Catholic priest, missionary, author, b. Uden, North Brabant, Netherlands. He migrated with his parents to the U.S. and to Boston in 1848, and in 1855 moved to Wisconsin, settling in Hollandtown, Brown County. In 1865 he was ordained in the Catholic priesthood, and from 1865 to 1882 was assigned to various missions and parishes throughout the state. In 1882 he was appointed parish priest and missionary to the Chippewa Indians in the Bayfield-Ashland area, serving in this capacity until his retirement in 1912. Verwyst became an apt student of the Chippewa language and, after retiring spent his remaining years in the Franciscan monastery at Bayfield, where he devoted much of his time to writing both on the history of the Chequamegon Bay-Bayfield area and on the history and language of the Chippewa tribe. Wis. Mag. Hist., 9; Proc. State Hist. Soc. Wis., 1916 (1917); Bayfield County Press, June 25, 1925.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Chrysostum A. Verwyst Historical Notes for details.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]