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Astor family

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Astor family
John Jacob Astor
John Jacob Astor III
Vincent Astor
Current regionUnited States
United Kingdom
Place of originWalldorf, Electoral Palatinate
Chiavenna, Duchy of Savoy
Current headWilliam Astor, 4th Viscount Astor
Titles
HeirloomsSancy diamond
Estate(s)

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,[1] 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.

Founding family members

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Portrait of John Jacob Astor, the founder of the Astor business dynasty.
Coat of arms of Viscount Astor

John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor) was the youngest of four sons born to Johann Jacob Astor (1724–1816) and Maria Magdalena vom Berg (1730–1764).

The Astor family can trace their ancestry back to Giovan Asdour (1595–1668) and Gretta Ursula Asdour (1589–?). Giovan was born in Chiavenna, Italy, and died in Zürich, Switzerland. Their son, Hans Pieter Asdor, was born in Switzerland and died in Nußloch.

John Jacob and his brother George, born in Walldorf left Germany and moved to London in 1778.[2] There, they established a flute making company.[3] In 1783, John Jacob left for Baltimore, Maryland, leaving his brother in charge of the London business, and was active first as a dealer in woodwind instruments, then in New York as a merchant in opium, furs, pianos, and real estate. After moving to New York, John met and married Sarah Cox Todd (1762–1842). She worked alongside her husband as a consultant, and was accused of witchcraft after her success with the company in 1817. The accusations never led to legal action. They had eight children, including John Jacob Astor Jr. (1791–1869) and real estate businessman William Backhouse Astor Sr. (1792–1875).[4]

Portrait of Henry Astor

John Jacob's fur trading company established a Columbia River trading post at Fort Astoria in 1811, the first United States community on the Pacific coast. He financed the overland Astor Expedition in 1810–1812 to reach the outpost, which was in the then-disputed Oregon Country. Control of Fort Astoria played a key role in English and American territorial claims on the region.

John and George's brother Henry (born Heinrich) (1754–1833) also emigrated to America. Henry was a horse racing enthusiast, and purchased a thoroughbred named Messenger, who had been brought from England to America in 1788. The horse became the founding sire of all Standardbred horses in the United States today.[citation needed]

The third brother Melchior remained in Germany.

During the 19th century, the Astors became one of the wealthiest families in the United States. Toward the end of that century, some of the family moved from America to England and achieved high prominence there. During the 20th century, the number of American Astors began to decline, but their legacy lives on in their many public works including the New York Public Library. English descendants of the Astors hold two hereditary peerages: Viscount Astor and Baron Astor of Hever.

While many Astor family members joined the Episcopal Church,[5][6] John Jacob Astor remained a member of a Reformed congregation to his death.[7][8]

Family namesake places

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For many years, the members of the Astor family were known as "the landlords of New York".[9] Their New York City namesakes are the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel,[10] an Astor Row, Astor Court, Astor Place, and Astor Avenue in the Bronx, where the Astors stabled horses. The neighborhood of Astoria, Queens, was renamed to incite John Jacob Astor to invest there.

Beyond New York City, the Astor family name is imprinted in a great deal of United States history and geography. Astor Street, in Chicago's landmark Gold Coast district, is named after John Jacob Astor. There are towns of Astor in the states of Florida, Georgia, Iowa, and Kansas and there are Astorias in Illinois, Missouri, and Oregon. In Astoria, Oregon, the primary elementary school, a filming location for the 1990 film Kindergarten Cop, is called John Jacob Astor Elementary. The city is also home to the Astoria Column.

In Maidstone, Kent, United Kingdom, there was a secondary state school named Astor of Hever School. It was located within Oakwood Park, a former residence of the Astor family, which the family gifted to the Borough of Maidstone to be used for educational purposes. Whilst the Astor of Hever School changed its name in the early 2010s, it is still located on the Oakwood Park Estate, along with a Grammar School, a Catholic Secondary school and the Maidstone campus of Mid-Kent College. At one time the Oakwood Park Estate also contained an educational farm attached to the Astor of Hever School.

There is a neighborhood called Astor Park just south of downtown Green Bay, Wisconsin.[11] At the heart of this neighborhood is a park (also called "Astor Park"); the Astor family donated this land for the building of a trade school.

The Astors were also prominent on Mackinac Island, Michigan, and Newport, Rhode Island, with their summer house, Beechwood.[12] At Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, there are the Lord and Lady Astor Suites; the hotel salon is called Astor's. There is even a Hostel in York, England called The Astor. In addition, a dormitory at St. George's School in Newport, Rhode Island, bears Astor's name.

