Joseph Augustin Odilon La Badie

Joseph Augustin Odilon La Badie, one of the best known notaries of Montreal, was born May 12, 1852, at the family home on St. James Street, between Roy Street and David Lane. His grandfather, Joseph Augustin La Badie, also a native of Montreal, studied with Jean Marie Cadieux, a notary, and for many years had his office and also his home in the building which stood at the corner of St. Lambert Hill and St. James Street, now the corner of St. Laurence boulevard and St. James Street. He was devoted to his profession, spending the hours from 9 a. m. to 6 p. m. in his office. He was asked to become mayor of Montreal but declined the honor. He served as colonel of a volunteer regiment and was a warden of Notre Dame Cathedral. He married Louise Grenier, who was also of an old Montreal family, and to them were born eighteen children. Joseph A. La Badie passed away in 1885, at the advanced age of eighty years.

Joseph Evariste Odilon La Badie, father of J. A. O. La Badie of this review, was born in the old home at the corner of St. Lambert Hill and St. James Street. He attended Montreal College and in his father’s office prepared for the practice of the notarial profession. In the home in which he was born he continued to practice with his father until 1864, when the old building was razed and a new one erected on the same site. In the latter he continued to practice his profession until his death, which occurred in August, 1908, when he was eighty years of age. He was chief warden of Notre Dame Cathedral and was a prominent and influential citizen. He married Sophie Jeannotte, a native of Montreal, and they lived to celebrate their golden wedding. Mrs. La Badie passed away April 13, 1906. They had a family of seven children: Joseph Augustin Odilon; Adolphe, a notary of Montreal; Felix, a practicing physician of Montreal; Joseph Esdras, a real estate dealer of New York city; Flora, who died in childhood; Sophie, the deceased wife of Louis Belanger, a lawyer; and Alphonse, a broker, who died in Montreal in 1908.

Joseph Augustin Odilon La Badie pursued his education in the normal school and in the Jesuit College, from which he was graduated. In 1874 he won the degree of B. C. L. from McGill University and on the 8th of May, of that year, he was made a notary at Laval University in Quebec. He then began practice with his father and grandfather and has ever maintained high standing in his profession.

Mr. La Badie has been an extensive traveler. As a young man he engaged in ranching in Colorado and during his sojourn in the west learned much of that section of the United States. He has also made many trips abroad. He is a great lover of nature and a student of botany. The library which he has collected contains more than six thousand volumes, many of which are rare editions. This is an indication of his cultured taste and wide interest in literary matters. His summer home for the past twenty-one years has been at Upper St. Lambert, where he has two fine farms and makes a specialty of cheese making. Mr. La Badie is very fond of hunting, a recreation in which he indulges every year.

Though over three score years of age, Mr. La Badie is of magnificent physique, his muscles as hard as iron, and he has the appearance of a man twenty years his junior. In his office is a long table, four feet wide, over which he can jump without touching it with his hands and he can lift a weight of one hundred and eighty-seven pounds with one hand. His interests have largely covered those things which are essential and valuable elements in life. He has been a student of many questions of public moment and has filled some offices, being now a commissioner of the superior court and a justice of the peace. For one hundred and ten years the La Badies of four generations have been notaries at the present location. The great-grandfather of Joseph A. O. La Badie died at the home where Joseph E. O. La Badie was born. The family is, indeed, one of the oldest and most prominent in Montreal.

Mr. La Badie is not a club man. His interest centers in his home and his family, which he prefers to club life. On the 7th of October, 1877, he married Aurelia de Lompré, of an old Montreal family, and to them have been born seventeen children: Raoul, a civic employe; Odilon, who is in his father’s office; Paul, a notary; Florida, deceased; Jeanne; Germaine; Marie Antoinette; Camile; Alice; Leo; Amanda; Adolphe; Alice; Emile; Pauline; Gabriel; and Cecile.