1. Ezra L'Hommedieu was an American lawyer and statesman from Southold, New York, in Suffolk County, Long Island.
22 Facts About Ezra L'Hommedieu
1. 2.
Ezra L'Hommedieu was a delegate for New York to the Continental Congress and again in 1788.
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Ezra L'Hommedieu's national offices overlapped with those he served in the state: in the State Assembly and in the state senate ; he was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1801.
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Ezra L'Hommedieu served in local offices, as clerk of Suffolk County from January 1784 to March 1810 and from March 1811 until his death that year.
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Ezra L'Hommedieu was a regent of the University of the State of New York.
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Ezra L'Hommedieu was born in Southold, Long Island to Benjamin and Martha L'Hommedieu; they were of Dutch, English and French Huguenot ancestry.
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Ezra L'Hommedieu was a great-grandson of, among others, English immigrants Nathaniel and Grizzell Sylvester, who had owned all of Shelter Island in the 17th century.
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Ezra L'Hommedieu was privately educated before going to Yale College, where he graduated in 1754.
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Ezra L'Hommedieu read law and established a law practice in Southold and New York City.
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Ezra L'Hommedieu became active in provincial and state politics, serving in the State Assembly from 1777 to 1783 and in the State Senate from 1784 to 1792 and again from 1794 to 1809.
11.
Ezra L'Hommedieu served in local offices, as clerk of Suffolk County from January 1784 to March 1810, and from March 1811 until his death that year.
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Ezra L'Hommedieu continued to be politically active and in 1801 was a delegate to the state constitutional convention.
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Ezra L'Hommedieu was a candidate in 1789 to become one of New York's first two United States senators, to be elected by the state legislature.
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Ezra L'Hommedieu was later an unsuccessful candidate for the 1st congressional district in 1790, as well as in a separate special election for the seat earlier that year.
15.
Widely respected for his integrity and intelligence, Ezra L'Hommedieu represented the New York City Chamber of Commerce in discussions related to a lighthouse at Montauk Point, a federal project on which he advised President George Washington.
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Ezra L'Hommedieu chose the site for the lighthouse and designed it.
17.
Ezra L'Hommedieu developed methods of scientific farming, including the use of seashells to fertilize soils.
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Ezra L'Hommedieu corresponded on farming with Thomas Jefferson, particularly about crop pests.
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Ezra L'Hommedieu was active in the community and served in other public positions.
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Ezra L'Hommedieu served as Regent of the University of the State of New York, the founding of which he had supported.
21.
Ezra L'Hommedieu was buried near the grave of his first wife, the former Charity Floyd, at the Old Southold Burying Ground.
22.
Ezra L'Hommedieu's papers are now in the collection of the Montauk Historical Society.