Biography:

Businessman; conservationist; explorer. Born– March 29, 1872, Avery Island, La. Parents– Edmund and Mary Eliza (Avery) McIlhenny. Education– Wyman’s Institute (Ill.), 1885-1887; Holland School (N.Y.), 1887-1890; Lehigh University, 1890-1892. Married– Mary Matthews, June 9, 1900. Children– Three. Served as president of the McIlhenny Company (produced Tobasco Sauce), Petite Company, Jungle Gardens, Jan Jean Lafitte Company. Joined the Naturalist Peary Relief Expedition, 1893; headed his own Arctic expedition, 1897-1899. Created a wildlife refuge on the family estate on Avery Island; led an effort to designate a large tract of Lousiana coastal marshlands as a Bird Sanctuary.  Banded thousands of birds and published studies in scientific journals. Member– National Audubon Society, American Game Protection Society, American Museum of Natural History, American Ornithologists Union, American Society of Mammalogists. The E. S. McIlhenny Collection of Natural History in the Library of Lousiana State University was named in his honor. Died August 8, 1949.

Source:

Marquis who’s who online

Publication(s):

The Alligator’s Life History. Boston; Christopher Publishing House, 1935.

The Autobiography of an Egret. New York; Hastings House, 1939.

Bird City. Boston; Christopher Publishing House, 1933.

The Wild Turkey and Its Hunting. Garden City, N.Y.; Doubleday, Page & Co., 1914.