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(2) genealogy collection.
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(4) Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019. https://archive.org/details/ledyardcassbiogrOOunse.
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(7) LEDYARD-CASS.
(8) MBxara).
(9) 6^. LEDYARD-CASS BIOGRAPHICAL RECORDS. BENJAMIN LEDYARD BENJAMIN LEDYARD, 2d. HENRY LEDYARD HENRY BROCKHOLST LEDYARD LEWIS CASS LEDYARD JONATHAN CASS LEWIS CASS. NEW YORK. THE PRESS ASSOCIATION 1924.
(10) Copyrighted The Press Association Compilers, Inc. 1924.
(11) wJ. BENJAMIN LEDYARD.
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(13) B. BENJAMIN LEDYARD enjamin Ledyard, soldier, born in. Groton, Connecticut, 5 March, 1753; died in Aurora, New York, in 1803. He was the son of Youngs Ledyard (17311762) and his wife Mary (Avery) Ledyard. The earliest Ledyard of whom we have record in this country was John, born in 1700, probably in Bristol, England; died at Hartford, Connecticut, 3 September, 1771. He settled in Southampton, Long Island, in 1717, and was teacher, trader, assistant or successor of Benjamin L’Hommedieu, the merchant. He prospered in business, and in 1727 moved to New Lon¬ don, Connecticut, and later to Hartford. His name appeared first in the public rec¬ ords of Connecticut in May, 1732, when, with others, he applied for a trade charter under the title of the “New London Society United for Trade and Commerce,” the pre-.
(14) cursor of the modern Chamber of Com¬ merce. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the County of New London; served as Auditor of the Supreme Court, 1741; Deputy for Groton in the General Assem¬ bly in 1742-1749; Deputy for Hartford in 1753-1762; and also was a Justice of the Peace for Hartford from 1754 until his death. He took an active part in public affairs and did not confine his interests to Connecticut, as evidenced in his support of Eleazer Wheelock and his school for the Indians, first established at Lebanon, Con¬ necticut, and later moved to Hanover, New Hampshire, where it developed into what is now Dartmouth College. His wife was Deborah Youngs, a daughter of Judge Ben¬ jamin Youngs, of Southold, Long Island. Their second son, Youngs (born 25 Janu¬ ary! I73H died 4 April, 1762), was the father of Benjamin Ledyard, and was en¬ gaged in the West Indies trade. He mar¬ ried Mary Avery, daughter of Colonel Ebenezer Avery, born in Groton, March 29, 1704, who was deputy from Groton to the General Court of Connecticut between 1741 and 1768; Justice of the Peace for New.
(15) LondonCounty, 1754 to 1774; ensign of the FirstGroton Company or Train Band,May 17, 1741; lieutenant of the same, October, 1748, and captain, May 1749; major of the 8th Regiment Connecticut Colony, May, 1768; and lieutenant-colonel of the same in October, 1770. He held this last position at the outbreak of the Revolution, and re¬ signed on account of age in October, 1776. Colonel Ebenezer Avery was the son of James Avery, 3rd, who was born in Groton, 20 April, 1673, and was Deputy from Gro¬ ton to the General Court of Connecticut between 1715 and 1737; Justice of the Peace for New London County between 1726 and 1741; ensign of Train Band for Groton, 10 May, 1716; lieutenant of same, 12 Octo¬ ber, 1721, and captain of same, 9 May, 1728; and after the death of his father succeeded the latter as guardian, or overseer, of the Pequot Indians. His father, Captain James Avery, Junior (born in Gloucester, 16 December, 1646), was Deputy from New London to the General Court of Connecticut between 1689 and 1702; and Deputy from Groton, after Groton was set off from New London, from.
(16) 1707 to 1712; Commissioner of the Peace, 1693 to 1695; Justice of the Peace, 1712; Adviser of the Pequots, 1649; guardian, or Overseer of the Pequots, 1720 to 1723; com¬ mander of Indians in expedition against Canada in 1709; member of Governor’s Council, 1720; appointed lieutenant, 1690, and captain, in May, 1692, of the Train Band. This Captain James Avery, Junior was the son of Captain James Avery (born in England about 1620), who accompanied his father, Christopher Avery (born in Eng¬ land, 1590), when he came to America in the “Arabella,” the “Admiral” of Governor John Winthrop’s fleet of eleven ships that arrived at Salem, Massachusetts, on June 22, 1630. Christopher Avery lived for a number of years in Gloucester, but eventu¬ ally followed his son to New London, where the latter had settled about 1651. Captain James Avery thus became the founder of the family now known as the Groton Averys. He took a very active part in public affairs. He was ensign of the New London Train Band in October, 1662; lieu¬ tenant in 1665; captain in 1673 and 1681;.
(17) Deputy from New London between 1659 and 1676; Commissioner for New London, continuously from 1663 to 1665; Justice of the Peace for New London in 1689; captain of King Philip’s War and commanded the Pequot allied force in the celebrated “Narragansett Swamp Fight” in 1675 and was Governor of the Pequots in 1678. A memo¬ rial, erected by the Avery Memorial Asso¬ ciation of Groton, Connecticut, marking the spot where he built the family home¬ stead in 1656, was dedicated in 1900. Benjamin Ledyard spent his boyhood with his grandfather, John Ledyard, at Hartford, with his brother Isaac Ledyard, afterwards a distinguished physician of New York City and a surgeon in the Con¬ necticut Army, and with his cousin, John Ledyard, who had one of the most pic¬ turesque careers in early American annals as a traveller and explorer. John Ledyard was with Cook in his third and last voyage, penetrated far into Siberia, and died in Cairo, Egypt. On the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Benjamin Ledyard raised a company known as “The Hairy Caps” according to.
(18) family traditions, and was commissioned captain of his company in the 1st New York Infantry on 28 June, 1775, Alex¬ ander MacDougal being in command of the regiment. He was promoted to a ma¬ jority in the 4th New York on 21 Novem¬ ber, 1776, under Henry Beekman Living¬ ston. On 29 April, 1778, he transferred back to the 1st, and resigned on 26 March, 1779. When his name was up for promotion in the 4th, his old Colonel, MacDougal, spoke of him as the “man the corps have their eye on for major.” He saw service in various operations in the northern depart¬ ment, including White Plains and Mon¬ mouth, and left the army because his health gave him no other choice. In the certificate of acceptance by General Washington of his resignation from the service, it is added: “His Excellency, the Commander-in-Chief, desiring that it may be at the same time certified that Major Ledyard has during his service maintained the character of a gentleman and an active, brave officer.” After the evacuation of New York City he took up his residence there, and was one of the founders of the New York State.
(19) Society of the Cincinnati in 1783. In 1793 he moved to Aurora, New York, where he took up an extensive allotment, served as Clerk of the County, and played a prominent part in the affairs of the growing com¬ munity. Benjamin Ledyard’s wife was Catherine, daughter of Samuel Forman, who was a descendant, seven times removed, of Sir William Forman, Knight, Lord Mayor of London in 1538. Robert, a great-grandson of Sir William, driven by persecution to Holland, came thence to America in 1645 settling first at Flushing, Long Island, and later in Hempstead; and in 1658 he was appointed by Governor Stuyvesant, Magis¬ trate of the Town of Hempstead. Robert’s grandson, Samuel Forman (born 1662) re¬ moved to Monmouth, New Jersey, where he was High Sheriff of the County from 1695 to 1699. He married Mary Wilbore. Her grandfather, Samuel Wilbore, Senior, and her maternal grandfather, John Por¬ ter, were among those banished from Massachusetts, 1637, for upholding the doctrines of Ann Hutchinson, and were two of the nineteen refugees who joined in.
(20) the purchase of the Island of Rhode Island, or Aquidneck, March 7, 1638. The deed granted at this time was signed by the Indian Chiefs, Canonicus and Miantonomi. John Porter and Samuel Wilbore, Junior, the father of Mary Wilbore, were two of the five persons who, in 1657, formed the Pettiquamscutt Company, to which the Sachems Mausup (Pessicus), Kachanaquant (youngest brother of Miantonomi), Quequaquenuet (grandson of Canonicus) and Ninigret, conveyed a large tract of land in the “Narragansett Country,” which corresponds to the present site of South Kingstown, near Point Judith. John Porter and Samuel Wilbore, Junior, were also two of the five patentees, under the Royal Charter granted by Charles 11, in 1663, incorporating “The Governor and Company of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England in America.”.
(21) BENJAMIN LEDYARD, 2d..
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(23) B. BENJAMIN LEDYARD, 2nd. enjamin Ledyard, 2nd, born 27 Au¬ gust, 1779, died at New York City, 3 April, 1812, eldest son of Major Ben¬ jamin and Catherine (Forman) Ledyard. He was admitted to the bar and was ap¬ pointed master in chancery in New York. His wife was Susan French Livingston, daughter of Henry Brockholst Livingston, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, whose father was William Living¬ ston, Governor of New Jersey during the Revolution. They were the parents of one son, Henry..
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(25) HENRY LED YARD.
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(27) H. HENRY LEDYARD. ENRYLEDYARD.lawyer and diplomat, born in New York City, 5 March, 1812; died at London, England, 7 June, 1880. He was the only son of Benjamin and Susan French (Livingston) Ledyard. His father died at the early age of thirty-three, cutting short a promising career in the profession later followed by the son. Henry Ledyard was graduated at Co¬ lumbia College in 1830, then studied law, and was admitted to the bar of the New York Supreme Court 1 November, 1833, and of the Court of Chancery in 1835. He early took an interest in military af¬ fairs and on 6 February, 1834, received his commission as Inspector of the nth Bri¬ gade of Infantry in New York, and on 2 June, 1863, his commission as Inspector of the 31st Division of Infantry. In 1836 he sailed for Europe. General.
(28) Lewis Cass, then recently appointed Min¬ ister to France, sailed upon the same vessel, accompanied by his family. General Cass, attracted by the personality of the young man, offered him the appointment as at¬ tache of the Legation, which he gladly ac¬ cepted . He thus entered into the diplomatic service, in which he remained for nearly ten years. On 7 August, 1839, he was ap¬ pointed Secretary of Legation at Paris, and in 1842, when General Cass retired as Min¬ ister, Henry Ledyard was appointed Charge d’Affaires of Legation, an office which he held until his return to the United States in 1844. On 19 October, 1839, he married Matilda Frances, daughter of General Cass. On his return to the United States he took up his residence in Detroit, Michigan, where General Cass, in the meantime, elected Senator from Michigan,was a prom¬ inent citizen. There he became an active figure in the life of the city. During 18461847 he was a member of the School Board; in 1849-1850 he was an Alderman; in 1853 a member of the first board of Water Com¬ missioners; Mayor in 1855; and a State Senator in 1857..
(29) In 1857 he removed to Washington, where his father-in-law was serving as Secretary of State in Buchanan’s cabinet. He spent the next four years in Washington, where he came to know most of the prominent fig¬ ures of the stirring period just before the Civil War. He acted as Assistant Secretary of State for a short time, and when the new administration came in, removed with his family to Newport, Rhode Island, where he spent the rest of his days, taking a prominent part in civic and philanthropic movements of the city. He was one of the founders and the first President of the New¬ port Hospital. The children of Henry Ledyard and Matilda Cass Ledyard were: Eliz¬ abeth Cass Ledyard, born at the American embassy, in Paris, 1 October, 1840, who married at Newport, 9 April, 1862, Francis Wayland Goddard, of Providence; Henry Brockholst and Susan Livingston, twins, born at the embassy also, on 20 February, 1844; Lewis Cass, born at Detroit, 4 April, 1851; Matilda Spencer, born in Washing¬ ton, 27 May, i860..
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(31) HENRY BROCKHOLST LED YARD.
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(33) HENRY BROCKHOLST LEDYARD. H. enry. Brockholst Ledyard, rail¬. road official, born in the American Embassy at Paris, 20 February, 1844; died in Detroit, Michigan, 25 May, 1921. His father, who had married Matilda Frances, a daughter of Lewis Cass, was at the time Charge d’Affaires at the American Embassy,which his father-in-law had just left, following his difference with Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State. In 1844 his father left the Embassy and moved to Detroit. Henry Brockholst Ledyard was educated in a private school in Detroit, then at the Charlier Institute, in New York City, and studied also in Washington, D. C. At the age of seventeen President Buchanan appointed him a cadetat-large to West Point, where he was grad¬ uated in 1865, ranking eighteenth in a class of sixty-eight. He was commissioned sec¬ ond and first lieutenant on Commence¬ ment Day, 23 June, and assigned to the.
