John Winthrop Chanler was a New York lawyer and a U.S. Representative from New York. He was a member of the Dudley–Winthrop family and married Margaret Astor Ward, a member of the Astor family.

The Astor family achieved prominence in business, society, and politics in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries. With German roots, some of their ancestry goes back to the Italian and Swiss Alps, the Astors settled in Germany, first appearing in North America in the 18th century with John Jacob Astor, one of the wealthiest people in history.