Kitigan

At first I thought that there wasn’t much in Kitigan other than a rail crossing and two houses, one of which is always for sale.

Since then I’ve been reliably informed that Kitigan is much more than that. I guess it’s always been out of my own haste that I missed it.

Not only does the town make up more than one or two houses, but at one time it was larger than Kapuskasing!

Kitigan was an active point for loading pulp wood. A resident informed me by email that the hamlet was originally named Poquetteville when it was founded as a railway whistlestop and section station. Today, 30 families make Kitigan their home. Located eight kilometres east of Kapuskasing, Kitigan is an Aboriginal word meaning garden or open fields.

Thanks to Dutch for the Kitigan info. If you have more, please email me. My address is info (at) highway11 (dot) ca

40 thoughts on “Kitigan

  1. Hey Carol…my Mom,deceased now,was related to the Comeaus’.Her maiden name,Guindon,married to Emery Hachez.Mom from Lac St Jean,my Dad from Bathurst N.B.We are also related to the Boudreau.We may very well be related….

  2. Hello to everyone! Back in the early 60,s our family lived in kitigan and owned the drive up restaurant! Our house was the two red house right on highway 11! We left in the summer of 1964…we moved to California!

  3. Read your stories above of living in Kitigan, WELL I have an older story to tell you all
    My Dad Alex Mairs was a first war vet 1914-1918 war. after the war he was given a section of land outskirts of Kitigan. by the Canadian government. to clear.With the instructions that he must clear a portion of land ea. yr.
    My Mother met my dad in Toronto. Can you imagine a women going from Toronto to live in the bush/. The nearest neighbour was 5 miles away & only spoke french
    My parents only spoke English
    My dad cleared land to build a house,. Built a big barn , AND raised 6 Kids
    I am the baby of that family & the only living one . I am 84 It is my plan this summer to return, for the first time, to see the place that i was born & see if the house or barn is still standing Any information of places to stay while there
    &* where i can expect to find food etc would be appreciated,
    Is there any happening going on that we could take part in ???
    My time could be adjusted to fit your schudle

    Thanks
    Bruce Mairs Phone 902 434 0126 Dartmouth
    Nova Scotia B2W4L8

  4. Hey everyone, do you have any more information about the Dupuis or Prosper families? I am trying to gain information for my family tree. thank you 🙂

    please contact me by email

  5. My name is Evelyne Chainey and my family arrived in Kitigan in 1939. The family consisted of 9 children. My father Emmanuel Doucet was transferred from Strictland with CNR. He was Section Foreman for CNR and we lived in a CNR house which was situated close to the train station. My father lived there until 1955. That house was moved across the highway in the late 1950`s. Leo Giguere bought it and lived there for a while. Being a small community, everybody knew each other. I got married to Armand Chainey Christmas 1950 and lived with my father for 3 years before my husband and I moved to Kap. I cannot remember Kitigan being bigger than Kapuskasing. Maybe that was the case more so in the 1920`s.

  6. I was not born in Kitigan but moved there in 1939 as a one year old with my Mum and oldest sister Laurette. My Dad Henri transferred to Kitigan from Nakina with the CNR and I believe we first lived in a house near where the Giguere family lived. Sister Lucille and probably brother Rejean were born in that house. We eventually moved to the small house near the train station and that is where our youngest sister Fran was born in 1950 and then we moved to Kap in 1952.
    Stay tuned — there will be more stories about the schoolhouse, the church steeple, the skaking rink, and more (if the Kitigan memories keep coming back)
    Cheers

  7. I lived in Kitigan until we moved to Kap when I was in grade 4/5. I remember taking the bus to go to school and hoping to get the nice bus driver as opposed to his brother – I forget their names but I met him years later at a cite des Jeunes reunion.

    We lived in the white house besides the big sand pile and the old train stop cabin. I remember playing on the sand pile besides the tracks with a neighbour named Grey. Going for walks on the train tracks. Playing kick the can (hide and seek) with the neighbours (Routhier et al)

    I remember my older brother impressing his future wife by having the Via passenger train stop at our house on her first visit to Kitigan.

