François Baby (4 October 1733 – 6 October 1820) was a

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 ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

r and political figure in what was called

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, 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 Kingdom of Great Br ...

, early

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, ...

, and

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 ...

. Born in Montreal, he was part of an ethnic French family that had been fur trading in New France since the late 17th century.

Biography

Baby was born in 1733 in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

to a family of fur traders. His father, and grandfather Jacques Babie, had been successful in the business. His eldest brother

Jacques Jacques or Jacq are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over one hundred identified noble families related t ...

and other family members were active in the same business. After completing formal education at the Jesuit college at

, he joined his brothers Jacques and Antoine in a fur trading business they called ''Baby Frères''. His two brothers conducted the field operations, while François ran the Montreal operation, importing trade goods and exporting furs and dealing with their contacts in France. Baby was appointed to the Legislative Council for the

Province of Quebec Quebec is Canada's 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, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

in 1778 by Governor Haldimand. He appointed Baby as part of his unconstitutional privy council around that time. (This appointment placed Baby on the

Legislative Council of Lower Canada The Legislative Council of Lower Canada was the upper house of the Parliament of Lower Canada from 1792 until 1838. The Legislative Council consisted of appointed councillors who voted on bills passed up by the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canad ...

when it was formed in 1792.) Joining the governing class meant that Baby had less time to spend on commercial activities. In 1786, he had married Marie-Anne Tarieu, the daughter of

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 ...

Charles-François Tarieu de La Naudière. He suffered from ill health later in life and became less active in politics. Baby died at Quebec City in 1820. His son Charles-François-Xavier later served as a member of the

Legislative Council of the Province of Canada The Legislative Council of the Province of Canada () was the upper house for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known ...

. His daughter Monique-Ursule married Thomas Ainslie Young, a member of the legislative assembly.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baby, Francois Francois Baby 1733 births 1820 deaths Pre-Confederation Quebec people 18th-century Canadian merchants Members of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada Fur traders