Jean-Baptiste-Melchior Hertel de Rouville

Who was Jean-Baptiste-Melchior Hertel de Rouville?

Jean-Baptiste-Melchior Hertel de Rouville was a seigneur and political figure in Lower Canada.

He was born in Trois-Rivières, the son of René-Ovide Hertel de Rouville, and served in the French Régiment du Languedoc. He returned to Quebec in 1772. He helped in the defence of Fort St. Johns on the Richelieu River against the Americans in 1775; he was taken prisoner and released twenty months later. In 1783, he was named a justice of the peace for Montreal district. He settled at Chambly, on his father's seigneury, in 1789 and was named a colonel in the local militia the following year. After his father died in 1792, he received half of the seigneury of Rouville and part of Chambly; he later purchased the remainder of Rouville. Also in 1792, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for Bedford. In 1812, he was named to the Legislative Council.

He died in Chambly.