Henry Schuyler Thibodaux was born in Albany, New York in 1769. He was orphaned as a baby, and raised by the Schuyler family in Scotland. In 1794, he moved to Louisiana and settled in Bayou Lafourche. Thibodaux entered politics in 1805, serving as a one-term member of the Orleans Territorial Legislature. He served as the Lafourche County justice of the peace in 1808, and was a delegate to the 1812 State Constitutional Convention. He also served as a member of the Louisiana State Senate from 1812 to 1827, and was the president of the senate from 1823 to 1827. On November 15, 1824, Governor Thomas B. Robertson resigned from office, and Thibodaux, who was senate president at the time, assumed the duties of the governorship. During his tenure, he continued to carry out the policies of the Robertson administration. Thibodaux left office on December 13, 1824, and returned to his seat in the senate. While campaigning for the governorship in 1827, Governor Henry S. Thibodaux passed away. He was buried at the St. Bridget’s Church Cemetery in Schriever, Louisiana.