Winthrop Astor Chanler

Winthrop Astor Chanler (October 14, 1863 – August 24, 1926)[1] was an American sportsman and soldier who fought in the Spanish–American War and World War I.[2]

Winthrop Astor Chanler
Chanler during World War I
BornOctober 14, 1863
New York City, New York
DiedAugust 24, 1926(1926-08-24) (aged 62)
Canandaigua, New York
EducationEton College
Alma materHarvard College
OccupationSoldier, sportsman
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1886⁠–⁠1926)​
Children8, including Theodore
Parents
RelativesSee Astor family

Chanler, a descendant of many prominent American families including the Dudley–Winthrop, Livingston, and Stuyvesant families, and his wife were also prominent in New York society during the Gilded Age.[3]

Early life
Rokeby, the Chanler family estate in Barrytown built in 1811

Chanler, who was known as "Wintie"[lower-alpha 1][4] was born on October 14, 1863 in New York City. He was the second son of eleven children born to Margaret Astor (née Ward) Chanler (1838–1875) and John Winthrop Chanler (1826–1877), a U.S. Representative from New York.[5]

He and his siblings became orphans after the death of their mother in December 1875 and their father in October 1877, both to pneumonia. The children, known as the "Astor Orphans", were raised at their parents' estate in Rokeby, New York, built by John Armstrong Jr., his mother's great-grandfather.[6][7] His father's estate was valued between $1,500,000 (equivalent to $36,014,063) and $2,000,000 (equivalent to $48,018,750 in 2019 dollars).[8] John Winthrop Chanler's will provided $20,000 a year for each child for life (equivalent to $470,563 in 2018 dollars), enough to live comfortably by the standards of the time.[9] Winthrop himself inherited all of his father's personal property in his New York City home, located at 192 Madison Avenue, all of his real estate in Delaware County, and a house on Cliff Lawn in Newport.[10]

Chanler prepared for University at Eton College[11] and at St. John's Military Academy in Sing Sing, New York.[7] In 1885 Winthrop graduated from Harvard College, which his brother William also attended from 1886 to 1888.[1][12] While at Harvard, Winthrop was part of a prank played on Oscar Wilde when he appeared before the College to give a speech at the Boston Music Hall in 1882.[4] Chanler, along with 60 other Harvard students, "marched down the center aisle in pairs, all carrying sunflowers and wearing Wildean costumes of knee breeches, black stockings, wide-spreading cravats, and shoulder length wigs."[4] His great-aunt Julia Ward Howe, who considered Winthrop her favorite, was in the audience and was apparently aghast at the prank.[4]

Family

Through his mother, he was related to the Ward and Astor families,[13][lower-alpha 2] and through his father, he was related to the Dudley–Winthrop, Livingston, and Stuyvesant families.[14][lower-alpha 3] Of his ten brothers and sisters, many were prominent including John Armstrong Chaloner, a writer; Robert Winthrop Chanler, an artist; and William Astor Chanler, a noted soldier and explorer who served in the U.S. House of Representatives like their father, Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler, the Lt. Gov. of New York. His sister Margaret Livingston Chanler was married to critic Richard Aldrich and served as a nurse with the American Red Cross during the Spanish–American War,[15] and sister Elizabeth Astor Winthrop Chanler was married to author John Jay Chapman.[16][17]

Career

After his marriage, the Chanlers moved to Washington, D.C. where the surrounded themselves with a group of friends including Theodore Roosevelt, who was then the Civil Service Commissioner, and later President of the United States.[18]

Military service

During the Spanish–American War, Chanler did not enlist in the U.S. Army but instead joined a group of American Rough Rider volunteers, including his younger brother William, to join the Cuban volunteers under General Emilio Núñez.[12] His brother received a Captain's commission from President William McKinley to serve under U.S. General Joseph Wheeler and Winthrop received a conditional commission as Lieutenant colonel under the Cuban government. On June 30, 1898 in the Battle of Tayacoba, Chanler led twenty-five Rough Riders.[19][12] Chanler, Captain Jose Manuel Núñez (brother of General Núñez), and William Louis Abbott and about 30 men went ashore near Trinidad, Cuba to ensure the safety of the landing site. They were discovered by Spanish scouts and came under heavy fire.[20] During the battle, Captain Núñez was killed[21] and Chanler was shot through the right elbow.[1] They had to take cover in a mangrove swamp until they could be rescued by the American steamship Florida. Chanler returned to his home in Barrytown to recover from his injuries.[22] By the time his arm healed, the war was over, so Chanler sailed to Europe where he stayed for several years in Sorrento, Italy[12] taking a "life of hunting."[11]

During World War I, he served as an aide to General John J. Pershing, who served as the commander of the American Expeditionary Force on the Western Front from 1917 to 1918.[1]

Society life
Chanler's cottage in Tuxedo Park, NY, about 1886.

