Daniel Januske (1661–1724; also Januusqui, Jarniuke)[1] was a Jesuit missionary in New Spain.
Januske was born in 1661 in Wrocław, Silesia, and joined the Society of Jesus at the age of fifteen.[2] He arrived in New Spain in 1693, in a group of missionaries which included Agustín de Campos and Juan Bautista Barli.[3] There he was assigned to Mission San Pedro y San Pablo del Tubutama,[4] where he repeatedly employed soldiers and overseers to punish natives who disobeyed or displayed resistance. Historian Brandon Bayne characterizes this practice as a "crucial contributing factor[...] if not the immediate cause" of the 1695 Pima Revolt.[5]
By 1715, Januske was serving at Mission San Miguel Arcángel de Oposura. There, he clashed repeatedly with local Spanish; Castilian: [[vecino]]s Bernardo and Juan Grivalja over issues of land rights and cattle ranching. In one incident, Bernardo called Januske a drunkard and accused him of monopolizing local farmland and of forcing natives to do unpaid labor for him instead of working their own land; on another occasion, Januske flogged Juan's native father-in-law for failing to attend Mass, and both Grivalja brothers confronted him, shouting threats and insults. Januske was eventually able to persuade the local Spanish; Castilian: [[alcalde mayor]] to expel the Grivaljas from the pueblo.[6]
In 1722, Januske was appointed Spanish; Castilian: visitador of Sonora. He died in 1724 in Oposura.