(34) 19th Infantry. He saw service at various western posts in the next two years, was transferred to the 37th Infantry in Sep¬ tember, 1866, and to the 4th Artillery in February, 1867. He had served as regi¬ mental quartermaster of the 19th, as bat¬ talion quartermaster, and regimental quar¬ termaster of the 37th, and as commissary of subsistence on the expedition against the hostile Indians on the Plains, from February to May, 1867. On 1 November, 1867, he was assigned to the Military Academy as Assistant Professor of French, and held this post till 18 June, 1868. He was honorably discharged from the army at his own request, 18 October, 1870. While on leave of absence, he had a brief experience in railroad construction work with the Northern Pacific Railroad then building. He became a clerk in the offices of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Rail¬ road at a salary of eighty-five dollars per month. Within two years he was appoint¬ ed Assistant Superintendent. Another two years saw him transferred to the Michigan Central Railroad as Assistant General Superintendent. From 15 October, 1874,.
(35) till his death his history is part of that of the railroad. He became General Superin¬ tendent in March, 1876, when his superior, William B. Strong, returned to the C. B. & Q. He became General Manager in June, 1877, and President in May, 1883, at the age of thirty-nine. He continued as General Manager in addition to his duties as Presi¬ dent until 1895, when his brother-in-law, Richard L’Hommedieu, succeeded him in that capacity. When the Vanderbilt systems were uni¬ fied in January, 1905, he retired as Presi¬ dent of the Michigan Central and was elect¬ ed Chairman of the Board of Directors, succeeding Chauncey M. Depew. Under his Presidency the M ichigan Central made great advances in operation, maintenance of way, and equipment. He built terminals in De¬ troit and the surrounding country until most of the manufacturing plants of thecity were located on his lines. To him must be credited the Detroit Belt Line Railroad, the great passenger station in Detroit, and the tunnel under the river. He took an active interest in many phases of life in Detroit, as director of the People’s State.
(36) Bank, President and Chairman of the Board of the Union Trust Company, a warden of Christ Church, and a member of various clubs and civic organizations. Mr. Ledyard’s position in the commu¬ nity was indicated by the Detroit “Free Press’’ at the time of his death:—“Themain contribution of Henry B. Ledyard to the world is the Michigan Central Railroad which stands as a great and enduring and honorable monument to his life and work. Few men leave behind them such concrete proofs of their service to mankind. We have become accustomed to take the Michigan Central road for granted as a natural, inev¬ itable belonging of the State. But really it is one of the finest lines in the country be¬ cause of its maker, backed by a West Point and army training and by an honorable tradition which held him unswervingly to his ideals, built it on a foundation of expert technical knowledge, hard work, rare ex¬ ecutive ability, honest dealing and the prac¬ tical and valuable theory that the interests of a railroad and its patrons are reciprocal; and because he stubbornly adhered to his principles at a time when shameless ex-.
(37) ploitation of railroad property was the rule in America. No one will ever know how hard Mr. Ledyard must have fought for what he knew was right and sound and decent, for he was not given to self-exploita¬ tion or self-justification, and he always pre¬ ferred to let results speak for themselves. What Mr. Ledyard did toward making Michigan rich and solidly prosperous can¬ not be estimated; how far he was respon¬ sible for the development and progress of Detroit is beyond calculation, but un¬ questionably he was one of the great con¬ structive pioneers of this commonwealth if not actually the greatest of them. Had there been more Henry B. Ledyards in this country in the earlier days of railroading, untold millions would have been saved to the nation, many humiliating scandals would have been avoided, and without doubt, a great part of the present troubles of the railroad business would have been avoided or minimized.” Henry B. Ledyard married, 15 October, 1867, Mary, daughter of Stephen L’Hommedieu of Cincinnati, President of the Cin¬ cinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad..
(38) She was a lineal descendant of the original Benjamin L’Hommedieu, who came from France to New York in 1687, and in 1690 settled in Southold, Long Island, and be¬ came a successful merchant. It is inter¬ esting to note that John Ledyard, the first of that name to come to this country, who was the great-great-great-grandfather of Henry B. Ledyard, also originally settled in Southold, L. I., and there became asso¬ ciated in business with this same Benjamin L’Hommedieu. Mrs. Ledyard died 30 March, 1895. They were the parents of five children; Matilda Cass Ledyard, who mar¬ ried Baron Clemens August von Ketteler, Minister from Germany to China, killed during the Boxer Rebellion in June, 1900; Henry Ledyard, of Detroit; Augustus C. Ledyard, first Lieutenant in the 6th United States infantry, killed in action at Negros, the Philippines, November, 1900; and Hugh Ledyard, of Detroit. A daughter, Alma, died in childhood..
(39) LEWIS CASS LEDYARD.
(40) MA..