Due to his elder brother's mental issues, Winthrop became the de facto head of the Chanler family.[23] The Chanler's spent the winter of 1891 to 1892 in New York where three of his sisters were introduced to society.[18] Thereafter, they moved to Tuxedo Park, New York which according to his wife, "seemed dull in its exclusiveness; the tendency of Anglo-Saxons to separate into 'social sets and hierarchies' was in striking contrast to the hospitality and cosmopolitanism of Roman society" where she had grown up.[18] In the late 1890s, they lived in Newport, Rhode Island where Chanler paid taxes on an estate valued at $96,300 in 1895.[24]

In 1892, both Chanler and his wife Margaret 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.[25] Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.[26] His wife described the list of New York's elite as "not unlike Dante's description of Paradise."[27] Chanler, a member of the Society of Patriarchs, attended the Patriarch's Ball organized by McAllister for his fellow "American aristocrats" at Delmonico's in December 1892.[28]

In 1903, Chanler moved from Newport to Geneseo, New York in Livingston County.[29] While in Genseo, he served as master of the hounds of the Genesee Valley Hunt Club. He reportedly spent most of his time fox hunting and horse breeding at his estate, Sweet Briar Farms,[1] which was once owned by the Wadsworth family.[30] In 1913, his wife, who was Catholic,[11] built the Chapel of St. Felicity at the Farm.[31]

Personal life

On December 16, 1886,[32] Chanler was married to Margaret Louisa Terry (1862–1952),[2] a first cousin, once removed,[lower-alpha 4] in Rome, Italy.[32] Margaret's grandparents (Julia Rush Cutler and Samuel Ward Jr) were also Chanler's maternal great grandparents. Margaret, who grew up in the Palazzo Odescalchi in Rome, was the daughter of Louisa (née Ward) Crawford Terry and artist Luther Terry (d. 1900),[2][lower-alpha 5] a half-sister of F. Marion Crawford and a niece of Julia Ward Howe.[33][34] Together, they were the parents of:

  • Laura Astor Chanler (1887–1984), who married Lawrence Grant White (1887–1956), an architect with McKim, Mead & White and the son of Stanford White, in 1916.[35]
  • John Winthrop Chanler II (1889–1894), who died young.
  • Beatrice Margaret Chanler (1891–1974), who married Pierre Francis Allegaert (1896–1961).[36]
  • Hester Marion Chanler (1893–1990), who married Edward Motley Pickman, a descendant of Dudley Leavitt Pickman, in 1915. Hester was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Ethel Roosevelt Derby in 1913.[37]
  • Marion Winthrop Chanler (1895–1931), who drowned.[38]
  • Margaret Gabrielle "May" Chanler (1897–1958), who married Porter Ralph Chandler (1899–1979).[39]
  • Hubert Winthrop Chanler (1900–1974),[40] who married Gertrude Laughlin (1914–1999),[41] daughter of Ambassador Irwin B. Laughlin.[42]
  • Theodore Ward Chanler (1902-1961),[43][44] who married Maria De Acosta Sargent (1880–1970).[45] Theodore's godfather was President Theodore Roosevelt, who attended his christening in Newport in 1902.[4]

On August 5, 1926, Chanler suffered a stroke following a fall from his horse.[46] He died at Brigham Hall in Canandaigua, New York on August 24, 1926.[29] He was buried at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Geneseo, New York.[47] After his death, his widow wrote several novels and a memoir entitled Roman Spring, published in 1934.[18] A second memoir, entitled Autumn in the Valley was published by Little, Brown and Company, 1936.

