Whereas certain certificates issued by the auditors appointed to liquidate and to settle the accounts of the troops of this State in the service of the United States have been received by theCommissioners of Forfeitures, and are now in the treasury of this State, which it appears to this Legislature were lost by Henry Ludenton, and which certificates at the time they were lost were not transferable, otherwise than by assignment; And whereas the said Henry Ludenton has prayed relief in the premises; Therefore, Be it enacted by the people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, That whenever the United States shall direct that the residue of the twelve hundred thousand dollars may be subscribed, which by the act of the United States entitled “An act for making provision for the debt of the United States,” passed the 4th day of January, 1790, had not been subscribed before the last day of September last, then the Treasurer of this State is hereby authorized and directed to deliver unto Henry Ludenton the aforesaid certificates … being the certificates lost by the said Henry Ludenton.
Whereas certain certificates issued by the auditors appointed to liquidate and to settle the accounts of the troops of this State in the service of the United States have been received by theCommissioners of Forfeitures, and are now in the treasury of this State, which it appears to this Legislature were lost by Henry Ludenton, and which certificates at the time they were lost were not transferable, otherwise than by assignment; And whereas the said Henry Ludenton has prayed relief in the premises; Therefore, Be it enacted by the people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, That whenever the United States shall direct that the residue of the twelve hundred thousand dollars may be subscribed, which by the act of the United States entitled “An act for making provision for the debt of the United States,” passed the 4th day of January, 1790, had not been subscribed before the last day of September last, then the Treasurer of this State is hereby authorized and directed to deliver unto Henry Ludenton the aforesaid certificates … being the certificates lost by the said Henry Ludenton.
Thus nearly eight years after the original appeal for relief, which was acknowledged to be valid and worthy, the Legislature voted to grant such relief at some indefinite time in the future, conditioned upon the fulfilment of obligations by the federal government, which had already shown itself dilatory in the matter!
One of the most important divisions in which Colonel Ludington voted in the minority was that concerning the independence of the State of Vermont, a matter over which there had been danger of a civil war. Said the “County Journal and PoughkeepsieAdvertiser” for April 4, 1787: “Last Wednesday morning the important question for declaring the Independence of Vermont was debated in the House of the Assembly. It was carried in the affirmative, as follows:” The poll of the House as given shows 32 votes in the affirmative, and 21 in the negative, Colonel Ludington’s name being among the latter, although his friends Hamilton and Lansing voted in the affirmative.
In the “New York Packet and American Advertiser” of February 27, 1783, appeared this notice:
“Notice is hereby given to the Debtors and Creditors of Stephen Ludinton, deceased, who was by a jury of inquest said to have been murdered by John Akins, to meet me at the House of Alexander Mills in Fredericksburgh on Monday the 10th day of March next, at 10 o’clock in the morning, in order to discharge the debts due the said estate, and receive payment as far as the estate will go as it is supposed he died insolvent.“Henry LudingtonExecutor.”
“Notice is hereby given to the Debtors and Creditors of Stephen Ludinton, deceased, who was by a jury of inquest said to have been murdered by John Akins, to meet me at the House of Alexander Mills in Fredericksburgh on Monday the 10th day of March next, at 10 o’clock in the morning, in order to discharge the debts due the said estate, and receive payment as far as the estate will go as it is supposed he died insolvent.
“Henry LudingtonExecutor.”
An act of the Legislature on March 9, 1810, made Colonel Ludington one of the incorporators of “a body corporate and politic” for the purpose of “making a good and sufficient turnpike road to begin at the Highland turnpike road near the house of Joseph C. Voight in the town of Cortlandt and County of Westchester, and from thence to or near the house of James Mandeville and to or near the house of SamuelOwens, in the town and county aforesaid; from thence to or near the house of Jonathan Ferris, and to or near the house of Edward Bugby and Solomon Avery in Philipstown in the county of Dutchess; from thence running up Peekskill Hollow, to or near the house of Rowland Bailey, and to or near the house of Henry Ludington in the town of Frederick; from thence running to the great road west of Quaker Hill, to or near the house of Thomas Howard.”
It should be added, to complete the record, that Colonel Ludington was in 1771 an overseer of the poor for South Precinct; in 1772 he was assessor of Fredericksburgh; and in 1776, 1777, and 1778 he was supervisor of the town of Fredericksburgh.
Colonel Ludington was commonly known by his military title to the end of his life. As a matter of fact, however, he ceased to exercise the functions of a colonel on September 27, 1786. An act of the Legislature of New York of April 4, 1782, provided that “in case of the death, resignation or other inability to serve, of any Colonel now commanding a regiment (of militia), no Colonel shall thereafter be appointed thereto; that such regiment and all others not now commanded by a Colonel shall henceforth be commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel.” This act was doubtless largely the outcome of the deliberations of the committee on reorganization of the militia of which Colonel Ludington was a member. At the date named in 1786, accordingly, he retired from the commandof the regiment with which he had so long been identified, and was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Drake. In this regiment Archibald Ludington and Henry Ludington, Jr., sons of Colonel Ludington, were, respectively, paymaster and ensign. Henry Ludington, Jr., became lieutenant in the regiment commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Elias Van Benschoten, and on June 7, 1793, when John Drake moved away from Dutchess County and was succeeded in command of Ludington’s old regiment by Lieutenant-Colonel Elijah Townsend, Henry Ludington, Jr., became a captain and Archibald Ludington paymaster in it. Henry Ludington, Jr., filled that place until March 16, 1797, when, owing to his removal from Dutchess County, he resigned and was succeeded by Samuel Smith. Archibald Ludington was succeeded by Stephen Waring on March 23, 1803. The commission of Henry Ludington, Jr., as lieutenant, is preserved in the possession of Charles H. Ludington, and reads as follows:
THE PEOPLE of the State of NEW-YORK, By the Grace of GOD, free and independent;To Henry Ludinton, Junior, Gentleman, Greeting:We, reposing especial Trust and Confidence, as well in your Patriotism, Conduct and Loyalty, as is your Valour and Readiness to do us good and faithful Service; HAVE appointed and constituted, and by these Presents, DO appoint and constitute you, the said Henry Ludinton, Junior,Lieutenant of a Company in the Regiment of Militia in the County of Dutchess, whereof John Drake, Esquire, is Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant.You are therefore, to take the said Company into your Charge and Care, as Lieutenant thereof, and duly to exercise the Officers and Soldiers of that Company in Arms, who are hereby commanded to obey you as you shall from Time to Time receive from our General and Commander in Chief of the Militia of our said State, or any other your superior Officer, according to the Rules and Discipline of War, in Persuance of the Trust reposed in you; and for so doing, this shall be Your Commission, for and during our good Pleasure, to be signified by our Council of Appointment. IN TESTIMONY whereof, We have caused Our Seal for Military Commissions to be hereunto affixed. WITNESS our Trusty and Well-beloved GEORGE CLINTON, Esquire, our Governor of our State of New-York, General and Commander in Chief of all the Militia, and Admiral of the Navy of the same, by and with the Advice and Consent of our said Council of Appointment, at our City of New-York, the twenty-seventh Day of March, in the Year of our LORD, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty-seven, and in the eleventh Year of our Independence.Passed the Secretary’s Office, 7th April, 1787.Robt. Harpur, D., Secretary.Geo. Clinton.(Governor’s signature in margin, under seal.)
