Editing Thomas F. Bayard (section)

== Early life and family ==
[[File:Coat of Arms of Samuel Bayard.svg|150px|thumb|left|Coat of arms of Thomas F. Bayard]]
[[File:James A. Bayard, Jr. - Brady-Handy.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Bayard's father, [[James A. Bayard Jr.]], served as a [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] from [[Delaware]] in the 1850s and 1860s.]]

Bayard was born in [[Wilmington, Delaware]], in 1828, the second son of [[James A. Bayard Jr.]] and Anne ''née'' Francis.{{sfn|Spencer 1880|p=13}} The [[Bayard family]] was prominent in Delaware, as Bayard's father would be elected to the United States Senate in 1851. Among Bayard's ancestors were his grandfather [[James A. Bayard (politician, born 1767)|James A. Bayard]], also a U.S. senator; and great-grandfather [[Richard Bassett (Delaware politician)|Richard Bassett]], who served as U.S senator from and governor of Delaware.{{sfn|Spencer 1880|pp=1–9}} Several other relatives served in high office, including Bayard's uncle [[Richard H. Bayard]], another Delaware senator; and his great-great-granduncle [[Nicholas Bayard]], who was [[mayor of New York City]].{{sfn|Spencer 1880|pp=1–9}} On his mother's side, Bayard descended from Philadelphia lawyer and financier [[Tench Francis Jr.]]{{sfn|Tansill 1946|p=4}} Bayard was educated in private academies in Wilmington and then in [[Flushing, Queens|Flushing]], New York, when his father moved to New York City for business reasons.{{sfn|Tansill 1946|p=4}} Bayard remained in New York when his father returned to Delaware in 1843, and he worked as a clerk in the mercantile firm of his brother-in-law August Schermerhorn.{{sfn|Tansill 1946|p=4}}

In 1846, his father secured him a job in a banking firm in Philadelphia, and he worked there for the next two years.{{sfn|Tansill 1946|p=5}} Bayard was unsatisfied with his progress at the firm and returned to Wilmington to [[read law]] at his father's office.{{sfn|Tansill 1946|p=5}} Bayard was admitted to the [[Bar (law)|bar]] in 1851,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=554}} the year that his father was elected to the U.S. Senate.{{efn|Before the passage of the [[Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] in 1913, U.S. senators were chosen by their states' legislatures.}} Thomas took on greater responsibilities in the family law office and rose quickly in the legal profession.{{sfn|Tansill 1946|p=6}} In 1853, after the election of Democratic President [[Franklin Pierce]], Bayard was appointed [[United States Attorney]] for Delaware.{{sfn|Spencer 1880|p=15}} He spent only a year in the position before moving to Philadelphia to open a law practice with his friend William Shippen, a partnership that lasted until Shippen's death in 1858.{{sfn|Spencer 1880|p=15}} While in Philadelphia, Bayard met Louise Lee, whom he married in October 1856. The marriage produced twelve children.{{sfn|Tansill 1946|p=7}}