The knight Francois Kirouac

When François Kirouac opened a novelty shop in 1848, he became the first Kirouac businessman in the Quebec City area. The owners and partners of the Kirouac toy stores, LES JOUETS KIROUAC, go back to 1888 and are part of the same branch of the Kirouac family.

François Kirouac was a shrewd businessman and he was also known for his great involvement in politic, society and religion.

In 1869, he was the prefect of the County of Quebec, mayor of the Municipality of Saint-Sauveur from 1870 to 1883 and again from 1887 to 1889. After Saint-Sauveur was annexed to Quebec City, he became the first alderman for the district in the larger merged city from 1889 to 1894. During those years, he was also the president of the Aqueduct Committee.

In addition, from 1850 to 1896 he was president of the Conférence Saint-François-Xavier part of the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Society, director of the North-Shore Railway, vice-president of the Banque Nationale from 1888 to 1895, president of the Société de prêts et placements de Québec (Quebec Investments and Loan Society, from 1884 to 1896. In 1891, with Chevalier Joseph-Élie Martineau and ten other businessmen, he co-founded the Compagnie ostréicole de Québec (The Quebec Oyster Growers Society). François Kirouac was also one of the founders of Union Saint-Joseph in Saint-Sauveur, and its president for eighteen years. In addition, for over thirty years, he was treasurer of the Men's Congregation in the Parish of Saint-Roch, Quebec. In 1886, his great social and religious involvement was recognized by Pope Leo XIII and was inducted as a Knight of the Order of Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and, in 1894, he was granted the title of Honorary Papal Chamberlain of Sword and Cape.

It is therefore with great pleasure that our Family Association is devoting a special issue of  Le Trésor des Kirouac to introduce this remarkable gentleman and his family.

A privileged man, François was able to travel in Europe in 1892. He was accompanied by his son, Jules-Adrien, who, at the time, was studying for the priesthood in Rome. It was an extraordinary journey and you can read all about it in special issue number 6 of Trésor des Kirouac, where you can follow him during his two-year itinerary because François wrote about all the places they visited. This narrative was preciously preserved by his family and we are proud to present it on our website.