The Danubius Hotel Astoria in the center of Pest, Budapest, Hungary, opened in 1914, was given its name by the original hotel owners and Mihály Gellér, the first General Manager of the hotel, who formerly worked for the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.[13] In Shanghai, China there is the Astor House Hotel in the Bund.

Mount Astor in Antarctica was named after Vincent Astor by the explorer Richard E. Byrd.[14]

Astor family tree

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Members by birth order

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  1. John Jacob Astor Sr. (1763–1848)
  2. William Backhouse Astor Sr. (1792–1875)
  3. Charles Astor Bristed Sr. (1820–1874)
  4. John Jacob Astor III (1822–1890)
  5. William Backhouse Astor Jr. (1829–1892)
  6. Matthew Astor Wilks (1844–1926)
  7. DeLancey Astor Kane (1844–1915)
  8. S. Nicholson Kane (1846–1906)
  9. William Waldorf Astor I (1848–1919)
  10. John Innes Kane (1850–1913)
  11. Sybil Kent Kane (1856–1946)
  12. Woodbury Kane (1859–1905)
  13. Carrie Astor Wilson (1861–1948)
  14. John Armstrong Chaloner (1862–1935)
  15. Winthrop Astor Chanler (1863–1926)
  16. John Jacob "Jack" Astor IV (1864–1912, died in the sinking of the Titanic)
  17. William Astor "Willie" Chanler Sr. (1867–1934)
  18. Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler Sr. (1869–1942)
  19. Margaret Chanler Aldrich (1870–1963)
  20. Robert Winthrop Chanler (1872–1930)
  21. Peter Augustus Jay (1877–1933)
  22. Waldorf Astor (1879–1952)
  23. James Roosevelt "Tadd" Roosevelt Jr. (1879–1958)
  24. Marshall Orme Wilson Jr. (1885–1966)
  25. John Jacob Astor V (1886–1971)
  26. William Vincent Astor (1891–1959)
  27. Louis Zborowski (1895–1924)
  28. Theodore Chanler (1902–1961)
  29. Ava Alice Muriel Astor (1902–1956)
  30. Jimmy Van Alen (1902–1991)
  31. William Waldorf "Bill" Astor II (1907–1966)
  32. Francis David Langhorne Astor (1912–2001)
  33. John Jacob "Jakey" Astor VI (1912–1992)
  34. Michael Langhorne Astor (1916–1980)
  35. Susan Mary Jay (1918–2004)
  36. John Jacob "Jakie" Astor VII (1918–2000)
  37. Gavin Astor (1918–1984)
  38. John Astor (1923–1987)
  39. Prince Ivan Sergeyevich Obolensky (1925–2019)
  40. Princess Sylvia Sergeyevna Obolensky (1931–1997)
  41. Simon Bowes-Lyon (born 1932)
  42. Jane Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 28th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby (born 1938)
  43. John Jacob "Johnny" Astor VIII (born 1946)
  44. William Waldorf Astor III (born 1951)
  45. John Dalrymple, 14th Earl of Stair (born 1961)

