Lt.-Colonel The Hon. Jean-Georges-Barthélemy-Guillaume-Louis Gugy (January 1770 – July 17, 1840) represented Saint-Maurice in 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 el ...

and the

Legislative Council of Lower Canada The Legislative Council of Lower Canada was the upper house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The upper house consisted of appointed councillors who voted on bills passed up by the Legislative Assembly ...

. In his early years at

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from the city of ...

he was Justice of the Peace, Colonel of the militia and Sheriff. On entering politics he came 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 ...

where he was appointed Sheriff and was elected the first president of the Montreal Mechanics' Institution (now the

Atwater Library The Atwater Library and Computer Centre (french: Bibliothèque et centre d’informatique Atwater, officially the Atwater Library of the Mechanics' Institute of Montreal) is an independent community library in Westmount, Quebec, Canada, operati ...

of the Mechanics' Institute of Montreal). He inherited five

seigneuries ''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'' (o ...

from his uncle, Conrad Gugy.

Early life

Known a
Louis Gugy
he was born in 1770 at

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. He was the son of Colonel Barthélemy Gugy (1737-1797), and his Swiss-French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

wife
Jeanne Elizabeth Teissier de la Tour
(who died at an advanced age in

), the granddaughter of Antoine de Teissier (b.1667), 1st Baron of Marguerittes in the

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

. Though Swiss and the son of an officer in the Dutch service, Louis's father had joined the armies of the King of France. He served with distinction, was knighted, and at the breaking out of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, was

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

commandant of the 2nd Regiment of Swiss Guards in the French Royal Service, that corps being the personal bodyguards of

King Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was e ...

during the revolution. As a young man, Louis served in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

as a Lieutenant under his father during the revolution. Following the overthrow of the

, both father and son were offered advancement in the French revolutionary army, and most brilliant prospects were held out to them. They declined these offers, and Louis' father had the honor of marching his regiment from

back to Switzerland without losing a man. Considering that the elder Gugy's men were disarmed, exposed to all manner of seductions, supplied by wine and allured by women, this feat certainly indicated the respect and regard in which he was held. On reaching the Swiss Frontier, the elder Gugy found himself penniless. Resolving to sell his horses, he requested that a non-commissioned officer of his regiment enquire for purchasers. One of the interested parties was a French cavalry officer, but Louis Gugy interceded before the purchase of one of the horses could go ahead, revealing to his father that the purchaser was none other than

Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve (, 3 January 1756 – 18 June 1794) was a French writer and politician who served as the second mayor of Paris, from 1791 to 1792. Early life and work Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve was the son of a prosecutor at ...

, the servant at the inn of

Varennes Varennes-en-Argonne (, literally ''Varennes in Argonne'') or simply Varennes (German: Wöringen) is a commune in the Meuse department in the Grand Est region in Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 639. Geography Varennes-en-Ar ...

who had recognised and betrayed

. In an outburst of ruthless loyalty, and costing himself the price of a horse, the elder Gugy shot the animal so that it could never fall into the hands of a traitor, a trait that he detested.

Life in Lower Canada

From 1792 to 1794, he lived in Switzerland; Gugy then went to

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 ...

on inheriting his uncle Conrad Gugy's seigneuries of Grandpré and Dumontier and part of the seigneury of

Yamachiche, Quebec Yamachiche () is a municipality in the Mauricie region of the province of Quebec in Canada. Etymology The name Yamachiche was first used to identify the Little Yamachiche River (''Petite rivière Yamachiche'') which runs through the town. It came ...

. He returned to Quebec in 1795 and settled at Yamachiche. Gugy inherited the seigneuries after his father's death in 1797. In 1799, he moved to

. He was named a justice of the peace for Trois-Rivières district in 1803 and was appointed sheriff in 1805. Gugy served as an officer in the local militia, becoming lieutenant-colonel in 1813. He also served as commissioner for several public works projects in the region. In 1809, he was elected to the

for Saint-Maurice. He was elected again in 1816 and he was named to the Legislative Council in 1818. In 1827, he was named sheriff for

. In 1828 he became the first president of the Montreal Mechanics' Institution (now the Atwater Library of the Mechanics' Institute of Montreal). On April 21, 1835, Gugy also became the first president of the newly founded German Society of Montreal. Gugy was accused of favouring the English party by 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 ...

after three supporters of Daniel Tracey were killed during an 1832 by-election held in Montreal West. In 1836, he was accused of fraud and negligence by an assembly committee and he was removed from his post as sheriff in 1837.

Family

On 27 February 1795, at the Church of St. Andrew in the Field,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Gugy married Juliana O'Connor (an English lady with an Irish name), the daughter of James O'Connor, a surgeon in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

who served with General

James Wolfe James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the French at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec. ...

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 ...

. Gugy's father-in-law was a tall man possessed of strength and great activity, and remembered to have saved the scalp of a soldier who had fallen in the field during the British retreat near Beauport, Quebec City. With the yells of the rapidly approaching Indians in their ears, O'Connor returned to the soldier and carried him to the safety of the British ships. On another occasion, in

, a woman was seemingly left to her fate in a house fire, she being in an attic window with no ladders available to help her. O'Connor climbed the roof of a neighbouring house, jumped onto a tree and from there on to the burning house, and making his way carefully across to her window, rescued her to a point of safety. Louis and Juliana (O'Connor) Gugy were the parents of six daughters (one of whom died in infancy) and two sons, *Colonel The Hon. Bartholomew Conrad Augustus Gugy, married Louise-Sophie, daughter of The Hon.

Antoine-Louis Juchereau Duchesnay Antoine-Louis Juchereau Duchesnay (February 18, 1767 – February 17, 1825) was a seigneurial system of New France, seigneur, soldier and political figure in Lower Canada. He was born at Quebec City in 1765, the son of Antoine Juchereau Duch ...

. *Thomas John Gugy (1798-1825), served with distinction with the

Glengarry Light Infantry The Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles were a light infantry unit, raised chiefly in the Glengarry District of Upper Canada shortly before the outbreak of the Anglo-American War of 1812. The unit fought throughout the war, and was disbanded shor ...

, died unmarried. *Anne Amelia Gugy (1799–1825), married Judge Samuel Wentworth Monk (1792–1865) of

, nephew of Sir James Monk, Chief Justice of

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 ...

. They were the grandparents of The Hon. Frederick Debartzch Monk. *Marie-Elizabeth Gugy (1801-1877), married William Stevenson, merchant of Quebec *Louisa Bowen Gugy (b. 1804), married James Guthrie Scott (1804-1839), of Quebec. Their son of the same name was President of the Quebec Board of Trade. *Julia Gugy (b. 1805). In 1825, she married Thomas William Willan of

. They were the grandparents of Sir Robert Caradoc Hamilton, 8th Baronet of Silvertonhill. *Clara Gugy (1810-1868), died unmarried Louis Gugy died at

in 1840. He was described as "amiable, generous, hospitable and confiding to a fault". He was highly educated at the French Court, and a refined and accomplished gentleman. Fluent in four languages, like his father and uncle before him, he was also tenacious on the point of honor.

References

External links

Portrait of Louis Gugy's mother
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gugy, Louis 1770 births 1840 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada Members of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada Canadian justices of the peace