Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/778

732 PERLEY, Ira, jurist, b. in Boxford, Essex co., Mass., 9 Nov., 1799 ; d. in Concord. N. H., 36 Feb., 1874. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1822, was a tutor there from 1823 till 1825, studied law at Hanover, N. H., and began practice there in 1827. He was treasurer of the college from 1830 till 1835. Mr. Perley was a member of the legisla- ture from Hanover in 1834, and from Concord in 1839 and 1870. He was an associate justice of the superior court from July, 1850, till Oct., 1852, and chief justice of the supreme judicial court from 1855 till 1859, and again from 1864 till 1869. After his resignation in 1869 he resumed the practice of the law as a consulting lawyer. His decisions as a judge were highly praised, and he was a profound scholar and a good linguist. He received the de- gree of LL. D. from Dartmouth in 1852.

PEROT, Thomas Morris, merchant, b. in Philadelphia, 8 May, 1828. He is the grand- son of EUiston Perot, a noted Philadelphia mer- chant, and a descendant of Anthony Morris. He early entered the retail drug business, subsequently was graduated at the Philadelphia college of phar- macy, and in 1850 established himself in business as a wholesale druggist and manufacturing chem- ist, in which he has acquired wealth ; but he is more widely known for his philanthropic works. Since 1861 he has been the president of the Mer- cantile library company of Philadelphia, and un- der his administration its library of 22,000 vol- umes has grown to 160,000. Mr. Perot bore an active part in founding the Woman's medical college in Philadelphia, the first institution of the kind in the world, and has been for many years its presi- dent. Since his youth he has been connected with various charitable institutions, and he is now in the directorship of many such in Philadelphia. He has been active in the struggle for reform in municipal affairs, was one of the organizers of the first Citizens' reform association, and became one of the original members of the Committee of 100.

PERREAULT, Francis Joseph, Canadian author, b. in Quebec, Canada, in 1750 ; d. there in 1844. Although he was the son of a wealthy con- tractor, the scarcity of books in the country placed many impediments in the way of his education, but by his energy and perseverance he succeeded in acquiring much practical and useful knowledge. He rendered more service to Canada by his pen than perhaps any of his contemporaries. He was prothonotary of the district of Quebec up to the close of his life. His principal works are " Le juge de paix et oflScier de paroisse pour la province de Quebec " (Quebec, 1805) ; " Dictionnaire portatif et abrege des lois et regies du parlement provincial du Bas-Canada " (1805) ; " Manuel des huissiers de la cour du banc du roi du district de Quebec " (1813) ; " Question et reponses sur le loi criminel du Bas-Canada " (1814) ; " Moyens de conserver nos institutions, nos langues et nos lois " ; " Extraits des registres du conseil superieur et de la pre- vote " (1824) ; " Traite d'agriculture adapte au cli- mat du Canada " (1831) ; " Code sur a I'usage des habitants tant anciens que nouveaux du Bas-Cana- da " (1839) ; and " Histoire du Canada " (4 vols.).

PERREIN, Jean, French naturalist, b. near Mont de Marsan in 1750 ; d. in New York in October, 1805. He was the son of successful mer- chants, and was destined for a commercial career, but his preference was for science, and after the death of his parents he travelled in northern Africa, Arabia, Persia, and India, forming collections in natural history. On his return he presented these to the Academy of sciences of Bordeaux, and was elected by that body an associate member. In 1794 he set out for North America, and visited the Hud- son bay territory, the Rocky mountains, the prov- inces of Quebec and Ontario, and all the New England states. On his way to France he died of malaria fever. His collections and manuscripts- were sent to Paris and were utilized by Charles Sonnini in his " Histoire naturelle des poissons et des cetaces " (Paris, 1804), and for the great edi- tion of Buffon's works (1798-1807, 127 vols.). Per- rein's " Voyage chez les Indiens de I'Amerique du Nord, avec un apergu des usages et du caractere de ces peuples " (2 vols., Paris, 1809) is a very rare and valuable work. His manuscripts in the Na- tional library of Paris are often consulted by Eu- ropean writers on North America.

PERRET, Jacqnes, French missionary, b. in Flanders in 1595 ; d. in Sault Sainte Marie in 1674. He was a Jesuit, and, coming to Canada in 1642 as a missionary to the Algonquins, labored afterward for nearly twenty years among the In- dians on Kennebec river and the Chippewas. In 1671 he was attached to the Ottawa missions at. Sault Sainte Marie, and died there, having alto- gether labored thirty-two years as a missionary. Among his papers, which are preserved in the National library of Paris, have been found a dic- tionary of the Algonquin language, a catechism, a grammar, and several sermons in native dialects.

PERRIN, Abner Monroe, soldier, b. in Abbe- ville county, S. C, in 1829 ; d. at Spottsylvania, Va., 12 May, 1864. He was educated at Bethany academy, S. C, and served in the Mexican war as 1st lieutenant in the 12th volunteers. On his re- turn to South Carolina he studied and practised law until 1861, when he entered the Confederate army as captain of the 14th South Carolina volun- teers, and was promoted colonel in April, 1863, and brigadier-general in May, 1864, with the command of an Alabama brigade

PERRIN, Eloi Philibert, French colonist, b. in Pont-a-Mousson in 1674; d. at sea in 1713. He made several voyages as supercargo to Acadia and Nova Scotia, and during his visits to these coun- tries made a valuable collection of plants, which were utilized by Joseph Pitton de Tournefort in his classification of the American flora. He also- naturalized in Europe several new specimens of shrubs. Having obtained a land grant in Acadia, he began in 1710 a settlement forty-two mile& north of Port Royal, which he named Perrinet, but it had only a short existence, as its founder was lost at sea during a voyage to Dieppe for the pur- pose of forming a com pan v to develop his estate.

PERRIN DU LAC, Francois Marie, French administrator, b. in Chaux-de-Fonds in 1766; d. in Rarabouillet, Seine-et-Oise, 22 July, 1824. He entered the colonial administration in 1789, and was attached to the treasury department of Santo Domingo, took part in the rebellion of Cape Francais, fought under Mauduit du Plessis {q. v.) in the royal volunteers named Les Pompons blancs, and acted as secretary to the government commissioner that presided over the debates of the colonial assembly of St. Marc. In 1791 he accompanied Palissot de Beauvais to the United States to demand the help of congress against the negro insurgents, and remained in the country after the return of Palissot to Santo Domingo. Having obtained, through the influence of his cousin, a member of the convention, the erasure of his name from the list of emigrants, he recovered his former estate. The war between England and France preventing his immediate return to his country, he travelled through the United States and explored the southern and western states, visiting Louisiana, Missis-