THE PEOPLE of the State of NEW-YORK, By the Grace of GOD, free and independent;
To Henry Ludinton, Junior, Gentleman, Greeting:
We, reposing especial Trust and Confidence, as well in your Patriotism, Conduct and Loyalty, as is your Valour and Readiness to do us good and faithful Service; HAVE appointed and constituted, and by these Presents, DO appoint and constitute you, the said Henry Ludinton, Junior,Lieutenant of a Company in the Regiment of Militia in the County of Dutchess, whereof John Drake, Esquire, is Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant.
You are therefore, to take the said Company into your Charge and Care, as Lieutenant thereof, and duly to exercise the Officers and Soldiers of that Company in Arms, who are hereby commanded to obey you as you shall from Time to Time receive from our General and Commander in Chief of the Militia of our said State, or any other your superior Officer, according to the Rules and Discipline of War, in Persuance of the Trust reposed in you; and for so doing, this shall be Your Commission, for and during our good Pleasure, to be signified by our Council of Appointment. IN TESTIMONY whereof, We have caused Our Seal for Military Commissions to be hereunto affixed. WITNESS our Trusty and Well-beloved GEORGE CLINTON, Esquire, our Governor of our State of New-York, General and Commander in Chief of all the Militia, and Admiral of the Navy of the same, by and with the Advice and Consent of our said Council of Appointment, at our City of New-York, the twenty-seventh Day of March, in the Year of our LORD, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty-seven, and in the eleventh Year of our Independence.
Passed the Secretary’s Office, 7th April, 1787.
Robt. Harpur, D., Secretary.
Geo. Clinton.
(Governor’s signature in margin, under seal.)
Colonel Ludington, as has already been stated, at first occupied his estate at Fredericksburgh under a lease, and did not actually buy the land until July 15, 1812, when Samuel Gouverneur and wife made to him a deed for 229 acres. Long before the latter date, however, he had acquired other lands in Dutchess County, at least as early as 1781, when he was the owner of a large tract in the eastern part of the county several miles from his home. It was one of the perilous duties of his daughters Sibyl and Rebecca frequently to ride thither on horseback, through the Great Swamp, to see that all was well on the property. After the war he disposed of that land, as the following notice, in the “County Journal and Dutchess and Ulster Farmer’s Register,” of March 24, 1789, shows:
To Be Sold By The Subscriber:A Farm of about 104 acres of land in Frederickstown in the County of Dutchess lying on the east side of the Great Swamp near the place where David Akins formerly lived. There are about 30 tons of the best kind of English hay cut yearly on such place, and considerable more meadow hay may be made, a sufficient quantity of plough and timber land, a good bearing orchard of the best of fruit, a large convenient new dwelling house and a stream of water running by the door. The place is well situated for a merchant or tavern keeper. Whoever should incline to purchase said place may have possession by the first of May next; the payments made as easy as possible andan indisputable title given for the same. For further particulars inquire of the subscriber or Mr. Edmund Ogden who keeps a public house on the Premises.Henry Ludinton.March 9th, 1789.
To Be Sold By The Subscriber:
A Farm of about 104 acres of land in Frederickstown in the County of Dutchess lying on the east side of the Great Swamp near the place where David Akins formerly lived. There are about 30 tons of the best kind of English hay cut yearly on such place, and considerable more meadow hay may be made, a sufficient quantity of plough and timber land, a good bearing orchard of the best of fruit, a large convenient new dwelling house and a stream of water running by the door. The place is well situated for a merchant or tavern keeper. Whoever should incline to purchase said place may have possession by the first of May next; the payments made as easy as possible andan indisputable title given for the same. For further particulars inquire of the subscriber or Mr. Edmund Ogden who keeps a public house on the Premises.
Henry Ludinton.
March 9th, 1789.
The result of this advertisement was the sale of the farm in question to a man from the former home of the Ludingtons in Connecticut. This appears from a document in the possession of Mr. Patrick, the original of an agreement made on November 5, 1790, between Colonel Ludington and James Linsley, of Branford, Connecticut, by which the former covenanted and agreed with the latter “to sell a certain farm situate, lying and being in Fredericksburgh butted and bounded as follows adjoining Croton River on the west side and on the south by Abijah Starr & Ebenezer Palmer and on the north by P. Starr & Samuel Huggins, Containing about one hundred and five acres.” The price to be paid at various times and in various sums was “414 pounds, New York currency.” “And furthermore the said Ludinton doth further agree with the said Linsley to Enter on the Farm of him the said Ludinton where he now Dwells to Cut and Carry away a sufficiency of timber for the framing of a Barn of the following Dimentions forty feet in Length and thirty feet in Breadth and the said Linsley hath further Liberty to enter upon the home farm of the said Ludintonand Cutt sufficient quantity of sawmill logs for to cover said Barn and after the said Linsley has drawn said logs to the saw mill of the sd Ludinton he the said Ludinton will saw sd Logs without delay free from all cost and charges of said Linsley.”
