Ledyard was born in New York City on March 5, 1812, the son of prominent New York lawyer Benjamin Ledyard (1779–1812) and Susan French Livingston (1789–1864). His mother was the daughter of Revolutionary War Colonel and US Supreme Court justice Henry Brockholst Livingston (1757–1823) and granddaughter of New Jersey governor William Livingston.[1]
Ledyard graduated from Columbia College in 1830, and began practicing law in New York. When Lewis Cass was appointed Minister to France in 1836, Ledyard accompanied him to Paris, eventually becoming chargé d’affaires of the embassy.[1]
Career
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.[2] He 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.[1]
He 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.[3] In 1849–1850 he was an alderman of the city, and served as mayor in 1855 and was one of the original commissioners on the Board of Water Commissioners.[1]
Ledyard was a Democrat, and was elected as a state senator in 1857.[1] However, when Lewis Cass was appointed Secretary of State under James Buchanan, Ledyard resigned his post in the legislature[3] and accompanied him to Washington, DC, and remained there until 1861,[1] briefly serving as assistant secretary of state.[2] Afterwards, he moved to Newport, Rhode Island, where he lived for the rest of his life. He raised funds for and was the first president of the Newport Hospital, and was the president of the Redwood Library in Newport.[1]
Personal life
In 1839, Ledyard married Cass's daughter Matilda Frances Cass (1808–1898).[1] The couple had five children:[4][3][5]
Elizabeth Cass Ledyard (1840–1918), who married to Francis Wayland Goddard (1833–1889) in 1862.[6]
Henry Ledyard died June 7, 1880, in London, England, during a brief European visit.[1]
Descendants
Through his eldest son Henry, he was the grandfather of Matilda Cass Ledyard (1871–1960), who married Baron Clemens von Ketteler (1853–1900), a German diplomat,[13][14] Henry B. Ledyard III (1875–1932), Augustus Canfield Ledyard (1877–1899), and Hugh Ledyard (1885–1951).
