Chiswell Langhorne


Colonel Chiswell Dabney Langhorne was an American railroad industrialist. He was the father of Nancy Witcher Langhorne and the maternal grandfather of both Joyce Grenfell and Michael Langhorne Astor.

Early life

Langhorne was born on November 4, 1843 in Lynchburg, Virginia at Point of Honor. He was the eldest son of John Scarsbrook Langhorne and Sarah Elizabeth Langhorne.
His father inherited Langhorne Mills in Lynchburg along with the bulk of his father Henry's property. His maternal family owned the Edgemont plantation. The family were wealthy planters and slave-owners before the American Civil War. The Confederate General Jeb Stuart was a relative.
The Langhorne family lived in greatly reduced circumstances after the war. But, during the next quarter century, "Chilly" made a new fortune working first in the tobacco auctioneering business and then in railroads.

Career

As a young man, Langhorne served briefly in the Confederate Army before being discharged for disability in October 1861. Soon after the Civil War, he moved to Danville, Virginia, a major center for bright leaf tobacco. The sale of loose-leaf tobacco by auction on a warehouse floor had originated there just before the Civil War. The practice, which was called the "Danville System", was quickly and widely adopted. It is said that Langhorne originated the auctioneer's fast-talking "chant," which proved very effective at evoking a heightened sense of bidding, and was also copied everywhere.
Through the influence of his wartime commanding officer, he landed a construction contract with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. This was the start of his building a railroad fortune.

Personal life

In 1864, while the Civil War was still in progress, Langhorne married sixteen-year-old Nancy Witcher "Nanaire" Keene. Together, they had a total of eleven children; eight of whom survived childhood, including:
In 1885, by which time they had at least six surviving children, he moved his family to Richmond. By 1892, he had installed his family at Mirador, a colonnaded house in Albemarle County, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Langhorne died on February 14, 1919 in Richmond, Virginia following an illness of several weeks. He was buried in Hollywood Cemetery, in Richmond. In 2006, the Langhorne House in Danville was listed under the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Virginia.

Descendants

Through his eldest daughter Lizzie, he was the grandfather of Nancy Lancaster, who married three times and became a noted interior decorator. Through daughter Irene, he was the grandfather of Irene Langhorne Gibson and Langhorne Gibson.
Through her daughter Nancy, he was the grandfather of Robert Gould Shaw III, William Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor, Nancy Phyllis Louise Astor, Francis David Langhorne Astor, Michael Langhorne Astor, and John Jacob Astor VII.
Through his youngest daughter Nora, he was the grandfather of Joyce Irene Phipps, who became an actress/comedian, and Thomas Wilton Phipps, a scriptwriter.