Colonel Ludington was much interested in the Presbyterian church at Frederickstown, now Patterson, and was one of its trustees. On May 22, 1793, he and his fellow trustees purchased for the church from Stiles Peet and his wife Lydia a plot of about a quarter of an acre of land for a burying ground for the church, the price being at the rate of forty shillings an acre. He also personally gave most of the lumber required for building the first academy at Patterson, an edifice which was in later years destroyed by fire.
Colonel Ludington’s tombstone at Patterson (formerly part of Fredericksburgh), N. Y.
Colonel Ludington’s tombstone at Patterson (formerly part of Fredericksburgh), N. Y.
In person Colonel Ludington was of more than ordinary stature, and of robust frame and dignified and commanding presence. He was of an eminently social disposition, and in the later years of his life he and John Jay and Colonel Crane were accustomed often to meet at their neighbor Townsend’s, for social evenings over their pipes and mugs, to exchange memories of the stirring days of the Revolution. Throughout his entire life he commanded in a high degree the respect and confidence of all who knew him, and when he died at the goodly age of 78 he was universally mourned. He died of consumption, after a prolonged illness, on January 24, 1817. His remains were buried in the churchyard of the Presbyterianchurch at Patterson, of which he had been a trustee, and his grave was marked with a simple stone bearing only this inscription:
H. L.In Memory ofHenry Ludington.Jany. 24, 1817.Aged 78 years.
So simple was the epitaph of one of whom Blake, the historian of Putnam County, truly says: “Col. Ludington was one of the most active, energetic and unflinching patriots found in this part of the country during the Revolution, and much do we regret our inability to do justice to the character and sterling virtues of this Revolutionary patriot. The Government records, however, show him to have been one of the bold defenders of our country’s rights.”
Colonel Ludington’s wife, Abigail, survived him eight years, and then on August 3, 1825, was laid beside him, at the age of more than 80 years.
The will of Colonel Ludington, now on file in the surrogate’s office of Putnam County, reads as follows:
In the Name of God, Amen!I, Henry Ludenton of the Town of Fredericks County of Putnam and State of New York, being feeble in body but of perfect mind andmemory, thanks be given unto God, calling into mind the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, do make and ordain this my last will and testiment, that is to say principly and first of all I give and recommend my Soul unto the hands of Almighty God That gave it, and my body I recommend to the earth to be buried in a decent Christian burial at the discretion of my executors, nothing doubting that I shall receive the same again at the general Resurrection by the mighty power of God. And as touching such worldly property wherewith it has pleased God to bless me with in this life, I do give, demise and dispose of in the following manner. And farm first of all, I do order my executors to sell and dispose of so much land off the north end of my farm with the grist mill theron that will be sufficient to pay the debt that is owing from me to Samuel Governier’s the landlord, the line beginning at the east side of my farm on the line betwixt me and the aforesaid Governier and running westwardly to the north of my barn and dwelling house and all other buildings except the aforesaid mill until it crosses the Mill Brook, and line then to run more to the south in course (case) a straight line will not make land enough to discharge said debt, but to run no further west than the east fence of the old lot known by the name of the Old Ridge Lot, and secondly all the remainder and residue of my said farm dwelling house and buildings and all and singular the appurtenances thereunto belonging to remain in the hands of my executors for the use and benefit of Abigail Ludenton my wife and Abigail Ludenton my daughter and Derie Ludenton my sonand Cornelia Ludenton my Grand Daughter so long as Abigail Ludenton remains my widow or in case she should not marry, until her decease, unless the said Abigail Ludenton my daughter or said Derrick Ludenton my son or Cornelia Ludenton should marry or either of them should marry the said farm to remain only for the use and benefit of those who are unmarried untill my widdow should marry or untill her disceas as is above expressed; and in case my daughter Abigail should not marry before the disceas of my widow she then at the deceas of my widow to take her choice of the Rooms in the Dwelling house wherein I live or when my widdow should marry which room she is to have and to hold as long as she remains single. All the remainder of my farm that is not set off for my executors to sell to discharge the debt of Samuel Governier, which land lying and being in the town of Frederick county aforesaid, I do give and bequeath unto my four sons Archibald Ludenton, Derrick Ludenton, Frederick Ludenton, Lewis Ludenton, to be equally divided amongst them in which case the said Ludinton and Ludenton is to pass unto Derrick Ludenton at the division thereof one hundred dollars wich farm of land they the said Archibald, Derrick, Frederick and Lewis Ludenton and their heirs is to have and to hold forever with all the appertinances thereunto belonging; but it is my will that Derrick Ludenton my son’s proportion of the farm to remain in the hands of my executors and for them to do as they shall judge best for him with it. And I do will and bequeath Tartulus Ludenton my son Fifteen Dollars to be paid out of removable property, andafter said fifteen dollars is paid and all my debts that my land is not sold to pay is paid and discharged, to pay which debts is my will that my executors should sell such and so much of the movable property they shall judge will least discommode the heirs which the residue is left to and share who is to have the property, and it is my will that all movable property should remain in the hands of my widdow for her use and the use of Derrick Ludenton my son, Abigail my daughter, to remain as the use of the farm is above discribed to remain in the hands of my executors for the use and benefit of Abigail Ludenton my wife and Abigail Ludenton my daughter and Derrick Ludenton my son and Cornelia Ludenton my grand daughter untill my wife marries or untill her disceas, unless Abigail, Derrick or Cornelia or one of them should marry, and the one that marries is to have use and benefit no longer of said property until disposed of as is hereafter directed. And I do will and bequeath unto my six daughters at the deceas or marriage of my widow all my movable property to be equally divided amongst them, that is to say Sibyl Ogden, Rebecca Pratt, May Ferris, Anna Colwell, Abigail Ludenton and Sophiah Caverly my daughters.And for the further surety of this my last will and testament I nominate and appoint John Hopkins of the town of Fishkill, County of Dutchess and State of New York, and Elijah Wixon of the town of Fredericks and County of Putnam and State aforesaid my sole executors of this my last will and testiment and I do hereby disallow, revoke and annull all and singular every otherformer will testament and bequeath and executors by me in any wise before mentioned willed and bequeath, ratifying and allowing this and no other to be my last will and testiment. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this seventh day of April in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirteen.Henry Ludenton.L. S.Signed sealed and pronounced in presence of usStephen MerrittJohn Burtch.
