Hon. Frederick Joseph Druilhet, Iberia Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller



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Hon. Frederick Joseph Druilhet, mayor of Jeanerette, is a member of a
prominent old family of Southern Louisiana, and in his career has shown
conspicuous ability in making use of his energies for his own benefit and
welfare of the community.

He was born in Iberia Parish, January 8, 1870.  His grandfather, Alfred
Druilhet, was born in San Domingo in 1800, of French ancestry, and
coming to Louisiana as a young man, settled in St. James Parish where for
many years he was identified with planting and commercial affairs.  He died
at Jeanerette in 1888.  Narcisse Druilhet, father of the mayor of Jeanerette,
was born in St. James Parish in 1826, was reared and married there and for
some years was a plantation overseer.  He moved to Iberia Parish in the
early seventies.  He continued there as an overseer until 1878, following
which for many years he was engaged in the mercantile business in
Jeanerette and died there in 1909, one of the highly respected citizens.  He
had served as a member of the parish police jury, and for a number of years
on the parish school board.  In state and local elections he voted as a
democrat, but was a republican in his national views.  He was a Catholic. 
Narcisse Druilhet married Emilie Roussel, who was born in St. James
Parish in 1832 and died at Jeanerette in 1912.  They had four children: 
Celeste, widow of Fred W. Ansley, who was a cooper by trade and a
member of the Jeanerette police force;  Narcisse, a retired merchant at
Jeanerette;  Gaston A., a merchant at Jeanerette, and  Frederick Joseph.

Frederick J. Druilliet acquired a good education, at first in the public and
private schools of Jeanerette, and for five years attended the academic
departments of Tulane University, where he excels in his studies and
athletics, particularly baseball.  Leaving the university in 1889, he assisted
in his father's store until 1893, and then entered the Bank of Jeanerette as a
bookkeeper.  He was made assistant cashier, and in 1905 cashier, serving
the bank with faithful efficiency until it was liquidated in 1915.  Since then
he has given much of his the to public office, and is also connected with the
Planters Lumber Company, being in charge of the shipping department.

He served one term on the City Council, four years as a member of the
parish police jury, and in 1919 was elected mayor of Jeanerette, and
reelected for another four year term in 1923.  His record as mayor is a
most gratifying one not only to himself but to the citizens.  The city was
heavily in debt when he took charge of its affairs, and the debts have been
paid and a surplus put in the treasury.  None of the streets in the city have
escaped improvement, all of them being graveled or otherwise raised out of
the mud.  In every way he has looked carefully after the city and its
Citizens.  Mr. Druilhet is a democrat, a member of St. John the Evangelist
Catholic Church, and is a member of the Knights of Columbus.  His
attractive home is at the corner of Druilhet and Church streets.

He married February 16, 1898, Miss Antoinette J. Provost, daughter of a
distinguished citizen of Jeanerette, Joseph A. Provost.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 298, by Henry E. Chambers.  Published
by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.