Francis Key Pendleton

Francis Key Pendleton (January 1, 1850 – July 26, 1930)[1] was an American lawyer and Judge who was prominent in New York society during the Gilded Age.

Francis Key Pendleton
Born(1850-01-01)January 1, 1850
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
DiedJuly 26, 1930(1930-07-26) (aged 80)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma materHarvard College
Harvard Law School
Spouse(s)
Sarah Marié
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(m. 1885; died 1886)​

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(m. 1889; his death 1930)​
Parent(s)George H. Pendleton
Mary Alicia Key Pendleton
RelativesFrancis Scott Key (grandfather)
Nathanael Pendleton (grandfather)

Early life

Pendleton was born in Cincinnati on January 1, 1850 and was known as Frank. He was the son of George Hunt Pendleton and Mary Alicia (née Key) Pendleton.[2] Among his siblings were Sarah Pendleton, who was born in Ireland, Mary Lloyd Pendleton, Jane Francis Pendleton,[3] and George Hunt Pendleton Jr., who died young.[4] His father, a former president of the Kentucky Central Railroad, served as a Democratic U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator of Ohio (where he was Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus), as well as the U.S. Minister to Germany (during the Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison administrations).[4]

His maternal grandparents were Mary Tayloe (née Lloyd) Key and Francis Scott Key, the lawyer, author, and amateur poet who is best known today for writing a poem which later became the lyrics for the United States' national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner", who was the himself, the son of prominent lawyer John Ross Key. His paternal grandparents were Jane Frances (née Hunt) Pendleton and U.S. Representative Nathanael Greene Pendleton, was himself, the son of Nathaniel Pendleton, the Attorney General of Georgia.[5] His great-grandfather served as a second to Alexander Hamilton in his 1804 duel with Aaron Burr.[1][6]

Pendleton prepared for college with Eugene F. Bliss in Cincinnati and then Harvard College, graduating in 1870.[7] He then, after spending three years abroad studying French and German, he attended Harvard Law School in 1875.[2]

Career

After graduating from Harvard Law, Pendleton moved to New York City where he began practicing law with Parrish.[2] In 1870, that firm was dissolved and he formed a partnership with E. Ellery Anderson and P.C. Anderson, known as Anderson, Pendleton & Anderson PC.[8]

In 1907, Pendleton was appointed Corporation Counsel by the Democratic Mayor of New York City, George B. McClellan Jr., succeeding William B. Ellison.[9] He was later was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of New York by Democratic Governor John Alden Dix.[7] He was reelected for a term ending on December 31, 1921.[10] He left the bench, effective April 1, 1920, stating: "I have had it in contemplation for a long time, but as I have a case on hand at trial and some judicial work to complete, I have set a date of severance with the judiciary at April 1. I intend to return to the practice of the law and will be at the head of the old firm of Pendleton, Anderson, Iselin & Riggs, with offices at 25 Broad Street."[11] His resignation caused a vacancy that was filled by Democratic Governor Al Smith.[11]

Society life

In 1892, Pendleton and his wife were included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times.[12] Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.[13][14][15] Pendleton was a member of the Knickerbocker Club, the Union Club of the City of New York, the Down Town Club, the Turf and Field Club, the City Midday Club, the Riding and Meadow Brook Club.[8] He was also a vice-president of the Society of the Cincinnati, a hereditary society founded in 1783, to preserve the ideals and fellowship of officers of the Continental Army who served in the Revolutionary War.[16]

Personal life

On July 1, 1885, Pendleton was married to Sarah "Sallie" Marié (1862–1886), daughter of Rachel (née Steward) and Camille Marié and the niece of Peter Marié.[17][18] She died of pneumonia less than a year after their marriage on March 14, 1886.[2]

On December 10, 1889, Pendleton was married to Elizabeth La Montagne (c. 1870–1936).[19] Elizabeth was the daughter of Augustus La Montagne, the sister of Kate La Montagne (wife of Columbia University president Nicholas Murray Butler), and granddaughter of New York property developer Thomas E. Davis.[7] Together, they were the parents of a son, George Hunt Pendleton, who was born in 1895,[2] and who died in 1938.[20] His son, a hero of World War I who was decorated by King Albert I of Belgium, was married Katherine Wyman Porter in 1924.[20]