In the Name of God, Amen!
I, Henry Ludenton of the Town of Fredericks County of Putnam and State of New York, being feeble in body but of perfect mind andmemory, thanks be given unto God, calling into mind the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, do make and ordain this my last will and testiment, that is to say principly and first of all I give and recommend my Soul unto the hands of Almighty God That gave it, and my body I recommend to the earth to be buried in a decent Christian burial at the discretion of my executors, nothing doubting that I shall receive the same again at the general Resurrection by the mighty power of God. And as touching such worldly property wherewith it has pleased God to bless me with in this life, I do give, demise and dispose of in the following manner. And farm first of all, I do order my executors to sell and dispose of so much land off the north end of my farm with the grist mill theron that will be sufficient to pay the debt that is owing from me to Samuel Governier’s the landlord, the line beginning at the east side of my farm on the line betwixt me and the aforesaid Governier and running westwardly to the north of my barn and dwelling house and all other buildings except the aforesaid mill until it crosses the Mill Brook, and line then to run more to the south in course (case) a straight line will not make land enough to discharge said debt, but to run no further west than the east fence of the old lot known by the name of the Old Ridge Lot, and secondly all the remainder and residue of my said farm dwelling house and buildings and all and singular the appurtenances thereunto belonging to remain in the hands of my executors for the use and benefit of Abigail Ludenton my wife and Abigail Ludenton my daughter and Derie Ludenton my sonand Cornelia Ludenton my Grand Daughter so long as Abigail Ludenton remains my widow or in case she should not marry, until her decease, unless the said Abigail Ludenton my daughter or said Derrick Ludenton my son or Cornelia Ludenton should marry or either of them should marry the said farm to remain only for the use and benefit of those who are unmarried untill my widdow should marry or untill her disceas as is above expressed; and in case my daughter Abigail should not marry before the disceas of my widow she then at the deceas of my widow to take her choice of the Rooms in the Dwelling house wherein I live or when my widdow should marry which room she is to have and to hold as long as she remains single. All the remainder of my farm that is not set off for my executors to sell to discharge the debt of Samuel Governier, which land lying and being in the town of Frederick county aforesaid, I do give and bequeath unto my four sons Archibald Ludenton, Derrick Ludenton, Frederick Ludenton, Lewis Ludenton, to be equally divided amongst them in which case the said Ludinton and Ludenton is to pass unto Derrick Ludenton at the division thereof one hundred dollars wich farm of land they the said Archibald, Derrick, Frederick and Lewis Ludenton and their heirs is to have and to hold forever with all the appertinances thereunto belonging; but it is my will that Derrick Ludenton my son’s proportion of the farm to remain in the hands of my executors and for them to do as they shall judge best for him with it. And I do will and bequeath Tartulus Ludenton my son Fifteen Dollars to be paid out of removable property, andafter said fifteen dollars is paid and all my debts that my land is not sold to pay is paid and discharged, to pay which debts is my will that my executors should sell such and so much of the movable property they shall judge will least discommode the heirs which the residue is left to and share who is to have the property, and it is my will that all movable property should remain in the hands of my widdow for her use and the use of Derrick Ludenton my son, Abigail my daughter, to remain as the use of the farm is above discribed to remain in the hands of my executors for the use and benefit of Abigail Ludenton my wife and Abigail Ludenton my daughter and Derrick Ludenton my son and Cornelia Ludenton my grand daughter untill my wife marries or untill her disceas, unless Abigail, Derrick or Cornelia or one of them should marry, and the one that marries is to have use and benefit no longer of said property until disposed of as is hereafter directed. And I do will and bequeath unto my six daughters at the deceas or marriage of my widow all my movable property to be equally divided amongst them, that is to say Sibyl Ogden, Rebecca Pratt, May Ferris, Anna Colwell, Abigail Ludenton and Sophiah Caverly my daughters.
And for the further surety of this my last will and testament I nominate and appoint John Hopkins of the town of Fishkill, County of Dutchess and State of New York, and Elijah Wixon of the town of Fredericks and County of Putnam and State aforesaid my sole executors of this my last will and testiment and I do hereby disallow, revoke and annull all and singular every otherformer will testament and bequeath and executors by me in any wise before mentioned willed and bequeath, ratifying and allowing this and no other to be my last will and testiment. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this seventh day of April in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirteen.
Henry Ludenton.L. S.
Signed sealed and pronounced in presence of us
An interesting side-light is cast upon one feature of this will, as well as upon the later years of Colonel Ludington’s life and the years following his death, by a letter written in April, 1881, to Mr. Patrick by Mrs. Julia L. Comfort, of Catskill, New York, a daughter of Colonel Ludington’s son, Tertullus Ludington. Speaking of the old homestead at Frederickstown, and the members of the family there, Mrs. Comfort said:
I was so young when last there, and consequently do not remember much about them. It was the winter before Grandma Luddington died. She gave my Mother Grandfather’s gun and sword, and I think the powder horn to my brother Henry because he was named after him. They were all mounted with silver. The firsttime we were there was in the fall when chestnuts were ripe. There was a very large tree in the rear of the house, and Uncle Fred’s children, my sister and myself wished to get the chestnuts but could not. Grandma wanted Uncle Derrick to cut the tree down for us, but he said it would take two weeks to do it, it was so large.My Father was with us, and Grandfather said to him, (he always called him Tarty,) “I am going to make a will, and I owe you for five barrels of pork, but as I have not got the money just now I will remember it in my will.” (It was in war time (War of 1812) and pork was selling for thirty dollars a barrel.) Father told him he might give it to Archie, as he was very poor and Father was doing a good business and did not need it, but Archie said he never rec’d a cent of it.The last time Aunt Ogden was here, she was telling us how she and Aunt Sophia (probably a slip of the pen for Rebecca) were alone in the house in war time (Revolutionary War). They had had a fence built around the house, and they each had a gun, and once in a while they would fire one off to make the soldiers think there were men in the house.
