is named for the Jesuit historian Fr. Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, SJ (1682-1761), as are its lake and county and the Charlevoix region of Canada. Charlevoix was born at Saint-Quentin, France, and entered the Jesuits in 1698. He taught philosophy and the humanities, and left for the Canadian missions in 1720. Among many travels he explored from Quebec, through Mackinac, Michigan, Illinois, and down to the mouth of the Mississippi. After a shipwreck in Mexico, he went to Haiti and returned to France in 1722, worked there on various apostolates including 22 years at the Journal de Trévoux. Among his many volumes of worldwide history is the Histoire de la Nouvelle-France. He died at la Flèche in February of 1761. More
