PERRY, Robert S., Lafayette then Iberia Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Mike Miller ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** JUDGE ROBERT S. PERRY, NEW IBERIA.-Robert S. Perry, judge of the Court of Appeals of the Third Louisiana Circuit, is a native of Lafayette parish, born December 5, 1834. He is a son of Robert and Ezemely (Booth) Perry. Robert Perry, Sr., was a native of Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish descent. When a boy he removed to Kentucky with his parents, where he received his education. When nineteen years of age he came to Louisiana, where he married and spent the remainder of his life. Judge Robert S. Perry received the best education the schools of Louisiana afforded, and subsequently graduated from the Kentucky Military Institute, at the age of nineteen years. After completing his literary education he entered the law school at the University of Louisville, where he took a course of lectures, and afterward entered a law office in Anderson, Texas, where he pursued the study of law for about a year. At the expiration of this time he was admitted to the bar in that place. He never practised [sic] there, however, and returned shortly afterward to Vermilion parish, where he remained until the war broke out. Since that time, with the exception of the four years of the war and the time he has held official positions, he has given his attention exclusively to his profession. In 1866 he removed to St. Martin parish and from thence, in 1871, to Iberia. When Louisiana cast her fortune with the seceding States, Judge Perry enlisted as a private in Company C, of the Eighth Louisiana Regiment, and in August of the same year was made first lieutenant. He served during the whole war in the Army of Northern Virginia. November 7, 1863, he was captured at Rappahannock, and held a prisoner at Johnson Island for nineteen months, where he was at the close of the war. After the war Judge Perry resumed his practice. In 1879 he was elected a member of the State Senate, and served until 1884. During the time of his service he was active in all measures that came before that body for consideration. He introduced the first bill providing for the regulation of railroads in Louisiana. In 1888 he was elected by the Legislature judge of the Court of Appeals of the Third Circuit of Louisiana. Judge Perry is a thoroughly progressive gentleman and a man of ability. He is identified with all matters pertaining to the advancement of New Iberia. The Judge is peculiarly adapted for the important trust which he heads, being a gentleman of deep learning, and having made a close study of his profession. His public services have been well received, and he enjoys the confidence of a large circle of friends. Judge Perry has twice married; first, in 1870, Miss Bertha Gary, of St. Martinsville, who died in 1878, having become the mother of three children, one son and two daughters. On January I, 1883, he married Miss Camille Vedrines, of New Iberia. She died the October succeeding their marriage. Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical, Biographical Section, pp. 126-127. Edited by William Henry Perrin. Published in 1891, by The Gulf Publishing Company.