Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/347

 LANGDON

LANGDON

1785 and 1788; U.S. senator, 1789-1801, and pres- ident pro tempore of the senate, 1789-93 and 1792- 94, and he announced the electoral votes for the first president of the United States, and had the honor of first informing General Washington of his elec- tion. In 1801 he was otfered the position of sec- retary of the navy by President Jefferson, but he declined, as he did the nomination for Vice-Pres- ident of the United States, tendered him by the Republican caucus, in 1812, He was again gov- ernor of New Hampshire, 1805-08 and 1810-11. He died in Portsmouth, N.H., Sept. 18, 1819.

LANQDON, Oliver flonroe, philanthropist, was born near Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 2, 1817 ; son of the Rev. Oliver Langdon, M.D, His maternal grandfather. Col. William Brown, a soldier in the Revolutionary army, settled with his family near Cincinnati in 1789. He was educated at home until 1829, when, both parents being dead, he re- moved to Cincinnati, and attended Woodward high school, 1831-32, and the Athenaeum (after- ward St. Xavier's college), 1833-34, studied medi- cine in the office of Dr. Cobb, and was graduated from the Medical College of Ohio in 1838. He practiced medicine at Madison, Ind., 1838-42, and then returned to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was city pln'sician, 1842-46. He was surgeon of the 4th Ohio regiment, Colonel Brough, through the Mexican war, 1846-48. He practised medicine in partnership with Dr. Jesse Judkins, 1848-59 ; was physician to the house of refuge, Cincinnati, and to the lunatic asylum at Lick Run, 1848-56 ; was one of the founders of the Miami Medical college ; and an instigator of the humane movement which transferred the lunatics from Commercial hos- pital to Lick Run, and resulted in Longview Asylum for the Insane, of which he was the super- intendent, 1859-70. He established in 1866, in connection with Longview, the first colored asylum for the insane, the state having previously kept insane negroes in the common jail. He was a trustee of Miami Medical college, and a mem- ber of several important medical societies. He died at Columbus, Ohio, June 15, 1878.

LANQDON, Samuel, educator, was born in Boston, Mass., Jan. 12, 1723; son of Samuel and Esther (Osgood) Langdon and grandson of Philip and Mary Langdon. Philip Langdon, with his brothers Edward and John, [settled in Boston about 1650. ISamuel, Jr., was graduated at Harvard, A.B., 1740, A.M., 1743 ; taught school and stud- ied theology at Portsmouth, 1740-45, and was licensed to preach in The same year he was appointed a chaplain in the colonial army and he joined the expedition that captured Louisburg, June

N.H. 1745.

17, 1745. On the return of the expedition he became assistant to the Rev. James Fitch, pastor of the North church, Portsmouth, N.H., and he was ordained pastor of the church in 1747. He was married to Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Richard Brown, of Reading, Mass. He resigned his pastorate in 1774 to accept the presidency of Harvard college at the urgent re- quest of John Hancock, Samuel Adams, a mem- ber of his class, and other influential New Eng- land patriots. He was the successor of President Samuel Locke, who had been at the head of the college from March 21, 1770, to Dec. 1, 1773, when he resigned. President Langdon gave offence to the royalists by his outsp >kvn sympathj- for the struggling colonists, and as the wealthy patrons of Harvard were generally of the loyalist class the opposition forced his resignation in 1780. He ac- cepted the pastorate of the church at Hampton Falls, N.H., in 1781, and in 1788 was a delegate to the New Hampshire state convention that adopted the Federal constitution, which measure he advocated with much fervor. He received the honorary degree of S.T.D. from the University of Aberdeen in 1762, and on the organization of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Boston he was made one of the fellows. He preached the election sermon in Boston, Mass., in 1775 and in Concord, N.H., in 1788. With Col. Joseph Blanchard he prepared and published a map of New Hampshire in 1761, and he is the author of: Summary of Christian Faith and Practice (1768); Observations on the Revolution (1791) ; Remarks on the Leading Sentiments of Dr. Ho2)kins's System of Doctrine (1794), and several sermons and pamphlets. He died at Hampton Falls, N.H., Nov. 29, 1797.

LANQDON, William Chauncey, clergyman, was born in Burlington, Vt., Aug. 19, 1831 ; son of John Jay and Harriette Curtis (Woodward) Langdon ; grandson of the Hon. Chauncey Lang- don, and a de.scendant on his mother's side from the Wheelocks and Woodwards of Dartmouth college, New Hampshire. His childhood was almost wholly passed in New Orleans, La., where he was taught by his mother. He was prepared for college at Castleton seminary, Vt., and was graduated from Transylvania university, Lexing- ton, Ky., in 1850. He was adjunct professor of chemistry and astronomy at Siielby college. Kj'., 18.50-51 ; assistant examiner of the U.S. patent office, 1851-55 ; chief examiner, 1855-56, and patent lawyer in Washington, D.C., 1856-58. He took orders in the P.E. church as deacon in 1858 and as priest in 1859. He was married in 1858 to Hannah Agnes, daughter of E. S. Courtney, of Baltimore, Md. He served as assistant minister in St. Andrew's church, Philadelphia, Pa., 1858- 59 ; was chaplain of the U.S. legation at Rome,