Chester Alan Arthur II

Chester Alan Arthur II (July 25, 1864 – July 18, 1937), also known as Alan Arthur, was an American sportsman and art connoisseur. He was the son of Chester A. Arthur, president of the United States from 1881 to 1885. He studied at Princeton University and Columbia Law School. After completing his studies, Arthur traveled throughout Europe for 10 years. In 1900, he married in Switzerland and moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado to improve his health.

Early life

Chester Alan Arthur II was the second son of Ellen Lewis Herndon and Chester A. Arthur. in New York City. from convulsions or swelling of the brain. Feeling as if they had "taxed" William's brain with "intellectual demands", |group="nb"

The family had a home at 123 Lexington Avenue in Kips Bay, Manhattan. There, Ellen held musical recitals, dinners and other parties at home to support her husband's professional and political ambitions. Chester had offices at Fifth Avenue Hotel, which was then the "epicenter of New York Republican politics. Although it was near his family's home, he used the hotel as a second home. He also spent many evenings away from the family at Delmonico's. From March through April 1878, Arthur traveled with his mother and sister to Europe. Regarding his father's reaction to his wife's death, "It was said that something graver, softer, kindlier, was observable in the character of her husband, aft the falling of that heavy blow."

It was said of his father's attentiveness to his children, "although Arthur loved to showcase his two children" and "White House social affairs, he much preferred fishing, feasting with his cronies, and administrative work to family life." His relationship with his children was considered "somewhat strained and aloof". During his White House visits, he would play the piano and the banjo. He graduated from Princeton in 1885.

Arthur was at his father's side at the family's 123 Lexington Avenue house when the former President died in 1886. Shortly before his father's death, Arthur burned his father's official papers that filled 3 garbage cans; He was dubbed the "presidential papers destroyer". Someone intervened to prevent the destruction of all of the papers.

Arthur and his sister remained close until her death in 1915. He had once expressed concern that when Ellen married, he would have lost all connections with any family. When Ellen became engaged, she told her brother that he was not losing her and that getting married hadn't altered the extent to which she loved him. When Myra became pregnant, Arthur told his sister first before anyone else.

Post-presidency

Europe After graduation, in 1887, he sailed to Europe He was able to travel to every major European city and "enjoy a gentleman's life" due to his inheritance from his father.

While in Europe he enjoyed the company of "female admirers", the cuisine, and horses, particularly "driving horse-drawn carriages throughout the French countryside." By this time, he preferred to be called Alan. He campaigned for the position of Ambassador to the Netherlands in 1897, but was unsuccessful. Polo became a favored sport as the result of top polo players to the area. When Vice President Theodore Roosevelt visited Colorado Springs in 1901, he had dinner at the Arthurs' home, Edgeplain, and attended a polo match.

Arthur and Spencer Penrose built a Cheyenne Mountain clubhouse, based upon the "gourmet, culinary" Rabbit Club in Philadelphia in 1914.

Personal life He married wealthy divorcée Myra Townsend Fithian Andrews on May 10, 1900, at the English American Episcopal Church and at a civil ceremony in Vevey, Switzerland. The couple divorced in 1927.

Death and legacy Arthur died on July 18, 1937, at the age of 72 Rowena died in 1969.

His son Chester "Gavin" Alan Arthur III married Esther Knesborough as his second wife, formerly the wife of John Strachey and daughter of Patrick Francis Murphy.