Amable Dionne (November 30, 1782 – May 2, 1852) was a businessman,
seigneur
''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 ...
and political figure in
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 ...
and
Canada East
Canada East (french: links=no, Canada-Est) was the northeastern portion of the United Province of Canada. Lord Durham's Report investigating the causes of the Upper and Lower Canada Rebellions recommended merging those two colonies. The new c ...
.
He was born in
Kamouraska in 1782 and grew up there. He became a clerk for
Pierre Casgrain
Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...
, a merchant at
Rivière-Ouelle, and, in 1811, was made a partner in the business. In the same year, he married Catherine Perreault, the niece and daughter by adoption of the local seigneur,
Jacques-Nicolas Perrault
Jacques-Nicolas Perrault (August 6, 1750 – August 7, 1812) was a seigneur, businessman and political figure in Lower Canada.
He was born in Quebec City in 1750, the son of Jacques Perrault and grandson of Pierre Boucher de Boucherville. ...
. In 1818, he established his own business. Dionne served in the local militia, reaching the rank of major. He purchased the seigneuries of La Pocatière and Grande-Anse during the 1830s. In 1830, he was elected to 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 ...
for Kamouraska; he was reelected in 1834. He supported the
Ninety-Two Resolutions The Ninety-Two Resolutions were drafted by Louis-Joseph Papineau and other members of the ''Parti patriote'' of Lower Canada in 1834. The resolutions were a long series of demands for political reforms in the British-governed colony.
Papineau had ...
but did not support the rebellion that followed. Dionne was named to the
Legislative Council in 1837 and then served as a member of the
Special Council after the suspension of the
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princip ...
.
In 1842, he was named to 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 a ...
and served until his death at Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière (later
La Pocatière
La Pocatière is a town in the Kamouraska Regional County Municipality in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec, Canada.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, La Pocatière had a population of living ...
) in 1852.
His son Élisée became a lawyer and later served as a member of the Legislative Council of Quebec. His daughters married important men in the province including:
*Olivier-Eugène Casgrain, seigneur of L'Islet
*
Pierre-Elzéar Taschereau
Pierre-Elzéar Taschereau (October 28, 1805 – July 25, 1845) was a lawyer and political figure in Quebec. He represented Beauce in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada from 1830 to 1835 and Dorchester from 1844 to 1845 in the Legisla ...
, a lawyer and politician
*
George-Paschal Desbarats
George-Paschal Desbarats (11 August 1808 – 12 November 1864) was a French-Canadian printer, publisher, businessman, and landowner. From 1841 he co-held an exclusive contract as the Queen's printer.
Life and career
George-Paschal Desbar ...
, a publisher and later the
Queen's Printer
The King's Printer (known as the Queen's Printer during the reign of a female monarch) is typically a bureau of the national, state, or provincial government responsible for producing official documents issued by the King-in-Council, Ministers o ...
*
Jean-Thomas Taschereau, a lawyer and later judge in the Quebec Superior Court
*
Jean-Charles Chapais
Jean-Charles Chapais, (December 2, 1811 – July 17, 1885) was a Canadian Conservative politician, and considered a Father of Canadian Confederation for his participation in the Quebec Conference to determine the form of Canada's governmen ...
, a businessman and later a member of the Canadian House of Commons
*Ludger Têtu, a doctor
References
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dionne, Amable
1781 births
1852 deaths
Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada
Members of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada
Members of the Special Council of Lower Canada
Members of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada
People from Bas-Saint-Laurent