{{Short description|American politician}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = John Ladue | image = John Ladue Detroit.jpg | caption = | office = Mayor of Detroit | term_start = 1850 | term_end = 1850 | predecessor = Charles Howard | successor = Zachariah Chandler | birth_date = {{birth date text|November 18, 1804}} | birth_place = Lansingburgh, New York | death_date = {{death date and age|December 1, 1854|November 18, 1803}} | death_place = Detroit, Michigan | constituency = | party = | alma_mater = | spouse = Mary Angel | profession = | signature = | footnotes = }}

'''John Ladue''' (November 18, 1804 &ndash; December 1, 1854)<ref name = "pg">{{cite web| title = Shoe and Leather Politicians | publisher = The Political Graveyard| url = http://politicalgraveyard.com/occ/leather.html| access-date = September 24, 2010}}</ref> was mayor of Detroit, Michigan in 1850.

==Biography== John Ladue was born November, 1804 in Lansingburgh, New York, the son of Peter and Mary Tallman Ladue.<ref name = "farm">{{citation|title = THE HISTORY OF DETROIT AND MICHIGAN |author = Silas Farmer| year = 1889 |page = 1039|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yl06VbZ-RfwC&pg=1039}}</ref> In 1827, he married Mary Angel.<ref name = "farm"/> The couple had four children who outlived their father: John T. E. A. Ladue, Charlotte M. Ladue, George N. Ladue, and Austin Y. Ladue.<ref name = "farm"/>

In the 1840s, John's brother Andrew moved to Detroit with his family and established a tannery.<ref name = "palmer">{{citation | title = Early Days in Detroit | author = Friend Palmer | publisher = Hunt & June | date = 1906 | page = 539 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yhoVAAAAYAAJ}}</ref> John Ladue followed Andrew to Detroit in 1847, and began in the business of manufacturing leather and purchasing wool,<ref name = "farm"/> with a store on Michigan Avenue at Campus Martius Park.<ref name = "plok">{{citation|title = Polk's Detroit city directory |publisher = R. L. Polk & company| year = 1852 | page = 76| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_Fc4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA76}}</ref> He was popular among the business community, and in 1850 was elected mayor.<ref name = "farm"/> During his term as mayor, a fugitive slave was arrested and jailed in Detroit. The local populace mobilized to free the man, and Ladue called out federal troops to preserve the peace.<ref name = "farm"/> To head off potential conflict, Ladue solicited donations from leading Detroit citizens to purchase the slave, and then freed him.<ref>{{citation | title = A Fluid Frontier: Slavery, Resistance, and the Underground Railroad in the Detroit River Borderland | author = Karolyn Smardz Frost | publisher = Wayne State University Press | year = 2016 | isbn = 9780814339602 }}</ref>

John Ladue died December 1, 1854.<ref name = "farm"/>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef | before=Charles Howard}} {{s-ttl | title=Mayor of Detroit | years = 1850}} {{s-aft | after=Zachariah Chandler}} {{end}}

{{DetroitMayors}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladue, John}} Category:1803 births Category:1854 deaths Category:19th-century mayors of places in Michigan Category:Mayors of Detroit Category:People from Lansingburgh, New York Category:Merchants from Michigan