'Louis Bourdages' (
July 6 1764 –
January 20 1835) was a businessman and political figure in
Lower Canada.
He was born 'Louis-Marie Bourdages' in
Jeune-Lorette,
Quebec in 1764, the son of
Raymond Bourdages, an
Acadian doctor and merchant. Bourdages studied at the
Petit Séminaire de Québec, where he met
Pierre-Stanislas Bédard. After he left school, he became a sailor and travelled to Europe and the
West Indies. He returned to
Quebec City in 1787, where he was unsuccessful in establishing himself as a merchant, and moved to
Saint-Denis on the
Richelieu River in 1790 where he became a farmer. He later articled as a notary and qualified to practice in 1805. Bourdages also became an important land-owner in the region.
In 1804, he was elected to the
Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for Richelieu; he represented this region until 1814. In 1806, he helped found ''
Le Canadien''. Bourdages was generally opposed to measures intended to put an end to
seigneurial tenure. During the
War of 1812, he served in the local militia, reaching the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was elected in Buckinghamshire in an 1815 by-election and then represented it from 1820 to 1830, when Buckinghamshire was reorganized. He then represented
Nicolet in the assembly from 1830 until his death at Saint-Denis in 1835. Bourdages helped prepare the
Ninety-Two Resolutions submitted to the
British government in 1834. In January 1835, he suffered an attack of
apoplexy and died several days later.
His son Rémi-Séraphin, who represented Rouville in the legislative assembly, died before his father in 1832.
External links
★
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
★
Biography from Assemblée nationale du Québec (french)