I was so young when last there, and consequently do not remember much about them. It was the winter before Grandma Luddington died. She gave my Mother Grandfather’s gun and sword, and I think the powder horn to my brother Henry because he was named after him. They were all mounted with silver. The firsttime we were there was in the fall when chestnuts were ripe. There was a very large tree in the rear of the house, and Uncle Fred’s children, my sister and myself wished to get the chestnuts but could not. Grandma wanted Uncle Derrick to cut the tree down for us, but he said it would take two weeks to do it, it was so large.
My Father was with us, and Grandfather said to him, (he always called him Tarty,) “I am going to make a will, and I owe you for five barrels of pork, but as I have not got the money just now I will remember it in my will.” (It was in war time (War of 1812) and pork was selling for thirty dollars a barrel.) Father told him he might give it to Archie, as he was very poor and Father was doing a good business and did not need it, but Archie said he never rec’d a cent of it.
The last time Aunt Ogden was here, she was telling us how she and Aunt Sophia (probably a slip of the pen for Rebecca) were alone in the house in war time (Revolutionary War). They had had a fence built around the house, and they each had a gun, and once in a while they would fire one off to make the soldiers think there were men in the house.
It has already been observed that the earlier generations of the Ludington family, in colonial days, were prolific; as, indeed, the Ludingtons of the Old Country are said to have been. In revolutionary days, Comfort, Elisha, Stephen, and other collateral relatives of his were the comrades of Henry Ludington in the war and his neighbors in Dutchess and the adjoining counties. Their descendants, and the descendants of those of Colonel Ludington’s twelve children who married and had issue, have been numerous, and many of them have made their mark in contemporary affairs in various parts of the land. It is not the purpose of this work, nor would its compass permit it, to give any detailed chronicle of all the ramifications of the family. Brief notices of a few of its members follow. Let us first deal with some of a collateral line.
Colonel Henry Ludington married, as already noted, his cousin Abigail Ludington. Her brother, Comfort Ludington, who has been mentioned as a soldier in the Revolution, had a son named Zalmon,who in turn had a son also named Zalmon. The last named was a soldier in the War of 1812; in 1818 he went to Virginia, and four years later married Lovina Hagan, of Preston County. Three of his children are still living, namely: Mrs. M. L. Patrick, of Louisville, Kentucky; Dr. Horace Ludington, of Omaha, Nebraska; and General Marshall I. Ludington, U. S. A. Another, Colonel Elisha H. Ludington, U. S. A., died in 1891. Zalmon Ludington himself lived to be more than ninety years of age, and at the age of eighty-eight was able to make an important public address in the city of Philadelphia.
One of the sons of Zalmon Ludington, Elisha H. Ludington, entered the United States Army as a captain in 1861, did important field service with the Army of the Potomac in 1863, being engaged in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and for “gallant and meritorious service” in the latter conflict was brevetted a major on July 2, 1863. On March 13, 1865, he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel “for meritorious services during the war,” and also colonel on the same date “for faithful and meritorious services in his department.” He served at Washington and elsewhere as assistant inspector-general until his retirement for disability on March 27, 1879, and died on January 21, 1891.
FREDERICK LUDINGTON,Son of Col. Henry Ludington.
FREDERICK LUDINGTON,Son of Col. Henry Ludington.
Marshall I. Ludington was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 1839, and entered the army as captain of volunteers and actingquartermaster-general on October 20, 1862. Like his brother he served in the Chancellorsville and Gettysburg campaigns, in the Wilderness, and at Petersburg, and then became chief quartermaster at Washington. In January, 1867, he became major and quartermaster in the regular army, and served in various places and was successively promoted until in 1898 he was made brigadier-general and quartermaster-general of the United States Army, with headquarters at Washington. For several years he had been acting quartermaster-general, but had not enjoyed full authority to organize the department according to his own ideas. Consequently, when he became quartermaster-general, only four days before the declaration of war with Spain, he was confronted with a task of peculiar difficulty, for which he had not been able to make satisfactory preparations such as had been made in other branches of the service. Before he retired from the office, however, he had so perfected the organization and equipment as to make the department a model which military experts from Europe were glad to study. He served until July 4, 1903, when he was retired under the law for age, with the rank of major-general, U. S. A. Since his retirement he has lived at Skaneateles, N. Y.
Mention has been made of Frederick Ludington, son of Colonel Henry Ludington, who with his brother Lewis engaged for a time in general merchandising at Frederickstown, or Kent, N. Y. He married Susannah Griffith, and among their childrenwas a son to whom they gave the name of Harrison, in honor of the general who was just then winning distinction in the United States Army and who afterward became President. Harrison Ludington was born at Kent, New York, on July 31, 1812, and served for a time as a clerk in his father’s and uncle’s store. In 1838 he removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in company with his uncle, Lewis Ludington, and there engaged in general merchandising, in partnership with his uncle Lewis and later with his younger brother, Nelson. They also had extensive interests in the lumber trade. Withdrawing from their firm, he formed a partnership with Messrs. D. Wells and A. G. Van Schaick, in the same business, with extensive lumber mills on Green Bay. He was for many years conspicuously identified with the development of the city of Milwaukee, and as the proprietor of a “general store” is said to have purchased the first bag of wheat ever brought to market at that place. He served for two terms as an alderman of Milwaukee, and in 1872-75 was mayor of that city. His admirable administration of municipal affairs fixed the attention of the whole State upon him, and as a result he was elected governor for the two years 1876 and 1877. He filled that office with distinguished success, but at the end of his single term retired from public life and resumed his manufacturing pursuits, in which he continued until his death, which occurred at Milwaukee on June 17, 1891.
