MALHIOT (Mailhiot), JEAN-FRANÇOIS, merchant, special lieutenant of the royal jurisdiction of Montreal; b. 4 Nov. 1692 in Montreal, son of Jean Malhiot, a merchant, and Madeleine Marchand; m. on 18 Dec. 1724 Charlotte, daughter of the merchant Ignace Gamelin* (1663–1739), in Montreal; d. 28 Jan. 1756 and was buried the next day in Montreal.

By 1719 Jean-François Malhiot, like his father, was a merchant with a shop in Montreal. Montreal at that period was the centre of the fur trade and the gateway to the pays d’en haut, and Malhiot’s business consisted mainly of outfitting voyageurs who were on their way west. In March 1730, when he had become a prominent merchant, he was chosen with 12 of his fellow citizens to present to Governor Charles de Beauharnois the remonstrances of the citizens of Montreal, on whom the king intended to levy a tax for the construction of the town’s fortifications.

Because Malhiot enjoyed “the esteem of all honest people,” the colonial officials appointed him special lieutenant of the jurisdiction of Montreal on 19 Feb. 1740. With no legal training and no knowledge of procedure, Malhiot proved incapable of adequately replacing the lieutenant general for civil and criminal affairs, Pierre Raimbault*. In the summer of 1740 he perpetrated so many irregularities in the trial of the soldiers Jean Bontemps and Jean Dupont, dit Printemps, who were accused of counterfeiting orders for payment, that the Conseil Supérieur, after ordering that the trial be begun again, decided “for the sake of justice” to appoint the councillor Jacques de Lafontaine de Belcour acting lieutenant general of Montreal. Jean-François Malhiot nevertheless remained special lieutenant of Montreal until his death. On a few occasions he judged certain civil cases, carrying on his business at the same time.

In April 1742 Malhiot fell dangerously ill, to the point that “no hope was held out for his life.” He recovered, according to the Sulpician Mathieu Falcoz, thanks to the intervention of “a pious person” who fastened to the sick man’s chest “a small part of the clothes” that had belonged to Bishop Lauberivière [Pourroy*]. Malhiot lived on until 28 Jan. 1756, when he died in his house on Rue Saint-Paul, Montreal. He left two stores, and his fortune amounted to 15,814 livres 17 sols 10 deniers.

André Lachance