Laurent Durocher (October 21, 1788 – September 21, 1861) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

judge and politician in the U.S. state of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. He was involved in the formation of

Monroe County, Michigan Monroe County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the population was 154,809. The largest city and county seat is Monroe, Michigan, Monroe. The county was establi ...

, and held numerous official posts during the first decades of its existence, and was also a member of both the

Michigan House of Representatives The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 2020 ...

and

Michigan Senate The Michigan Senate is the upper house of the Michigan Legislature. Along with the Michigan House of Representatives, it composes the state legislature, which has powers, roles and duties defined by Article IV of the Michigan Constitution, ado ...

Biography

Laurent Durocher was born in Ste. Genevieve,

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on October 21, 1788, the son of Laurent Durocher and Marie Janis. He attended the

Collège de Montréal The Collège de Montréal () is a subsidized private high school for students attending grades 7–11 located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A former Roman Catholic minor seminary, it was founded on June 1, 1767 as the ''Petit Séminai ...

. Durocher first came to the

Michigan Territory The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan. Detroit ...

in 1803 before settling at

Frenchtown, Michigan Frenchtown Charter Township is a charter township within Monroe County, Michigan, Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 21,609 as per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The township is bordered on the south by t ...

in 1805. He volunteered to fight in the American army under General

William Hull William Hull (June 24, 1753 – November 29, 1825) was an American military officer and politician. A veteran of the American Revolutionary War, he later served as governor of the Michigan Territory (1805–1813), where he negotiated land cessi ...

prior to the outbreak of 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 ...

. Following Hull's surrender of Detroit on August 16, 1812, Durocher and the other defenders of Frenchtown held out for two more days before surrendering their arms. Left free, but unarmed, they were unable to stop the Native Americans who began to pillage the town. Durocher remained there as a paroled prisoner of war until the town was recaptured by General James Winchester in the First

Battle of Frenchtown The Battles of Frenchtown, also known as the Battle of the River Raisin and the River Raisin Massacre, were a series of conflicts in Michigan Territory that took place from January 18–23, 1813, during the War of 1812. It was fought between the ...

. Durocher was one of several people who went to the Navarre House early the morning of August 22, 1813, to warn Winchester of reports that the British were reporting a surprise attack. The attack succeeded, Winchester was taken prisoner, and Durocher was a witness to the Raisin River Massacre that followed. He later wrote a defense of the prisoners of war of French descent, saying that, contrary to speculation, they remained ready to take up arms against the British even as prisoners of war. He served as the clerk of

, for several years following its organization in 1818, as the county tax collector in 1824, and the supervisor of Frenchtown Township in 1834 and again from 1842 to 1848. Durocher was a member of all but the first of the territorial councils of

, as well as a delegate to the convention that drafted the first state constitution in 1835. Following adoption of the constitution, he was elected as a

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to the

and served during its first session in 1835 and 1836; he resigned before the end of the session, on July 9, 1836, citing a sickness in his family. He was later elected to the

and served one term in 1839. He was a county probate judge in 1844, 1850, and 1852, and served as justice of the peace in the city of

Monroe Monroe or Monroes may refer to: People and fictional characters * Monroe (surname) * Monroe (given name) * James Monroe, 5th President of the United States * Marilyn Monroe, actress and model Places United States * Monroe, Arkansas, an unincorp ...

, in 1850 and 1853. He was serving as city clerk of Monroe when he died on September 21, 1861. He is buried at the Old Burial Ground in Monroe.

Family

Durocher married Monique Cosme, of Detroit, in Monroe on April 22, 1811. They had ten children: Laurent, Emélie, Euphrosine, Cosme, Luc, Cléophase, Marie, Dorothée Monique, Elizabeth, and Caroline., cited in .

Notes

References

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External links

Laurent Durocher Account Books (Monroe County Library System)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durocher, Laurent 1788 births 1861 deaths Michigan state senators Members of the Michigan House of Representatives People from Ste. Genevieve, Missouri Members of the Michigan Territorial Legislature People from Louisiana (New Spain) 19th-century members of the Michigan Legislature