Joseph-Toussaint Drolet (October 31, 1786 – October 31, 1838) was a merchant, seigneur and political figure in Lower Canada. He represented Verchères in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada from 1832 to 1838 as a supporter of the Parti patriote.
The manorial system of New France was the semi-feudal system of land tenure used in the North American French colonial empire.
The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current-day Province of Quebec, Canada, and the Labrador region of the modern-day Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The lower house consisted of elected legislative councillors who created bills to be passed up to the Legislative Council of Lower Canada, whose members were appointed by the governor general.
He was born in Saint-Marc-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, the son of Joseph-Charles Drolet and Brigitte Raynault, dit Blanchard. He entered business at Saint-Marc-sur-Richelieu with his father and later took over the operation of the business. He served as a captain in the militia during the War of 1812, later becoming major. He married Sophie Boileau, the daughter of René Boileau. In 1825, Drolet acquired the seigneury of Cournoyer (also known as Saint-Marc). He was named a commissioner in charge of improving navigation on the Richelieu River in 1829. He was first elected to the legislative assembly in an 1832 by-election held after François-Xavier Malhiot was named to the legislative council. Drolet voted in support of the Ninety-Two Resolutions. A local leader in the Lower Canada Rebellion, he was arrested in December 1837 and released in June the following year. Drolet died in his residence at Saint-Marc-sur-Richelieu at the age of 52.
The War of 1812 was a conflict fought between the United States, the United Kingdom, and their respective allies from June 1812 to February 1815. Historians in Britain often see it as a minor theater of the Napoleonic Wars; in the United States and Canada, it is seen as a war in its own right.
René Boileau was a political figure in Lower Canada.
The Richelieu River rises at Lake Champlain, from which it flows to the north in the province of Quebec, Canada and empties into the St. Lawrence river. It was formerly known as the Iroquois River and the Chambly River. This river was a key route of water transport for cross-border trade between Canada and the United States, until the arrival of the railway in the mid-19th century.
His daughter Lucille married Louis Giard, later a key official in the field of education in Quebec. [1]
