Woodbridge, Dudley, 1747-1823.

Dudley Woodbridge was born in Stonington, Connecticut, in 1747, and graduated from Yale in 1766. Following his graduation, he worked as a lawyer in Norwich, Connecticut, and by 1778 had become a merchant, along with his brother Samuel, dealing primarily in rum and other foodstuffs. He served as the city's first postmaster from 1782-1789, and then moved to Marietta, Ohio, where he again became an attorney. He died in 1823. Woodbridge and his wife, Lucy Backus, married in 1774; their son William (1780-1861) was a governor of the state of Michigan (1840-1841) and a United States Senator from Michigan (1841-1847).

From the guide to the Dudley Woodbridge papers, Woodbridge, Dudley papers, 1773-1789, 1778-1789, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)