HON. HARRISON LUDINGTON,Governor of Wisconsin, 1876-1878.Grandson of Col. Henry Ludington.
HON. HARRISON LUDINGTON,Governor of Wisconsin, 1876-1878.
Grandson of Col. Henry Ludington.
George Ludington, second son of Frederick Ludington,and grandson of Colonel Henry Ludington, was born in Putnam County and spent his life there. He married Emeline C. Travis. For some years he occupied and conducted the store which had formerly been managed by his father and uncle, as already related, and afterward became cashier of the Bank of Kent, later known as the Putnam County National Bank, a place which he filled until his death.
A great-grandson of Colonel Henry Ludington, through his son Frederick and the latter’s daughter Caroline, is Lewis S. Patrick, formerly in government service at Washington but now and for many years living at Marinette, Wisconsin. To his painstaking and untiring labors must be credited the collection of a large share of the data upon which this memoir of his ancestor is founded.
Old store at Kent, built by Frederick and Lewis Ludington about 1808
Old store at Kent, built by Frederick and Lewis Ludington about 1808
Sibyl Ludington, Colonel Ludington’s oldest daughter, who married Henry Ogden, a lawyer of Catskill, N. Y., (elsewhere called Edward and Edmund,) went to live at Unadilla, N. Y., and bore four sons and two daughters. The distinguished career of one of these sons may well be told in a quotation from the “New York Observer” of October 18, 1855, as follows:
Major Edmund A. Ogden, of the United States army, who recently died of cholera at Fort Riley, Kansas Territory, was born at Catskill, N. Y., Feb. 20th, 1810. Soon after, he removedto Unadilla, N. Y., where he remained until he entered the United States Military Academy. On graduating, he was attached as brevet Second Lieutenant to the First Regiment of Infantry, then stationed at Prairie du Chien. He was subsequently appointed a First Lieutenant in the Eighth Infantry, where he served until appointed a Captain in the Quartermaster’s Department, in which corps he remained until his death. He served with credit and distinction through the Black Hawk, Florida and Mexican wars, and was created a Major by brevet, for meritorious conduct in the last named of these wars.His services, ever faithfully performed, have been arduous and responsible. He has disbursed for the government millions of the public money; he has labored hard, and always to the purpose, and after giving to his country five and twenty years of hard and useful service, he has died poor.For the last six years previous to last spring, Major Ogden was stationed at Fort Leavenworth, where he has rendered important service to the army in his capacity of Quartermaster. From this post he was ordered to California, and he removed with his family to New York with the expectation of embarking on the 20th of April last, when his orders were suddenly suspended, and he was sent back to assist in outfitting the expedition against the Sioux Indians. He was afterwards charged with the arduous duty of erecting, within three months, barracks, quarters and stables for a regiment of troops at Fort Riley—a point about 150 miles west of Leavenworth, and which he had himself selected as a suitable place for a government post, when stationed atFort Leavenworth. This place was not settled, and was an almost perfect wilderness. He took with him about five hundred mechanics and laborers, with tools and provisions, and commenced his labors. In a new and unsettled country, so destitute of resources, many obstacles were encountered, but just as they were being overcome, and the buildings were progressing, cholera in its most fatal and frightful form made its appearance among the men, from two to four of them dying every day. Far removed from homes and kindred, and accustomed to depend upon Major Ogden for the supply of their daily wants, they turned to him in despair for relief from the pestilence. He labored among them night and day, nursing the sick and offering consolation to the dying. At last the heavy hand of death was laid upon him, and worn out with care, watching and untiring labors, he fell a victim to the disease whose ravages he had in vain attempted to stay.In the death of this officer the army has lost one who was an ornament to its list; his own corps has lost one of its most efficient members—one whom they appreciated, and whom they delighted to praise. Among his associates in the army there is but one sentiment—that of regret for his loss and admiration for his professional and private character, and love for his estimable qualities. His associates in the army are not the only sufferers; but many and many in various parts of the land have lost a warm and true friend, and the country has lost an honest man and a Christian soldier.…In the hour of death, far from all he most lovedon earth, he was cheered by his Christian hope. His faith was unshaken and enduring, and proved capable of supporting him in that last sad hour. Although weak and exhausted, he repeated the Lord’s Prayer audibly, and said to his friend the chaplain, who was by his side, “Tell my dear wife and children to try and meet me in heaven,” and then sank sweetly and quietly to rest.So died the Christian soldier, in the vigor of manhood, and at the post of duty. Bound as he was by so many tender ties to this earth, not a murmur escaped his lips, but he met his summons with a cheerful resignation to that Providence whose dealings he had recognized through life, and in whom he trusted in death.…It is interesting to note the evidences of the estimation in which Major Ogden was held at Fort Riley by the residents and the men in his employ. The following is an extract fromThe Kansas Heraldof the 10th:“The death of Major Ogden left a deep gloom upon the spirits of all the men, which time does not obliterate. His tender solicitude for the spiritual and bodily welfare of those under him; his unceasing labors with the sick, and his forgetfulness of self in attendance upon others, until he was laid low, have endeared his memory to every one there. And, as a token of affection, they are now engaged in erecting a fine monument which shall mark their appreciation of the departed. The monument, which will be of the native stone of the locality, is to be placed on one of the high promontories at Fort Riley, and can be seen from many a distant point by thoseapproaching the place. It will bear the following inscription:“Erected to the memory ofBREVET MAJOR E. A. OGDEN,the founder of Fort Riley;a disinterested patriot and a generous friend;a refined gentleman; a devoted husbandand father,and an exemplary Christian.Few men were more respected in their lives, or more lamented in their deaths. As much the victim of duty as of disease, he calmly closed a life, in the public service, distinguished for integrity and faithfulness.BREVET MAJOR E. A. OGDEN,Assistant Quartermaster, United States Army, departed this life, at Fort Riley, August 3d, 1855, in the forty-fourth year of his age.‘And I heard a voice saying unto me, write, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.’”
