Michel Chartier de Lotbinière, Marquis de Lotbinière

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Michel Chartier de Lotbinière, Marquis de Lotbinière (1723-1798)^[1] was the son of Eustache Chartier de Lotbinière (1688-1749). His mother, Marie-Francoise (1695-1723), was the daughter of Captain François-Marie Renaud d'Avène de Desmeloizes (1655-1699), a French cavalry officer who fought in Canada with his uncle's, the Comte de Montal's regiment. He led an expedition against the Senecas and according to Louis de Buade de Frontenac, Desmeloizes was one of the best and wisest officers in New France.

Michel's great grandfather, Louis-Théandre Chartier de Lotbinière (1612-1688) established this family in Canada, giving the first official ball to be held in the new country in 1667. Their history dates back to Dijon in the fourteenth century, and they were ennobled at the beginning of the fifteenth century. Michel's forebears married into such families as the Chateaubriands, Rochefoucaulds and Polignacs. It is said that one of the early Chartiers owned two estates near Dijon, Binière and Bignière. The manor at Binière was surrounded by a moat in which many lot fish swam, and so to differentiate between the two he called that one Lotbinière. Louis-Théandre Chartier de Lotbinière had married the sister of Mathieu D'Amours de Chauffours (1618-1695), who was a relative and political ally of Jean de Lauzon, the future Governor of New France. It is probable that it was at the invitation of de Lauzon that Louis-Théandre de Lotbinière took the position of Attorney-General of New France, establishing this notable family in Quebec. De Lotbinière and his new wife arrived there October 13, 1651, on the same ship as de Lauzon and Mathieu de Chauffours.

Three years after Michel's mother's death his father, Lieutenant-General of the Provost's Court, Councillor of the Sovereign Court and Keeper of the Seals, took holy orders, becoming the Archdeacon of Quebec. Michel was brought up at the Jesuit College in Quebec before becoming a cadet with the Colonial Regular Army, breaking the family tradition of taking a position on the bench. As second ensign he served in the Acadian Campaign of 1746-47 gaining a reputation as "a capable and courageous officer". In 1749 his relation, the Commandant General of New France, Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière, promoted him to ensign and entrusted him to lead a reconnaissance mission into the region between Montreal and Michilimackinac. In 1747 Lotbinière had married Louise-Madeleine Chaussegros de Léry, the daughter of Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry (1682-1756), Engineer-in-Chief of New France.

Completing his mission successfully, in 1750 Galissonière, who was now back in France, sent for the young Lotbinière to join him so he could train as an engineer and artillery officer. Three years later he returned to New France as a Lieutenant and with the title of King's Engineer in the Colonial Regular Army, working under his father-in-law on the construction of the Quebec ramparts.

In 1755 his cousin, Pierre Francois de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal, put him in charge of building Fort Ticonderoga. Although promoted to Captain in 1757, he was refused the position of Engineer-in-Chief (which he is often referred to as having been) of New France which he had asked for after his father-in-law's death. The court instead appointed Nicolas Sarrebaurce, an engineer in the French Regular Army, who wasted no time in hindering Lotbiniere's career, sending reports to Paris accusing him of incompetence and malversations, ruining his credibility with the Ministry of Marine. As some form of compensation his cousin, Governor Vaudreuil, gave him the seigneury of Alainville.

In the run up to the Battle of Quebec his cousin employed him to build defences about the city. During the battle he served as Vaudreuil's aide-de-camp. In 1760 he was put in charge of fortifying Ile aux Nois to put a stop to the British advance from the south, but was forced to fall back to Montreal. After the capitulation he left his wife and daughter in Canada and returned with his son, Michel-Eustache-Gaspard-Alain Chartier de Lotbinière, to France.

