Isaac Nevett Steele

Isaac Nevett Steele (April 25, 1809 – April 11, 1891) was an American diplomat and lawyer who was "universally recognized for years as the leader of the Maryland Bar."[1]

Isaac Nevett Steele
United States Chargé d'Affaires, Venezuela
In office
January 7, 1850 – October 18, 1853
PresidentZachary Taylor
Millard Fillmore
Franklin Pierce
Preceded byBenjamin Glover Shields
Succeeded byCharles Eames
Personal details
Born(1809-05-25)May 25, 1809
Cambridge, Maryland, U.S.
DiedApril 11, 1891(1891-04-11) (aged 81)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Political partyWhig Party
Spouse(s)
Rosa Loundonia Nelson
​
(
m. 1849; his death 1891)
RelationsJohn Nevett Steele (brother)
Children8, including Charles
ParentsJames Steele
Mary Nevett Steele
EducationCambridge Public Academy
St. John's College
Alma materTrinity College
OccupationLawyer
Signature

Early life

Steele was born on April 25, 1809 in Cambridge, Maryland. He was the ninth of ten children born to Mary (née Nevett) Steele (1769–1836) and James Steele (1760–1816).[2] Among his many siblings was brother U.S. Representative John Nevett Steele;[3] and sister Mary Nevett Steele, who married John Campbell Henry (the eldest son and heir of Gov. John Henry);[4] Ann Billings (née Steele) Upshur; James Billings Steele; Henry Maynadier Steele; Catharine Sarah Maria (née Steele) Ray; Sarah Maynadier Steele.[5]

His paternal grandparents were Anne (née Billings) Steele and Henry Steele, a native of England who emigrated from Whitehaven (on the west coast of Cumbria) to Oxford, Maryland in 1730 and served as a representative of Dorchester County at the convention which met at Annapolis in June 1774.[5]

Steele was educated at the Cambridge Public Academy under Rev. Nathaniel Sheldon Wheaton and prepared at St. John's College in Annapolis (formerly known as King William's School) until the age of sixteen when he entered Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut (then known as Washington College).[5]

Career

Steele began studying the law at the age of eighteen in the offices of Alexander Contee Magruder and David Hoffman, a law professor at the University of Maryland.[2] After he was admitted to the bar in 1830, he quickly became an undisputed leader of the Maryland bar and ranked as one of the foremost lawyers in America. In 1839, he was appointed Deputy Attorney-General for the Baltimore County Court under Josiah Bayley. He held the position under Bayley's successor, George R. Richardson, until 1849.[5]

Chargé d'Affaires, Venezuela

In December 1849, Steele was appointed Chargé d'Affaires to Venezuela by U.S. President Zachary Taylor, a member of the Whig Party from Kentucky, during a recess of the U.S. Senate. He presented his credentials in Caracas on January 7, 1850 and was recommissioned on June 24, 1850 after confirmation.[6] He remained in his post after Taylor's unexpected death seven months later in July 1850 when Millard Fillmore became president, and served until October 18, 1853,[6] when he was succeeded by Charles Eames, several months after Democrat Franklin Pierce was sworn in as the 14th president after his defeat of Whig candidate Gen. Winfield Scott.

While in his post, he had to contend with Venezuela radical Narciso López, who led repeated filibustering expeditions in an attempt to conquer the island of Cuba, then a colony of Spain. The annexation of Cuba was the object of fascination among many in the South, who saw in Cuba a potential new slave state,[7] and López had several prominent Southern supporters.[8] López made several generous offers to American military leaders to support him, but Taylor and his Secretary of State, John M. Clayton, viewed the enterprise as illegal, issuing a blockade, and later,[9] authorized the arrest of López and his associates for breach of the Neutrality Act, although they were eventually acquitted by friendly Southern juries.[7] During Fillmore's presidency, López began another expedition which ended with his execution by the Spanish, along with several Americans, including the nephew of Attorney General John J. Crittenden, which led to riots against the Spanish in New Orleans. Fillmore and his Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, worked out a series of face-saving measures with the Spanish that settled the crisis without armed conflict. Many Southerners, including Whigs, supported the filibusters, and Fillmore's response helped divide the Whig party in the 1852 election.[10]

