Background
The son of Stanislas and Marie (Doucet) Boivin, Joseph Auguste Boivin was born September 21, 1866 in Coaticook, Quebec, Canada.
The son of Stanislas and Marie (Doucet) Boivin, Joseph Auguste Boivin was born September 21, 1866 in Coaticook, Quebec, Canada.
He studied at Saint Hyacinthe College, Coaticook, and lived for several years in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec. He studied law in the offices of Burnham, Brown, Jones and Warren, and later with Judge George West. Prescott. He studied at Saint Anselm College in neighboring Goffstown, where he also taught French.
Mr. Boivin contracted polio as a child and lost one leg to complications of the illness. Boivin immigrated to Manchester, New Hampshire, on October 1, 1883. He was admitted to the New Hampshire Bar in December 1899 and, subsequently, to the Hillsborough County Bar Association.
In 1902, Boivin represented Manchester"s Ward 9 at the constitutional convention.
He served as treasurer for L"Association Canado-American. His law office was located in the Kennard Building, 314–315 Elm Street, Manchester, where he also served as a justice of the peace, insurance agent and real estate broker.
He started the cr union on November 24, 1908, through a collaboration with Monsignor Pierre Hevey of Ste. Marie Church and guidance from Alphonse Desjardins, the Canadian cr union pioneer.
America"s Cr Union Museum now occupies the location of his home, where the cr union, now known as Saint Mary"s Bank, first operated.
An avid singer and music lover, he was a devout Catholic who sang in the choir at Ste. Marie Church on Notre Dame Avenue. This participation required that he climb the long, narrow staircase leading to the choir loft for weekly rehearsals and Masses, in spite of the loss of one legal
His deep faith led him to counsel French-Canadian residents of Manchester in sound financial planning and saving.
Foreign his strong sense of values and deep commitments to family, church and community, Boivin was loved and respected by all who knew him. Boivin suffered with chronic nephritis for several months in 1930.
He died at home (420 Notre Dame Avenue) on Sunday, July 6, 1930 of myocarditis. He is buried in the Boivin family lot at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Manchester.
He was a member of the Council Hevey of Union Saint Jean Baptiste l"Amerique and of L"Artisans Canadien-Francais, a French professional association.