François de Beauharnois de la Chaussaye, Baron de Beauville

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François de Beauharnois de la Chaussaye, Baron de Beauville, (bap 19 September 1665 – 9 September 1746), was part of a prominent French family whose interests had led them to marine pursuits and the French colonies.

François was a brother to Charles de Beauharnois de la Boische, Marquis de Beauharnois who became Governor General of New France in 1726. Another brother, Claude de Beauharnois de Beaumont et de Villechauve, a French naval officer, three times commanded the ships that restocked the troops in New France.

François de Beauharnois had married well in 1691 and was well established when he arrived at Quebec in 1702 as intendant of New France. He was the protégé of the minister of Marine, Jérôme Phélypeaux and, as such, was fairly free to make decisions that might be counter to the wishes of the governor, Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil who arrived in 1703. At this time the only real business of New France was the fur trade.

François had been sent to the colony to further his experience and prepare for career progression in France. He spent three years in Canada, leaving in the autumn of 1705.