Spouses by birth order

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  1. Vincent Rumpff (1789–1867): husband of Eliza Astor
  2. Franklin Hughes Delano (1813–1893): husband of Laura Eugenia Astor
  3. Samuel Cutler "Sam" Ward (1814–1884): husband of Emily Astor
  4. John Winthrop Chanler (1826–1877): husband and widower of Margaret Astor Ward
  5. Caroline Webster Schermerhorn (1830–1908): widow of William Backhouse Astor Jr.
  6. James John Van Alen (1848–1923): husband and widower of Emily Astor
  7. Augustus Jay (1850–1919): husband of Emily Astor Kane
  8. James Roosevelt "Rosey" Roosevelt Sr. (1854–1927): husband and widower of Helen Schermerhorn Astor
  9. Count William Eliot Morris Zborowski (1858–1903): 2nd husband of Margaret Laura Astor Carey
  10. Marshall Orme Wilson (1860–1926): husband of Caroline Schermerhorn Astor
  11. John Jay Chapman (1862–1933): husband of Elizabeth Astor Winthrop Chanler
  12. Richard Aldrich (1863–1937): husband of Margaret Livingston Chanler
  13. Amélie Louise Rives (1863–1945): wife of John Armstrong Chaloner
  14. Ava Lowle Willing (1868–1958): 1st wife of John Jacob "Jack" Astor IV
  15. Harriet Sylvia Ann Howland Green(1871–1951): wife and widow of Matthew Astor Wilks
  16. Natalina Cavalieri (1874–1944): 2nd wife of Robert Winthrop Chanler
  17. Herbert Henry Spender-Clay (1875–1937): husband of Pauline Astor
  18. Margaret Louise Post (1876–1969): wife and widow of James Laurens Van Alen
  19. Robert Joseph Collier (1876–1918): husband of Sarah Steward Van Alen
  20. Nancy Witcher Langhorne (1879–1964): widow of Waldorf Astor, first female British MP to sit in the house of commons.
  21. Minnie W. Collins (1880–1946): widow of William Astor "Willie" Chanler
  22. Julia Lynch Olin (1882–1961): 2nd wife and widow of Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler
  23. Theodore Douglas Robinson (1883–1934): husband of Helen Rebecca Roosevelt
  24. Lawrence Grant White (1887–1956): husband of Laura Astor Chanler
  25. Violet Mary Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound (1889–1965): wife of John Jacob Astor V
  26. Prince Sergei Platonovich Obolensky Neledinsky-Meletzky (1890–1978), 1st husband of Ava Alice Muriel Astor
  27. Helen Dinsmore Huntington (1893–1976): 1st wife and widow of William Vincent Astor
  28. Madeleine Talmage Force (1893–1940): 2nd wife and widow of John Jacob "Jack" Astor IV
  29. Louis Bancel LaFarge (1900–1989): husband and widower of Hester Alida Emmet
  30. Roberta Brooke Russell (1902–2007): 3rd wife and widow of William Vincent Astor
  31. The Hon. Sir David Bowes Lyon (1902–1961): husband of Rachel Pauline Spender-Clay
  32. Mary Benedict "Minnie" Cushing (1906–1978): 2nd wife of William Vincent Astor
  33. John Aylmer Dalrymple, 13th Earl of Stair (1906-1996): husband of Davina Katherine Bowes-Lyon
  34. Gilbert James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 3rd Earl of Ancaster (1907–1983): husband and widower of Nancy Phyllis Louise Astor
  35. Joseph Wright Alsop V (1910–1989): 2nd husband of Susan Mary Jay
  36. Irene Violet Freesia Janet Augusta Haig (1919–2001): widow of Gavin Astor
  37. Hon. Sarah Kathleen Elinor Norton (1920–2013): 1st wife of William Waldorf "Bill" Astor II
  38. Janet Bronwen Alun Pugh (1930–2017): 3rd wife and widow of William Waldorf "Bill" Astor II
  39. Roderick McEwen (1932–1982): husband of Romana von Hofmannsthal
  40. Annabel Lucy Veronica Jones (born 1948): wife of William Waldorf Astor III, mother-in-law of British PM David Cameron
  41. Elizabeth Constance "Liz" Mackintosh (born 1950): 2nd wife of John Jacob "Johnny" Astor VIII
  42. Jools Miles Holland (born 1958): 2nd husband of Christabel Mary McEwen
  43. Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 11th Duke of Richmond (born 1955): husband of Janet Elizabeth Astor
  44. Edward Richard Lambton, 7th Earl of Durham (born 1961): 1st husband of Christabel Mary McEwen
  45. Laura Rose Parker Bowles (born 1978): wife of Harry Marcus George Lopes

Lines of succession to the family titles

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Both in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, the titles Viscount Astor, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent (1917), with subsidiary title Baron Astor, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent (1916), and Baron Astor of Hever, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent (1956), were granted with the standard remainder to the legitimate male heirs of the bodies of the original grantees.

Both of the current titleholders continue to sit in the House of Lords following the expulsion of the majority of the hereditary peers by the House of Lords Act 1999.

Viscount Astor's Official Parliamentary Portrait
Lord Astor of Hever's Official Parliamentary Portrait
Coat of arms of Astor of Hever family

Network

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Associates

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The following is a list of figures closely aligned with or subordinate to the Astor family.

Businesses

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The following is a list of companies in which the Astor family have held a controlling or otherwise substantial interest.

