Jean-Baptiste Durocher (August 15, 1754 – July 8, 1811) was a businessman 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 ...

. He was born Jean-Baptiste-Amable Desrocher 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. ...

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spai ...

in 1754, the son of Jean-Baptiste Desrocher and the greatgrandson of Joseph Durocher, a merchant and tailor who came to New France from

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He entered business as a merchant at

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

and was also involved in the

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. In 1782, Durocher married Marie-Joseph, the daughter of Charles Curot; she died in 1785. In 1792, he married Charlotte, the daughter of merchant Eustache Trottier Desrivières Beaubien and the niece of François Malhiot. In that same year, he was elected to the

1st Parliament of Lower Canada The 1st Parliament of Lower Canada was in session from December 17, 1792, to May 31, 1796. Elections for the Legislative Assembly in Lower Canada had been held in June 1792. All sessions were held at Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: ...

for Montreal West; he was elected again for Montreal County in 1808, 1809 and 1810. He generally supported the

parti canadien The Parti canadien () or Parti patriote () was a primarily francophone political party in what is now Quebec founded by members of the liberal elite of Lower Canada at the beginning of the 19th century. Its members were made up of liberal pro ...

. Durocher was named a justice of the peace in 1800. He was a member of the Club des Apôtres at Montreal, a club with 12 members that held monthly suppers. Durocher served in the local militia, becoming major in 1809. Governor

James Henry Craig General Sir James Henry Craig KB (1748 – 12 January 1812) was a British military officer and colonial administrator. Early life and military service Craig came from a Scottish family whose father was a judge of the civil and military cour ...

relieved him of this post in 1810 because he support a bill which made judges ineligible to serve in the assembly. He died in office at Montreal in 1811. Durocher's second wife had died in 1805.

External links

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''Les députés au premier Parlement du Bas-Canada (1792-1796)'', F-J Audet (1946)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durocher, Jean-Baptiste 1754 births 1811 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada