Difference between revisions of "Henry Izard"

Revision as of 16:57, 25 February 2016

Henry Izard was born at sea on May 15, 1771, while his parents were traveling from Charleston to New York. ^[1] Izard's parents were Ralph Izard, the eminent South Carolinan politician, and Alice Delancey, niece of New York lieutenant-governor James De Lancey. ^[2] Izard was the first born of the couple's fourteen children. ^[3]

Records conflict over whether Izard was raised by his parents in England or left behind in South Carolina to be raised by his Grandmother DeLancey. ^[4] According to Carol Bleser, Izard was educated "in the North" until 1791 when he was sent home to Charleston to study law with "his father's old friend Edward Rutledge." ^[5] However, there is some evidence that Izard actually studied law under George Wythe. In a letter Ralph Izard wrote to Thomas Jefferson, Izard's father states, "I have heard you speak of the University of Williamsburgh, and of the abilities of Mr. Wyth, which make me desirous of [my eldest son Henry] being placed for two, or three years under the tuition of that Gentleman." ^[6] But sources agree that Izard went to Europe in 1792 to complete his legal education. ^[7] In 1793, Izard moved back to South Carolina and was admitted to the South Carolina bar. ^[8] However, Izard never practiced law and instead "settled down to the life of a planter." ^[9]

In 1790, President Washington chose Izard along with Joseph Allen Smith to serve as signatory to Washington's treaty with the Creek Nation on August 7, 1790. ^[10] Izard was elected to represent Charleston in the House of Representatives, where he served from 1800 to 1802. ^[11] In 1807 Izard represented St. James, Goose Creek Parish, in the South Carolina Senate. ^[12]

After his father's death in 1804, Izard inherited The Elms Plantation in South Carolina. ^[13] However, the plantation house burned down in 1807 and Izard spent years to rebuild it. ^[14] And after his time in the Senate, Izard retired to his estates in South Carolina. In 1821 Izard was again elected to the House of Representatives, where he served until his death in 1826. Izard died on December 30, 1826 in Charleston, South Carolina. ^[15]

In 1795 Izard married Emma Philadelphia Middleton, with whom he had nine children (only four of which lived to adulthood). After Emma's death on May 1, 1813, Izard married Claudia Loughton Smith. ^[16] Claudia was "a reigning beauty in Charleston...[and] one of the young ladies chosen to sit by President George Washington at the banquet in his honor in Charleston in 1791." She was older than Izard by some years, a fact which "shocked" his family, and the couple did not have any children together. ^[17]

See also

Wythe the Teacher

References

1. ↑ "Izard of South Carolina," The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Jul., 1901), pp. 205-240, 218, accessed February 24, 2016.
2. ↑ Alice Delancey was also granddaughter to "noted naturalist" and NY lieutenant-governor Cadwallader Colden. American National Biography Online, s.v. "Izard, Ralph," by Joyce E. Chaplin, accessed February 18, 2016.
3. ↑ Ibid.
4. ↑ "Izard of South Carolina," 218; Carol Bleser, In Joy and in Sorrow: Woman, Family, and Marriage in the Victorian South, 1830-1900 (Oxford University Press, 1992), 10, accessed February 24, 2016.
5. ↑ Bleser, In Joy and in Sorrow, 10.
6. ↑ Ralph Izard to Thomas Jefferson, November 10,1787, in Jefferson Papers, at XII, 338-39.
7. ↑ Ibid; "Izard of South Carolina," 218.
8. ↑ J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, "Southern Members of the Inns of Court," The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 10, No. 4 (October, 1933), pp. 273-286, accessed February 24, 2016.`
9. ↑ Bleser, In Joy and in Sorrow, 10.
10. ↑ "William Smith, Representative from South Carolina," ed. Charlene Bickford, 1st Federal Congress Project: Documentary History of the First Federal Congress (Model Editions Partnership, 2002), accessed February 24, 2016.
11. ↑ "Izard of South Carolina," 218.
12. ↑ "South Carolina During the Antebellum Period - 1801 to 1860," by J.S. Lewis, carolana.com (2013), accessed February 24, 2016.
13. ↑ "Izard, Ralph; Bleser, In Joy and in Sorrow, 11.
14. ↑ Bleser, In Joy and in Sorrow, 11.
15. ↑ "Izard of South Carolina," 219.
16. ↑ Ibid.
17. ↑ Bleser, In Joy and in Sorrow, 11.