Descendants

Through his son Hubert, he was the grandfather of Susanne Felicity Chanler, who married Stephen Young; Gay Chanler, who married John Andrew Gunther; and Elizabeth Chanler, who married Bruce Chatwin (1940–1989), the English writer, novelist, and journalist.[31]

References
Notes
  1. As a child he was nicknamed Wintie, but as an adult it was frequently written as Winty.
  2. His maternal grandparents were Samuel Cutler Ward (the son of Samuel Ward III), and Emily Astor Ward (the daughter of William Backhouse Astor, Sr. and granddaughter of John Jacob Astor). Emily Astor Ward was the older sister of William Backhouse Astor, Jr. who was married to Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, also known as "The Mrs. Astor".
  3. His paternal grandparents were Rev. Dr. John White Chanler, an Episcopalian clergyman, and Elizabeth Shirreff Winthrop. Elizabeth was a great-great-granddaughter of Wait Winthrop and Joseph Dudley and a 3x-great granddaughter of Peter Stuyvesant.
  4. Margaret was the niece of Winthrop's grandfather, Samuel Cutler Ward. Samuel and Margaret's mother Louisa were children of Samuel Ward and grandchildren of Samuel Ward, Jr.
  5. Her mother was the widow of sculptor Thomas Crawford, who died in 1857, and with whom she had four children including F. Marion Crawford and Mary Crawford Fraser.
Sources
  1. "MAJOR W. A. CHANLER DIES AFTER A FALL; Sportsman and Veteran of Two Wars Succumbs in Hospital at Geneseo, N. Y., at 62 CAME OF NOTED FAMILY Was Related to Astors, Kanes and Rutherfords--Wounded While Serving in Cuba". The New York Times. 26 August 1926. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  2. "Chanler, Margaret, 1862-1952. Margaret Chanler family papers, 1815-1939: Guide". oasis.lib.harvard.edu. Houghton Library, Harvard Library, Harvard University. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  3. Patterson, Jerry E. (2000). The First Four Hundred: Mrs. Astor's New York in the Gilded Age. New York: Rizzoli. ISBN 0847822850. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  4. Morris Jr, Roy (2013). Declaring His Genius: Oscar Wilde in North America. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674067875. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  5. The World Almanac and Book of Facts. Newspaper Enterprise Association. 1908. p. 473. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  6. Rokeby Mansion, Barrytown New York
  7. Lucey, Donna M. (2017). Sargent's Women: Four Lives Behind the Canvas. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 121, 126, 136–7, 139, 162, 163, 272. ISBN 9780393634785. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  8. "JOHN WINTHROP CHANLER'S WILL". The New York Times. December 21, 1877. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  9. Thomas, Lately. The Astor Orphans: A Pride of Lions, W. Morrow, 1971. ISBN 1881324036
  10. "JOHN WINTHROP CHANLER'S WILL". The New York Times. 2 November 1877.
  11. Fryer, Paul; Usova, Olga (2003). Lina Cavalieri: The Life of Opera's Greatest Beauty, 1874-1944. McFarland. p. 120. ISBN 9780786416851. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  12. Barton, Clara (1896). Report: America's Relief Expedition to Asia Minor under the Red Cross. American National Red Cross. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  13. Jacob, Kathryn Allamong (2010). King of the Lobby: The Life and Times of Sam Ward, Man-About-Washington in the Gilded Age. JHU Press. ISBN 9780801893971. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  14. Chestnut, Paul I. "Chaloner, John Armstrong". North Carolina Encyclopedia. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  15. "Margaret Astor Chanler, Heroine of Porto Rico". The Milwaukee Journal. September 8, 1898. p. 5. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  16. "Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler (Mrs. John Jay Chapman)". americanart.si.edu. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  17. "The Descendants of John Jacob Astor.; Including the Families of Bristed, Ward, Chanler, Cary, De Stuers, Delano, Van Alen, Roosevelt, Drayton, Wilson, Langdon, Rumpff, Borell, Wilks, Kane, Carroll, De Notbeck, and Jay". The New York Times. 6 March 1898. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  18. Moffett, Anita (16 September 1934). "Memoirs of Mrs. Chanler's World;". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  19. Rice, Wallace (1898). Heroic Deeds in Our War with Spain: An Episodic History of the Fighting of 1898 on Sea and Shore. G.M. Hill. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  20. "In a Hot Engagement: Captain Nunez was Killed, Winthrop Chanler and Five Others Wounded." The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, WA July 14, 1898, p. 2.
