McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Person
Genest, Laurent Ubald Archibald, 1828-1907
1828-1907
Laurent Ubald Archibald Genest was born on March 4, 1828, in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, the brother of Charles-Borromée Genest, M.P. and the paternal grandfather of Maurice Duplessis (1890-1959), the 16th Premier and Attorney General of Quebec (1936-1939, 1944-1959).
He was a lawyer and justice of the peace from 1856 until his death in 1907. He was active in the work of the Seigniorial Commissions of Montreal and Quebec. He was a member of the Literary Society of Trois-Rivières and the Historical Society of Montreal. As an eminent criminal lawyer, his fellow citizens held him in high esteem for his frankness and his unquestionable integrity. Together with his close friend Sir Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine (1807-1864), he participated in many important researches on the first families to settle in the country. He frequently contributed articles to the local newspaper Le Trifluvien.
In 1856, he married Marie Charlotte Emma McCallum (1833–1908). He died on September 14, 1907, in Trois-Rivières, Quebec.