François Picquet (; 4 December 1708 – 15 July 1781) was a French

Sulpician The Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice (; PSS), also known as the Sulpicians, is a society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men, named after the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, where it was founded. The members of the Society add the ...

priest who emigrated to

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 ...

, Canada, in 1734.

Early life

Picquet was born in

Bourg-en-Bresse Bourg-en-Bresse (; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Located northeast of Lyon, it is the capital of the ancient Provinces of France, province of Bresse (). I ...

, France, on 4 December 1708, the son of André Picquet and Marie-Philippe Berthet. In 1728 he entered the seminary of Lyons, where he was ordained deacon in 1731. At the

Saint-Sulpice Seminary (Issy-les-Moulineaux) The Saint-Sulpice Seminary () is a Catholic seminary run by the Society of the Priests of Saint Sulpice, located in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. History The Saint-Sulpice Seminary was established in 1641 in the village of Vaugirard (now pa ...

in Paris, after winning his doctorate at the Sorbonne, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1734, and became a Sulpician.Fournet, Pierre Auguste. "François Picquet." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 15 January 2018

Canada

Picquet arrived in Montreal in 1734. He served the local parish for five years while studying Indian languages and customs. He became proficient in the

Algonquin Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to: Languages and peoples *Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia **Algonquin la ...

and Iroquois languages. From 1739 to 1749, he served at Lac des Deux Montagnes, where there was a Sulpician mission. During

King George's War King George's War (1744–1748) is the name given to the military operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in ...

(1744–1748) between France and Britain, the Indian allies of these two powers came to arms. Due to Picquet's influence, the Five Nations, hitherto allies of the British, remained neutral, while the others carried out several raids in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

or served as scouts for the French troops. It was during that period that Picquet made the decision to work with the Indians south of the Great Lakes for conversion and to ensure their loyalty to France. In 1748 a commitment was made by

Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière, Marquis de La Galissonière, sometimes spelled Galissonnière (; 10 November 1693 – 6 October 1756), was the French governor of New France from 1747 to 1749 and the victor in the Battle of Minorca ...

, the

Governor General of New France Governor General of New France was the vice-regal post in New France from 1663 until 1760 and the last French vice-regal post. It was replaced by the British post of Governor of the Province of Quebec following the fall of New France. While t ...

, to send Picquet to the

Thousand Islands The Thousand Islands (, ) constitute a North American archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada–US border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for about downstream fr ...

area for that purpose. In 1749, Picquet built a mission fort named

Fort de La Présentation The Fort de La Présentation (; "Fort of the Presentation"), a mission fort, was built in 1749 and so named by the French Sulpician priest, Abbé Picquet. It was also sometimes known as Fort La Galette (). It was built at the confluence of the ...

near the junction of the

Oswegatchie River The Oswegatchie River is a river in northern New York (state), New York that flows from the Adirondack Mountains north to the Saint Lawrence River. The Oswegatchie River begins at Partlow Lake in Hamilton County, New York. The river continues t ...

and the

St Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...

. By 1755 it had a large population of

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

loyal to France. In 1758, with the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

intensifying, a military commander was put in charge of that new aspect of the fort. Picquet was displeased with this dilution of his authority and left the fort for

Lake of Two Mountains Lake of Two Mountains (French: ''Lac des Deux Montagnes'') is part of the river delta widening of the Ottawa River in Quebec, Canada, at its confluence with the St. Lawrence River. Lake of Two Mountains has four outflows: Rivière des Mille Îl ...

. He was back in July, 1758, to lead his Indian troops in the

battle of Carillon The Battle of Carillon, also known as the 1758 Battle of Ticonderoga, was fought on July 8, 1758, during the French and Indian War (which was part of the global Seven Years' War). It was fought near Fort Carillon (now known as Fort Ticonderog ...

.Lahaise, Robert. “Picquet, François”, ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'', vol. 4, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–
/ref> He also was part of Louis de la Corne's excursion to the Oswego area the following year. In 1759, the mission fort was abandoned in favour of

Fort Lévis Fort Lévis, a fortification on the St. Lawrence River, was built in 1759 by the French. They had decided that Fort de La Présentation was insufficient to defend their St. Lawrence River colonies against the British. Named for François Gasto ...

and Picquet fled to

with his Indian troops. He left there for New Orleans where he stayed for a time.

Return to France

Picquet returned to France in 1772. He took up a ministry at Verjon and then as a chaplain to the nuns of the Visitation. A private audience with Pope

Pius VI Pope Pius VI (; born Count Angelo Onofrio Melchiorre Natale Giovanni Antonio called Giovanni Angelo or Giannangelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to hi ...

occurred in 1777 and he retired in 1779. He died at Verjon, Ain, France, in 1781.

References

Sources

*Shea, John Gilmary. 1855. ''History of the Catholic missions among the Indian tribes of the United States: 1529-1854''. Dunigan. ee especially pp. 335–340. Available via Google Books.

External links

Biography at ''the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Picquet, Francois People from Bourg-en-Bresse 1708 births 1781 deaths Roman Catholic missionaries in Canada Roman Catholic missionaries in New France Emigrants from France to New France French Roman Catholic missionaries Sulpician missionaries