1. Henry Ledyard's mother was the daughter of Revolutionary War Colonel and US Supreme Court justice Henry Brockholst Livingston and granddaughter of New Jersey governor William Livingston.
11 Facts About Henry Ledyard
1. 2.
Henry Ledyard graduated from Columbia College in 1830, and began practicing law in New York.
3.
When Lewis Cass was appointed Minister to France in 1836, Henry Ledyard accompanied him to Paris, eventually becoming charge d'affaires of the embassy.
4.
Henry Ledyard returned to the United States in 1844 and moved to Detroit, where he was active in the city and managed Cass's property holdings.
5.
Henry Ledyard was one of the founders of the State Savings Bank, one of the original promoters of the Elmwood Cemetery, and was a member of the Board of Education.
6.
Henry Ledyard organized and promoted the first plank road company in Michigan, and was involved in a number of other ventures that promoted communication between Detroit and the interior of the state.
7.
Henry Ledyard was a Democrat, and was elected as a state senator in 1857.
8.
However, when Lewis Cass was appointed Secretary of State under James Buchanan, Henry Ledyard resigned his post in the legislature and accompanied him to Washington, DC, and remained there until 1861, briefly serving as assistant secretary of state.
9.
Henry Ledyard raised funds for and was the first president of the Newport Hospital, and was the president of the Redwood Library in Newport.
10.
In 1839, Henry Ledyard married Cass's daughter Matilda Frances Cass.
11.
Henry Ledyard died June 7,1880, in London, England, during a brief European visit.