Jack Kerouac’s baptismal record now an open book

By Benie Zelitch (by Annie Powell)

Archives Assistant Savannah Miller (left), and Reference Associate Kathleen Allen (right), at the Archdiocese of Boston Archives in Braintree. They are reading page 80 of the St. Louis de France Church record book with Jack Kerouac’s 1922 baptism entry.

When he was seven days old, author Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) was baptized at St. Louis de France,  a French-speaking church and parish in Lowell. This knowledge is widely known as a few biographers reviewed his records at St. Louis before it closed in 2005 after a century of service. But thanks to an incidental comment made a few days ago at the home of the record, the Archdiocese of Boston Archive and Library in Braintree, it’s easy for anyone to see the original or a scan.

The arrow points to the two-page entry of “Jean Louis Kirouac.” Due to the fragile binding, the archivists decided to restrict scans to a partially closed record book. This is a smartphone image but there are plans to send it to a company specializing in archival scans.

Courtesy of Archdiocese of Boston Archives, Baptisms, St. Louis de France (Lowell), 1918-1926, p. 80, no. 56.

The archive and library were happy to share their “discovery”—which almost didn’t happen—on social media.

With this new publicity, Kerouac’s many passionate admirers around the world have gained a revised connection to the author. The record book is a physical reminder of his first public appearance as the newest member of the church. It may also hold some details of the writer’s biography.

Today, the archivists of the Boston Archdiocese mainly provide local Catholics with sacramental records to prove their Catholicism. This is particularly relevant to events like church marriage ceremonies or annulments. Director Violet Hurst told me that about once a month a researcher spends time viewing their extensive collection of church publications and ephemera, including photographs. That is why in early November I spent an enjoyable morning studying the archives of former Lowell Catholic churches. I was furthering my research into Lowell photographer Annie Powell (1859–1952).

After finding a few important Powell-related images I readied to leave. I said to Violet, “I bet you’re tired of people asking to see Jack Kerouac records.” After a long pause she said, “I didn’t know he was Catholic!” During her five years at the archives his name was never mentioned. “But if you tell me his church, I can find his baptismal record pretty easily.” I did and she found it.

Kerouac’s record has legibility and language challenges. With the grateful assistance of others, I offer this working transcription. Corrected words have strikethroughs. The Latin column title translations appear in bracketed italics as do French translations:

In addition to featuring the names of Jack’s parents, the record tells us that his godparents were Leo’s brother Jean-Baptiste (1887-1969) and sister-in-law Rosanna Dumas Kirouac (1889-1940).  The baptism was performed by Rev. Donia W. Boisvert (1892–1968). Born in Lynn, MA, he served as a chaplain on the Western Front during World War I, then as assistant pastor at the French-speaking St. Joseph’s Church in Waltham before reassignment to the Lowell church at 257 W. Sixth Street. He held that post from 1921-22 and with Reverends Eugene J. Vincent (1887-1967) and Francis X. Gauthier (1893-1963), acted as assistants to Rev. John B. Labossiere (1864-1940), pastor. In addition to overseeing confessions, baptisms, and funerals, they and one lay teacher would have been busy supervising the instruction of the 481 boys and 608 girls attending the church school (The Official Catholic Directory).

The record book shows that Kerouac’s baptism at several days old was the rule and not the exception. At a time before antibiotics when infant mortality was high, some may have viewed the sacrament which cleansed the soul of original sin as a safe measure against the unthinkable.

Before the record book found its permanent home in Braintree in 2005, biographers reviewed entries at the church, scribbled detailed notes, but shared no photographic images. According to longtime Lowell Celebrates Kerouac member and former president Steve Edington, Franco-American teacher and scholar Roger Brunelle (1934-2021), who attended the St. Louis School, almost certainly saw the original baptismal records as part of his research into Kerouac’s ethnic boyhood. Gerald Nicosia probably saw them in preparation for his seminal 1983 biography of Kerouac, Memory Babe. In noting the details of the record, Nicosia reminds us that the familiar spelling of “Kerouac” was often shown to have numerous alternates:

He was a man for whom nothing was secure, not even his name. He had been baptized Jean Louis Kirouac, son of Leo Kéroack and Gabrielle L’Evesque. In the rectory of the poor unfinished St. Louis de France Church in Centralville, the nicest French section of Lowell, Massachusetts, his name meant so little that even a priest could carelessly misspell it. All his life, in fact, people misspelled and often deliberately mispronounced his name. It made him so angry he determined to trace his ancestry…  with the minute curiosity of a lover…

The note in the last column tells us that at some point someone requested a certified copy. It might have been a biographer or Kerouac himself, possibly to be used to validate him for one of these events:

• 1946: Marriage to Edie Parker annulled
• 1950: Marriage to Joan Haverty
• 1966: Marriage to Stella Sampas

Lastly, the request for a baptismal certificate contains the abbreviation “C.A.E.”  This does not match the names of any clergy posted from 1922 through 1987 (the closest is Rev. Charles A. Cordier from 1941–45, but the initials “C.A.C” obviously don’t match “C.A.E.”).  A French-Canadian friend with first-hand knowledge of French churches and educational institutions recalls in her lifetime the abbreviation was occasionally used for Certifié Authentique et Exact (Certified Authentic and Accurate).

Other family member baptismal records

Though the Kerouac children’s baptisms were performed at two different French churches in Lowell, all records were eventually stored at St. Louis de France Church before being collected by the archdiocese archives in 1995. Upon request, Violet also provided the pages (below) for Jack’s brother Francois Girard (St. Jean Baptiste Church) and sister Caroline (St. Louis de France Church). Caroline’s record was updated later to note her marriage at St. Jeanne D’Arc Church.  Again notice the spelling variation for the family surname.

Archdiocese of Boston Archives Baptisms, St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell), 1916, p. 168.

Courtesy of Archdiocese of Boston Archives Baptisms, Baptisms, St. Louis de France (Lowell), 1908-1918, p. 988.

A warm thank you to Louise Brisson, Louise Peloquin, and Kurt Phaneuf for their French language and Kerouac insights.

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Bernie Zelitch is founder and director of by Annie Powell.