Born 1643,
Rouen, France
Died March 19, 1687,
Navosta, Texas

René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle was born into a well-tod-o family in Rouen, the capital of the French province of Normandy. He studied at a Jesuit school in his hometown and then became a novice, or student for the Catholic priesthood, at a Jesuit seminary in Paris. Showing a gift for mathematics, de La Salle taught the subject to secondary school students while pursuing his own studies. La Salle was not a successful seminarian, however—the Jesuits thought he was too adventurous and unstable. He quit the seminary in 1667 after being turned down twice for a chance to be a missionary.

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La Salle had family connections in New France, which is now Canada, so he immigrated there soon after leaving the seminary...