Philanthropy and non-profit organizations

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Estates and historic sites

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References

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  1. ^ Madsen, Axel (March 14, 2002). John Jacob Astor: America's First Multimillionaire. New York: John Wiley & Sons (published 2002). pp. 7–8. ISBN 9780471009351. Retrieved November 16, 2016. The Astors [...] were Italian Protestants from the Alpine village of Chiavenna high above the northern end of Lake Como. [...] The first documented ancestor is Jean-Jacques d'Astorg. [...] He and his family are assumed to have been followers of the persecuted Waldensian Puritan faith [...]. Like most subjects of the duke of Savoy, d'Astorg spoke French and Italian, and answered both to Jean-Jacques and Giovan Petro Astore. [...] [I]n 1685 [...] the Sun King revoked the Edict of Nantes [...]. The massacre of Protestants in Valtellina high up in the Adda Valley sent d'Astorg-Astore, his wife, and their two children fleeing north across Switzerland to Heidelberg.
  2. ^ "Square Piano". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
  3. ^ "George Astor". Horniman Museum and Gardens. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
  4. ^ Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Astor, John Jacob" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
  5. ^ B. Drummond Ayres Jr. (December 19, 2011). "The Episcopalians: An American Elite with Roots Going Back to Jamestown". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
  6. ^ W. Williams, Peter (2016). Religion, Art, and Money: Episcopalians and American Culture from the Civil War to the Great Depression. University of North Carolina Press. p. 176. ISBN 9781469626987. The names of fashionable families who were already Episcopalian, like the Morgans, or those, like the Fricks, who now became so, goes on interminably: Aldrich, Astor, Biddle, Booth, Brown, Du Pont, Firestone, Ford, Gardner, Mellon, Morgan, Procter, the Vanderbilt, Whitney. Episcopalians branches of the Baptist Rockefellers and Jewish Guggenheims even appeared on these family trees.
  7. ^ Reformed Congregation James Parton, Life of John Jacob Astor: To which is appended a Copy of his last will (The American News Comp., 1865), pg. 81
  8. ^ Emmerich, Alexander (2013). John Jacob Astor and the First Great American Fortune. McFarland. p. 43. ISBN 9780786472130.
  9. ^ Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Astor Family" . Encyclopedia Americana.
  10. ^ Archives, The National. "Africa through a lens". The National Archives. Retrieved September 20, 2021.
  11. ^ "Astor Neighborhood Association". Astor Neighborhood Association. Archived from the original on October 3, 2016. Retrieved September 16, 2016.
  12. ^ Dangremond, Sam (September 2, 2021). "Is New Money Changing High Society's Favorite Summer Destination Forever?". Town & Country. Retrieved September 20, 2021.
  13. ^ "The history of Danubius Hotel Astoria | Danubius City Center Hotels in Budapest, Hungary & London". Danubius Hotels. Retrieved September 20, 2021.
  14. ^ "Astor,Mount". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
  15. ^ White, Edward, ed. (1900). "The Gallatin National Bank". The Banking Law Journal. 17: 160–162]. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  16. ^ Lundberg, Ferdinand (March 15, 2007) [1937]. "VII. Press of the Plutocracy". America's 60 Families. Vanguard Press. ISBN 978-1406751468. LCCN 37030388. OCLC 256489013. OL 6360759M. Retrieved July 8, 2022 – via Internet Archive. p. 259: After losing a good deal of money with this early partisan of the New Deal, which subsequently reversed policy, Harriman and Astor bought a large interest early in 1937 in "News-Week". There they joined a group of other important stockholders, which included Ward Cheney, of the Cheney silk family, John Hay Whitney, and Paul Mellon, son of Andrew W. Mellon.
  17. ^ White 1900, pp. 160–162.
  18. ^ Foster, Elizabeth (December 10, 2019). "Sony Pictures Television Acquires Silvergate Media". Kidscreen. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  19. ^ "New York – History – Geschichte: Vanderbilt Hotel 1913". August 9, 2011.
  20. ^ "Funds for Historic Buildings". ffhb.org. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
  21. ^ "Astor Fund at New York Community Trust Awards $9.2 Million". Philanthropy News Digest. 10 December 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
  22. ^ "Vincent Astor Dies In His Home at 67". The New York Times. February 4, 1959. Retrieved March 21, 2010.
  23. ^ "Railway on Astor Estate In Bermuda Is Extended". The New York Times. December 6, 1938. p. 13. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  24. ^ "Daphne Warburg Plans Nuptials". The New York Times. December 17, 1978. p. 108. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  25. ^ Miller, Tom (July 27, 2015). "Daytonian in Manhattan: The Lost Astor Estate "Hellgate" 87th and East End Ave". Daytonian in Manhattan. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
  26. ^ Smith, Virginia K. (June 14, 2022). "Renovated New York Estate With River Views and Astor Family Ties Lists for $25 Million". Mansion Global. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  27. ^ Gabrielan, Randall (2000). New York City's Financial District in Vintage Postcards. Arcadia Publishing. p. 30. ISBN 9780738500683. Retrieved 10 July 2018.

Further reading

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  • Virginia Cowles. The Astors: The Story of a Transatlantic Family, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1979. ISBN 0-297-77624-X
  • David Sinclair. Dynasty: The Astors and Their Times, London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1983. ISBN 0-460-04409-5
  • Derek Wilson. The Astors: The Life and Times of the Astor Dynasty, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1993. ISBN 0-297-81261-0
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