Pendleton died in New York City on July 26, 1930.[1] After a funeral at St. Thomas's Church, he was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.[21]

References
  1. "F. K. PENDLETON, EX-JUSTICE, DIES; He Succumbs to Illness Resulting From Shock Received in Automobile Accident. | WAS GRANDSON OF F.S. KEY | His Other Grandfather Was Second to Alexander Hamilton in Duel With Aaron Burr" (PDF). The New York Times. July 27, 1930. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  2. Harvard College (1780-) Class of 1870 (1905). Harvard College Class of 1870 Secretary's Report. Riverside Press. p. 84. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  3. "Francis Scott Key". npg.si.edu. National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  4. "DEATH OF A DIPLOMAT | END OF GEORGE H. PENDLETON'S CAREER.THE EX-MINISTER TO GERMANY DYING AT BRUSSELS—HIS LIFE WORK AT HOME AND ABROAD" (PDF). The New York Times. November 26, 1889. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  5. "PENDLETON, Nathanael Greene - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  6. Brian Pendleton and His Descendants, 1599-1910: With Some Account of the Pembleton Families of Orange County, N. Y., Ostego County, N. Y., and Luzerne County, Pa., and Notices of Other Pendletons of Later Origin in the United States. Privately Printed. 1911. p. 750. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  7. Kennedy, Mary Selden (1911). Seldens of Virginia and Allied Families. Frank Allaben Genealogical Company. p. 188. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  8. Men and Women of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries. L.R. Hamersly. 1909. p. 1313. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  9. "PENDLETON UPHOLDS THE UTILITIES ACT Advises Controller Metz to Pay Salaries of the New Board's Staff. TEST MAY COME LATER Law Not So Unconstitutional on Its Face as to Justify Treating It as Void, Says Corporation Counsel" (PDF). The New York Times. July 14, 1907. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  10. "JUSTICE PENDLETON REPORTED RESIGNED; Refuses Either to Admit or Deny He Has Decided to Quit the Supreme Beach" (PDF). The New York Times. March 6, 1920. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  11. "PENDLETON TO QUIT APRIL 1. Justice Announces That He Will Again Practice Law" (PDF). The New York Times. March 7, 1920. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  12. McAllister, Ward (16 February 1892). "THE ONLY FOUR HUNDRED | WARD M'ALLISTER GIVES OUT THE OFFICIAL LIST. HERE ARE THE NAMES, DON'T YOU KNOW, ON THE AUTHORITY OF THEIR GREAT LEADER, YOU UNDER- STAND, AND THEREFORE GENUINE, YOU SEE" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  13. Keister, Lisa A. (2005). Getting Rich: America's New Rich and How They Got That Way. Cambridge University Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780521536677. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  14. Patterson, Jerry E. (2000). The First Four Hundred: Mrs. Astor's New York in the Gilded Age. Random House Incorporated. p. 217. ISBN 9780847822089. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  15. Miller, Tom (7 August 2013). "The Francis Key Pendleton House -- No. 105 East 35th Street". Daytonian in Manhattan. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  16. The World Almanac & Book of Facts. Press Publishing Company (The New York World). 1914. p. 583. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  17. "Mrs. Francis Key Pendleton (1862-1886)". www.nyhistory.org. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  18. Helffenstein, Abraham Ernest (1911). Pierre Fauconnier and His Descendants: With Some Account of the Allied Valleaux. Press of S. H. Burbank & Company. p. 105. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  19. "Mrs. Francis Key Pendleton (ca. 1870-1936)". www.nyhistory.org/. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  20. "GEORGE H. PENDLETON, HERO OF WORLD WAR; Clubman Here and Descendant of Francis Scott Key Dies" (PDF). The New York Times. September 9, 1938. p. 21. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  21. "NOTABLES ATTEND PENDLETON FUNERAL; Services for Former Supreme Court Justice Are Held at St. Thomas's Church" (PDF). The New York Times. July 30, 1930. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
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