François-Xavier Malhiot (December 4, 1781 – June 12, 1854) was a merchant,

seigneur A seigneur () or lord 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. The seigneur owned a seigneurie, seigneury, or lordship—a form of ...

and political figure in

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

Life

Malhiot was born François-Xavier-Amable Malhiot at Verchères,

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

in 1781, the son of

François Malhiot François Malhiot (October 20, 1733 – January 28, 1808) was a businessman and political figure in Lower Canada. He was born at Montreal in 1733, the son of Jean-François Malhiot. In 1768, he married his cousin Élisabeth, the daughter of ...

. Malhiot joined the Royal Canadian Volunteer Regiment as an officer and later became a lieutenant-colonel in the militia, serving during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. In 1804, with one of his brothers, he took over the family business. In 1805, he married Julie Laperière and inherited land in the seigneury of Contrecoeur after the death of his father-in-law in 1807; he became principal seigneur in 1818. In 1814, he purchased land in the seigneury of Saint-Ours. Malhiot was elected to represent Richelieu 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 e ...

in an 1815 by-election held after an earlier election was declared invalid. In 1828, he was elected for Surrey in a by-election held after

Louis-Joseph Papineau Louis-Joseph Papineau (; October 7, 1786 – September 23, 1871), born in Montreal, Province of Quebec (1763–1791), Quebec, was a politician, lawyer, and the landlord of the ''seigneurie de la Petite-Nation''. He was the leader of the reform ...

, who had been elected in two different ridings, chose to sit for Montreal West. In 1828, Malhiot was dismissed from his position in the militia by

Lord Dalhousie James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie (22 April 1812 – 19 December 1860), known as the Earl of Dalhousie between 1838 and 1849, was a Scottish statesman and colonial administrator in British India. He served as Governor-Ge ...

after he supported resolutions critical of the governor's behaviour. He was elected to represent Verchères (formerly Surrey) in 1830 but resigned his seat in 1832 after he was named to the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

. Malhiot did not support those who took up arms against the authorities during the

Lower Canada Rebellion The Lower Canada Rebellion (), commonly referred to as the Patriots' Rebellion () in French, is the name given to the armed conflict in 1837–38 between rebels and the colonial government of Lower Canada (now southern Quebec). Together wit ...

. He sold his seigneury in 1846 and retired to

Boucherville Boucherville () is a city in the Montérégie region in Quebec, Canada. It is a suburb of Montreal on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River. Boucherville is part of both the urban agglomeration of Longueuil and the Montreal Metropolitan ...

, where he died in 1854. His son Charles-Christophe later became a member of the Canadian Senate.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Malhiot, Francois-Xavier 1781 births 1854 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada Members of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada People from Verchères, Quebec Politicians from Montérégie