(41) L. LEWIS CASS LEDYARD. ewis Cass Ledyard, lawyer, born in Detroit, Michigan, 4 April, 1851, the son of Henry and Matilda Frances (Cass) Ledyard, and grandson of Lewis Cass. His father (1812-1880) was Secretary of Legation at Paris while General Cass was American Minister to France. Soon after Cass returned, Mr. Ledyard removed to Detroit. While Cass was Secretary of State in Buchanan’s Cabinet, the family lived in Washington, and later in New¬ port, Rhode Island. Lewis Cass Ledyard spent his boyhood in Detroit, Washington and Newport, and prepared for college at the Charlier Institute in New York City. He was gradu¬ ated at Harvard in 1872, studied at the Harvard Law School, and received the de¬ grees of M. A. and LL.B. in 1875. After his course in the law school, he began practice in the office of Scudder and Carter in New.
(42) York City, the firm being composed of Henry J. Scudder and James Coolidge Car¬ ter. He was made a partner in 1881, and after Mr. Scudder died in 1886, the firm became known as Carter and Led yard. Mr. Ledyard remained in this firm for the next quarter century, the name becoming suc¬ cessively Carter, Rollins and Ledyard; Carter and Ledyard; and finally with the accession of John C. Milburn, Carter, Ledyard and Milburn. Mr. Ledyard was nominated one of the five trustees of the Tilden Trust, a cor¬ poration organized pursuant to the will of Samuel J. Tilden, for the purpose of estab¬ lishing and maintaining a public library in the City of New York. He took a very active part in the negotiations which re¬ sulted in the consolidation of the Astor Library, the Lenox Library and the Tilden Trust into the present New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Founda¬ tions, in 1895, and was one of the original members of the Board of Trustees of the consolidated corporation, an office which he has continuously held to the present time..
(43) He has also been President of this institu¬ tion since 1917. Mr. Ledyard served as President of the Lying-in Hospital for over twenty years. He was Commodore of the New York Yacht Club for several years, and is a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and VicePresident of “The Frick Collection.” He has also been President of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and a director of the First National Bank and the United States Trust Company of New York. In the course of his extended career he has been a director of the New York Cen¬ tral; Lake Shore and Michigan Southern; Northern Pacific; New York, New Haven and Hartford and a number of other im¬ portant railroad and other corporations. He was for many years First Vice-President of the American Express Company and was for over thirty years Counsel for the New York Stock Exchange. He took a leading part in the reorganization of the American Tobacco Company and the formation and development of a plan for the complete sev¬ erance of its various constituent elements.
(44) to meet the decree against that company under the Sherman Act. Mr. Ledyard holds membership in the Society of the Cincinnati, inherited through his New Hampshire line of ancestry which he traces to Major Jonathan Cass. He is an officer of the Legion d’Honneur, and a Commander of the Order of the Crown of Belgium. He married, first, in New York City, ii April, 1878, Gertrude Prince, daughter of Colonel William Edgar Prince, United States Army. Mrs. Ledyard died 17 January, 1905. He married, second, in New York City, 6 June, 1906, Frances Is¬ abel Morris, daughter of John A. and Cora Hennon Morris. Lewis Cass Ledyard, Jun¬ ior, the issue of Mr. Ledyard’s first mar¬ riage, is a lawyer and a member of the firm of Carter, Ledyard & Milburn. He married in 1906, Ruth L. Emery, daughter of Man¬ ning Emery, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is the father of Dorothy, Ruth E. and Lewis Cass Ledyard, 3rd..
(45) JONATHAN CASS. 1235!46.
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(47) J. JONATHAN CASS. soldier and pioneer, born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1753, died in Ohio in 1830. He was third in descent from John Cass, who married Martha Philbrick and died in Hampton, New Hampshire, 9 April, 1675. Jonathan was a blacksmith at the outbreak of the Revolution and he enlisted at an early date, serving as a private at the Bat¬ tle of Bunker Hill. He received his com¬ mission as ensign in the 3rd New Hamp¬ shire regiment on 8 November, 1776. This was the regiment commanded by Alexander Scammel, with Henry Dearborn as lieuten¬ ant-colonel. Cass was promoted to second lieutenant on 4 August, 1771, and to first lieutenant on 1 May, 1778. On 1 January, 1781, he was transferred to the 2nd New Hampshire, and on 8 December of that year he received his captaincy, remaining on the active roll till the end of the war. On 20 December, 1780, he married Molly onathan. Cass,.
