The first permanent white settlers in the Frenchville area, Pierre Lizotte and Pierre Duperre, who established a trading post near the mouth of the Madawaska River in 1783, found about two hundred and fifty Indian families in the settlement there. By 1831, however, there were only about five or six Indian families there. As reports from that time suggest that early relations between white immigrants and the Indians were peaceful and friendly, the reason for the Native American decline in the region is unknown.
The first group of Acadian settlers arrived in Frenchville in June of 1785, coming from the lower St. John Valley, near Fredericton; and more families arrived the following year from the St. Lawrence Valley. The town was incorporated on February 23, 1869 under the name Dickeyville, a name that was changed to Frenchville on January 26, 1871 in recognition of the predominant French-Acadian population of the town.