John T. Ludeling

Born in Monroe, Louisiana,[3] Ludeling entered Saint Louis University at the age of 12, but did receive a degree. He read law in Monroe to gain admission to the bar in Louisiana.[1] He was a lifelong Republican,[4] opposing secession at the outset of the American Civil War, and refusing to take up arms against either side.[1] His principled neutrality won him political support, and after the war he was called to serve in the 1867 Constitutional Convention.[1]

In 1868, Governor Henry C. Warmoth appointed Ludeling Chief Justice of the state supreme court, making him the fifth person to hold that office,[3] but the first Louisiana native to do so.[1] Ludeling served until 1877, when Governor Francis T. Nicholls appointed an entirely new court.[1]

Ludeling thereafter attained great wealth as president of Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railway.[4]

In 1855, Ludeling married Maria Copley Larkin, with whom he had four children.[1] Later in life, he retired to a plantation home near Monroe called Killeden Plantation. He died there at the age of 68, following a period of heart disease.[4]