(48) Gilman of the New Hampshire Gilmans. Their son, Lewis Cass, was born in Exeter, on 9 October, 1782. With the outbreak of troubles in the West, Cass went back into the army, receiving his commission as cap¬ tain in the 2nd United States Infantry on 4 March, 1791. He transferred to the 2nd Sub-Legion on 2 September, 1792, and on 21 February, 1793, became major in the 3rd Sub-Legion, which became the 3rd In¬ fantry on 1 November, 1796. These were the times of St. Clair’s defeat at the hands of the Ohio Indians, and of the campaign against them, led by “Mad” Anthony Wayne, whose work culminated in the treaty of Greenville in 1795. Cass was for a time stationed at Fort Hamilton with his fam¬ ily, except his son, Lewis, who was at school in Exeter. He came east and was stationed at Wilmington, Delaware, then, with his family, returned to the west. He resigned his commission on 15 February, 1801, set¬ tled at Marietta, Ohio, and later moved to the country near Zanesville. He died 14 August, 1830. He was a member of the New Hampshire Society of the Cincinnati..
(49) LEWIS CASS.
(50) rtsA 0kync>/c&, t^/^..
(51) L. LEWIS CASS ewis Cass,. soldier and. statesman,. born in Exeter, New Hampshire,. 9 October, 1782; died in Detroit, Michigan, 17 June, 1866, son of Jon¬ athan and Mary (Gilman) Cass. On both sides of the family he was of Puritan de¬ scent. The name Cass is found frequently in New England historical records and this branch of the family is traced to James Cass of Westerly, Rhode Island. Joseph Cass was born in Exeter about 1625, and died in Hampton, 5 October, 1656. His descendant, Jonathan, born in Exeter in 1753, served throughout the Revolution, rising from private to captain, and after the closeof the war returned to Exeter. Troubles in the western country with the Indians and the British brought him back into the army where he served with Wayne in his.
(52) campaign against the Indians that culmi¬ nated with the treaty of Greenville in 1795. Resigning his commission he took his fam¬ ily to Marietta soon after 1801 and later settled near Zanesville, Ohio. Lewis attended Exeter Academy under Dr. Benjamin Abbott, and for a part of his seven years spent in this institution, had Daniel Webster as a schoolmate. His certificate from the school states that he had studied English, French, Latin, Greek, geography, arithmetic, and geometry, and had made valuable progress in the study of rhetoric, history, natural and moral phi¬ losophy, logic, astronomy, and natural law. In 1799 while his father was stationed at Wilmington, Delaware, Lewis passed the first few months after his school days were over in teaching in an academy. After this engagement he went West and began to study law in the office of Return Jonathan Meigs, in Marietta, while his father was opening up a tract of land, near Zanesville, granted him for his services in the Revo¬ lution. The first certificate of admission to the bar after adoption of the new con-.
(53) stitution in 1802 was given to Lewis Cass, who soon moved to Zanesville and took up his practice. When Muskingum County was created in 1804 Cass was elected its first prose¬ cuting attorney. His abilities as jurist and pleader were soon manifest, and secured him a lucrative practice and a widely spread reputation in the thinly settled district north of the Ohio. In 1806, he married Elizabeth Spencer of Virginia, granddaugh¬ ter of Major-General Joseph Spencer of Con¬ necticut, and in October of the same year he was elected to the legislature. He was a member of the committee to inquire into the movements of Aaron Burr, and drew the law that enabled the authorities to ar¬ rest the men and to provide boats for the expedition down the river. He also drew the official communication to the President, embodying the views of the Ohio Legisla¬ ture on the subject. The marked ability of this document drew the attention of Jeffer¬ son who appointed him United States mar¬ shal in 1807, which position he held until 1813. He held a leading position at the bar, and was well known for his legal knowl-.
(54) edge, industry, good common sense, and vigor and ability as a speaker. Ohio was enthusiastic in its support of the war with Great Britain, and Cass volunteered at the first call, being ap¬ pointed Colonel of the Third Regiment of the Ohio militia. He joined the forces at Dayton under Hull and when the army had finally struggled through the wilderness that lay between Dayton and Detroit, he was in command of the advance guard that crossed from Detroit into Canada, drew up the proclamation addressed by Hull to the French inhabitants, and was in charge of the detachment that drove in the British outposts at the bridge of Aux Canards. When Hull surrendered Detroit, Cass was included in the capitulation, and when pa¬ roled, hastened to Washington, full of in¬ dignation against Hull and made the first report of the affair to the Government. His parole was removed in January, 1813, and he was at once put into active service. In December preceding, he had been appointed major-general in the Ohio militia, and on 20 February, 1813, he was commissioned Colonel of the 27th Infantry, with instruc-.
