Family history by Lucien Rolland

Lucien Rolland is seated facing the camera.

It started with my grandfather, Stanislas Jean-Baptiste Rolland, in 1904, when he was still a manager in Saint-Jérôme.

A sequence of black & white photographs of Stanislas Rolland, Jean Rolland, Olivier Rolland, and Achille Rolland. 

He called the company La Compagnie des Moulins du Nord because his brother, who was president, wasn’t keen on him being in the Rolland Paper Company. In 1904, my grandfather made his son, my uncle Jean, manager at Mont-Rolland. He was there till 1917, when my father was appointed manager and Uncle Jean went to Saint-Jérôme with my granddad. Jean was president from 1928 to 1946, and my uncle Achille was assistant manager at Mont-Rolland.

A black & white photograph of a younger Lucien, standing in an office. 

I hesitated: it was during the war, and all my classmates at Poly were going to war factories… I thought of going to work in oil. Imperial Oil made me an offer. My dad wasn’t too proud of that. He pressured me a bit to work in the family business and I agreed. I was proud to do it.

A black & white photograph of Lucien Rolland with cousins Roméo, Claude, Jacques, Marc, and Albert, and his brother Lanthier, standing side by side outside. 

I think that’s one of the hallmarks of La Rolland. It’s one family that led it for 110 years, so we ensured continuity for four, even five generations. As for the employees, they were often people who worked at Rolland from father to son, and there was a sense of belonging.