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| Chauncey Depew (1834-1928), circa 1901 Image: Library of Congress |
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Chauncey Depew was born in Peekskill and attended the Peekskill Military Academy as well as Yale. He was a leader in the young Republican Party and a friend of Abraham Lincoln. Depew supported Lincoln's election and re-election and served as New York’s Secretary of State in 1864 during the Civil War. He became a lawyer and started a practice in Peekskill, but he soon became the attorney for several of the Vanderbilt’s railroad lines including the New York & Harlem Railroad, and the New York Central Railroad. By 1876, he was general counsel for the entire Vanderbilt “railway system” and he eventually became the President of the New York Central from 1885-1898. Ogden Mills was also a director on the board of the New York Central so the two men had that business connection in common. Their joint business interests may have been the reason for Depew's visit to Staatsburgh in 1900.
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| Chauncey Depew seated in his office at the Grand Central Railroad, 1898 Image: Museum of the City of New York |
In 1899 Depew took his political ambitions to a national level and was elected to the United States Senate where he served until 1911. He was also known for his oratory skills. He gave a speech at the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty and at the opening of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He was the talk of many social gatherings and his leadership and verbal skills were the subject of this LIFE magazine illustration equating Depew to a Roman emperor. But did those oratory skills help him find a wife?
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| This LIFE Magazine illustration emphasizes Depew's reputation as a leader and orator, 1905 |
While Depew's public career was still developing, he married Elise Hegeman (1848-1893) in 1871. Her father was a druggist and they had a fashionable wedding at the Church of the Incarnation on 35th and Madison. Whitelaw Reid, who was not yet married to Ogden’s sister Elisabeth at this point, was a groomsman, and the newspapers reported that fellow NY Tribune editor Horace Greeley was also in attendance.
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| Washington Chronicle, November 11, 1871 |
There was at least one newspaper profile of Depew that mentioned his wife and their relationship, and everything that it said was exceedingly positive. An 1887 article in the New York Herald said, "She is devoted to him, and yet is possessed of a strong individuality, which impresses, strengthens, and sustains him. They are lovers as well as partners." The article mentioned that they spent time together in the morning and evening, which makes sense because he would be working during the day and she would be attending to the home and making social calls.
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| Lancaster Teller, May 11, 1893 |
They couple had one son in 1879, Chauncey Depew, Jr. (1879-1931), and then sadly, Elise was ill for two years before she passed away in 1893 at age 44. She never recovered from an attack of the grippe (aka the flu) during an epidemic. She devoted her time to church and charitable work and cared little for society. She was also known as an excellent pianist. When she passed away, many people called at Depew's home to express condolences including Darius Ogden Mills and Whitelaw Reid, Ogden’s father and brother-in-law. I could not find her photograph, but Mrs. Depew was name dropped on HBO’s The Gilded Age. During the second season, the character of Bertha Russell was having a party at her Newport home and it was mentioned that Mrs. Depew lent Bertha footmen in Newport so she had enough to hold the party.
It was after his wife’s death that Depew became more involved in politics and was elected to the United States Senate in 1898. Yet the question he often faced was not about his political ambitions, but about his personal life. When was he going to remarry?
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| Chauncey Depew, circa 1900 Image: Library of Congress |
The time came early in his Senate term when he was 67 years old. It was eight years after his first wife had died and the lucky woman was Miss May Palmer. She was born in New York and was the granddaughter of John Palmer who led Merchant’s Bank. Even though Miss Palmer was American, she had been living abroad in Europe with her mother for much of her life. They were neighbors of the Comptese de Seres who was Mr. Depew's cousin, and this is how the couple first came into proximity and met. According to this newspaper article, they met at Lake Geneva when she sat on his left during dinner. The St. Louis Dispatch article quoted him as saying, “She is a Gibson girl. She is very tall, very erect, head well carried, graceful figure and beautiful. Oh yes, she is beautiful, it is quite true…” This quote may have been an embellishment on the part of the newspaper, but it is likely that Depew would have agreed with the sentiment.
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| St. Louis Post Dispatch, October 13, 1901, p.1 |
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| May Palmer Depew (1867-1940) Image: New York Historical Society |
When he finally announced his engagement, the newspaper reported that Depew was exceedingly happy. Depew said Miss Palmer filled the ideals he had set for a wife. So what are the ideals a 67 year old widower and US Senator had established for a future wife? Well according to an article in The Brooklyn Daily Times on June 11, 1901, he had given an interview to a newspaper the year before his engagement and mentioned all of the important qualities needed in a wife. To begin, he said he wanted a woman who understood the art of attracting and winning men whose friendship could be advantageous to him. He wanted her to reach all the men he could not reach at a social gathering. This seems very strategic for a politician and also demonstrates that he was seeing his relationship as a partnership. Even though the goals the couple would be advancing were his own political ambitions, it showed that he would value his wife and her ability to advocate on his behalf. Yet, in the next breath, he said that “She must be a woman who would be content to sit at home at night.” This seems less forward-thinking in regards to a woman's role, but perhaps he was just expressing his desire for his wife to be home with him and not out on the town. The third ideal was that she "must be handsome and attractive." And finally, the last qualify was that she must be between the ages of 25 and 75, and he added that youth was not always the most necessary requisite in a bride. This is quite an age range! However, it is not surprising that the second Mrs. Chauncey Depew was definitely much closer to 25 than 75.
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| St. Louis Post Dispatch, October 13, 1901 |
They did have a rather large age gap, and it was something that did catch the eye of the newspapers. This St. Louis Post Dispatch headline exaggerated the age gap far beyond the truth. The two were not 25 and 75, but were actually 34 and 67. She was almost half his age, but not a third his age! An August 26, 1903 article in The Sketch also commented on their age difference. It read, "Mrs. Depew, who is really the senator's second wife, is really a very young woman, though from the fact that her husband is an old man - he will be seventy next April - there seems to be a general opinion that she is at least middle-aged." Despite the reports about the age gap, the papers also reported that they were quite in love, and they were married in Nice, France on December 28, 1901. Senator Depew was quoted as saying, “I am happier today than any schoolboy that ever lived.” The man who was often called one of the best storytellers in the country, was lucky in love not once, but twice.
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| Capper's Weekly, December 31, 1901 |
The couple remained married until Depew’s death at age 93 in 1928. May lived until 1940 and died at age 73. After her husband's death, she continued to live in Washington and remained involved in charitable activities. In honor of his prowess as a speaker, she established the Chauncey Depew course in public speaking at George Washington University.
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| Mr. & Mrs. Chauncey Depew, 1922 Image: Bain Press Photo |
Depew's legacy lives on in his birthplace of Peekskill through a massive 900 pound statue. Depew stands over eight feet and the pedestal is over six feet! In 1908 he donated 50 acres of his family’s farm to the village to become a public park. In 1918 he donated another ten acres and paid for a statue of himself to be displayed in the park. Many attended the dedication ceremony as can be seen in the image below.
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| The Chauncey Depew statue in Peekskill Park, Peekskill, NY |
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| The dedication ceremony for the Chauncey Depew statue in Depew Park, Peekskill, NY, September 24, 1918 |
Depew and both of his wives are buried in Hillside Cemetery in Cortlandt Manor, NY. The town of Depew, which is right along the New York Central line in Western New York was named after him as were the town of Depew, Oklahoma and at least two large boats. The man was memorialized larger than life in more than one way!
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| Chauncey Depew, circa 1909 Image: Library of Congress |
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