He served in the local militia during the War of 1812 and became captain in 1821, as well as adjutant for the Rouville district. He also served as a school commissioner.[1][2]
Business activities
House built by Franchère and his brother in Saint-Mathias in the 1820s
Franchère became a merchant at Saint-Mathias, Lower Canada. In addition to a retail business, he developed a wholesale business in grains, which he sold to markets in Quebec City. He was also involved in the lumber trade and saw mills, and owned a barge for transporting goods on the Richelieu River. He later had shares in a steam-boat. He was involved in money-lending to residents in the Saint-Mathias area, and also engaged in land speculation. He was appointed commissioner in charge of construction of the Chambly Canal in 1832.[1][2]
In 1837, events were moving towards rebellion against the British colonial government. Franchère was a member of the Patriote movement and a supporter of Louis-Joseph Papineau. He attended the major revolutionary meeting of the Assembly of the Six Counties in October 1837. The Assembly passed a very strong resolution condemning the British colonial government. Franchère later said that he had remonstrated with Papineau over the wording of the resolution, arguing that it went too far.[1][3]
When the Lower Canada Rebellion broke out in November 1837, an arrest warrant issued against him, with a reward of £500. Franchère fled to the United States with two other merchants from Saint-Mathias, Louis Marchand and Eustache Soupras. He was granted a pardon by the Governor late in 1837. He was a director of La Banque du Peuple, which was suspected of having financed arms for the Rebellion.[1][2][4][5]
In 1843, there was a vacancy in the Rouville constituency. Franchère was a candidate in the by-election, and this time was elected. In the Assembly, he joined the French-Canadian Group of reformers, led by Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine. He was re-elected in the 1844 general elections. He did not stand for election in the 1848 general elections.[1][11][12]
Later life and death
Monument to the Chambly Canal
Franchère was reinstated as commissioner for the Chambly Canal in 1840. He was appointed a justice of the peace in 1843, and elected the first mayor of Saint-Mathias in 1845. He continued his business activities.[1][2]
Franchère died at Saint-Mathias in 1849. He left a large estate for his widow and five surviving children. The inventory of his property included two pianos and three portraits, of Pope Pius IX, Jacques Cartier, and Bishop Joseph-Octave Plessis. His widow reported that he had claimed £1,300 in compensation from the government for losses suffered during the Rebellion, and had received £837.[1][2]
^Fernand Ouellet, Lower Canada 1791–1840 — Social Change and Nationalism (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1980), p. 295.
^Michel de Lorimier, "Marchand, Louis", Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. XI (1881–1890), University of Toronto / Université Laval.
^Fernand Ouellet and André Lefort, "Denis-Benjamin Viger", Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. IX (1861–1870), University of Toronto / Université Laval.
^J.M.S. Careless, The Union of the Canadas — The Growth of Canadian Institutions, 1841–1857 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1967), pp. 1–5.