Astor family

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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,<ref> Template:Cite book </ref> 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.<ref>(Fort Union Trading Post, April 24 2021)</ref>Template:Better source needed

Founding family members

Portrait of John Jacob Astor, the founder of the Astor business dynasty
File:Astor (Viscount Astor) Arms.svg
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There, they established a flute making company.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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).<ref>Template:Cite Appletons'</ref>

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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 British 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.Template:Citation needed

Melchior, the third of the four brothers, 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. British descendants of the Astors hold two hereditary peerages: Viscount Astor and Baron Astor of Hever.

While many Astor family members joined the Episcopal Church,<ref name="THE EPISCOPALIANS">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> John Jacob Astor remained a member of a Reformed congregation to his death.<ref name="books.google.com">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</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Family namesake places

For many years, the members of the Astor family were known as "the landlords of New York".<ref>Template:Cite Americana</ref> Their New York City namesakes are the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite gnis</ref>

Astor family tree

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Members by birth order

  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

  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): second 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): first 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): second 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): second 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), first husband of Ava Alice Muriel Astor
  27. Helen Dinsmore Huntington (1893–1976): first wife and widow of William Vincent Astor
  28. Madeleine Talmage Force (1893–1940): second 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): third 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): second 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): second 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): first wife of William Waldorf "Bill" Astor II
  38. Janet Bronwen Alun Pugh (1930–2017): third 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): second wife of John Jacob "Johnny" Astor VIII
  42. Jools Miles Holland (born 1958): second 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): first 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

Both in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, the titles File:Coronet of a British Viscount.svg Viscount Astor, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent (1917), with subsidiary title File:Coronet of a British Baron.svg Baron Astor, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent (1916), and File:Coronet of a British Baron.svg 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.

File:Official portrait of Viscount Astor.jpg
Viscount Astor's Official Parliamentary Portrait
File:Official portrait of Lord Astor of Hever.jpg
Lord Astor of Hever's Official Parliamentary Portrait
File:Astor (Baron Astor of Hever) Arms.svg
Coat of arms of Astor of Hever family

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Network

Businesses

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

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Philanthropy and non-profit organizations

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Estates and historic sites

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References

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Further reading

  • Virginia Cowles. The Astors: The Story of a Transatlantic Family, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1979. Template:ISBN
  • David Sinclair. Dynasty: The Astors and Their Times, London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1983. Template:ISBN
  • Derek Wilson. The Astors: The Life and Times of the Astor Dynasty, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1993. Template:ISBN

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