In 1885, Steele was married to
Richmond-born Ann "Nannie" Gordon French (1866–1932). She was the daughter of Ellen Mercer (née Herndon) French, a descendant of Revolutionary War general
Hugh Mercer, and
Seth Barton French, a former
Confederate soldier who became a
cotton broker after the
War and later an associate at J.P. Morgan. She was an older half-sister of Dr. John Herndon French, who also lived in New York, from her father's second marriage to Mary Walker Fearn (a daughter of
U.S. Minister to Greece Walker Fearn). The Steele's maintained residences in New York City (a
Beaux-Arts mansion at 11
East 62nd Street), in
Old Westbury, and a large cottage in
Southampton, New York. Together, Charles and Nannie were the parents of three daughters: • Eleanor Herndon Steele (1893–1977), who married Count Jean de la Greze of Paris in 1910. They divorced in 1920, and she married Dr. Louis Debonnesset in 1920. They also divorced and she married H. Hall Clovis in 1930. They too divorced and she remarried for the fourth and final time to Emmet P. Reese (d. 1982) in 1941. • Nancy Gordon Steele (1894–1955), who married
Devereux Milburn (1881–1942) in 1913. • Kathryne Nevitt Steele (1896–1981), who married
Francis Skiddy von Stade Sr. (1884–1967) in 1915. Kathryne Steele was a grandmother of the opera singer
Frederica von Stade. A devoted director of the
Metropolitan Opera Association for the
Metropolitan Opera House, he was also a member of the
Racquet and Tennis Club, the
Metropolitan Club, the
Piping Rock Club, the
Meadow Brook Club, the
National Golf Links of America and the
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. After a funeral at
St. Thomas' Church at
Fifth Avenue and
53rd Street, where 100 seats were reserved for employees of J.P. Morgan (including
Junius S. Morgan and
Thomas W. Lamont), he was buried at the Locust Valley Cemetery on Long Island. After his death, his estate was valued at $29,498,373 (equivalent to $ today), including a $23,122,904 interest in J.P. Morgan. Each of his daughters received $1,500,000 (equivalent to $ today) and an interest in the remainder of the estate. A lover of music and former pupil of Dr.
T. Tertius Noble, he gave $100,000 (equivalent to $ today) in 1922 to
St. Thomas' Church for the purchase of buildings for a permanent choir school, today known as the
Saint Thomas Choir School, which was founded in 1919. He gave an additional $300,000 (equivalent to $ today) to endow the school in 1925, and another $100,000 to the Church upon his death. ==References==