Major Edmund A. Ogden, of the United States army, who recently died of cholera at Fort Riley, Kansas Territory, was born at Catskill, N. Y., Feb. 20th, 1810. Soon after, he removedto Unadilla, N. Y., where he remained until he entered the United States Military Academy. On graduating, he was attached as brevet Second Lieutenant to the First Regiment of Infantry, then stationed at Prairie du Chien. He was subsequently appointed a First Lieutenant in the Eighth Infantry, where he served until appointed a Captain in the Quartermaster’s Department, in which corps he remained until his death. He served with credit and distinction through the Black Hawk, Florida and Mexican wars, and was created a Major by brevet, for meritorious conduct in the last named of these wars.
His services, ever faithfully performed, have been arduous and responsible. He has disbursed for the government millions of the public money; he has labored hard, and always to the purpose, and after giving to his country five and twenty years of hard and useful service, he has died poor.
For the last six years previous to last spring, Major Ogden was stationed at Fort Leavenworth, where he has rendered important service to the army in his capacity of Quartermaster. From this post he was ordered to California, and he removed with his family to New York with the expectation of embarking on the 20th of April last, when his orders were suddenly suspended, and he was sent back to assist in outfitting the expedition against the Sioux Indians. He was afterwards charged with the arduous duty of erecting, within three months, barracks, quarters and stables for a regiment of troops at Fort Riley—a point about 150 miles west of Leavenworth, and which he had himself selected as a suitable place for a government post, when stationed atFort Leavenworth. This place was not settled, and was an almost perfect wilderness. He took with him about five hundred mechanics and laborers, with tools and provisions, and commenced his labors. In a new and unsettled country, so destitute of resources, many obstacles were encountered, but just as they were being overcome, and the buildings were progressing, cholera in its most fatal and frightful form made its appearance among the men, from two to four of them dying every day. Far removed from homes and kindred, and accustomed to depend upon Major Ogden for the supply of their daily wants, they turned to him in despair for relief from the pestilence. He labored among them night and day, nursing the sick and offering consolation to the dying. At last the heavy hand of death was laid upon him, and worn out with care, watching and untiring labors, he fell a victim to the disease whose ravages he had in vain attempted to stay.
In the death of this officer the army has lost one who was an ornament to its list; his own corps has lost one of its most efficient members—one whom they appreciated, and whom they delighted to praise. Among his associates in the army there is but one sentiment—that of regret for his loss and admiration for his professional and private character, and love for his estimable qualities. His associates in the army are not the only sufferers; but many and many in various parts of the land have lost a warm and true friend, and the country has lost an honest man and a Christian soldier.…
In the hour of death, far from all he most lovedon earth, he was cheered by his Christian hope. His faith was unshaken and enduring, and proved capable of supporting him in that last sad hour. Although weak and exhausted, he repeated the Lord’s Prayer audibly, and said to his friend the chaplain, who was by his side, “Tell my dear wife and children to try and meet me in heaven,” and then sank sweetly and quietly to rest.
So died the Christian soldier, in the vigor of manhood, and at the post of duty. Bound as he was by so many tender ties to this earth, not a murmur escaped his lips, but he met his summons with a cheerful resignation to that Providence whose dealings he had recognized through life, and in whom he trusted in death.…
It is interesting to note the evidences of the estimation in which Major Ogden was held at Fort Riley by the residents and the men in his employ. The following is an extract fromThe Kansas Heraldof the 10th:
“The death of Major Ogden left a deep gloom upon the spirits of all the men, which time does not obliterate. His tender solicitude for the spiritual and bodily welfare of those under him; his unceasing labors with the sick, and his forgetfulness of self in attendance upon others, until he was laid low, have endeared his memory to every one there. And, as a token of affection, they are now engaged in erecting a fine monument which shall mark their appreciation of the departed. The monument, which will be of the native stone of the locality, is to be placed on one of the high promontories at Fort Riley, and can be seen from many a distant point by thoseapproaching the place. It will bear the following inscription:
“Erected to the memory ofBREVET MAJOR E. A. OGDEN,the founder of Fort Riley;a disinterested patriot and a generous friend;a refined gentleman; a devoted husbandand father,and an exemplary Christian.
Few men were more respected in their lives, or more lamented in their deaths. As much the victim of duty as of disease, he calmly closed a life, in the public service, distinguished for integrity and faithfulness.
BREVET MAJOR E. A. OGDEN,
Assistant Quartermaster, United States Army, departed this life, at Fort Riley, August 3d, 1855, in the forty-fourth year of his age.
‘And I heard a voice saying unto me, write, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.’”
Home of the late Lewis Ludington, son of Colonel Ludington, at Carmel, N. Y., built in 1855
Home of the late Lewis Ludington, son of Colonel Ludington, at Carmel, N. Y., built in 1855
A younger brother of Major Edmund Ogden was Richard Ludington Ogden, who became a captain inthe United States Army, and was an extensive and adventurous traveler.
LEWIS LUDINGTON,Son of Col. Henry Ludington.(From portrait by Frank B. Carpenter.)
LEWIS LUDINGTON,Son of Col. Henry Ludington.
(From portrait by Frank B. Carpenter.)
