Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler

Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler
Lieutenant Governor of New York
In office 1 January 1907 – 31 December 1908
Governor	Charles Evans Hughes
Preceded by	John Raines (Acting)
Succeeded by	Horace White
Member of the New York State Assembly for Dutchess Co.
In office 1910–1912
Personal details
Born	September 24, 1869 Newport, Rhode Island
Died	February 28, 1942(1942-02-28) (aged 72) New York City, New York
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Alice Chamberlain ​ ​ (m. 1890; div. 1920)​ Julia Lynch Olin ​ ​ (m. 1921; his death 1942)​
Children	3
Parents	John Winthrop Chanler Margaret Astor Ward
Relatives	See Astor family
Alma mater	Columbia University Cambridge University
Occupation	Lawyer

Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler (September 24, 1869 in Newport, Rhode Island – February 28, 1942 in New York City) was a New York lawyer and politician who served as Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1907 to 1908.^[1]

Early life[]

He was the fifth son of John Winthrop Chanler (1826–1877) of the Dudley–Winthrop family and Margaret Astor Ward (1838–1875) of the Astor family.^[2] Through his father, who served as a U.S. Representative from New York, he was a great-great-grandson of Peter Stuyvesant^[3] and a great-great-great-great-grandson of Wait Winthrop and Joseph Dudley. Through his mother, he was a grandnephew of Julia Ward (1819–1910), John Jacob Astor III (1822–1890), and William Backhouse Astor, Jr. (1829–1892), and a great-grandson of John Jacob Astor.^[4]

Lewis had ten brothers and sisters, including the artist Robert Winthrop Chanler and the soldier and explorer William Astor Chanler.^[5] His sister Margaret Livingston Chanler served as a nurse with the American Red Cross during the Spanish–American War.^[6] Margaret Chanler was later married to Richard Aldrich and lived at Rokeby. His older brother Winthrop Astor Chanler[1] served in the Rough Riders in Cuba^[7] and was wounded at the Battle of Tayacoba.^[8] Chanler's eldest brother, John Armstrong Chaloner, married novelist Amélie Rives Troubetzkoy.^[9] Chanler and his siblings became orphans after the death of their mother in 1875 and their father in 1877, both to pneumonia. 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. The children were raised at their parents' estate, Rokeby, in Barrytown, New York.^[10]

He attended Columbia University Law School and graduated in 1891.^[11] Then he attended Cambridge University, matriculating in 1894.

Career[]

After Cambridge, he began practicing law in New York,^[12] as a criminal defense lawyer.^[1] During the winter 1897, he visited Ireland and became interested in the Parnellite party which was seeking home rule for Ireland. He toured the country for several years, making speeches on behalf of home rule.^[1]

Political career[]

Chanler campaigning at Greenport, Long Island, 1908

Chanler on his election as Lieutenant-Governor of New York State on January 1, 1907

Chanler was active in the Democratic Party in Dutchess County and was a Delegate to several state party conventions. In 1903, he was elected a member of the Dutchess County Board of Supervisors.^[13]

In 1906, he was elected the Lieutenant Governor of New York.^[14][15] He ran on the combined ticket of the Democratic Party and the Independence League, defeating the incumbent M. Linn Bruce, although his running mate William Randolph Hearst was defeated in his quest for the governorship by Republican Charles Evans Hughes,^[16] who later became Chief Justice of the United States.^[1]

As the sitting lieutenant governor, he ran as the Democratic candidate for Governor against the incumbent Hughes in 1908, with John Alden Dix as the candidate for Lt. Governor.^[17] Ultimately, he was defeated,^[18] and his candidacy was opposed by Hearst, who lampooned him in a series of cartoons.

While a resident of Barrytown, Dutchess County, New York, he was a member of the New York State Assembly (Dutchess Co., 2nd D.) in 1910, 1911 and 1912.^[19][20] Franklin D. Roosevelt had at first thought of running for this seat in the assembly, but Chanler refused to give it up. Thus, Roosevelt ran in November 1910 for the senate instead.^[21]

Personal life[]

On September 24, 1890, Chanler married Alice Chamberlain (1868–1955),^[22] at St George's, Hanover Square, in London.^[23] Alice was the daughter of the late W. L. Chamberlain.^[24] Before their divorce in 1920, they had three children together:

• Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler Jr. (1891–1963), who married Leslie Alice Murray (1898–1952) in 1920.^[25] She died in 1952 and he later married Mary Kroehle.^[26] Lewis and Leslie had four children: Susan Patricia Chanler Herrick (1921-1996); Bronson Winthrop Chanler (1922-2009); Clare Chanler Forster (1927-1992), who married Bayard Stuyvesant Forster (1924-2001), a distant relative; and Rosanna Chanler Harris (1930-).
• Alida Chanler (1894–1983), who married William Christian Bohn (1895–1977) in 1920.^[27]
• William Chamberlain Chanler (1895–1981), who married Frances Randall Williams^[28]

On May 23, 1921, the 52 year old Chanler married Julia Lynch Olin (1882–1961),^[29] also a recent divorcee with two daughters of her own, in Paris.^[4] She was previously married to J. Philip Benkard and was the second daughter of Stephen H. Olin. Her mother died in 1882 and her father remarried Emmeline Harriman, the daughter of Oliver Harriman and the sister-in-law of William Kissam Vanderbilt.^[4] In 1922, the family bought a new home at 132 East 65th Street, in New York City.^[30][31] This house was later christened Caravan House.^[32][33]

Chanler died on February 28, 1942 at his home in New York City at age 72.^[1] His funeral was conducted at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery by Rev. C.A.W. Brocklebank. After the scriptural reading, Mirza Ahmad Sohrab read from "the service for the departed" of the Baháʼí Faith. Chanler was buried at St Paul's Churchyard in Glen Cove, Long Island.^[34]

Descendants[]

He was the grandfather of Susan Chanler (1921–1996),^[35] who married Clifford E. Herrick, Jr. (1916–1978),^[36] Bronson Winthrop Chanler (1922–2009),^[37] who married Evelyn Williams Rogers (b. 1931),^[37] Clare Chanler (1927–1992), who married Bayard Stuyvesant Forster (1924–2001),^[38] and Rosanna Chanler (b. 1930), who married Montgomery Harris (1924–2012).^[39][40]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler.

• Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler at Find a Grave