Biography of 	PERRILLIAT, Arsne, Paris, FR., then Orleans Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by 	Mike Miller August 1998

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Perrilliat, Arsne, widely known civil engineer, son of Victor and Marie 
Lise (Blanc) Perrilliat, was born in Paris, France, July 10, 1865, 
while his people were temporarily residing in that country.  Victor was 
the son of Francois Perrilliat, who was a descendant of the Perrilliat 
Bottonet family, from Grand Bornand in the Duchy of Savoy.  Francois M. 
came to Louisiana from Savoy when a young man, and died in New Orleans 
in 1829 at 46 years of age.  Victor Perrilliat was born in New Orleans 
in 1820, and was educated in Bordeaux, France.  Returning to this 
country, his home, he married Marie Lise, daughter of Francois Arsne 
and Marie Ang lique (Labatut) Blanc.  Francois A. Blanc was one of 10 
children of Louis A. Blanc who was born in Lyons, France, May 22, 1758. 
Ars ne Perrilliat came to New Orleans, when he was 18 months old, and 
it was here his first schooling was obtained, at the private school of 
Mrs. Vatinel in the old French quarters which was attended by the 
flower of the creole families of the early seventies.  His next school 
was that of George C. Preot, which was more advanced, and was taught by 
such well known teachers as Messrs. Venable,  Gessner, Deiler, and 
others.  From this he went to the University of Louisiana, of which 
Prof. Richard H. Jesse was dean, and which became Tulane university in 
1884.  Mr. Perrilliot graduated at this institution in
1883 with the degree of B. S., being one of the first to receive a 
degree from the University of Louisiana.  In his class were Arthur S. 
Wheeler and Sidney P. Delaup, of New Orleans; Charles B. Stafford, now 
of Chicago, and others.  Most of Mr. Perrilliat 's studies were under 
Prof.  Ayres, now president of the University of Tennessee.  After 
graduating he first worked on surveys for the Mississippi river 
commission, and later was assistant to chief engineer Samuel H. Gilman 
of the New Orleans Cotton Centennial Exposition in 1884.  From 1885 to 
1888, inclusive, he taught at Tulane university with the rank of 
assistant professor of physics, mathematics and chemistry.  During 
vacations he took courses in higher mathematics in the University of 
Virginia and worked in Edison's laboratory in Schenectady, N. V., 
specializing in electrical work.  While there he conducted tests for 
the first dynamos built for electric railways.  In 1888 he accepted the
position of general superintendent of the Edison Electric Light Co., of 
New Orleans, and in the fall of the same year was appointed a member of 
the hoard of state engineers of Louisiana by Gov. Nicholls and served 
until 1908.  June 17, 1897, the degree of civil engineer was conferred 
on him by Tulane university.  In 1900 Gov. Foster appointed him chief 
of engineers of the Louisiana national guards, with the rank of 
colonel, and 1905 he was made chief of ordnance with the rank of 
brigadier general by Gov. Blanchard.  In 1900, with E. L. Corthell, of 
New York, and J. A. Ockerson, of St. Louis, he was appointed by the 
secretary of war to represent the United States government at the 
International Congress of Navigation, held that year in Paris, and in 
1908 Mr. Perrilliat was again appointed by the secretary of to a 
similar function at St. Petersburg.  Among his duties during his 
connection with the state board of engineers he was in charge of
the levee construction of the Atchafalaya basin levee.  This was the 
work in which Mr. Perrilliat took most pride.  Beginning this in 1890 
when the district was annually devastated the worst crevasses on 
record, among which was the Morganza crevasse, he left it in 1908, with 
the reputation of the best protected district in the Mississippi 
valley.  He was the leading spirit in the closure of Bayou Lafourche 
which, to that time, was hopelessly inundated every year by crevasses 
which since its closure has developed into one of the richest portions 
of the state.  In 1908 Mr. Perrilliat left the service of state to 
become managing engineer of the Hercules Co., which engaged in general 
engineering and contracting work.

Mr. Perrilliat went several times to Holland, to southern France, and
northern Italy to study and investigate the dyke and levee construction 
of those countries, and in 1906 was sent by the United government to 
Holland for that purpose.  He has written a number of papers and 
monographs on the subject of dyke construction.  He was the originator 
of the construction of dykes on Mississippi river by mechanical means, 
having begun in 1893 urge and advise a method of construction which has 
saved millions of dollars to Louisiana and the United States government 
levee construction.  In professional associations Mr. Perrilliat a 
member of the old academy of sciences in 1888, is now a member of the 
American Society of Civil Engineers, the International congress of 
Navigation, and the Louisiana Society of Civil Engineers.  Socially he 
is an officer of the Boston club, a member of the Chess, Checker and 
Whist, the Louisiana, the Country, and the Round Table clubs, the 
Athenee Louisianais, and the Louisiana Historical Society.  He is one 
of the members of the board of administrators of the Charity hospital.  
In politics Mr. Perrilliat has always been a democrat, but believes in 
voting for principles rather than for party.  In 1896 Mr. Perrilliat 
was married to Charlotte Beatrice Hollywood, of Indianapolis, and they 
have one daughter,  Marie Lise Perrilliat.

Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, 
Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3),
pp. 787-789.  Edited by Alc e Fortier, Lit.D.  Published in 1914, by 
Century Historical Association.