The enterprising firm, Giroux & Lavalle, dealers in hardware, tinware, pumps, pump fixtures and tanks, is composed of Joseph Giroux and Amedie Lavalle. Mr. Giroux is one of the hundreds of French Canadians who have settled in and around the vicinity of Clyde and like many of them he has prospered and become prominent in business circles. He is a native of the province of Quebec, born in 1865. When a small boy his parents located in Kankakee, Illinois, where he received a business education. In 1879 he came with his father's family to Kansas. His father is Francis Giroux, a retired farmer and hotel keeper now residing in Clyde. He owns two good farms in Cloud county but has never lived on them. One of them is situated one mile south and one mile east of Clyde, the other five miles south and one mile west. He at one time owned the Iowa Hotel, which he sold in 1892. Mr. Giroux's mother was Petrilone Larreaux of French Canadian birth. His grandparents from both sides of the house were of France and among the early settlers in the province of Quebec. His mother died in the summer of 1902. Mr. Giroux is the only son of six children. His sisters are Mrs. Itzweire, of Arizona, Mrs. Mathews, of Los Angeles, California, Mrs. Girard, of Lincoln, Nebraska, and Mrs. Juneau, of Clyde. By a previous marriage he has a half brother, Francis Giroux, Jr., of Dalls, Texas.

Mr. Giroux was married in 1896, to Irene Longton, a daughter of Naphile Longton, who has been a citizen of Clyde for many years. Mr. Giroux has been engaged, in various enterprises; clerking and was in the restaurant business in Washington, Kansas, two years. They are members of the Catholic church.

Amedie Lavalle, the junior member of the firm is a young man of public spirit and progressive ideas. He is a native of Kankakee, Illinois, born in 1868. He came with his parents to Kansas in 1879, and settled in Concordia, where he received his education in the high school of that city. Before taking up his residence in Clyde in 1899, he was engaged in business in Beatrice and Riverton, Nebraska. In 1902 he became associated with Mr. Giroux in the hardware store. He was married in 1898 to Jennie Longton, a sister of Mrs. Giroux. Mr. Lavalle is interested in a half section of land with his father-in-law, two miles east of St. Joseph, Kansas, which is mostly pasture land. They have a herd of one hundred head of native cattle. They are members of the Catholic church. Mr. Lavalle is member of the order of Catholic Foresters and Triple Tie.

The firm of Giroux & Lavalle have one of the most handsomely appointed hardware establishments in the county. They make a specialty of the Dempster and Fairbanks windmills and pumps and have a large patronage in that line. They have an established trade in the Garland, Majestic, Quick Meal and Acorn ranges and are gratified with the record they have made in that line. Their stock is composed of clean, well selected goods, both shelf and heavy hardware. They are enterprising young business men and are on the road to success. Individually are held in high esteem as good citizens.