Skip to main content
Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

The Navy Department Library

Related Content
Sources

Adapted from  "Levi Woodbury" biography, Naval Records and Library; published on 5 September 1918. Hardcopy located in the Rare Book Room, ZB files; Navy Department Library 

Topic
Document Type
  • Biography
Wars & Conflicts
File Formats
  • Image (gif, jpg, tiff)
Location of Archival Materials

Levi Woodbury 

22 December 1789 - 4 September 1851 


Portrait of Secretary of the Navy Levi Woodbury

                                  K-C
Naval Records and Library,
5 September 1918.

LEVI WOODBURY.

Jurist, born in Francestown, N.H., 22 December 1789; died in Portsmouth, N.H., 4 September 1851. He was descended from John Woodbury, of Somersetshire, [Somerset] England, who settled first at Cape Ann in 1624, and at Naumkeag (now Salem) in 1626. After graduation with the highest honors at Dartmouth in 1809, Levi entered the Litchfield, Conn., law-school. He was admitted to the bar in 1812, and practised in his native town until 1816 when he was chosen clerk of the state senate. In 1817 he was appointed a judge of the supreme court of the state, and in 1819 removed to Portsmouth, where he practised law after serving as governor of New Hampshire in 1823-4. He was speaker of the state house of representatives in 1825, and was elected to the U.S. Seante [sic] as a Democrat, serving from 5 December 1825 till 3 March 1831, when he was appointed Secretary of the Navy, and held that office until 1834, when he was made secretary of the treasury, serving until 1841.

[END]

Related Sources:

Four ships named for Levi Woodbury:

Woodbury 1 (Schooner)

Woodbury II (Revenue Cutter

Woodbury III (Destroyer No. 309)

Woodbury IV (Coast Guard Cutter) 

Published: Wed Sep 13 09:03:13 EDT 2017