(55) tions to raise a regiment in Ohio, no diffi¬ cult task. On 12 March, 1813, he was pro¬ moted to brigadier-general and took part in the defeat of the British under Proctor at the battle of the Thames in Canada on 5 October, 1813. At the close of the campaign General Cass was left in command of Michigan, with headquarters at Detroit, and on 29 October, 1813, was appointed by the Presi¬ dent to be Governor of the territory of Mich¬ igan, which then comprised all the country north of the Ohio, east of the Mississippi, west of Ohio, and south of the Canada line. In 1814 he was associated with General Harrison in a commission to treat with the Indians, who had been hostile to the United States during the war. The number of white inhabitants in the territory was scarcely six thousand; no land had been sold by the United States, and the interior was a vast wilderness, the abode, it was estimated, of forty thousand savages. Settlers could not obtain valid titles to their locations, no surveys had been made, no roads opened inland, and the Indians were relentless in their hostility to the whites. Under these.
(56) discouraging circumstances, Cass assumed the responsibilities of Governor, and ex-officio Commissioner of Indian affairs. During eighteen years, his management of the In¬ dians was distinguished by remarkable wis¬ dom and prudence. He negotiated twentytwo separate treaties, securing the cession to the United States by the various tribes of the immense regions of the northwest, instituted surveys, constructed roads, es¬ tablished military works, built light¬ houses, organized counties and townships, and, in short, created and set in motion all the machinery of organized government. At his suggestion an exploring expedition was sent out in the summer of 1820, which, with Henry R. Schoolcraft and six others, Indian guides, and boatmen, left Detroit in three canoes for the exploration of the upper lakes and the head waters of the Mississippi. Before their return they had covered five thousand miles. The results of the trip and subsequent expeditions were set forth by Cass in the “North American Review” in 1828-29, and by Schoolcraft in his “Narrative Journal of Travels through the Northwestern Regions of the United.
(57) States, extending through the Great Chain of American Lakes to the Sources of the Mississippi River” (Albany, 1821). He resigned the governorship in July, 1831, having been reappointed six times, by Madison, Monroe, and Adams. As Gover¬ nor he had set a new standard in dealing with the Indians, to whom it was decidedly un¬ usual to find a man in authority who un¬ derstood their point of view, who did not seek to take every advantage when making a treaty, who scrupulously kept his engage¬ ments and expected the Indians to hold to theirs. In his opposition to Great Britain and her agents as seen in the Northwest, he voiced the feeling of the entire community. In his attitude toward his Indian wards he established a precedent. An appreciation of his administration is well set forth by James V. Campbell in his “Political History of Michigan “Hisadministration was eminently popular, and he de¬ sired and endeavored to secure to the people as soon as possible all the privileges of self government. If he erred in this respect, it was an error in the direction of the largest popular authority. His views were broad.
(58) and sagacious, and he was very free from personal bitterness and malignity. The in¬ evitable asperities of politics exposed him in later years to the attacks made on all public men, and his course in national af¬ fairs has been severely assailed and warmly defended; but no one now (1876) has any doubts about his sincere and unqualified patriotism. He was a brave defender and a true lover of his country.” In 1831 Mr. Cass became Secretary of War in Jackson’s first Cabinet, after the tempest over Mrs. Eaton had caused Eat¬ on’s resignation and the general reorgani¬ zation of the Cabinet. During his incum¬ bency the Black Hawk war occurred, and was vigorously suppressed. The Indian question, too, passed through a dangerous crisis in the removal of the Cherokees from their hereditary lands in Georgia and Mis¬ sissippi, and he had the burden of the sec¬ ond SeminoleWar to shoulder. In theNullification troubles of 1832 the Nullifiers de¬ rived no benefit from his presence in the War Department. In 1836 he submitted a celebrated report on the military and naval defenses of the United States, embracing.
