Samuel Lewis Southard

Samuel Lewis Southard (June 9, 1787 – June 26, 1842) was an American statesman of the early 19th century, serving as a U.S. senator, secretary of the Navy, and the tenth governor of New Jersey. He also served as president pro tempore of the Senate, and was briefly first in the presidential line of succession due to concurrent vacancies in the offices of vice president and speaker of the House.

Biography The son of Henry Southard and Sarah (Lewis) Southard, Henry was born in the Basking Ridge section of Bernards Township, New Jersey, on June 9, 1787. Southard's ancestors included Anthony Janszoon van Salee, one of the earliest settlers of New Amsterdam (of partial Moorish descent), and his siblings included Isaac Southard. Southard attended the Brick Academy classical school and graduated from Princeton University in 1804. Southard served in office from January 26, 1821, to March 3, 1823, when he resigned. During this time, he was a member of the committee that produced the Missouri Compromise.

Navy career

President James Monroe selected Senator Southard to be Secretary of the Navy in September 1823, and he remained in office under President John Quincy Adams. In 1839, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.

Death and burial He died in Fredericksburg, Virginia, on June 26, 1842. Southard was buried in Washington's Congressional Cemetery.

Legacy The destroyer , (later DMS-10), 1919–1946, was named in his honor. There is also a public park in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, named after him. There is also a street named after him in Key West, FL as well as Southard Street in Trenton, New Jersey.