François-Antoine Larocque (August 19, 1784 – May 1, 1869) was a Québécois businessman involved in the fur trade. He was born in

L'Assomption L'Assomption () is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada on the L'Assomption River. It is the seat of the Regional County Municipality of L'Assomption. It is located on the outer fringes of the Montreal urban area. ...

in 1784, the son of François-Antoine Larocque, and studied at the

Collège de Montréal The Collège de Montréal is a subsidized private high school for students attending grades 7–11 located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A former Roman Catholic minor seminary, it was founded on June 1, 1767 as the ''Petit Séminaire' ...

. After his father's death in 1792, he went to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and learned

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. He joined the

XY Company The XY Company also known as the New North West Company was a joint-stock fur trading enterprise based in Montreal that conducted business chiefly in the Canadian Northwest between 1798 and 1804. Assiniboine River The Assiniboine River (''; french: Rivière Assiniboine'') is a river that runs through the prairies of Western Canada in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is a tributary of the Red River. The Assiniboine is a typical meandering river with a sing ...

region. However, when the North West Company took over its short-lived competitor in the fall of 1804, he traveled south to the Mandan and Hidatsa villages along the Upper Missouri. There Larocque met the Lewis and Clarke Expedition, dined several times in the company of the Captains, and asked leave to borrow their translator,

Toussaint Charbonneau Toussaint Charbonneau (March 20, 1767 – August 12, 1843) was a French-Canadian explorer, trader and a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He is also known as the husband of Sacagawea. Early years Charbonneau was born in Boucherv ...

. Larocque returned to the Assiniboine at some point during the spring of 1805 before beginning an exploratory excursion in the Rocky Mountains to ascertain the possibility of trade with the Absorokas in current day Montana and Wyoming. He is the first well documented trader known to reach the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming.Wood, W. Raymond., and Thomas D. Thiessen. Early Fur Trade on the Northern Plains: Canadian Traders among the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians, 1738-1818 : the Narratives of John Macdonell, David Thompson, Francois-Antoine Larocque, and Charles McKenzie. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1985. Print. Francois-Antoine Larocque later published the ''Journal of Larocque from the Assiniboine to the Yellowstone, 1805''. He returned east to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

in 1806. He served in the militia during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

, later serving as a captain in the Chasseurs Canadiens. In October 1813, he was taken prisoner and released the following year. In 1818, Larocque married Marie-Catherine-Émilie, daughter of Gabriel Cotté. He helped found the Bank of Montreal in 1819. He went into business with Joseph Masson and later formed his own company, Larocque, Bernard, et Compagnie, which operated from 1832 to 1838. Larocque was associated with the Fils de la Liberté but did not take up arms during the

Lower Canada Rebellion The Lower Canada Rebellion (french: rébellion du Bas-Canada), commonly referred to as the Patriots' War () in French, is the name given to the armed conflict in 1837–38 between rebels and the colonial government of Lower Canada (now south ...

; nonetheless, he was imprisoned in 1838. He retired from business in 1841. During the Corp of Discovery, Larocque asked Lewis to join, but he denied his offer due to his French background. He died at

Saint-Hyacinthe Saint-Hyacinthe (; French: ) is a city in southwestern Quebec east of Montreal on the Yamaska River. The population as of the 2021 Canadian census was 57,239. The city is located in Les Maskoutains Regional County Municipality of the Montérég ...

in 1869. His uncle,

Laurent Leroux Laurent Leroux (November 17, 1759 – May 26, 1855) was a fur trader, businessman and political figure in Lower Canada. He was born in L'Assomption in 1759, the son of Germain Le Roux d’Esneval, whose family lived at the Château d'Esn ...

, was an important figure in the fur trade and also a founder of the Bank of Montreal. His son François-Alfred-Chartier married Amélia, the daughter of

Antoine-Olivier Berthelet Antoine-Olivier Berthelet (May 25, 1798 – September 25, 1872) was a businessman, philanthropist and political figure in Lower Canada. He was born in Montreal in 1798, the son of Pierre Berthelet, and studied at the Petit Séminaire de M ...

in 1841.

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Larocque, Francois-Antoine 1784 births 1869 deaths Pre-Confederation Canadian businesspeople Canadian expatriates in the United States

See also

References

External links