Jean-Baptiste Renaud (June 22, 1816 – March 1, 1884) was a prominent businessman, merchant and land owner in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. He served as a member of the Quebec Board of Trade and represented Saint-Pierre Ward on the municipal council for

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

from 1862 to 1868. He was born in Lachine,

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

, the son of Jean-Baptiste Renaud and Marie Gariépy. He left school early and became a carter (a transporter of goods) in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

; he was joined in business by his brother

Louis Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ( ...

. In 1841, he married Marie-Sophie Lefebvre. He opened a store in partnership with his brother in 1847. In 1850, he moved to

, where he opened a store, operated flour mills and owned schooners operating on the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

. Renaud was a director of the North Shore Railway, the Union Bank of Lower Canada, the Quebec North Shore Turnpike Roads Company, the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company and the Quebec and Gosford Railway, which later became the Quebec and Lake St. John Railway; he also helped found the St. Maurice Railway and Navigation Company, the Salaberry Navigation Company of Montreal, the St. Lawrence Navigation Company, the Quebec Marine Insurance Company and the Quebec and Lake St. John Lumbering and Trading Company. He constructed warehouses and docks and also acquired several large properties at Quebec. In 1880, with

Joseph Tassé Joseph Tassé (23 October 1848 – 17 January 1895) was a Canadian writer, translator, and parliamentarian. Born in Lower Canada (now part of modern Laval Quebec), Tassé as a young man studied the Classics at the Collège Bourget. Upon ...

, Alexandre Lacoste, and Aimé Gélinas, he purchased the ''

La Minerve ''La Minerve'' (French for "The Minerva") was a newspaper founded in Montreal, Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) by Augustin-Norbert Morin to promote the political goals of Louis-Joseph Papineau's Parti patriote. It was notably directed by Ludge ...

''. Around 1880, his partners Gaspard Le Moine and Victor Chateauvert purchased the firm of J.-B. Renaud and Company. By this time, Renaud had become one of the most important

French-speaking French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

businessmen in Quebec. Renaud died in Quebec City at the age of 77. His daughter Marie-Hélène-Wilhelmine married Michel-Guillaume Baby.

References

* 1816 births 1884 deaths Canadian businesspeople {{Quebec-politician-stub