The sixth son and youngest child of Colonel Henry Ludington was Lewis Ludington, who was born in Fredericksburgh on June 25, 1786. At the age of twenty he engaged with his elder brother Frederick in conducting a general store near their home. A few years later he married Polly Townsend, the daughter and oldest child of Samuel Townsend and his wife Keturah Crosby. The Townsends had come to Dutchess County many years before from Long Island, and Polly Townsend’s great-grandfather, Elihu Townsend, settled on a farm in South East Precinct, close to the Westchester County line. He died about 1804, at the age of 102 years, and was able to walk about the yard six weeks before his death. For several years after their marriage Lewis and Polly Townsend Ludington lived in a cottage near the Ludington homestead at Fredericksburgh, or Kent, as it was then renamed. Then, in the spring of 1816, they removed to the village of Carmel, where soon after Lewis Ludington bought property which is still owned by members of the family. In the fall of 1855 he completed and occupied the house which is still the family homestead. The wood of which this house was built was cut on lands owned by Mr. Ludington in Wisconsin, was sawed in his mills at Oconto in that State, and was shipped from Green Bay to Buffalo in the lake schoonerLewis Ludington. This circumstance suggests the fact that LewisLudington was strongly identified with business interests in Wisconsin. He went West in the fall of 1838, in company with his nephew, Harrison Ludington, already mentioned, and Harvey Burchard, of Carmel, N. Y. They visited Milwaukee, which was then a mere village, and during that winter made several long trips on horseback through the interior of Wisconsin, for the purpose of selecting government lands. They purchased extensive tracts, largely with a view to the lumber trade, and in 1839 they formed at Milwaukee the general mercantile firm of Ludington, Burchard & Co., of which Lewis Ludington was the eldest and Harrison Ludington the youngest member. A year or two later Burchard retired and the firm became Ludington & Co., Harrison’s younger brother Nelson being taken into it. Nelson Ludington, by the way, was afterward president of the Fifth National Bank of Chicago, and for many years was at the head of large and successful lumbering and manufacturing interests and was prominent in commercial life in Chicago. For nearly twenty years Lewis Ludington was the head of the firm of Ludington & Co., which was one of the foremost in Milwaukee, and which conducted what was for those days a business of great magnitude. The firm also had lumber mills at Oconto and docks at Milwaukee. About 1843, Lewis Ludington bought a tract of land in Columbia County, Wisconsin, and in July of the following year laid out thereon the city of Columbus. For many years he personallydirected and encouraged the development of the new community, which grew to be a city of considerable population and wealth.
Thus for almost a quarter of a century Mr. Ludington conducted a number of enterprises in Wisconsin, enjoying at all times the respect and confidence of those who knew him and ranking among the best representative citizens of the two States with which he was identified. He was a Whig in politics, and exerted much influence in party councils, especially opposing the extension of slavery, but would never accept public office, though frequently urged to do so. He died on September 3, 1857, at Kenosha, Wisconsin, and his remains were interred in the family lot in Raymond Hill Cemetery, at Carmel, N. Y.
CHARLES HENRY LUDINGTON,Grandson of Col. Henry Ludington.
CHARLES HENRY LUDINGTON,Grandson of Col. Henry Ludington.
The fifth child of Lewis Ludington is Charles Henry Ludington, who was born at Carmel, N. Y., on February 1, 1825. Among the schools which he attended in boyhood was one conducted in the former home of “Peter Parley” at Ridgefield, Conn. In 1842 he became a clerk in a wholesale dry-goods store in New York, and later was for many years a member of a leading firm in that same business—the firm of Lathrop, Ludington & Co., at first on Cortlandt Street, and afterward on Park Row. A considerable portion of the business of this firm was with the southern States, but a few years before the Civil War its name was published in the notorious “black-list” of the pro-slavery Secessionists, as an “Abolitionist” concern, and as a result all trade withthat section of the country was ended. The “black-list” at first comprised only the names of Bowen, Holmes & Co., Lathrop, Ludington & Co., and a few others, but in time was increased until it embraced about forty of the leading houses in wholesale lines in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, and was widely published throughout the South, to injure if possible the business of those who, like Bowen, Holmes & Co., “sold their goods but not their principles.” Of course the outbreak of the war ended what little trade remained for these houses in the South, but Lathrop, Ludington & Co. more than recouped elsewhere the losses of their southern trade, and before the end of the war had become the third leading firm in that line in New York. Mr. Ludington was an ardent upholder of the Union. Unable himself to go to the war as a soldier, he employed and sent a substitute, and his firm contributed large sums for the recruiting and equipping of troops in New York City and in Putnam County. Retiring in 1868, he has since that time been engaged in various personal enterprises in New York and in the West.
James Ludington, the sixth child of Lewis Ludington, was born at Carmel, on April 18, 1827, went to Milwaukee in 1843, worked in the establishment of Ludington & Co., aided his father in founding the town of Columbus, and was for a time his father’s resident agent there. Later, at Milwaukee, he was treasurer of a railroad company and vice-president of the Bank of the West at Madison, Wisconsin. In1859 he acquired extensive saw-mills at the mouth of the Père Marquette River, in Michigan, and there founded the city of Ludington. He died on April 1, 1891.
In addition to the impress thus widely made upon the military, political, business and other history of the United States by members of the family, the name of Ludington, in memory of the influence and achievements of those who have borne it, is honorably inscribed upon the maps of no fewer than four of the States. A village of Putnam County, at the site of the old homestead of colonial and revolutionary times, bears, as we have seen, the name of Ludingtonville—at once a tribute to the Ludington family and an unfortunate example of the unhappy American habit, now less prevalent than formerly, of adding “ville” to local names. Far better was the bestowal of the simple and sufficient name of Ludington upon the lake port in Michigan, referred to in the preceding notice of James Ludington’s life. The same name is borne by a village in the parish of Calcasieu, in southwestern Louisiana, while the part the Ludington family played in the settlement and upbuilding of the State of Wisconsin is commemorated in the name of a village in Eau Claire County, which retains an old and familiar variant of spelling, Luddington.
The quoted tribute to the English Ludingtons of former centuries, with which this volume was begun, might well,mutatis mutandis, be recalled at its close for application to the Ludingtons of America. Theboast of being of “great estate” is worthily matched with the record of having contributed something of substantial value to the common wealth of the Great Republic, and travels in Eastern lands are rivalled with travels and labors in the greater regions of the West; while even wars against the Paynim and loyalty to the King did not surpass in merit the war for liberty and independence and loyalty to the intrinsic rights of man. In this view of the case, it is confidently hoped that not only for the sake of family affection, but also for its historical interest, it will be deemed worth the while to have told thus briefly and simply the story of Henry Ludington.