Henriques Brothers
Although the Home’s original constitution limited eligibility to orphans and half orphans (meaning at least one parent deceased), the board frequently side-stepped this requirement when compassion dictated in cases of parental disability or absence. For example, in 1891, when it granted Elizabeth Calhoun Henriques’s application to admit her sons Edouard Ferdinand (13) and Adolph (10), the board simply noted, “Both parents living: divorced.”
In 1893, the boys returned to their mother and went on to distinguished careers. After receiving his degree in pharmacy, Adolph graduated in 1906 from Tulane Medical School and served his internship at Charity Hospital. He specialized in the nascent field of radiological medicine, publishing more than a dozen medical studies and research papers on the subject, and is credited with presenting the first use of X-rays in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in the south. Read more about Dr. Adolph D. Henriques.
Dr. Adolph DeCampos Henriques, 1906. “New Externe and Interne Charity Hospital Students,” Daily Picayune, April 17, 1904 (unattributed photo).
Edouard Ferdinand Henriques, Esq., in 1922 when he was appointed special assistant to the U.S. attorney general for admiralty litigation in the Gulf region. “Orleans Attorney Named to Handle Admiralty Cases,” Times-Picayune, June 28, 1922 (unattributed photo).
With clerical training he received in the Home, Edouard began his career in the steamboat business as a stenographer for the Red River Steamboat Company, which operated a large fleet from New Orleans up the lower Mississippi to the Red River. Within five years after his discharge, Edouard had sufficiently distinguished himself to earn the honor of delivering the Home’s anniversary oration, in which he urged his audience to help fellow alumni who had not been as fortunate in securing employment.
While still employed with the steamboat line, Edouard attended business school and later enrolled in Tulane Law School, from which he graduated in 1902. He used his knowledge of the river to specialize in admiralty and maritime law, first serving as assistant U.S. district attorney and by 1922 was appointed special assistant to the U.S. Attorney General to handle government admiralty litigation across the Gulf. During World War II he served as regional attorney for the War Shipping Administration and Maritime Commission. Read more about Edouard Ferdinand Henriques in Raymond J. Martinez’s 1948 book, The Story of the River Front at New Orleans, and here.