WILLIAM PATERSON
D. AUG. FONTAINE.
D. Aug. Fontaine is a well known lawyer and notary of Montreal, being located at No. 244 St. Catherine Street East. Born in the town of Marieville, Rouville county, February 2, 1872, he comes of distinguished French-Canadian ancestry. The Rev. Damase Limoges is an uncle and Morrainé Alphonsine Lemieux, his cousin. The Rev. Damase Limoges was curate of the Catholic parish of St. Jean Baptiste, in the county of Rouville, and our subject was baptized in the Catholic church in that parish on the 4th of February, 1872. His father was Felix Fontaine, a notary at Marieville, and his mother Claire (Limoges) Fontaine. The former was born at St. Charles sûr Richelieu or at St. Hyacinthe about November 24, 1832. He studied in the Seminary of St. Hyacinthe and served a legal clerkship at Marieville with the notary Laberge. He afterwards established himself in that city as a notary and there practiced for the rest of his life, being recognized as a brilliant lawyer and gaining great success. He was a member of the Chamber of Notaries for about twenty-five years and when he died was vice president of this institution. The mother was born at Terrebonne, about August 2, 1840, a daughter of Pierre Limoges, a blacksmith, and Dame (Viger) Limoges. The paternal grandfather of our subject was Felix Fontaine, a teacher at St. Hyacinthe. The maternal grandfather, Pierre Limoges, and Charlotte Luce (Viger) Limoges, his wife, were the parents of twenty-three children, three daughters of whom embraced holy orders, one of them having joined the Ladies of the Sacred Heart at Montreal. One of their sons, Joseph Magloire Limoges, is a curate at Sorel; another, Damase Limoges, a curate at Beloeil and Farnham. A daughter, Claire Limoges, is the mother of our subject.
Louis Fontaine received his education in the elementary school at the Hospice of Ste. Croix at Marieville. He completed his commercial and classical studies at the Seminary of Ste. Marie de Monnoir at Marieville, having terminated his course in 1893. He studied law at Laval University of Montreal from 1893 to 1897 and served a clerkship with Maître J. A. Dorval, of Montreal. He received his notaryship at Quebec (with distinction) September 14, 1897. Mr. Fontaine then formed a partnership with his former preceptor, Maître Dorval, under the firm name of Dorval & Fontaine. Following, he associated himself with his classmate, Oscar Desautels, continuing the partnership of Fontaine & Desautels until 1899. At the end of that time he succeeded his father, Felix Fontaine, as notary in Marieville. Taking up his father’s practice, he there followed his profession for about ten years and has been actively engaged in legal work in Montreal since 1910. He was secretary-treasurer of the school commission of Marieville and also was manager of the Marieville branch of a private bank, known as “La Caisse d’Economie de Drummondville.” He also was for some time collector of customs at Marieville. In politics he was a strict liberal until 1909 and although he yet gives his allegiance to that party, is a nationalist at the same time.
On the 29th of July, 1896, Mr. Fontaine was married in the town of Marieville, which is now annexed to Montreal and known as the town of Ste. Cunegonde, to Miss Marie Eugenie Anna Vezina, daughter of Alexandre and Emma (Chagnon) Vezina. The father is engaged in the saddlery business. Mr. and Mrs. Fontaine have three children: Marie Eugenie Claire Ubaldine, fourteen years of age; Marie Marguerite Jeanne, twelve years of age; and Joseph Alexandre Felix Auguste, aged eleven.
Mr. Fontaine is a member of the Roman Catholic and Apostolic church. He is a musical composer of no mean ability and has produced a pleasing repertoire of Canadian songs. He is the author of the Canadian national song, which was written to the words of Abbé A. Fournet, P. S. S. He was a prize winner in the competition between Canadian poets in 1908 and the newspaper La Presse paid him one hundred dollars, le prix de concours. He is adviser to the singers of Notre Dame parish church of Montreal. Mr. Fontaine deeply interests himself in all matters pertaining to public affairs and is interested in the cause of education and in arts and letters. He is a lawyer of ability, a patriotic citizen and a man who stands for the higher things in life and who finds great pleasure and satisfaction in following his aesthetic tastes and in implanting his art ideas in others. His talent along musical lines has been ably put to use in elevating the musical standards of the city and in bringing more closely before the public the idea of creating a home musical art particularly and peculiarly Canadian.