Walter W. Stokes

Walter Watson Stokes (August 10, 1880 – March 27, 1960) was an American financier and politician from New York.

Life

He was born on August 10, 1880, in Manchester, Bennington County, Vermont,^[1] the son of financier Walter C. Stokes (1852–1924)^[2] and Adele (Watson) Stokes (1852–1921).^[3] In 1901, he became a member of the New York Stock Exchange. On May 14, 1902, he married Mary L. Constable (born 1884),^[4] and they had one son: Walter Watson Stokes Jr. (born 1903). They lived at 829 Park Avenue in Manhattan, and the Stokes family's country home "Woodside Hall" in Cooperstown. In 1931, Mary Stokes went to Reno, Nevada, to get a divorce.^[5]

Stokes was a member of the New York State Senate from 1933 to 1952, sitting in the 156th, 157th, 158th, 159th, 160th, 161st, 162nd, 163rd, 164th, 165th, 166th, 167th and 168th New York State Legislatures.

On November 14, 1934, he married Hannah Lee Sherman (1905–2001), a grand-niece of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. Hannah Sherman was a photo model, famous at the time as "Miss Chesterfield".

He died on March 27, 1960, in Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, New York; and was buried at the Lakewood Cemetery there.^[6]

Sources

1. New York Red Book (1947; pg. 137)
2. WALTER C. STOKES, BANKER, DIES AT 72 in the New York Times on May 23, 1924 (subscription required)
3. OBITUARY; Adele Watson Stokes in The Otsego Farmer on September 2, 1921
4. SOCIETY AT HOME AND ABROAD in the New York Times on May 11, 1902
5. MRS. W. W. STOKES IN RENO in the New York Times on July 10, 1931 (subscription required)
6. Walter W. Stokes, Former State Senator, Dies at Cooperstown in the Oneonta Star on March 28, 1960 (subscription required)

External links

• Hannah Lee (Sherman) Stokes at Find a Grave
• "Woodside Hall", his house in Cooperstown, at Flickr