Representative Henry Joel Scudder

Henry Joel Scudder (September 18, 1825 – February 10, 1886) was a United States Representative from New York and a prominent New York City lawyer. Born in Northport, Long Island, he was the son of Henry Scudder (1778–1863) and Elizabeth (née Hewlett) Scudder (1792–1870). His paternal grandparents were Henry Scudder (1743–1822), of Crab Meadow in Long Island, and Phebe Carll Scudder (1743–1821), and his maternal grandfather was Divine Hewlett. Scudder was descended from Thomas Scudder, who immigrated from Kent, England, to Salem, Massachusetts, in 1630, and he was related to fellow U.S. Representative Tredwell Scudder. His extended family would continue its public service tradition; his nephew Townsend Scudder later became both a judge and a U.S. Representative from New York.

Scudder attended local district schools and Huntington Academy on Long Island before pursuing higher education. He enrolled at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, where he received a classical education and graduated in 1846. His association with Trinity remained strong throughout his life, and he later served as a trustee of the college for more than twenty years, reflecting his ongoing interest in higher education and institutional governance.

After graduating from Trinity, Scudder studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1848. He began practicing in New York City, where he quickly established himself in the legal profession. In 1854, he founded the law firm of Scudder & Carter, an enterprise that evolved over time into the firm known as Carter Ledyard & Milburn, one of New York’s longstanding law firms. During the Civil War, he was commissioned a captain in the Thirty-seventh Regiment of the New York National Guard in 1862 and served throughout the conflict, contributing to the Union war effort in a military capacity while maintaining his professional standing in the city.

As a member of the Republican Party representing New York, Scudder contributed to the legislative process during one term in office. He was elected as a Republican to the Forty-third Congress and served from March 4, 1873, to March 3, 1875, a significant period in American history during the Reconstruction era. In Congress he was assigned to the Committee on War Claims, where he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his constituents in matters arising from the Civil War. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1874, choosing instead to return to his legal practice.

Following his congressional service, Scudder resumed the practice of law in New York City, where he became principal counsel for the Standard Oil Company, then an emerging industrial power in the United States. His legal work placed him at the center of major corporate and commercial developments of the late nineteenth century. In 1876, he was a candidate for judge of the Superior Court of New York, reflecting his stature in the legal community. In 1884, Republicans in Suffolk County again sought to persuade him to accept a judicial nomination, underscoring his continued prominence in both legal and political circles, although he did not ultimately assume a judgeship.

Scudder married twice and had a large family. On June 21, 1853, he married Louisa Henrietta Davies (1834–1864), the daughter of Professor Charles Davies of the United States Military Academy at West Point. They were the parents of five children: Henry Townsend Scudder (1854–1937), a clergyman who married Margaret Mott Weeks (1863–1933), daughter of Jacob Mott Weeks; Charles Davies Scudder (1856–1892), a New York City physician who in 1883 married Louisa Wardner Evarts (1861–1937), daughter of Senator William M. Evarts; Edward Mansfield Scudder (1858–1944), a Trinity College graduate and lawyer who died unmarried; Mary English Scudder (1859–1882), who died unmarried at age twenty-two; and Elizabeth Scudder (1861–1865), who died in childhood. After Louisa’s death in 1864, Scudder married Emma Willard (1835–1893) in 1866. She was the daughter of John Hart Willard (1810–1883) and a granddaughter of Emma Willard, the noted educator and founder of the Emma Willard School in Troy, New York. Henry and Emma Willard Scudder had six children, including Willard Scudder (1868–1936), a teacher at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire; Louisa H. Scudder (c. 1868), who died young; Heyward Scudder (1870–1917), a graduate in medicine from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who died unmarried; Emma Willard Scudder (1871–1944), who attended the New York School of Applied Design for Women and in 1898 married Dr. Edward Loughborough Keyes (1873–1948), son of Dr. Edward Lawrence Keyes and grandson of General Erasmus D. Keyes; and Hewlett Scudder (1875–1942), a Yale graduate who pursued technical engineering studies at Columbia University.

Henry Joel Scudder died at his residence on East 22nd Street in New York City on February 10, 1886. His funeral was held at Calvary Church in New York and was attended by many prominent figures of the era, including Joseph Hodges Choate, Senator William M. Evarts, Mayor William R. Grace, former Chief Justice Charles P. Daly, William Allen Butler, James C. Carter, Aaron J. Vanderpoel, Elihu Root, Elbridge Thomas Gerry, Colonel George Bliss, Benjamin H. Bristow, and Clarence A. Seward. He was buried in the family cemetery at Northport, Long Island, closing a life marked by public service, legal distinction, and deep familial and institutional ties.