Reportedly, Steele narrowly escaped death when a band of robbers broke into the United States legation at Caracas in an attempt to steal the money of diplomatic representatives held for safe-keeping by the chargé d'Affaires.[5] While in Venezuela, he was able to secure settlement of several American's substantial claims which "had been so long postponed as to be regarded as hopeless."[11][12]

Later career

Upon his return to the United States in 1853, he resumed his legal practice and was involved in nearly all of the most prominent cases before the Maryland courts with his name appearing "more frequently in the pages of Maryland reports than any other lawyer of his time." Steele was noted for "the clearness of his statements, the strength and force of his logic and his power as a cross-examiner" and appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States.[2] From 1872 to 1874, he served as the attorney of Baltimore City.[5]

Steele was one of the charter members of the Maryland Club (founded in 1857), and served as one of its first governors. He was also a member of the Maryland Historical Society.[5]

Personal life

On January 22, 1849, Steele was married to Rosa Londonia Nelson (1825–1894)[13] in Washington, D.C. She was a daughter of the late Frances (née Burrows) Nelson and John Nelson, a former U.S. Representative who served as the Chargé d'Affaires to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies under Andrew Jackson and U.S. Attorney General under John Tyler. Her paternal grandfather was Revolutionary War Brig. Gen. and U.S. Rep. Roger Nelson and her maternal grandfather was William Ward Burrows, the second Commandant of the Marine Corps.[1] Together, Isaac and Rosa were the parents of five sons and three daughters, including:[5]

  • James Nevett Steele (1850–1916), a minister affiliated with Trinity Church in New York City. He married Helen Hudson Aldrich, a daughter of prominent New York businessman Herman D. Aldrich.[14][15]
  • Mary Steele (1852–1931), who did not marry.[16]
  • John Nelson Steele (1853–1933), a lawyer with the firm of Steele, Semmes & Carey who later became general counsel of the Guggenheim Bros.' American Smelting & Refining company. He married Mary Alricks in 1880.[5]
  • Charles Steele (1858–1939),[17] a prominent attorney who was a J.P. Morgan & Co. partner for 39 years. He married Ann "Nannie" Gordon French (1866–1932),[18] a descendant of Revolutionary War general Hugh Mercer, and the daughter of Seth Barton French, a former Confederate soldier who became a cotton broker and banker after the War.[19]
  • Rosa Nelson Steele (1861–1941), who did not marry.[20]
  • Kate Steele (1862–1944), who did not marry.[21]
  • Samuel Tagart Steele (1863–1942),[22] also a lawyer with Steele, Semmes & Carey, who married Mary Thompson.[23]
  • Henry Maynadier Steele (1865–1909), a civil engineer who specialized in railroads. He married Margaret Hollins McKim (1869–1939)[lower-alpha 1] in 1894.[5]

Steele died at his home, 14 West Madison Street in Mount Vernon, Baltimore, on April 11, 1891, just shy of his 82nd birthday.[31] After a funeral at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, he was buried at Green Mount Cemetery.[31][32]

Descendants

Through his son Charles, he was the grandfather of three granddaughters: Eleanor Herndon Steele (1893–1977), who married four times,[33][34][35][36][37] and with her fourth husband established the charitable Steele-Reese Foundation;[38] Nancy Gordon Steele (1894–1955),[39] who married renowned polo-player Devereux Milburn;[40][41] and Kathryn Nevitt Steele (1896–1981), who married Francis Skiddy von Stade Sr., also a star polo player.[42][43] His great great granddaughter is Frederica Von Stade, the opera singer. His great great grandson is John Steele Gordon, the historian.

Honors and legacy

In 1872, he was awarded an honorary LL.D. from his alma mater, St. John's College. In 1895, Steele was posthumously described thusly:[2]

Steele was "one of the brightest, keenest, analytical legal minds that ever graced and adorned the bar of Maryland or any State, or shed lustre upon any court anywhere. As a counsellor, adviser, or practitioner of the law, he stood without a superior, and when he died he left behind a reputation for eloquence, soundness in the law, fidelity to every interest intrusted to him, that has never been surpassed. His countenance, his manner, his walk and conversation bespoke not only the student learned in all the principles and abstruse points of his profession, but also showed the man who loved it, and believing in it honored it at all times and under all circumstances."[2]

