Submitted by Mike Miller
Joseph Holliday DuPuy was born on
July 31, 1889, at Plaquemine, the judicial center of Iberville
Parish, Louisiana, where within a radius of twenty miles his family
has lived for more than two hundred years. He is a son of Joseph
Adolphe and Henrietta (Holliday) DuPuy, both likewise natives of
that parish, where the former was born July 27, 1854, and where the
latter was born in the year 1833. Joseph A. DuPuy passed his entire
life in Iberville Parish, where he was reared on the home plantation
of hisparents, and he was a young man when he established his
residence at Plaquemine, where he was a leading merchant for the
long period of forty years and where his death occurred July 19,
1921, his widow still maintaining her home in that attractive little
city. Mr. DuPuy was a staunch democrat and was a communicant of the
Catholic Church.
After attending St. John's parochial school
at Plaquemine, Joseph Holliday DuPuy entered Jefferson College, at
Convent, Louisiana, and in this institution he was graduated in
1907, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Thereafter he took
postgraduate work in Tulane University, the University of Virginia
and the University of Louisiana, in each of which he specialized in
education, economics and sociology. At the University of Louisiana
he became affiliated with the Gamma Chapter of the Kappa Sigma
fraternity. After leaving college Mr. DuPuy engaged in educational
work, and he served for five years as high school principal prior to
his election to the office of superintendent of the public schools
of the Parish of St. John the Baptist, where he thus served in the
period of 1911-14. In the latter year he became professor of
education and economics at the Louisiana Polytechnic Institute at
Ruston. Less than a month after the nation entered the World war he
volunteered for service, in May, 1917, he was sent to the Officers'
Training Camp at Le~ Springs, Texas, where he won his commission as
first lieutenant of infantry, and was assigned to Company A, Three
Hundred and Forty-sixth Infantry Regiment, Eighty-seventh Division,
then stationed at Camp Pike, Arkansas. With this organization he
sailed for overseas service August 23, 1918, and after arriving in
France was with his regiment in the training area on the Loire River
until after the armistice, when he was assigned to duty as
divisional school officer, Base Section No. 1, with headquarters at
St. Nazaire, on the 24th of February, 1919. In this connection he
organized post and technical schools for the American soldiers, and
he continued his service under this assignment until he sailed for
his native land. He landed in the port of New York City July 1,
1919, and at Camp Pike, Arkansas, he received his honorable
discharge on the 24th of that month. Within a short time thereafter
Mr. DuPuy established his present real estate, mortgage and
insurance business in Baton Rouge, where his office is now located.
In May, 1922, was organized the first National Guard unit to be
established at Baton Rouge after the close of the World war, and in
effecting its organization Mr. DuPuy was the leader. He was chosen
the commanding officer of the new organization, and continued the
incumbent of this position for eighteen months, when at his own
request he was transferred to the Officers' Reserve Corps, in which
he holds a commission as captain of Infantry. In his home city Mr.
DuPuy is an active member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Kiwanis
Club, the American Legion, Nicholson Post No. 38, and the Baton
Rouge Golf and Country Club.
On the 12th of June, 1918, about
two months prior to his embarking for overseas service in the World
war, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. DuPuy and Miss Ruby Jarrell,
at Little Rock, Arkansas, where her parents still reside, the
father, John T. Jarrell, being there engaged in the wholesale
grocery business. Mrs. DuPuy was graduated from a college in the
State of Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. DuPuy have two daughters, Mary
Lorraine and Jeanne.
A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp.
106-107, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by The American Historical
Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.
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