Cyrille-Hector-Octave Côté, Date of Birth, Date of Death
TweetCyrille-Hector-Octave Côté
Canadian politician
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About Cyrille-Hector-Octave Côté
- Cyrille-Hector-Octave Côté (September 1, 1809 – October 4, 1850) was a physician and political figure in Lower Canada. He was born Cyrille-Hector Côté in Quebec City in 1809, of Acadian descent, and studied at the Petit Séminaire de Québec and the Petit Séminaire de Montréal.
- He became a teacher.
- In 1831, he started the study of medicine at McGill College, but transferred to the University of Vermont shortly afterwards.
- Although he graduated with a medical certificate there in October 1831, he was at first not allowed to practice in Lower Canada because he had completed his studies in less than five years.
- However, in April 1832, he was given his license and entered practice at Sainte-Marguerite-de-Blairfindie.
- In 1833, he moved to Napierville.
- Later that year, he married Margaret Yelloby Jobson, the daughter of a prosperous local farmer. In 1834, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for L'Acadie and was a radical member of the parti patriote.
- Côté became a leader for the Patriote movement in his region and joined Les Fils de la Liberté.
- After a price was set on his head, he left for the United States.
- Although originally supporting Louis-Joseph Papineau, he now allied himself with Robert Nelson and helped prepare a declaration of independence for Lower Canada.
- On February 28, 1838, with Nelson, he led a group of Patriotes into Lower Canada; they were quickly dispersed.
- The American authorities arrested the group's leaders because the United States were officially neutral in this dispute but they were released shortly afterwards.
- At this point, Côté began to organize a group known as the Frères chasseurs.
- In November 1838, Nelson and Côté took over the village of Napierville but were again defeated by volunteer troops loyal to the British.
- He returned to the practice of medicine and settled at Swanton, Vermont.
- By 1840, he had abandoned the Patriote movement and moved to Chazy, New York the following year. He returned to Lower Canada in 1843, now a preacher for the Baptist faith.
- In 1844, he was ordained a Baptist minister and settled at Saint-Pie, Quebec.
- In 1848, he went to Philadelphia and helped prepare pamphlets to educate people about the Baptist faith, as well as translating an existing work into French.
- In 1849, he went to Sainte-Marie-de-Monnoir (later Marieville, Quebec). He died in Hinesburg, Vermont in 1850, after suffering a heart attack while attending a Baptist meeting there.
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