Early Life and Family
Named for the King of France, McLane was born in Smyrna, Delaware, son of Allen and Rebecca Wells McLane. Allen McLane was a veteran of the American Revolution and long time tax collector for the port of Wilmington. He was well-known and a fervently loyal Federalist. As such he received the strong backing of James A. Bayard, who managed to see that the elder McLane was able to keep his lucrative position in spite of the accession of Thomas Jefferson to the Presidency in 1801. In fact, he held the office until the administration of Andrew Jackson. Much of his income came from the seizure of contraband and Louis McLane inherited much of this wealth, along with legal issues that lasted well beyond the death of his father.
Louis McLane attended private schools and served as a midshipman on the USS Philadelphia for one year before he was 18. He then attended Newark College, later the University of Delaware, and studied law under James A. Bayard. Admitted to the bar in 1807, he began a practice in Wilmington, Delaware. He married Catherine Mary Milligan (Kitty) in 1812, and they had 13 children, including Robert, later the Governor of Maryland.
During the War of 1812 McLane joined the Wilmington Artillery Company, formed for the purpose of defending Wilmington. When Baltimore was threatened, they marched to its defense, but were sent back due to lack of provisions for them in Baltimore. Ultimately, they saw no action, and McLane left the unit as a 1st Lieutenant.
Read more about this topic: Louis McLane
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or family:
“There is a relationship between cartooning and people like Miró and Picasso which may not be understood by the cartoonist, but it definitely is related even in the early Disney.”
—Roy Lichtenstein (b. 1923)
“People are beginning to see that the first requisite to success in life is to be a good animal.”
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)
“The Family is the Country of the heart. There is an angel in the Family who, by the mysterious influence of grace, of sweetness, and of love, renders the fulfilment of duties less wearisome, sorrows less bitter. The only pure joys unmixed with sadness which it is given to man to taste upon earth are, thanks to this angel, the joys of the Family.”
—Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872)