(59) an elaborate summary of existing resources, both offensive and defensive. He recom¬ mended the erection of a strong chain of coast defenses and the maintenance of a powerful navy. Impaired health caused him to resign from the Cabinet in August, 1836, when he was appointed Minister to France. The dip¬ lomatic relations between the two countries were then in a critical condition, because of the complications regarding the spoliations claims. Gen. Cass temporarily settled the matter by payment of interest. His most important act as Minister was his vigorous protest against the quintuple treaty where¬ by Great Britain sought to maintain the right of search at sea. Mainly owing to his representations, France refused to ratify the treaty. His protesting pamphlet en¬ titled “An Examination of the Question, now in Discussion, between the American and British Governments, concerning the Right of Search” was published in Paris on 1 February, 1843, and had an enormous circulation. The English were greatly in¬ censed, and Brougham assailed it in Par¬ liament..
(60) When the Webster-Ashburton treaty was signed on 9 August, 1842, Cass determined to resign in protest. He left Paris in Novem¬ ber, and his son-in-law, Henry Ledyard, acted as Charge d’Affaires for three years fol¬ lowing. On his return he was given a pub¬ lic welcome at New York and Philadelphia. He found the country greatly excited over the annexation of Texas, and heard his name mentioned as a candidate for Presi¬ dent. He was an ardent supporter of Polk in the election of 1844. In January, 1845, he was elected United States Senator from Michigan. In May, 1848, he resigned on his nomination as Democratic candidate for President. After the election of his op¬ ponent, Taylor, he was in 1849 re-elected to the Senate for the unexpired portion of his original term. Here he wielded an impor¬ tant influence. He was a strong advocate of compromise, became the chief ally of Henry Clay, and opposed both the South¬ ern-rights dogmas and the Wilmot Proviso. The Michigan Legislature had instructed him to sign the latter, but he declared that.
(61) he would resign his seat in case of conflict between his duty and his principles. He was originally the most prominent candidate for Chairman of the Committee of Thirteen, but himself urged Clay for the post. The passage of the resolution con¬ stituting the Committee was, by the testi¬ mony of its mover, Henry S. Foote, chiefly due to his prompting and assistance. He supported the principal measures origi¬ nated by that committee except the Fugitive Slave Law; when that was passed he refused to vote, though present in his seat. He was re-elected to the Senate for his second term, and continued to be mentioned as a prom inent candidate for the nomination for Pres¬ ident by the Democrats, but in 1852 he was as unsuccessful as in 1844. This defeat terminated his consideration for the Presi¬ dency, but he remained a member of the Senate until his term expired. In 1857 he became Secretary of State in Buchanan’s Cabinet. In the secession move¬ ments followingLincoln’s election he was, as in 1850, a friend of compromise, sustaining the Crittenden Resolutions. President Bu¬ chanan’s message, denying the existence of.
(62) any power in the Constitution by which the General Government could coerce a state, was not openly disapproved by Cass at the Cabinet meeting at which it was first read. Eight days afterward, however, he re-as¬ serted his Jacksonian principles of 1832-3 and, when Buchanan refused to re-enforce Anderson and reprovision Fort Sumter, Cass promptly resigned. Thus ended a public career of fifty-six years. Thereafter he mingled little in society. During the Civil War, his sympathies were with the national arms, and it was a great satisfaction to him that he lived to see the ultimate triumph of the union. He was a man of great natural abilities, a pru¬ dent, cautious legislator, a scholar of at¬ tainments, of strict integrity, temperate in his habits, and personally popular through¬ out the country. His published works are: “Inquiries concerning the History, Tradi¬ tions, and Languages of the Indians living within the United States’’ (Detroit, 1823); “France, its King, Court, and Government’’ (1840). His life has been written by School¬ craft (Albany, 1848), William T. Young (Detroit, 1852), and W. L. G. Smith (New.
(63) York, 1856), in a memorial volume (De¬ troit,) 1866, and by Andrew C. McLaughlin (“American Statesman Series,” 1891). He had seven children: Elizabeth Selden, born in 1812, died 15 July, 1832; Mary, who married Captain Augustus Canfield, U. S. A. and died 23 January, 1881; Isabella, who married Theodore Marinus Roest van Limburg, Dutch Minister to the United States, and Minister of Foreign Affairs in Holland, and died in 1879; Matilda Frances, born at Detroit, n July, 1818, married Henry Ledyard 19 September, 1839, and died 16 November, 1898; Ellen, born 3 December, 1821, died 25 November, 1824; Lewis, who was appointed Charge D’affaires to the Papal States in 1849 and in 1858 was promoted to be American Min¬ ister Resident in Italy, where he remained until 1858, died at Paris 24 February, 1878; Spencer, born 4 June, 1828, died in October following..
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