Chauncey Depew

Chauncey Mitchell Depew (April 23, 1834 – April 5, 1928) was an American attorney, businessman, and Republican politician.

He is best remembered for his two terms as United States Senator from New York and for his work for Cornelius Vanderbilt, as an attorney and as president of the New York Central Railroad System.

Depew was born in Peekskill, New York, on April 23, 1834, to Isaac Depew (1800–1869) and Martha Minot (Mitchell) Depew (1810–1885).

Depew's father was a merchant and farmer who pioneered river transportation between Peekskill and New York and was descended from François DuPuy, a French Huguenot who purchased land from natives at the present site of Peekskill.

Through his mother, Depew was descended from Rev. Josiah Sherman, who served as a chaplain with rank of captain in the Revolutionary War and who was the brother of American founding father Roger Sherman and Rev. Charles Chauncy, the second president of Harvard College.

Depew attended Peekskill Military Academy for 12 years before matriculating at Yale College in 1852.

At Yale, Depew joined many clubs and won several honors.

He won second dispute appointments in his junior and senior years and was an honored speaker at Junior Exhibition and Commencement.

He joined the Thulia Boat Club, Kappa Sigma Epsilon, Kappa Sigma Theta, Psi Upsilon, and Skull and Bones.

He served as third president of the Linonian Society.

At Yale, he was a classmate of two future United States Supreme Court Justices, David Josiah Brewer and Henry Billings Brown.

He graduated in 1856.

After graduating from Yale, Depew apprenticed in the office of Edward Wells in Peekskill and read law with William Nelson.

As a young student and lawyer, Depew stumped the state of New York for John C. Frémont in 1856 and for Abraham Lincoln in 1860.

He was admitted to the New York state bar in March 1858 and opened an office in Peekskill, where he practiced until 1861.

For a few months, Depew engaged in the brokerage business in New York City as a member of the firm Depew & Potter, but then resumed his law practice in Peekskill.

Depew later moved to New York City.

Depew represented Westchester County in the New York State Assembly in 1862 and 1863.

During the latter year, he sometimes acted as Speaker of the New York State Assembly pro tempore while Speaker Theophilus C. Callicot was under investigation.

In 1863, he was elected Secretary of State of New York on the Union ticket and served from 1864 to 1865.

In 1865, Depew was appointed and confirmed to the position of United States Minister to Japan, but he declined the appointment to pursue his career as a railroad and business lawyer.

In 1866, Depew became the attorney for New York & Harlem Railroad, owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt.

Three years later, he took the same position for Vanderbilt's New York Central and Hudson River Railroad.

In 1867, Depew became clerk of Westchester County but resigned after a short service.

In 1870, the New York Legislature named Depew Immigration Commissioner, but he declined to serve.

Depew had also been commissioner of quarantine and president of Court of Claims of New York City as well as commissioner of taxes and assessments for the city and county of New York.

In 1872, Depew ran for Lieutenant Governor of New York on the Liberal Republican-Democratic ticket but was defeated.

Depew was one of the commissioners appointed to build the state capitol in 1874 and a member of the state's boundary commission in 1875.

Having earned recognition for his work with subsidiary companies, Depew became general counsel and director of the entire "Vanderbilt System" in 1876.

He joined the executive board of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad in 1882 and became its second vice president.

In 1885, Depew was elected the railroad's president and served in that capacity until 1898 when he was succeeded by Samuel R. Callaway.

In 1886, Depew gave an oration at the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty.

Depew served as a delegate-at-large to each Republican National Convention from 1888 to 1904 and was elected delegate to all following conventions, including 1928, being elected the day before he died.

On October 7, 1897, Depew inaugurated the New York pneumatic tube mail, declaring: "This is the age of speed. Everything that makes for speed contributes to happiness and is a distinct gain to civilization. We are ahead of the old countries in almost every respect, but we have been behind in methods of communication within our cities. In New York this condition of communication has hitherto been barbarous. If the Greater New York is to be a success, quick communication is absolutely necessary. I hope this system we have seen tried here to-day will soon be extended over all the Greater New York."

In 1898, Depew nominated Theodore Roosevelt for Governor of New York at the Republican state convention.

Depew then became chairman of board of directors of New York Central Railroad Company until his death in 1928.

While Depew was primarily active in the Vanderbilt railroads, he held concurrent positions with many other railroads and companies.

He was president of West Shore Railroad and served on the boards of directors for the New York and Harlem Railroad, the Chicago and North Western Railway, the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, the Delaware and Hudson Railroad, the New Jersey Junction Railroad, the St. Lawrence and Adirondack Railroad, the Wallkill Valley Railroad, and the Canada Southern Railroad.

Aside from railroads, Depew also served on the boards of directors for Western Union, the Hudson River Bridge Company, the Niagara River Bridge Company, the New York State Realty & Terminal Company, the Union Trust Company, Equitable Life Assurance Company, and Kensico Cemetery Association.

During the American Civil War, Depew served as Adjutant of the 18th Regiment of the New York National Guard, and later Colonel and Judge Advocate of the 5th Division on the staff of Major General James W. Husted of the New York Guard.