Theodore P. Shonts

Shonts was born in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, on May 5, 1855.[1] He was the son of Dr. Henry Daniels Shonts (1823–1910),[2] and Margaret Nevin (née Marshall) Shonts (1825–1915).[1] His maternal grandparents were H. David Marshall and Jane (née Waid) Marshall.[3] His father was a well known pioneer doctor who practiced in Erie, Pennsylvania, before moving to Centerville, Iowa, in 1861.[2]

Shonts attended Monmouth College in Illinois where he studied civil engineering,[4] and from where he graduated in 1876.[1] In 1914, he was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree from Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio.[5]

Shonts seated at his desk, 1907.

After graduation from Monmouth College, he became an accountant and was employed by national banks in Iowa to standardize and simplify methods of bookkeeping before studying law and practicing for a short time in Centerville. He became associated with General Francis Marion Drake, who had large financial and railroad interests, and who placed much of the management and construction into Shonts' hands. With associates, he secured control of the Toledo, St. Louis and Western Railroad, commonly known as the Clover Leaf Road, which he rehabilitated and made successful.[1]

In 1905, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Shonts chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission, working closely with newly appointed chief engineer John Frank Stevens on the construction of the Panama Canal. Stevens was appointed to improve the work of the commission after the original chief engineer, John Findley Wallace, had resigned due to lack of support from the commission.[6] Shonts served in this role on the commission until February 1907, when he was elected the president of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company where he assumed his duties on March 4, 1907, and served until his death in 1919.[7]

He also served as president of the Toledo, St. Louis and Western Railroad (from 1904 to 1912), the Chicago and Alton Railroad (from 1907 to 1912), and the Iowa Central and Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway (from 1909 to 1911).[8]

The Duke of Manchester (who married the American heiress Helena Zimmerman) with Shonts and his wife Millie, 1900.

His daughter, Theodora d'Albert, Duchess of Chaulnes in 1900, before she married Emmanuel d'Albert de Luynes, Duke of Chaulnes.

In 1881, Shonts was married to Harriet Amelia "Millie" Drake (1856–1929). She was the daughter of Mary Jane (née Lord) Drake and Gen. Francis Marion Drake, the Governor of Iowa from 1896 to 1898.[9] Shonts later served as chairman of the board of Drake University in Iowa (founded by his father-in-law in 1881).[8] Together, they were the parents of two daughters:

• Theodora Mary Shonts (1882–1966), who married Emmanuel d'Albert de Luynes, Duke of Chaulnes and Picquigny, in 1908.[10][11] He was the son of the late Sophie, Princess Galitzine and Paul d'Albert de Luynes, Duke of Chaulnes and Picquigny.[12] His only sibling, Marie Thérèse d'Albert de Luynes, was married to Louis de Crussol d'Uzès, 14th Duke of Uzès.[13][14] The Duke died less than three months after the marriage.[15]
• Marguerite Shonts (b. 1889),[16] who married Rutherford Bingham, the son of Gen. Theodore A. Bingham, former New York City Police Commissioner, in 1917.[17] Bingham served in the U.S. diplomatic service.[17]

In 1906, the family began occupying the home at 1526 New Hampshire Avenue in Washington, D.C.[10] When Shonts moved to New York City to begin working with the Transit Company, he stayed at the Metropolitan Club while his family remained in Washington. When they visited New York City, they all stayed at the St. Regis.[7]

After his separation, he lived at the Hotel Beresford on the Upper West Side of Manhattan,[18] before moving to 930 Park Avenue on the Upper East Side.[19] He also had a summer home at Long Beach.[20]

After suffering a breakdown from overwork,[20][21][22][23][24] Shonts died on September 21, 1919, at 930 Park Avenue, his home in Manhattan.[25] After a funeral at the Brick Presbyterian Church on Fifth Avenue, he was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx.[26] In his will, he left the majority of his estate not to his wife and children, but to his "friend" Mrs. Amanda Thomas, which led his wife to file a $1,000,000 suit against Mrs. Thomas "for alienation of affection".[9][27] His widow who was "destitute" at the time of her death, was buried at Oakland Cemetery in Centerville, Iowa.[28]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Theodore P. Shonts.

• Theodore Perry Shonts at Find a Grave
• Theodore P. Shonts at the Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library