    • Hey… I’m that future wife… now the actual wife, and I do remember being impressed by the train stopping right in front of the Cayouette’s house!!!!

  8. I have lived in the Kap. area all my life and I certainly don’t remember Kitigan being bigger than Kauskasing! I wonder where that info came from!

  9. Je suis née à Kitigan en 1949.Plusieurs parmi mes 8 frères et 4 soeurs sont nés à Kitigan, à la maison avec l’aide du Dr. Dupont. Mon père Adrien Cayouette aimait beaucoup ses voisins. Ma soeur Suzanne, née en 1950, avait beaucoup d’amies, les Duquette, les Marchand, les Veilleux, etc. Je me souviens des fêtes ou M. Gaulin jouait du violon et Gérard Lallier, notre oncle, chantait. Je me souviens de Roch et Pierre qui venaient jouer au hockey sur notre patinoire avec mes frères Jacques, Jean-Guy, Claude, René et mes soeurs Claudette, Suzanne, Aline et Louise.

  10. I was born in Kitigan in 1950. In 1952, our family (the Duquette’s) moved to Kapuskasing. The reason my family ended up in Kitigan is because my father, Henri worked for the CNR and was transferred there. Our family of 7 used to live in a small house between the highway and the railroad tracks close to where the Cayouette’s lived. I don’t remember too much about the town of Kitigan but after we moved to Kap, I remember going to school at Immaculate Conception and friends – the Boyer’s, the Giguere’s, the Veilleux’s and the Cayouette’s were transported to Kap to attend school there. My siblings, Laurette, Laurent, Lucille and (Rejean now deceased) would probably have more stories to share. My mom was very good friends with Mrs. Boyer and Mrs. Giguere all her life and I remember her talking fondly about the years spent in Kitigan as them being the best years of her life. Francine (Duquette) Chenier

  11. I live in Kitigan . I have been here for 42yrs ,great place to raise children. It is nice to read all these blog about Kitigan . I will be selling my house now that we are getting older it is to much to handle, we had beautiful memories it will be hard to leavebut we have to move on

  12. We had a lot of fond memories of Kitigan because my grandfather Oscar Morel owned the only grocery store there.We lived in Kapuskasing but we would always get our food there.That is where we would go New Year’s Day the whole family.Great memories.My Aunt & Uncle the Giguere lived their fit many years too.

  13. Kitigan is part of my heritage, my parents were married there.The church in question was on Veilleux road. Also there is a Gaetan Veilleux that was raised there. If Kitigan was bigger than Kap ,it would have been in 1920’s, but I don’t know?I would have to research that.

  14. There is a green and white house that I saw for sale. Don’t know if it’s in Kitigan…near Tower Rd. and next to a red and grey house. The green and white house is on the right side of the highway going toward Kap. Years ago, I’ve always noticed people moving in and moving out in the span of a month. I noticed 4 families move in and then move out in the span of a year,anyone know what house I am talking about?…and does anyone know the history of that place? I have family moving up this way and they like restoring old houses seeing as that house looks pretty run down, the windows are all boarded up.

    • A lady died in that house many many years ago. Apparently she was very ill and use to scream due to pain. Stories say that at night, you can hear her scream. I’ve been in there for a supper once when I was young. It wasn’t a comfortable place to be.

  15. Hi ! Our family name is Johnston.

    I was born in Kitigan, the youngest of our family of six. We moved to Kap. a year after I was born. My older brother and 2 sisters would have had a more vivid memory of life in Kitigan as they grew up there, became fluent in french, had many friends. (My parents were of Norwegian descent.) However, some names come to mind that I had heard mentioned over the years . . .
    Ouellette, Cayouette, Bolger, Hurum, Tancredi, Veillieux.

    We lived in a little house by the station.

    All the children were born there, and my father worked for the C.N.R.

