Daniel Ludlow was an American merchant and banker.
Background
Daniel Ludlow, the eldest child of Gabriel Ludlow by his second wife, Elizabeth (Crommelin), was born on August 2, 1750 in New York City, New York, United States where for over fifty years the Ludlows had been prominent merchants and distinguished citizens. He was a descendant of Gabriel Ludlow, grandnephew of Roger Ludlow and member of a Somerset family, who emigrated to New York in 1694.
Career
At the age of fifteen Ludlow was sent to Holland to enter the counting-house of the great Amsterdam firm of Crommelin & Zoon, which had been founded by his maternal grandfather, Charles Crommelin. Here he learned the banking business and acquired a knowledge of the French, German, and Dutch languages. Returning to New York after four or five years, he joined his father as a general merchant and upon the latter's death in 1773 continued the business under his own name. After the Revolution, during which he remained loyal to the British Crown, Ludlow, with Edward Goold as partner, conducted a general importing business at 47 Wall St. This partnership was dissolved about 1790, and thereafter until 1808 Ludlow and his nephew, Gulian, under the firm name of Daniel Ludlow & Company, carried on the enterprise. In 1799 he was active in the organization of the Manhattan Company and was chosen its first president. This company was formed ostensibly to supply New York "with pure and wholesome water"; but apparently its real object was to establish a bank, since an inconspicuous clause in the charter permitted surplus funds to be used in any "monied transactions and operations" not inconsistent with state or national laws. Though there were many complaints about the water supply, the Bank of the Manhattan Company was founded on September 1, 1799, at 40 Wall St.
The succeeding years were busy ones for the merchant banker, for in addition to his other activities he was appointed navy agent in 1801 and later he became a leading director of the Harlem Bridge Company. Ludlow was also prominent socially. He had a summer home at Barretto's Point on the East River, whither he often conveyed guests in his four-in-hand equipage. An avenue and square in that locality, now part of the Borough of the Bronx, still retain the family name. Both at his country seat and at his large marble house at 54-56 Broadway he dispensed hospitality, keeping six or eight places set at table for unexpected guests. The unsettled trade conditions in Europe, culminating in the Berlin and Milan decrees, brought Daniel Ludlow & Company to bankruptcy, however, and in 1808 Ludlow was forced to sell both his city home and his country estate. As a matter of policy he resigned as president of the Manhattan Company, and shortly afterward moved to Skaneateles, New York, where he was an honored resident until his death.
Achievements
Politics
Ludlow was a Loyalist during the American Revolution.
Connections
Ludlow was twice married: first, October 4, 1773, to Arabella Duncan, who died in 1803; and later, to a Mrs. Van Horne. George Duncan and Gabriel George Ludlow were his half-brothers.