Francois Charles Delery

Background

Francois Charles Delery was born on January 28, 1815 in the Parish of St. Charles, Louisiana, United States, of French-Canadian ancestry. His father was Louis Boisclair Deléry; his mother, Marie Corbin Babin.

Education

In 1829 Deléry was sent to Paris to complete his classical education and to prepare himself for medicine.

Career

Deléry's studies successfully ended, his thesis, Questions sur diverses branches des sciences médicales, published in Paris in 1842, he returned to Louisiana to exercise his chosen profession and to take an active part in civic affairs.

He was for seven years city physician of New Orleans, and president of the board of health for two; he founded L’Union Médicale to which he contributed frequently; in 1858 he represented his adopted city at the Quarantine Congress held in Philadelphia.

He opposed secession, but when it had occurred his love for Louisiana caused him to espouse the Southern cause and he was one of the first to leave New Orleans after the arrival of Federal troops.

He went to Havana, where he wrote in support of the Confederacy. On his return to New Orleans, after the war, he became city coroner.

His chief claims to fame are his writings on the problems of yellow fever: Précis historique de la fièvre jaune de 1858 (1859), Réplique au mémoire du Dr. Faget (1860), Mémoire sur l’épidémie de fièvre jaune qui a régné à la Nouvelle-Orléans et dans les campagnes (1867), Quarantaine (1878).

These reveal sound scientific training, skilful treatment, and a sincere passion for investigation. He studied his subject carefully and thoroughly. He fought quarantine as a preventive of yellow fever, although he attributed the cause of the disease to a germ. With the exception of an unpublished collection of poems written under the influence of the French poet Delavigne, his non-medical writings were educational, philosophical, and patriotic. They include: Essai sur la liberté (1847), Etudes sur les passions, suivies d'un aperçu sur Véducation quil convient de donner au peuple (1849), Quelques mots sur le Nativisme (1854), Confédérés et Fédéraux (1864), Le dernier chant du guerrier orateur, à la mémoire du lieutenant-colonel C. D. Dreux (1861), Le spectre noir ou le radicalisme aux États-Unis (1868), and a comedy in one act, l’École du peuple (1877). All were published in New Orleans and in French; Black Ghost was also published in English.

His last years were spent in the practise of his profession at Bay St. Louis, where he died, survived by his wife Odile, who was also a Deléry.

Achievements

• Deléry was the president of the board of health and a city coroner of New Orlean. His chief claims to fame are his writings on the problems of yellow fever.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Black Ghost: Or radicalism in the United States
  • L'école du peuple: comédie en un acte, en vers (French Edition)

Personality

Deléry was a man of ideals, devoted to his profession and his state. He had the courage of his convictions and he worked consistently and persistently for what he felt to be right.

Connections

Father:

Louis Boisclair Deléry

Mother:

Marie Corbin Babin

Wife:

Odile Deléry