    • We also lived in that small house by the station after your family moved to Kap. The house was located between highway 11 and the CN tracks. I remember your Dad, Leif and a brother we called Bunny. I also lived in Windsor from 1960 to 1980 and remember meeting you Norm at a Kap get together we had a somebody’s house in 1972.
      Indeed it is a small world.
      Cheers
      Lorne Duquette — now living in London and Florida.

    • The family names that come to mind for the 1940 — 1950 era are Boyer, Doucette, Giguere, Morel, Cayouette, Belanger, Gaulin, Dumais, Parent, Ouellette, Tourigny, Lallier, Daigle, Veilleux, Larouche, D’aoust.
      It is a small world — did meet folks with Kitigan roots from the Gaulin, Dumais, and Veilleux families in Florida over the last few winters.
      Cheers, Lorne

      • Some of the D’aoust are still there….many fond memories for me…my grandpa was a trapper. My uncle Roger is still there.

    • I was born in Kitigan I 1949.My dad was the school teacher.On demeurais sur le chemin a Dumais,ce qui est devenu le chemin Sylvain.Mon pere etait enseignant dans l’eglise.Mon grandpere Cayouette avais un petit magasin au sud du chemin de fer.En 1950 mon pere a demenager la maison au bord du hwy 11 sur le cote est du chemin Veilleux.Il y avais beaucoup de monde a kitigan.Quelques nom que je connait sont Veilleux Gigere Cayouette Morel Dumais Asselin Morris Duquette et plusieurs autre.

  16. I lived in Kitigan as a child and I think the Drive in was across the river from our house .I also remember having soft icecream with sprinkles what a treat that was because of nothing else around.We also had a wonderfull babysiter her name was Gay Marchand .They lived in a tiny green house.
    I also remember having a friend that lived nearby and her name was Aline she had many brothers and sisters . My brother had a friend by the name of Rene Comeau not sure if he was from the same family.

  17. my father was born in kitigan, i remember visiting my grand parents when i was young, their house is gone now they were the ouellette’s if anyone can remember them.14 kids they had

  18. I never heard that Kitigan was bigger then Kapuskasing and I’ve leaved in Kap all my life!!! You must be mistaking for another town

  19. Hello, my name is Les Patchin… I used to live in Kitigan in the early 60\’s. My dad own a 2 story red house and on the side we had a drive inn, you know for people to come from kap to have a burger and fries, I used to peel potatoes and take orders, then when the meal was ready my mom used to go out and put it on the car window. I used to go to kap for school diamond jubilee public school. In 1964 we moved to oakland calif and that was the end of kitigan. I used to play with the kids in kitigan one boy i rember his name was gaetan he lived up across from the white church. in front of the white church there as a field that always had wild strawberries in the summer, and the wild bear and moose would walk across the tracks and thru our front yard and off into the wilderness… i never wanted to leave. We are planning a trip
    to kitigan soon, its been awhile Les K Patchin

  20. My dad, Leaon Comeau, lived in Kitigan, years ago. He is 88 now. It’s nice to see where he lived so many years ago. Does anyone form the area recognize the name? My sister is doing a family tree and it would be interesting to hear from anyone that may have known the Comeau family. Thanks for a great website. My dad remembers the town of Moonbeam too!

    • Hi Carol,
      I believe that your dad Leon may be my uncle…would his dad name be Edmond… if so, my mother was Cecile Comeau…. other siblings would be…. Victoire, Marie-Louise, Bertha, Edmond, Jean-Marie, Cleophas, Nicholas and three more…

      • Hello Cousin
        This is Carole’s sister Joy.
        I’m the genealogist of the family .
        Yes, Leon is your uncle.
        Your mother Cecile has the most beautiful middle name Lumina.

  21. Re: Kitigan, Ontario.
    It would be much nicer if you could delete the part of “There isnít much in Kitigan other than a rail crossing and two houses, one of which is always for sale” when talking of my home village. It’s very punchy but it kind of gave me a bad gut feeling when reading that description of my home village.
    Clearly there is more than that to Kitigan as you mention in the latter part of your explanation.

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