Alexandre-René Chaussegros de Léry (March 26, 1818 – December 19, 1880) was a

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

seigneur ''Seigneur'' is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. A seigneur refers to the person or collective who owned a ''seigneurie'' (or ...

, lawyer and political figure. He was a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

member of the Senate of Canada for Lauzon division from 1871 to 1876 and also represented the same division in the

Legislative Council of Quebec The Legislative Council of Quebec (French; ''Conseil législatif du Québec'') was the unelected upper house of the bicameral legislature in the Canadian province of Quebec from 1867 to 1968. The Legislative Assembly was the elected lower hou ...

from 1867 to 1880. He was born at

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

in 1818, the son of seigneur Charles-Étienne Chaussegros de Léry, and studied at the

Petit Séminaire of Quebec Petite or petite may refer to: *Petit (crater), a small, bowl-shaped lunar crater on Mare Spumans * ''Petit'' (EP), a 1995 EP by Japanese singer-songwriter Ua * Petit (typography), another name for brevier-size type * Petit four * Petit Gâteau * ...

. He articled in law with Louis de Gonzague Baillairgé and was admitted to the bar in 1842. In 1844, he married Catherine Charlotte-Éliza, the daughter of seigneur Antoine-Gaspard Couillard. He inherited the seigneuries of Rigaud-Vaudreuil and Sainte-Barbe-de-la-Famine and also owned property at Quebec City and Saint-François-de-la-Beauce (now

Beauceville, Quebec Beauceville is a city in, and the seat of, the Municipalité régionale de comté Beauce-Centre in Quebec, Canada. It is part of the Chaudière-Appalaches region and the population was 6,185 as of the Canada 2021 Census. Beauceville's new consti ...

). After

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

was discovered on his property, he set up the De Léry Gold Mining Company. He also took part in the founding of the Compagnie de Chemin de fer à Lisses de Lévis à Kennebec (later the

Quebec Central Railway The Quebec Central Railway was a railway in the Canadian province of Quebec, that served the Eastern Townships region south of the St. Lawrence River. Its headquarters was in Sherbrooke. It was originally incorporated in 1869 as the Sherbrooke, ...

) and served as president. He was named to the legislative council in 1867 and to the Senate in 1871, but resigned his seat in the Senate in 1876. He continued to be a member of the legislative council until his death in 1880 at Quebec. He was buried at Saint-François-de-la-Beauce. His son William-Henri-Brouage later served as mayor of Saint-François-de-la-Beauce. His daughter Catherine-Louise-Josephte became the second wife of Richard Alleyn, a member of the Quebec legislative assembly. His brother Charles-Joseph was the mayor of Saint-François-de-la-Beauce and also served as warden for Beauce County.

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chaussegros De Lery, Alexandre 1818 births 1880 deaths Conservative Party of Quebec MLCs Canadian senators from Quebec Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) senators People from Beauce, Quebec