Judith Smith Ladson

Technopedia Center

Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science
S1 Informatics S1 Information Systems S1 Information Technology S1 Computer Engineering S1 Electrical Engineering S1 Civil Engineering

faculty of Economics and Business
S1 Management S1 Accountancy

Faculty of Letters and Educational Sciences
S1 English literature S1 English language education S1 Mathematics education S1 Sports Education

Judith Smith Ladson - Wikipedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Judith Smith Ladson
Portrait of Ladson by Samuel Morse

Second Lady of South Carolina
Assumed role December 5, 1792 – December 17, 1794
Lieutenant	James Ladson

Personal details
Born	Judith Smith 1766 Charleston, Province of South Carolina, British Empire
Died	September 4, 1820 Charleston, South Carolina United States
Resting place	St. Philip's Episcopal Church Cemetery
Political party	Federalist
Spouse	James Ladson
Children	11 (including James and Sarah)
Parent(s)	Benjamin Smith Mary Wragg
Relatives	Joseph Wragg (grandfather)

Judith Smith Ladson (May 1766 – September 4, 1820) was an American heiress and socialite who served as the Second Lady of South Carolina. A member of the colonial planter class, she was the daughter of the slave trader Benjamin Smith and the wife of the politician James Ladson, who served as Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina. Through her marriage, she was a member of the Ladson family, one of Charleston's most prominent families.

Biography

Ladson was born in Charleston in 1766 to Benjamin Smith and Mary Wragg. Her father was a prominent planter, slave trader, and merchant who served as Speaker of the South Carolina Royal Assembly.^[1] Her mother was a daughter of English slave trader Joseph Wragg and Huguenot heiress Judith DuBose. Ladson was a great-great granddaughter of Thomas Smith and Joseph Blake, who both served as Colonial Governors of the Province of South Carolina.^[2] Through her father, she was a descendant of Sir George Smith and Sir Nicholas Smith. Ladson was a first cousin of Benjamin Smith, who served as Governor of North Carolina.^[3] Her family, one of the wealthiest families in Charleston, were leading figures in the British colonization of the Americas and the slave trade in British North America.

She spent her childhood at a mid-18th century townhouse on Broad Street, her family's primary residence.^[4] She also spent time at her father's two plantations, the Accabee Plantation in the St. Andrew Parish on the Ashley River, and a two-thousand acre plantation in the St. James Parish near Goose Creek.

On October 1, 1778, she married James Ladson, a planter and military officer who served in the American Revolutionary War.^[1]^[5] Prior to their marriage, a settlement was made between Ladson's father and fiancée, setting her dowry at £100,000, which would come in to the possession of her husband upon her marriage.^[6] The settlement also conferred that half of the dowry would be inherited by the couple's children, should Ladson's husband die before her.^[6]

They had eleven children, including James H. Ladson and Sarah Reeve Ladson.^[6]^[7] Her husband was elected Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina in 1792.^[8]^[9]

A prominent society figure, Ladson was painted by portraitists John Wollaston and Samuel Morse, the later whose portrait is on display at the Gibbes Museum of Art.^[10]^[11]

She died on September 5, 1820, and was buried in the cemetery at St. Philip's Episcopal Church.

References

^ ^a ^b Laurens, Henry (May 6, 1981). The Papers of Henry Laurens. Univ of South Carolina Press. ISBN 9780872493995 – via Google Books.
^ Biographical directory of the South Carolina Senate, 1776–1985, vol. 2, p. 881, University of South Carolina Press, 1986, ISBN 9780872494800
^ Alan D. Watson, General Benjamin Smith: A Biography of the North Carolina Governor, p. 5, McFarland, 2014, ISBN 9780786485284
^ Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)
^ Salley, Alexander Samuel (July 6, 1976). Marriage Notices in the South-Carolina and American General Gazette from May 30, 1766, to February 28, 1781, and in Its Successor the Royal Gazette (1781-1782). Genealogical Publishing Com. ISBN 9780806307268 – via Google Books.
^ ^a ^b ^c Appeals, South Carolina Court of; Richardson, J. S. G. (July 6, 1853). "Reports of Cases in Chancery: Argued and Determined in the Court of Appeals of South Carolina, 1831-1832. 1831-1832". McCarter – via Google Books.
^ "The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography". J.T. White. July 6, 1909 – via Google Books.
^ Baltimore, Colonial Dames of America Chapter I. (July 6, 1910). "Ancestral Records and Portraits: A Compilation from the Archives of Chapter I, the Colonial Dames of America". Grafton Press – via Google Books.
^ Moss, Bobby Gilmer (July 6, 2009). Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution. Volume II, K-Z. Genealogical Publishing Com. ISBN 9780806318141 – via Google Books.
^ "Judith Smith (Mrs. James Ladson) - John Wollaston". Google Arts & Culture.
^ "Mrs. James Ladson (Judith Smith) - Morse, Samuel F. B."

Categories:

Hidden categories: