John Arthur Chandor


John Arthur Chandor was an American businessman and bigamist. According to the historian Michael Hagemeister, contemporary sources have called John "an adventurer of the most dangerous character", an "inveterate liar", and a "scoundrel in money matters".
John was born in New York City on January 18, 1850. His father was the inventor and entrepreneur Lasslo Philip Chandor , an Austro-Hungarian immigrant to the US in the 1840s, who by the mid-1860s had become a successful municipal lighting contractor and businessman in St Petersburg, Russia.
On April 1, 1874, John married Adeline Augusta Dickinson in New York City, and they had six children:
In December 1875, John met Elizabeth "Lizzie" Fry Ralston , the widow of San Francisco businessman and financier William Chapman Ralston, on a ship travelling from New York City to Europe. Although he claimed to be single, in reality John already had a wife. About 5 years after they had first met, John and Elizabeth had one child, Louise A. Chandor, who was born in Paris, France, where John was employed at the time as a minor U. S. diplomat. Louise married Captain Feodor Ivanovich Shishmarev in 1906 in St. Petersburg, Russia, and subsequently she was usually referred to by her married name: Paquita Louise de Shishmareff. After emigrating from Russia to the United States in 1917 with her 2 sons - Kyril and Misha - Paquita became an antisemitic, pro-fascist author who wrote articles and books under the pen name L. Fry.
In the 1870s and 1880s, John lived in Paris, with his wife Adeline and with Elizabeth, on the proceeds of investments from his father's career.
John's third "wife" was Lucy May Newton, and they had three children:
John Arthur Chandor died in Kensington, London, England on June 1, 1909.