William LADD

  General Notes:

He was educated at the public schools, prepared for college at Phillips Academy in his native town, and entered Harvard University, Cambridge, at the age of 14. At college he was distinguished for his high flow and buoyancy of spirit, for his fondness for social enjoyment, and by the kindliness of hs disposition. These traits of character made him beloved by his comrads, and did not interfere with a full average attention to his studies. He had an honorable appointment in his class when he graduated. His father had in the meantime removed from Exeter, NH, to Portsmouth, Rockingham Co, NH and was extensively engaged in commerce. When William came home one of his father ships was lying at the wharf ready for sea. He applied for permission to go in her as a passenger, and his father, that his son might see something of the world before he entered upon the active duties of life, gave his consent. He embarked, but in a short time his situation as a passenger, without employment, became irksome to him; he cut off the skirt of his coat to make, as he said, "a sailor's jacket extempore", and though living as an officer, performed the duties of a seaman. In a second voyage he went as mate of the ship. In the next took command as master, and became one of the most successful of his father's captains. He soon becme part owner, and for several years sailed ships belonging to himself and a brother. He continued in commercial business until the war of 1812 drove him from the ocean. He then retired to Minot, ME, where his family owned a large tract of land. He purchsed the whole of it, built a large house, and began the business of farming and wool-gowing with his accousomed energy. Soon he had a flock of six hundred blooded stock, and continued his interest in farming and wool-growing until his death.

Notes from the Moffatt-Ladd House Book: He was the founder of the American Peace Society and was called the "Apostle of Peace". William Lloyd Garrison dedicated a sonnet to him in the first volume of "The Liberator". Ladd's papers on deposit at the Portsmouth Athenaeum cover his early travels as a seaman in his brother's ships and include descriptions of a festive evening at the Czar's palace at St Petersburg. He also wrote about attempting to farm, without slave labor, in South Carolina and Florida, before devoting himself to the peace movement.

William Ladd Papers, National Society of the Colonial Dames in the State of New Hampshire, MS017, on deposit at the Portsmouth Athenauem

William Ladd [5/10/1778-4/9/1841] was a ship's captain, merchant, farmer, legislator, and leader of the peace movement in America. William was born in Exeter, N.H. His parents were Eliphalet Ladd [1745?-2/29/1806], a wealthy ship's captain, merchant, shipbuilder, and member of the N.H. State Legislature, and Abigail Hill [1750-9/17/1838] of South Berwick. There other children were: Sarah [7/6/1774-10/12/1798], who married Rev. William T. Rowland; Elizabeth [8/12/1776-11/17/1821, who married Samuel Chauncey; Henry [4/30/1780-1842], who married Hannah Hurd; Charlotte [4/9/1782-?], who married John Langdon [son of Woodbury Langdon]; Alexander [5/9/1784-6/24/1855], who married Maria Tufton Haven; Caroline [5/4/1786-3/10/1803] who never married; Sophia [5/12/1788-? ], who married John P. Lord; Eliphalet [4/25/1791-4/24/1821], who married Mary L. Hurd; and Harriet [8/27/1793-7/31/1800], who died young. The Ladd family moved from Exeter to Portsmouth in 1792. William's mother remarried Rev. Joseph Buckminister of Portsmouth after Eliphalet's death.

William attended Exeter public schools, Phillips Exeter Academy [grad. 1793], and Harvard College [grad. 1797]. After college, he sailed as a seaman on the Ship Eliza, commanded by his brother-in-law, Capt. Samuel Chauncey. He became master of the Eliza in 1799. On a voyage from London to Philadelphia he met Sophia Ann Stidolph [1780?-12/29/1855] who was living in London, and was traveling to meet her parents in Wilmington, Del. William and Sohia were married in London in October 1801; they had no children, Sophia Ladd's siblings included a brother William Stidolph, a brother [?] William Harlim, sisters Mary Whitehead [w. of John], Martha Goodwin, ? Dickinson[ son is Henry] and Sally Abbott.

In 1802 William moved to Savannah, Georgia, and in January 1804 was granted by the Spanish Government about 1500 acres of land in New Smyrna, East Florida, to settle a cotton plantation, primarily using the services of Dutch indentured servants, also called redemptioners. The plantation failed, and he left it in the care of his neighbor Ambrose Hull. William and Sophia returned to Portsmouth in 1806 and he returned to the seafaring life.

Between 1812-14 William and Sophia resided in Portsmouth; William became involved in the Washington Benevolent Society, wrote on the state of the country for the Portsmouth Oracle, and was elected to the Portsmouth Committee of Safety. During this time he purchased his brothers' shares of a farm in Minot, Maine, deeded to them by their father. William and Sophia moved to Minot in June 1814. William served as a representative of Minot to the Massachusetts State Legislature in 1815, and as a delegate to the first convention of Maine which formed the independent state government and prepared a state constitution.

By about 1821 William became active in the peace movement, apparently encouraged by Rev. Jesse Appleton. He wrote articles on peace for the Christian Mirror under the pseudo name of Philanthropos beginning in 1823 and gave his first lecture in 1824 before the Peace Society of Maine. William was instrumental in the formation of the American Peace Society [APS] in 1828 and served as its first president, 1837-41. He edited the APS publication Harbinger of Peace from 1828-1831, and wrote for its successor the Calumet from 1831-35. He corresponded with the leaders or various peace societies throughout the Eastern United States and England, and spent a great deal of the rest of his life traveling and lecturing.

William was taken ill while in Canandaigua, New York in January 1841, while on a lecture tour, but still continued on the tour, giving his last lecture in Boston. He returned to Portsmouth and died in the Moffatt-Ladd house in April 1841. Sophia Ladd died in 1855.

Biographical Summary
1778 William Ladd [WL] born, Exeter, N.H.
1792 Ladd family moves from Exeter to Portsmouth.
1793 WL graduates from Phillips Exeter Academy.
1797 WL graduates from Harvard College. WL sails as a seaman on Ship Eliza.
1799 WL becomes captain of the Ship Eliza.
c1800 WL meets Sophia Ann Stidolph of London on voyage to Philadelphia.
1801 WL marries Sophia in London..
1802 WL moves to Savannah, Georgia.
1804 WL establishes plantation in New Smyrna, East Florida
1806 WL’s father, Eliphalet Ladd, dies at Portsmouth.
WL leaves New Smyrna for Portsmouth and returns to life at sea.
1812 WL writes for the Portsmouth Oracle.
1814 WL moves to farm in Minot, Maine.
1815 WL serves as a Maine representative to Massachusetts State Legislature.
1819 WL acts as a delegate to the convention of Maine to form a state government independent of Massachusetts.
1823 WL begins writing articles on peace for the Christian Mirror [Portland]
1824 WL gives his first peace lecture before the Peace Society of Maine.
1828 American Peace Society [APS] founded in Washington, D.C., WL elected first president.
1828-1831 WL edits the APS publication, The Harbinger of Peace.
1837 WL licensed as a preacher by the Waterford Union Association.
1838 WL's mother, Abigail Ladd Buckminster, dies in Portsmouth.
1841 WL dies in Portsmouth.
1855 Sophia Ann Stidolph dies.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation: Ship's Captain, Merchant, Farmer, Legislator, Leader of the Peace Movement in America.

William married Sophia Ann STIDOLPH, daughter of William H STIDOLPH, Sr, in Oct 1801 in London, England. (Sophia Ann STIDOLPH was born about 1780 in England and died on 29 Dec 1855.)