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

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Life

He was born on August 10, 1880, in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Bennington County, Vermont Bennington County is a county in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,347. The shire towns (county seats) are jointly Bennington ("The Southshire") and Manchester ("The Northshire"), and the largest municipal ...

, the son of financier Walter C. Stokes (1852–1924) and Adele (Watson) Stokes (1852–1921). In 1901, he became a member of the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

. On May 14, 1902, he married Mary L. Constable (born 1884), and they had one son: Walter Watson Stokes Jr. (born 1903). They lived at 829

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenu ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, and the Stokes family's country home "Woodside Hall" in

Cooperstown Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the C ...

. In 1931, Mary Stokes went to

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

, to get a divorce. Stokes was a member of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

from 1933 to 1952, sitting in the 156th, 157th, 158th, 159th, 160th, 161st, 162nd, 163rd, 164th, 165th, 166th, 167th and

168th New York State Legislature The 168th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 3, 1951, to March 20, 1952, during the ninth and tenth years of Thomas E. Dewey's governorship, in Albany. Backgrou ...

s. On November 14, 1934, he married Hannah Lee Sherman (1905–2001), a grand-niece of Gen.

William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), achieving recognition for his com ...

. Hannah Sherman was a photo model, famous at the time as "Miss

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

". He died on March 27, 1960, in Bassett Hospital in

Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the C ...

; and was buried at the Lakewood Cemetery there.''Walter W. Stokes, Former State Senator, Dies at Cooperstown''
in the ''Oneonta Star'' on March 28, 1960 (subscription required)

Sources

External links

"Woodside Hall"
his house in Cooperstown, at Flickr {{DEFAULTSORT:Stokes, Walter W 1880 births 1960 deaths Republican Party New York (state) state senators People from Manchester, Vermont People from Cooperstown, New York People from the Upper East Side Politicians from Manhattan American financiers 20th-century American legislators