Pierre Belleque or Pierre Billique (1797–1849) was a French Canadian fur trader in the British-claimed

Columbia District The Columbia District was a fur trading district in the Pacific Northwest region of British North America in the 19th century. Much of its territory overlapped with the disputed Oregon Country. It was explored by the North West Company betw ...

, which was also known as the Oregon Country and also claimed by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. He settled on the

French Prairie French Prairie is located in Marion County, Oregon, United States, in the Willamette Valley between the Willamette River and the Pudding River, north of Salem. It was named for some of the earliest settlers of that part of the Oregon Country, Fr ...

in what is now the state of

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

where in 1843 he participated in the

Champoeg Meetings The Champoeg Meetings were the first attempts at formal governance by European-American and French Canadian pioneers in the Oregon Country on the Pacific Northwest coast of North America. Between 1841 and 1843, a series of public councils was held ...

. Pierre was elected one of three Constables. He voted affirmative for the measure to form a provisional government at the May 2, 1843 meeting. That measure passed and led to the creation of the

Provisional Government of Oregon The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected settler government created in the Oregon Country, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Its formation had been advanced at the Champoeg Meetings since February 17, 1841, ...

Origins

He was born in the parish of L'Assomption-de-la-Sainte-Vierge in Charlevoix county in the province of Québec. He was born 5 January 1797, and baptized the following day by the parish priest, Father Dominique (born Jean-Baptiste Prémoulx) at the parish church, Saint-Pierre-du-Portage. His baptism can be seen on any genealogy site which carries the parish records of Québec. His father, a farmer, was Louis Bélêc and his mother, Marguerite Baudouin (Beaudoin). He was the tenth of eleven children, and the youngest of the four siblings known to have survived beyond two years of age. PRDH-IGD.com. Le Programme de recherche en démographie historique (The Research Program in Historical Demography). Institut Drouin, Longueuil, Quebec, Canada. Original data: Hubert Charbonneau and Jacques Légaré, et al., Univ. of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Fur trade

In 1818, Belleque signed up with the British North West Company, and became an employee of the

Hudson’s Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

(HBC) in 1821 when the two companies were forced to merge.Chapman, J. S. (1993). ''French prairie ceramics: the Harriet D. Munnick archaeological collection, circa 1820-1860 : a catalog and Northwest comparative guide''. Anthropology northwest, no. 8. Corvallis, Or: Dept. of Anthropology, Oregon State University. Around 1830 he claimed some land on the French Prairie in the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the eas ...

Oregon

Around 1833 Belleque settled his farm, which lay next to

Étienne Lucier Étienne Lucier, né Lussier, (June 9, 1786 – March 8, 1853) was a French-Canadian fur trader active primarily in the Pacific Northwest. He was hired by John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company and sent to the region to help establish Fort Astoria ...

, a fellow former French Canadian fur trapper for the HBC. There Belleque and his wife, Genevieve St. Martin, lived at the

Willamette Fur Post The Willamette Trading Post or Willamette Fur Post was a fur trade facility owned by the North West Company established near the Willamette River in what would become the French Prairie in Oregon Country. Established around 1813 in what is now the ...

near

Champoeg Champoeg ( , historically Horner, John B. (1919). ''Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature''. The J.K. Gill Co.: Portland. p. 398.) is a former town in the U.S. state of Oregon. Now a ghost town, it was an important settlement in the W ...

. That post had been owned by the HBC, and the Belleque family was able to live there after receiving permission due to Genevieve's relation to one of the HBC officers. (Genevieve was the daughter of a French Canadian father and a Chinook mother. The couple would have seven children). On March 22, 1836, he and 15 other French Canadians on the prairie representing nearly 80 settlers and their children signed a petition to

Norbert Provencher Joseph-Norbert Provencher (February 12, 1787 – June 7, 1853) was a Canadian clergyman and missionary and one of the founders of the modern province of Manitoba. He was the first Bishop of Saint Boniface and was an important figure in the histo ...

, the Bishop of Juliopolis, requesting a priest for the settlement. At that time of this petition, Belleque had three children. In 1843, at Champoeg, Belleque participated in the debates over whether the settlers in the region should establish their own government, or wait until the

Oregon boundary dispute The Oregon boundary dispute or the Oregon Question was a 19th-century territorial dispute over the political division of the Pacific Northwest of North America between several nations that had competing territorial and commercial aspirations in ...

was settled. At the final vote on May 2, 1843, Some of the French Canadian pioneers voted against forming a government. However, the measure passed by a vote of 52 to 50 at the

, and a

provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or ...

was created. The Marker at Champoeg shows 53 names. "The inscription frankly admits that the names were listed only 'as far as obtainable' at the time and in view of the fact that Hines himself published revised lists in the later years as more information became available to him. For many years the OHS printed programs for the Champoeg commemorative observances. These contained the revised lists of voters, with the notation, 'This list is subject to revision from time to time as errors may be discovered.'" ines did not attend the meeting and was known to have been elsewhere on that day."Caleb Wilkins appears to have been in California at that time. One or two other names may be classed as 'doubtful' affirmative voters. On the other hand, there is evidence to show that several persons not included in the list actually voted with the majority. These were Xavier Ladaroute, Joseph Gervais, Pierre Belleque, Francis Bernier, and David Donpierre. And the name inscribed 'Russell Osborn' should be 'Osborn Russell.'" Source: Hussey, p 253.Horner, John B. (1919). ''Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature''. The J.K. Gill Co.: Portland. Pierre Belleque would remain at his farm for 15 years, and then left for the California Gold Rush in 1848. Returning home by steamship in 1849 from San Francisco, he became quite ill from a fever contracted in the Gold Fields. He died before reaching home and was buried at sea near the mouth of the Columbia River in October 1849. Source: St. Paul, Oregon1830-1890, by Harvey J. McKay, Binford & Mort, 1980 p 95.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belleque, Pierre 1797 births 1849 deaths Canadian fur traders Pre-Confederation Canadian emigrants to the United States Hudson's Bay Company people North West Company people Champoeg Meetings Oregon pioneers