Dominique Ducharme (15 May 1765 – 3 August 1853), from
Lachine, Quebec
Lachine () is a borough (''arrondissement'') within the city of Montreal on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It was an autonomous city until the municipal mergers in 2002.
History
Lachine, apparently from the French term ' ...
, was a French Canadian
fur trader, settler, militia officer, and public servant.
He was named François Ducharme at birth, the son of
Jean-Marie Ducharme
Jean-Marie Ducharme (July 19, 1723 – July 20, 1807) was a fur trader and political figure in New France, British Quebec, and Lower Canada.
He was born in Lachine, New France in 1723, the son of a farmer there who also was involved in the ...
. In 1793 Ducharme was the first white European to settle in the
Fox Valley. He paid two barrels of rum to two Indians for land on both sides of the Fox River near the Kaukauna rapids, this gave him control of the portage around and of the lower Fox. The Ducharme deed was
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
's first recorded deed. He built a house on the land and settled there. He began trading with the
Menomini and
Chippewa Indians. At the time, 1,500 Indians lived in the village of
Kaukauna
Kaukauna () is a city in Outagamie and Calumet counties, Wisconsin, United States. It is situated on the Fox River, approximately north of Milwaukee. The population was 15,462 at the 2010 census. It is a part of the Appleton, Wisconsin Met ...
.
The following year, he and another trader, Jacob Franks, obtained from the Menominee Indians "for value received," a 999-year lease on a total of on both sides of the Fox at La Baye; at the time Ducharme already possessed a concession on one side of the river beside one of the leased lots. He is presumed to have continued to engage in fur trading in the west for the next 15 years; certainly he acquired a working knowledge of several native dialects.
Ducharme eventually returned to the Montreal district, settling at
Lac des Deux Montagnes. On 26 June 1810, he married Agathe de Lorimier, a
Métis daughter of
Claude-Nicolas-Guillaume de Lorimier, resident Indian agent at Caughnawaga (
Kahnawake
The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (french: Territoire Mohawk de Kahnawake, in the Mohawk language, ''Kahnawáˀkye'' in Tuscarora) is a First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawá:ke on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Queb ...
). On 21 July 1812, after the US invaded Canada, Ducharme was commissioned a lieutenant in the Pointe-Claire Battalion of Militia. In May 1813 Ducharme was ordered to the Niagara frontier,
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...
, in command of a party of
Six Nations Indians from Lac-des-Deux-Montagnes and Saint-Régis.
He led 300
Caughnawaga Indians to reinforce the militia at Lacolle who were then transferred to Upper Canada in 1813 and based at Burlington Heights along with other native warriors. At the
Battle of Beaver Dams
The Battle of Beaver Dams took place on 24 June 1813, during the War of 1812. A column of troops from the United States Army marched from Fort George and attempted to surprise a British outpost at Beaver Dams, billeting themselves overnight in ...
, Ducharme organized a party of warriors who effectively forced the American detachment to surrender.
Returning quickly to
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 ...
, Ducharme was placed under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel
Charles-Michel d’Irumberry de Salaberry
Lieutenant Colonel Charles-Michel d'Irumberry de Salaberry, CB (November 19, 1778 – February 27, 1829) was a Canadian military officer and statesman of the seigneurial class who served in various campaigns for the British Army. He won distin ...
; for his participation in the
Battle of Châteauguay
The Battle of the Chateauguay was an engagement of the War of 1812. On 26 October 1813, a combined British and Canadian force consisting of 1,530 regulars, volunteers, militia and Mohawk warriors from Lower Canada, commanded by Charles de Sal ...
on 26 October he was later awarded a medal and clasp.
On one occasion, according to the journalist Pantaléon Hudon, Ducharme’s Indians tracked down and captured six deserters from Salaberry’s unit; they were court-martialled and, on the lieutenant-colonel’s orders, shot. Ducharme, who regarded such punishment as too severe, never forgave Salaberry and told him that he would have helped the men to escape had he known the fate that awaited them.
Ducharme remaining years were spent in the quiet obscurity of Lac des Deux Montagnes, where he continued as interpreter for the Indian Department. He died in 1853.
External links
Biography at ''the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''Fort George Web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ducharme, Dominique
1765 births
1853 deaths
British Indian Department
Settlers of Canada
Canadian people of the War of 1812