Henry M. Ridgely

Henry Moore Ridgely (born August 6, 1779 in Dover , Delaware , † August 6, 1847 ibid) was an American politician who represented the state of Delaware in both chambers of Congress .

After attending Dickinson College in Carlisle , Ridgely studied law and was inducted into the bar in 1802. He worked as a lawyer in Dover and was initially married to Sally Banning, who had 15 children; eight of them reached adulthood. In 1842 he went into a second marriage with Sarah Ann Comegys, the daughter of Cornelius P. Comegys , the former governor of Delaware. Ridgely was a member of the governing staff of the Farmers Bank and served as its president for 40 years.

He began his political career as a federalist in the Delaware House of Representatives , to which he was a member from 1808 to 1810. He was also serving as an officer in the Kent County Court at the time. In 1810 he was elected to the US House of Representatives, where he remained until March 3, 1815. There he was part of the federalist opposition to the British-American War .

Henry Ridgely did not run for re-election in 1814. He returned to Dover and worked as a lawyer again. In 1818 he became Secretary of State of Delaware; He kept this until 1827. In addition, he was again a member of the State House of Representatives in 1816, 1822 and 1827.

On January 12, 1827, Ridgely entered Congress in Washington, DC again . He had been elected to succeed the late Senator Nicholas Van Dyke , whose term of office, which lasted until March 3, 1829, he ended. He was denied re-election because he had in the meantime joined the Democratic Party as a supporter of Andrew Jackson and was thus in opposition to the majority in the Delaware General Assembly , which at that time was still electing the senators.

Henry Ridgely was one of the opponents of slavery . It was alleged that he bought slaves only to be able to set them free afterwards. He died on his 68th birthday in his hometown of Dover.

Web links

Henry M. Ridgely in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

personal data
SURNAME	Ridgely, Henry M.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Ridgely, Henry Moore (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American politician
DATE OF BIRTH	August 6, 1779
PLACE OF BIRTH	Dover , Delaware
DATE OF DEATH	August 6, 1847
Place of death	Dover , Delaware