Amable Dionne (November 30, 1782 – May 2, 1852) was a businessman,

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 ...

and political figure in

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

and

Canada East Canada East (french: links=no, Canada-Est) was the northeastern portion of the United Province of Canada. Lord Durham's Report investigating the causes of the Upper and Lower Canada Rebellions recommended merging those two colonies. The new ...

. He was born in Kamouraska in 1782 and grew up there. He became a clerk for Pierre Casgrain, a merchant at

Rivière-Ouelle Rivière-Ouelle () is a town located in the Kamouraska Regional County Municipality within the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec. It is located on the Saint Lawrence River; the Ouelle River flows through the town. It was part of the seignory of ...

, and, in 1811, was made a partner in the business. In the same year, he married Catherine Perreault, the niece and daughter by adoption of the local seigneur, Jacques-Nicolas Perrault. In 1818, he established his own business. Dionne served in the local militia, reaching the rank of major. He purchased the seigneuries of La Pocatière and Grande-Anse during the 1830s. In 1830, he was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The lower house consisted of ele ...

for Kamouraska; he was reelected in 1834. He supported the

Ninety-Two Resolutions The Ninety-Two Resolutions were drafted by Louis-Joseph Papineau and other members of the '' Parti patriote'' of Lower Canada in 1834. The resolutions were a long series of demands for political reforms in the British-governed colony. Papineau ha ...

but did not support the rebellion that followed. Dionne was named to the Legislative Council in 1837 and then served as a member of the Special Council after the suspension of the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

. In 1842, he was named to the

Legislative Council of the Province of Canada The Legislative Council of the Province of Canada was the upper house for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known as ...

and served until his death at Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière (later

La Pocatière La Pocatière is a town in the Kamouraska Regional County Municipality in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec, Canada. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, La Pocatière had a population of living ...

) in 1852. His son Élisée became a lawyer and later served as a member of the Legislative Council of Quebec. His daughters married important men in the province including: *Olivier-Eugène Casgrain, seigneur of L'Islet * Pierre-Elzéar Taschereau, a lawyer and politician * George-Paschal Desbarats, a publisher and later the

Queen's Printer The King's Printer (known as the Queen's Printer during the reign of a female monarch) is typically a bureau of the national, state, or provincial government responsible for producing official documents issued by the King-in-Council, Ministers o ...

* Jean-Thomas Taschereau, a lawyer and later judge in the Quebec Superior Court *

Jean-Charles Chapais Jean-Charles Chapais, (December 2, 1811 – July 17, 1885) was a Canadian Conservative politician, and considered a Father of Canadian Confederation for his participation in the Quebec Conference to determine the form of Canada's governmen ...

, a businessman and later a member of the Canadian House of Commons *Ludger Têtu, a doctor

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dionne, Amable 1781 births 1852 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada Members of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada Members of the Special Council of Lower Canada Members of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada People from Bas-Saint-Laurent