Langdon, Woodbury, 1739-1805

Dates:

Birth 1739

Death 1805-01-13

Birth 1738

Death 1805

Birth 1739

Death 1805

Birth 1738

Death 1805-01-13

Gender:

Male

Nationality: Britons, Americans,

Language: English,

Biographical notes:

Woodbury Langdon (1739 – January 13, 1805) was a merchant, statesman and justice from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was the brother of John Langdon, a Founding Father who served as both senator from and Governor of New Hampshire, and father-in-law of Edmund Roberts.

Langdon attended the Latin grammar school at Portsmouth, then went into the counting house of Henry Sherburne, a prominent local merchant. When the American Revolutionary War broke out in 1775, Langdon sailed to London to secure considerable monies he had invested there. The attempt was unsuccessful, and two years later he left empty-handed for New York. Upon arrival, British Commander-in-Chief General William Howe suspected Langdon's loyalty to the Crown, and consequently restricted him to the city. Entreaties to release Langdon, written both by his prominent friends in England and younger brother, John, were ignored. Nevertheless, in December 1777 he managed to escape.

If Langdon's leanings towards American Independence were at all uncertain before his confinement in Manhattan, they became unmistakable afterwards. In spring of 1779, he was elected as one of New Hampshire's delegates to the Continental Congress, serving a year. In 1780, 1781 and 1785 he was re-elected, but chose to remain in New Hampshire and serve at the revolutionary capital in Exeter, where he was a representative from 1778 to 1779 and a member of the Executive Council from 1781 to 1784. Langdon was appointed an associate justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court in 1782. He resigned after a year despite the legislature's repeated requests that he remain in office. In 1786, he again accepted the job, and held it until January 1791 when he resigned following becoming the first state superior court justice to be impeached.

In the meantime, President Washington had appointed him in December 1790 as a commissioner to settle Revolutionary War claims. In 1796 and 1797, Langdon attempted a comeback by running for Congress, but lost both times. Langdon died in Portsmouth on January 13, 1805, and was buried in the North Cemetery there.