Toussaint Pothier (May 16, 1771 – October 22, 1845) was a businessman,

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 ...

and political figure in

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 ...

. He was born Jean-Baptiste Pothier 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 ...

in 1771, the son of Louis-Toussaint Pothier, a merchant and one of the founders of the

North West Company The North West Company was a Fur trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...

. He worked for the Michilimackinac Company, a

fur trading 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 ...

company, and, later, for its successor, the South West Fur Company. He purchased the seigneuries of Lanaudière and Carufel in 1814 and also owned a large amount of land in the centre of Montreal. Pothier helped capture

Michilimackinac Michilimackinac ( ) is derived from an Ottawa Ojibwe name for present-day Mackinac Island and the region around the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.. Early settlers of North America applied the term to the entire region ...

during 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 ...

. In 1820, he married Anne-Françoise, daughter of

Ralph Henry Bruyeres Ralph (pronounced or ) is a male name of English origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Old High German ''Radulf'', cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms are: * Ra ...

. He served as a member of 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 ...

from 1824 until it was dissolved in 1838. He also served on the first and third Special Councils which administered the province after the

Lower Canada Rebellion The Lower Canada Rebellion (), commonly referred to as the Patriots' Rebellion () in French, is the name given to the armed conflict in 1837–38 between rebels and the colonial government of Lower Canada (now southern Quebec). Together wit ...

. After the union of Upper and Lower Canada, he retired from politics. In 1839, Pothier was named sheriff for Montreal district, but served only five days. With

Peter McGill Peter McGill (August 1789 – September 28, 1860) was a Scots-Quebecer businessman who served as the second mayor of Montreal from 1840 to 1842. Biography He was born Peter McCutcheon in the village of Creebridge, Wigtownshire (now Dum ...

, he was involved in the construction of the Champlain and St Lawrence Railroad, the first railway in the province. Around 1841, he suffered a series of financial losses which led to him declaring bankruptcy. He died in Montreal in 1845. His daughter Jessé-Louise later married George-Paschal Desbarats, 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 ...

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pothier, Toussaint 1771 births 1845 deaths Members of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada Members of the Special Council of Lower Canada