William A. Chanler

William Astor "Willie" Chanler (June 11, 1867 – March 4, 1934) was an American soldier, explorer, and politician who served as U.S. Representative from New York. He was a son of John Winthrop Chanler. After spending several years exploring East Africa, he embarked on a brief political career. Chanler regarded it as an American obligation to be on the side of the people who fought for their independence, and during his life he participated in rebellions and independence struggles in Cuba, Libya, and Somalia. He provided support for insurgents in Venezuela, Turkey, and China. He maintained an active lifestyle even after losing his right leg in 1915. Late in life, he became a novelist and an outspoken antisemite. Family and early life Born in Newport, Rhode Island, Chanler was third son of John Winthrop Chanler (1826–1877) of the Dudley–Winthrop family and Margaret Astor Ward (1838–1875) of the Astor family. Through his father, he was a great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Peter Stuyvesant and a great-great-great-great-grandson of Wait Winthrop and Joseph Dudley. Through his mother, he was a grandnephew of Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910), John Jacob Astor III (1822–1890), and William Backhouse Astor, Jr. (1829–1892). Chanler had ten brothers and sisters, including the politician Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler and the artist Robert Winthrop Chanler. His younger sister Margaret Livingston Chanler served as a nurse with the American Red Cross during the Spanish–American War. William's older brother Winthrop Astor Chanler served in the Rough Riders in Cuba and was wounded at the Battle of Tayacoba. His eldest brother John Armstrong "Archie" Chanler married novelist Amélie Louise Rives. His older sister Elizabeth Astor Winthrop Chanler married author John Jay Chapman. Chanler 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 were raised at their parents' Rokeby Estate in Barrytown, New York. 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.