  21. "FIGHTING FILIBUSTERS; Expedition to Cuba Has Several Brushes with Spaniards. GEN. NUNEZ'S BROTHER KILLED Winthrop Chanler of New York and Five Cubans Wounded. Guns of the Peoria Do Great Execution Among the Enemy -- Two Shiploads of Supplies for the Insurgents Landed". The New York Times. 15 July 1898. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  22. Thomas, Lately (1971). The Astor Orphans: A Pride of Lions; the Chanler Chronicle. New York: William Morrow & Company. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  23. Chaloner, John Armstrong (1906). Four Years Behind the Bars of "Bloomingdale;": Or, The Bankruptcy of Law in New York. Palmetto Press. pp. 10, 13, 16, 19, 29–31, 35, 68, 110–111, 124, 127, 151, 180, 187, 211, 213, 215, 294, 297, 303–304, 313. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  24. "NEWPORT'S TAX-RATE HIGHER; SUMMER RESIDENTS PAY THREE-QUARTERS OF THE TAXES. Cornelius Vanderbilt Heads the List of Taxpayers, and Other New-Yorkers Are Heavily Assessed". The New York Times. 26 May 1895. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  25. 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.
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  27. Wallach, Janet (2013). The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 185. ISBN 9780307474575. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  28. "The Patriarchs as Hosts; Their First Ball of This Season Given at Delmonico's, Early Dinner Served for the Sake of Novelty --- Large Company Present, Including Many Notables -- Beautiful Women Clad in Exquisite Gowns". The New York Times. 13 December 1892. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  29. "STROKE FATAL TO MAJOR CHANLER | Noted Horseman dies in Canandaigua After Months Illness - Served in Spanish American and World War". Livingston Democrat. September 1, 1926.
  30. Unvericht, Patti (2012). Ghosts and Hauntings of the Finger Lakes. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 30–31. ISBN 9781614235507. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  31. Times, Special To the New York (19 September 1971). "Felicity Chanler Is Wed to Stephen Young, Student, in Home Chapel". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  32. "MARRIED. Chanler--Terry". The New York Times. 24 December 1886. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  33. "MRS. W. A. CHANLER, AUTHOR, MUSICIAN; Niece of Julia Ward Howe and the Half-Sister of F. Marion Crawford Dies at 91". The New York Times. 20 December 1952. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  34. "F. Marion Crawford". The New York Times. 19 December 1897. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  35. "L.G. WHITE DEAD; ARCHITECT WAS 68; Senior Partner of McKim, Mead & White Had Headed Academy of Design". The New York Times. 9 September 1956. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  36. "MISS CHANLER ENGAGED.; Major's Daughter to Wed P. F. Allegaert". The New York Times. 15 September 1923. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  37. Renehan Jr, Edward J. (1999). The Lion's Pride: Theodore Roosevelt and His Family in Peace and War. Oxford University Press. p. 77. ISBN 9780190285418. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  38. "Obituary 9 -- No Title". The New York Times. 7 June 1931. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  39. "Deaths | CHANDLER—Porter R." The New York Times. 8 November 1979. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  40. "Hubert W. Chanler Dies; Retired Admiral Was 74". The New York Times. 2 October 1974. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  41. "Paid Notice: Deaths CHANLER, GERTRUDE L." The New York Times. 20 December 1999. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  42. "GERTRUDE LAUGHLIN SETS WEDDING DAY; Daughter of the Former Envoy to Spain to Be Bride of Lieut. H. W. Chanler on Oct. 23". The New York Times. 14 October 1937. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  43. "Society at Home and Abroad". The New York Times. 24 August 1902. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  44. "Theodore Chanler Is Dead at 59; Composer, Critic and Teacher". The New York Times. 28 July 1961. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  45. "DIED. CHANLER --Maria de Acosta". The New York Times. 8 June 1970. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  46. "MAJOR CHANLER STRICKEN.; Master of Genesee Valley Hunt Has Stroke After a Fall From Horse". The New York Times. 6 August 1926. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  47. "MAJOR CHANLER BURIED,; Hunting Cap, Horn and Whip Are Placed on Coffin,". The New York Times. 28 August 1926. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
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