A scion of a prominent Hudson River family, Ludlow was born in 1810 on Greenwich Street in New York City, which was a fashionable residential area at the time. He was a son of Gabriel Verplanck Ludlow, a lawyer who was at one time a Master-in-Chancery, and Elizabeth A. Ludlow. Among his siblings was older brother Robert Henry Ludlow and Ann Eliza Gabriella Ludlow. His paternal grandparents were Gabriel George Ludlow and Anne Ludlow. His maternal grandparents were Robert Hunter and Ruth Hunter. His paternal grandfather was "one of the three Ludlows who were members of the Committee of One Hundred which was organized in 1775 to support the cause of the American patriots." The first Ludlow in America was Gabriel Ludlow, who settled in New Amsterdam in 1694 and became a prominent and influential merchant and a clerk of the New York General Assembly.
Career
Ludlow studied medicine and duly received his degrees and diploma from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1831 before becoming a medical doctor. He later served as trustee of the Medical Department of Columbia College in 1872. After practicing medicine for a few years, he turned to business, relinquishing his practice and in 1836 opening a real estate office at 11 Broad Street. In 1845, after accumulating significant wealth, he retired to his country estate near Tivoli-on-the-Hudson. In 1850, however, he returned to New York and went into partnership with General Edward Jones Mallett until Mattlett's retirement in 1856. In 1856, Ludlow entered into a partnership with Morris Wilkins under the same name as the predecessor firm, E. H. Ludlow & Co., with principal offices located on Pine Street in lower Manhattan. The firm of auctioneers, real estate agents and brokers, which was the most prominent in New York City, offered to lease Edgewood, the former estate of Frederick Prime on the Long Island Sound. Around early 1884, he took an active interest in forming the New York Real Estate Exchange and Auction Room, becoming its president and continuing as one of the "controlling spirits in that organization up to the time of his death."
Personal life
In 1833, Ludlow was married to Elizabeth Livingston in New York City. Elizabeth was the second daughter of Lt. Gov. of New York Edward Philip Livingston and his wife, Elizabeth Stevens Livingston. The Ludlow country estate called "Pine Lawn" had a quarter mile front on the Hudson River. Situated next to Northwood, Pine Lawn was the furthest north of the five subdivisions his father-in-law made to his children. Together, they were the parents of:
Mary "Molly" Livingston Ludlow, who married Margaret's brother Valentine Gill Hall Jr., a nephew of John Tonnelé Jr., the farmer and politician who was a member of the New Jersey State Legislature. Their country estate, a Second Empire-style mansion known as "The Oaks", was part of and just south of Ludlow's Pine Lawn estate.
Through his son Edward, he was a grandfather of two: Susan Livingston Ludlow, who married Henry Parrish Jr. in 1884, and Edward Hunter Ludlow II, named after him. Through his daughter Mary, he was a grandfather of seven, including: Anna Rebecca Hall, who married Elliott Bulloch Roosevelt ; Valentine Hall III ; and Edward Ludlow Hall. Through his granddaughter Anna, he was the great-grandfather of Gracie Hall Roosevelt and First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of her fifth cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
