Walter Percy Chrysler (1875 - 1940)

Born 2 Apr 1875 in Wamego, Pottawatomie, Kansas, United States

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 18 Aug 1940 at age 65 in Kings Point, North Hempstead, Nassau, New York, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Chrissy Locke [send private message]

Biography

Walter Chrysler is Notable.

Walter Percy Chrysler (April 2, 1875 – August 18, 1940) was an American automotive industry executive and founder of the Chrysler Corporation.

Walter Chrysler was born on 2 April 1875 in Wamego, Pottawatomie County, Kansas, the son of Anna Maria (née Breymann) and Henry Chrysler.^[1] The 1875 Kansas State Census (supposedly enumerated as of 1 March 1875) recorded 2-month-old Walter Crysler in the household of Henry Crysler, age 25 (his father), in Wamego Township, Pottawatomie County, Kansas. Also in the household were Mary Crysler, age 23 (his mother); Ed Crysler, 3 (his brother); and Isabelle Crysler, 36. Henry, an engineer, was born in Canada and had come to Kansas from Canada. He reported $500 real estate and $225 personal estate. Mary was born in Missouri and had come to Kansas from Missouri. Isabelle Crysler was born in Scotland and had come to Kansas from Canada. The children were born in Kansas.^[2]

His father was a locomotive engineer.^[3]

Walter grew up in Ellis, Kansas. The 1880 U.S. Census recorded him there (Ellis, Ellis County, Kansas) in his parents' household. His father, Henry Christler, age 33, was a locomotive engineer, born in Canada to a father born in Canada and a mother born in Scotland. His mother, Mary Christler, was 27, born in Missouri to a father born in Germany and a mother born in Kentucky. Children were Walter, 6, and his brother Edward, 9. The children were recorded as born in Kansas to a father born in Canada and a mother born in Kentucky; their mother's place of birth appears to be an error by the census enumerator.^[4]

He was educated through four years of high school.^[5]

He began his career as a machinist and railroad mechanic. He took correspondence courses from International Correspondence Schools in Scranton, Pennsylvania, earning a mechanical degree from the correspondence program. At age 18, he signed up for a four-year apprenticeship as a machinist. He went to work in the railroad industry, working first for the Santa Fe Railroad and later as a master mechanic and superintendent for the Chicago Great Western railroad.^[3]

The 1900 U.S. Census recorded Walter Chrysler, age 25 (born April 1875), a railway machinist, in his parents' household in the city of Ellis, Ellis County, Kansas. He was born in Kansas to a father born in Canada and a mother born in Missouri. Others in the household were his father Henry Chrysler, 52, born in Canada to parents born in Canada; his mother Mary Chrysler, 47, born in Missouri to a father born in Germany and a mother born in Kentucky; his sister Irene Chrysler, 16; and Ada Chrysler, 19, recorded as his father's niece. His parents had been married 29 years and his mother had had four children, of whom three were living.^[6]

Walter became interested in automobiles in 1908, when he attended the Chicago Auto Show and bought his first car, a Locomobile touring car. He took the car apart so he could see how it worked.^[3]

The 1910 U.S. Census found Walter P. Chrysler, recorded as age 36, in Bellevue, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, with wife Della, age 33, and children Thelma, 8; Bernice, 4; Walter P. Jr., 11 months; and a female servant. Walter was born in Kansas to a father born in French Canada and a mother born in Missouri. He worked as an assistant manager in a locomotive works. Della was also born in Kansas, to parents born in Pennsylvania. She and Walter had been married nine years and she had had three children, all of them still living. The family had moved around in the nine years of marriage; daughter Thelma was born in Utah and the two younger children were born in Iowa. ^[7]

He was a freemason.

Walter Chrysler's automotive career began when the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) decided to expand into making automobiles. When ALCO's sales began to slide after just two years in the car-making business, Chrysler saw the handwriting on the wall, and in 1911, he quit ALCO to become the factory manager of the Buick Motor Company; just two years later, ALCO quit the automobile business altogether. In 1916, he became President of the Buick Motor Company.

In July 1919, after the end of World War I, Walter P. Chrysler obtained his first U.S. passport, in order to travel to Europe, accompanied by his wife Della Viola Chrysler, to investigate post-war trade conditions on behalf of the General Motors Corporation, his employer. At the time he was residing in Flint, Michigan. His itinerary included visits to England, France, Italy, and Belgium, and dealings with General Motors (Europe),; Ltd.F.S. Bennett Ltd.; Whitings, Ltd.; Ancona Motor Company; and Agence Francais des Automobiles Cadillac.^[1]

He resigned from Buick in 1919, to take over as Vice-President of the Willys-Overland Motor Company in Toledo, Ohio.

At that time, his salary was $1 million a year, a record salary for that time. Shortly afterwards, Chrysler attempted to oust President John Willys in a takeover bid that backfired when the shareholders refused to support him. Chrysler left the company in 1921 after taking controlling interest in the Maxwell Motor Company. Four years later, he absorbed Maxwell into his fledgling Chrysler Corporation, never looking back. In addition to Chrysler automobiles, the company also created the Plymouth and DeSoto automobiles, and in 1928, purchased the Dodge Corporation. He financed the construction of what was then the tallest building in the world, the Chrysler Building, in New York City, soon to be bested by the Empire State Building, and earning the 1928 title of Time Magazine's Man of the Year. Chrysler's autobiography was titled "The Life of an American Workman." Chrysler was President of the company from 1925 to 1935, and continued to serve as Chairman of the Board from 1935 until his death in 1940.

In April 1940, the U.S. Census recorded Walter P. Chrysler, age 64, a widower, an executive in the automobile industry, living on Seville Avenue in Manhattan, New York City, New York. In addition to himself, his household consisted of a parlor maid, a butler, a chauffeur, a cook, and two kitchen maids. Walter, who was born in Kansas, had lived in King's Point, Nassau, New York, in 1935.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89X3-2PWC?cc=2185145&wc=3XZC-ZNL%3A1056306501%2C1056614501 : 30 January 2015), (M1490) Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925 > Roll 831, 1919 Jul, certificate no 96250-96499 > images 883 to 887 of 892; citing NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.)
2. ↑ "Kansas State Census, 1875," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3B-2S3M-G?cc=1825178&wc=WDQF-JRB%3A1597272349%2C1597272346%2C1597262308 : 15 August 2017), Pottawatomie > Wamego Township > 1 Inhabitants > image 3 of 15; Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Walter P. Chrysler, Automotive Hall of Fame website. Accessed 22 Nov 2021.
4. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YB3-9DXL?cc=1417683&wc=XZSR-C68%3A1589403245%2C1589403649%2C1589395833%2C1589394992 : 24 December 2015), Kansas > Ellis > Ellis > ED 85 > image 1 of 25; citing NARA microfilm publication T9, (National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., n.d.)
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89MB-S9GN?cc=2000219&wc=QZXR-F93%3A790105101%2C804828501%2C805162001%2C805175701 : accessed 23 November 2021), New York > New York > New York City, Manhattan, Assembly District 15 > 31-1351 New York City, Manhattan Borough Assembly District 15 (Tract 130 - part), Apartments at 850 Park Av > image 23 of 38; citing Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012.
6. ↑ "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6QFS-Q41?cc=1325221&wc=9B7S-3YC%3A1031093901%2C1032726201%2C1032731801 : 5 August 2014), Kansas > Ellis > ED 18 Ellis Township Ellis city > image 18 of 27; citing NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
7. ↑ "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYBS-958W?cc=1727033&wc=QZZC-SCK%3A133638001%2C133884201%2C133985901%2C1589088942 : 24 June 2017), Pennsylvania > Allegheny > Bellevue Ward 1 > ED 11 > image 42 of 48; citing NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Chrysler
• Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 21 August 2018), memorial page for Walter Percy Chrysler (2 Apr 1875–18 Aug 1940), https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/200/walter-percy-chrysler , citing Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, Westchester County, New York, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave. Bio by Kit and Morgan Benson.