Having lost his land in North America he unsuccessfully tried to resume his military career in France. His thoughts turned again to his native land, and he decided to return as a large landowner. From his cousin, the former Governor-General, who had retired to his ancestral estate near Rouen, he bought the seigneuries of Vaudreuil, Rigaud and Saint-François-de-Nouvelle-Beauce, also adding Villechauve and Hocquart to his existing seigneuries at Lotbinière (granted to his grandfather in 1672) and Alainville. Before returning to Canada he spent a year in London to try to make sure that Alainville and Hocquart (which since the Royal Proclamation of 1763 fell within the boundaries of New York) would be recognized as his by the British Board of Trade. This resulted in a vague promise, which Lotbinière took as a guarantee.

On his return to Canada in 1760 Lotbinière immediately set about developing his seigneury at Vaudreuil. He built a manor house there for his family, a mill, and the Church of Saint-Michel, which still stands today, still closely associated with his many descendants, notably the de Lotbiniere-Harwood family, who inherited the seigneury of Vaudreuil.

Short of funds he was forced to sell the seigneury of Lotbinière to his son in 1770. By 1771 his son had bought all his father's Canadian seigneuries except Villechauve, which was mortgaged. In addition to this, he was unable to recover his two properties in New York (Alainville and Hocquart), and so returned to London again to plead his cause. In 1776 the British Board of Trade rejected his claims to Alainville and offered him a grant of an equal size of land in Quebec in compensation for his loss of Hocquart. He refused the compromise and left Britain, deciding to be a British subject no longer.

Taking the advice of his former superior officer, François de Gaston, Chevalier de Levis, he went to France and offered his services to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes who entrusted him with an unofficial mission as an observer. In 1776 he arrived in Massachusetts, but ignoring Vergenne's words immediately introduced himself to John Hancock as the unofficial envoy of the minister. He spent six months in Boston, winning few friends through his agitations. Lotbinière, for purely selfish reasons, was desperate for France to recover her lost colonies, and did all he could to force the issue. He returned to France with his report in 1777, but Vergennes didn't see it as wise to recruit him on any further missions. Up until 1782 he still hoped France would recapture her losses in North America, but after the Treaty of Versailles in 1763 any last hopes he had had of returning to Canada were finished.

Lotbinière spent the next ten years in France. With de Lévis' support he re-established his military engineering reputation. He was awarded the Cross of the Order of Saint-Louis, becoming a Chevalier with a pension of 600 livres, which was doubled in 1781. In 1784 King Louis XVI made him the Marquis de Lotbinière in recognition of the sacrifices he had made by allying himself to the French cause in 1776. His son inherited the title, but never used it.

Indefatigable as ever, Lotbinière returned to America in 1787 to once again try to recover his seigneuries at Alainville and Hocquart, but two years of effort proved to be futile. In arriving in New York he had asked permission to return to his home country but Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester categorically refused him re-entry. However in 1790, in the company of his son (Lord Dorchester's confidential agent) he crossed the border unhindered, revisiting his family and his seigneury at Villechauve.

His happiness was short lived. He was forced into exile again after selling Villechauve. To receive her share from the sale his wife asked for and obtained a property separation in 1796.

"Embittered and at odds with his family, Chartier de Lotbinière, who had set himself apart from the other seigneurs by the bold stance he had adopted against Governor Carleton, ended his days alone in New York. He died of yellow fever in October 1798, at the age of 75."

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• F. J. Thorpe and Sylvette Nicolini-Maschino. "Chartier de Lotbinière, Michel, Marquis de Lotbinière", in Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, University of Toronto and Université Laval, 2000
• Gerard Parizeau (1984). La Seigneurie de Vaudreuil et ses notables au début du XIXe siècle : essai sur le milieu, Montreal: Fides, 240 p.

[edit] External links

• Eustache Chartier de Lotbinière
• Michel Chartier de Lotbinière
• Louise-Magdeleine (Chaussegros de Lery) Chartier de Lotbiniere
• Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Lery
• L'Eglise Saint-Michel de Vaudreuil
• History of the Seigneury de Vaudreuil
• Michel's socialite first cousin, Angelique d'Avenes de Meloise (1722-1792)
• Michel, Marquis de Lotbiniere