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References
Notes
  1. Margaret's brother, Dr. Smith Hollins McKim (1873–1932),[24] was married to Margaret Mary Emerson (1886–1960),[25] the daughter of Captain Isaac Edward Emerson and heiress to the Bromo-Seltzer fortune.[26] They divorced in 1910,[27][28] and she remarried to Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt in 1911.[29][30]
Sources
  1. Swaine, Robert T. (2007). The Cravath Firm and Its Predecessors, 1819-1947. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. pp. 477–479. ISBN 9781584777137. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  2. Contemporary American Biography: Biographical Sketches of Representative Men of the Day : Representatives of Modern Thought and Progress, of the Pulpit, the Press, the Bench and Bar, of Legislation, Invention and the Great Industrial Interests of the Country. Atlantic Publishing and Engraving Company. 1895. pp. 32–33. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  3. "STEELE, John Nevett - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  4. Jones, Elias (1902). History of Dorchester County, Maryland. Williams & Wilkins. p. 304. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  5. Derby, George; White, James Terry (1910). The National Cyclopædia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, and Defenders of the Republic, and of the Men and Women who are Doing the Work and Moulding the Thought of the Present Time. J. T. White. p. 77. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  6. "Isaac Nevitt Steele - People - Department History". history.state.gov. Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs United States Department of State. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  7. Bahles, Gerald (2010). "Millard Fillmore: Foreign Affairs". American President: Miller Center of Public Affairs. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
  8. Eisenhower, John S.D. (2008). Zachary Taylor. The American Presidents series. Times Books (Macmillan). pp. 113–114. ISBN 978-0-8050-8237-1.
  9. Bauer, K. Jack (1985). Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest. Louisiana State University Press. pp. 278–280. ISBN 0-8071-1237-2.
  10. Smith, Elbert B. (1988). The Presidencies of Zachary Taylor & Millard Fillmore. The American Presidency. University Press of Kansas. p. 228. ISBN 978-0-7006-0362-6.
  11. "Venezuela - Countries". history.state.gov. U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  12. Haswell, John H. (1889). Proceedings of the Mixed Commission Under the Convention of April 25, 1866, Between the United States and Venezuela: With Report of Señor J. G. Villafañe. Gibson Bros. pp. 64–65. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  13. "Mrs. I. Nevett Steele". The Baltimore Sun. February 12, 1894. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  14. "DIED. Steele" (PDF). The New York Times. 25 August 1916.
  15. "REV. DR. J. N. STEELE DIES.; Former Vicar of Old Trlnity Church Was a Patron of Music" (PDF). The New York Times. 24 August 1916. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  16. "STEELE". The Baltimore Sun. April 10, 1931. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  17. "CHAS. STEELE DIES; MORGAN PARTNER; Member of Firm 39 Years Had Served House as Lawyer in 1890s--Succumbs at 82 EPISCOPAL CHURCH LEADER Endowed the St. Thomas Choir School--Was Treasurer of Opera Real Estate Co. Joined Banking Firm in 1900 Endowed Church Choir School" (PDF). The New York Times. 6 August 1939. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  18. "MRS. CHARLES STEELE | Wife of Partner of J. P. Morgan & Co. Dies in Sleep" (PDF). The New York Times. December 19, 1932. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  19. "SETH BARTON FRENCH DEAD; New Yorker Had Gone to Palm Beach in Search of Health" (PDF). The New York Times. 18 February 1910. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  20. "Baltimore Sisters to Share in Morgan Partner's Estate -- Will of Charles Steele, Who Died August 5, Is Filed For Probate In Long Island Town". The Baltimore Sun. August 12, 1939. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  21. "STEELE". The Evening Sun. October 5, 1944. p. 27. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  22. "S. TAGART STEELE, LAWYER, 78, DIES -- Stricken While On Visit To His Son, Episcopal Vicar, In New York -- Funeral Services Tomorrow. Burial In Greenmount Cemetery". The Baltimore Sun. April 23, 1942. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  23. "BALTIMORE RECTOR ACCEPTS CALL HERE; Dr. S. Tagart Steele Jr. Will Be Vicar of the Chapel of the Intercession, Trinity Parish" (PDF). The New York Times. 28 December 1936. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  24. "DR. SMITH H. M'KIM DIES IN BALTIMORE; Member of One of Oldest Families There and Former Resident of This City". The New York Times. 21 September 1932. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  25. "MRS. EMERSON, 75, OF THE '400' DEAD; Society Leader Was Mother of Alfred Vanderbilt – Her Father Headed Drug Firm". The New York Times. January 3, 1960. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  26. "McKim – Emerson". The New York Times. 31 December 1902. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  27. "DR. SMITH H. M'KIM AND WIFE SEPARATE; Left Their Apartments at the Plaza Recently, and Mrs. McKim Went to Paris. NO DIVORCE, SAY FAMILY Separation Said to Have Been Arranged Amicably – Mrs. McKim a Daughter of I.E. Emerson". The New York Times. 22 May 1909. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  28. "MRS. M'KIM WINS DIVORCE AT RENO; Tells Her Story in Court, Accusing Dr. McKim of Cruelty, Non-Support, and Drunkenness. LEFT HIM TWO YEARS AGO Declares Her Father, the Baltimore Drug Manufacturer, Had Supported Them – No Answer Is Filed". The New York Times. 14 August 1910. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  29. "NO SURPRISE FOR NEWPORT.; Alfred G. Vanderbilt and Mrs. McKim's Marriage Was Expected". The New York Times. 19 December 1911. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  30. Times, Special Cable To The New York (19 December 1911). "VANDERBILT KEPT WEDDING GUARDED; His Marriage to Mrs. McKim Secretly Planned – Only the Four Witnesses Present". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  31. "SATURDAY'S CITY NEWS. -- Death of Mr. Isaac Nevett Steele and Mr. George Small". The Baltimore Sun. April 13, 1891. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  32. "Tributes to the Memory of Mr. Steele". The Baltimore Sun. April 14, 1891. p. 6. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  33. "MISS STEELE WEDS COUNT DE LA GREZE; Eldest Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Steele Married at Sunridge, Her Country Home. NUPTIALS AT GARDEN CITY Miss Anne Townsend Becomes the Bride of Edward B. MacKellar in Cathedral of the Incarnation" (PDF). The New York Times. 20 October 1910. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  34. "OBTAINS DIVORCE IN PARIS.; Former Miss Eleanor Steele Is Freed from Count de la Greze" (PDF). The New York Times. 10 October 1920. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  35. "COUNTESS DE LA GREZE, REMARRIED, ARRIVES HERE -- Mr. and Mrs. Charles Steele's Daughter Wife of Dr. Louis Debonnesset". New York Herald. December 13, 1921. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  36. "MRS. STEELE WED TO OPERA SINGER; Daughter of Charles Steele, J. P. Morgan Partner, Marries Hall Clovis in Chicago. BOTH IN LITTLE OPERA CO. Bride Made Her New York Operatic Debut Last Season--Her Third Marriage" (PDF). The New York Times. 24 September 1930. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  37. Jensen, Joan M.; Patterson, Michelle Wick (2015). Travels with Frances Densmore: Her Life, Work, and Legacy in Native American Studies. U of Nebraska Press. p. 127. ISBN 9780803274945. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  38. "About Us : The Steele-Reese Foundation". steele-reese.org. The Steele-Reese Foundation. Archived from the original on 20 March 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  39. "Mrs. Devereux Milburn" (PDF). The New York Times. 10 November 1955. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  40. "THE AUTUMN WEDDING BELLS ARE RINGING; Numerous Nuptials Fixed for Town and Country During October -- Harvest of Notable Engagements -- Plans for Miss Steele's Wedding to Devereux Milburn On Nov. 1" (PDF). The New York Times. 28 September 1913. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  41. "DEVEREUX MILBURN WEDS MISS STEELE; Polo Player Married to Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Steele at Westbury. SOCIETY IN LITTLE CHURCH Boy Choir Sings Before Ceremony;-Attendants and Guests ;- Reception at Sunridge Hall" (PDF). The New York Times. 2 November 1913. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  42. "Skiddy von Stade Sr. Dies at 82; Horseman and Star Polo Player; Saratoga Track's President In 40's and 50's Kept Old Course Going" (PDF). New York Times. February 21, 1967. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
  43. "MISS K. N. STEELE, BRIDE IN COUNTRY; Weds F. Skiddy Von Stade in Picturesque Church at Westbury, After Polo Romance" (PDF). The New York Times. June 27, 1915. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Benjamin G. Shields		 U.S. Chargé d'Affaires, Venezuela
January 7, 1850 – October 18, 1853		 Succeeded by
Charles Eames
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