William Tudor

William Tudor (March 28, 1750 – July 8, 1819) was an American politician, military officer and lawyer from Boston. His eldest son William became a leading literary figure in Boston. Another son, Frederic, founded the Tudor Ice Company and became Boston's "Ice King", shipping ice to the tropics from many local sources of fresh water including Walden Pond, Fresh Pond, and Spy Pond in Arlington, Massachusetts. Life Tudor received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College in 1769, studied law in the office of John Adams, was admitted to the Massachusetts Bay Colony Bar, July 27, 1772, and became outstanding in his profession. He joined George Washington's army in Cambridge where he provided legal advice to Washington and, on July 29, 1775, was appointed Judge Advocate of the Continental Army with the rank of colonel, and then Judge Advocate General (ranked Lieutenant-Colonel) on August 10, 1776. He was also Lieutenant-Colonel of Henley's Additional Continental Regiment. He married Delia Jarvis on March 5, 1778, and resigned from the army on April 9, 1778, to re-establish himself as a lawyer. His practice flourished, and upon his father's death in 1796 he inherited an estate worth the then-considerable sum of $40,000. Six of their children survived infancy and early childhood: William Tudor (1779-1830); John Henry (1782–1802), who roomed with Washington Allston at Harvard; Frederic (September 4, 1783 – February 6, 1864); Emma Jane (1785–1865), who married Robert Hallowell Gardiner; Delia (1787–1861), who became the wife of Charles Stewart, captain of the USS Constitution; and Henry James (1791–1864). Tudor served as a Representative of Boston in the Massachusetts General Court, 1781–1794; as a State Senator, 1801 and 1802; Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1808 and 1809; and was a founder of the Massachusetts Historical Society, whose first meeting was held on January 24, 1791, in his house on Court Street, Boston.