Auguste Dupuis (1839-1922)

Auguste Dupuis, the son of merchant Jean-Baptiste Dupuis and Justine Letellier de Saint-Just, was born in Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies on June 17, 1839. After completing his studies at Collège Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière (1848-1853) and the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. (1853-1855), he became a partner in his father’s business in the village of Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies.

In 1860, he married Amaryllis Boisseau. That same year, he founded the Pépinière du village des Aulnaies, the first nursery in the province of Quebec. In 1880, he established one of the province’s first horticultural societies, the Société d’horticulture du comté de L’Islet.

Dupuis served as commissioner for the federal government at the Jamaica Exhibition in 1890 and as secretary to the Canadian Commission to the Paris World’s Fair in 1900. He was also one of the directors of the Quebec Pomological Society, as well as chief fruit station director. A pioneer in horticulture, he received the Order of Agricultural Merit in 1922. He passed away that same year at the age of 83.