Kate Chase and Her Connection to Myra Bradwell
Lifespan: 840-1899
In History: Kate Chase was an influential Washington political hostess and strategist. She served as campaign manager for her father, Salmon P. Chase, during his failed bid for the 1868 Democratic presidential nomination.
Connection to Myra Bradwell: Kate and Myra were distant cousins. Both families descended from Aquilla Chase, an early New England settler. Their blood ties ran through Myra's paternal great grandmother, Mary Catherine Chase, who married Ebenezer Colby on March 15, 1742. Their son, John Colby, was Myra’s grandfather. While plausible, no evidence has been discovered of a deep connection between Myra and Kate. When he was serving as U.S. chief justice, Salmon Chase did cast the lone dissenting vote in Bradwell v. Illinois, Myra’s 1873 U.S. Supreme Court case seeking admission to the Illinois bar.
Behind the Novel: Kate Chase was immersed in politics at an early age. Her father discussed legal cases with her, and she accompanied him to the U.S. Senate and U.S. Supreme Court. As Salmon Chase rose from governor of Ohio to U.S. treasury secretary and chief justice, Kate became his private secretary and trusted adviser, often managing his correspondence. Celebrated for both her beauty and intelligence, she became one of Washington’s most prominent women and wielded considerable influence in political circles at a time when women had virtually no formal role in national politics.
Kate was first lady Mary Todd Lincoln's social rival. Although the two women were initially friendly, their relationship deteriorated as Kate increasingly commanded attention in Washington society and promoted her father’s presidential ambitions.
Biographer Mary Merwin Phelps contrasted Mary’s “tempestuous” personality with Kate’s “self-assured and statuesque poise” and described Kate as establishing her own social circle and drawing prominent guests around her. According to Phelps, Kate’s growing prominence fueled Mary’s jealousy, and their personal rivalry unfolded alongside the increasingly strained political relationship between President Abraham Lincoln and Salmon P. Chase.
Kate’s 1863 marriage to wealthy Rhode Island Gov. William Sprague was one of the great society events of Civil War-era Washington and drew international attention. Their marriage, however, became deeply unhappy and ended in divorce in 1882. She resumed the name Chase, by which the public had continued to know her.
Kate remained a political adviser after her father’s death, offering political counsel to prominent men, including James Garfield, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester A. Arthur and John Hay. She never again achieved the political prominence she had enjoyed during her father’s lifetime and died impoverished in 1899.