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| John Jacob Astor IV | |
|---|---|
 Astor |
|
| Born | July 13, 1864 Rhinebeck, New York |
| Died | April 15, 1912 (aged 47) RMS Titanic (sunk), Atlantic Ocean |
| Spouse(s) | Ava Lowle Willing (m. 1891–1909) Madeleine Talmadge Force (m. 1911–1912) |
| Children | Vincent Astor (1892-1959) Ava Alice Muriel Astor (1902-1956) John Jacob Astor VI (1912-1992) |
| Parents | William Backhouse Astor, Jr. Caroline Webster Schermerhorn |
| Relatives | John Jacob Astor, great-grandfather |
John Jacob Astor IV (July 13, 1864 – April 15, 1912) was an American millionaire businessman, real estate builder, inventor, writer, a member of the prominent Astor family, and a lieutenant colonel in the Spanish-American War. He died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
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Early life
John Jacob Astor IV was born to William Backhouse Astor, Jr. and Caroline Webster Schermerhorn. John Jacob IV was the great-grandson of John Jacob Astor whose fortune, made in opium, fur trade and real estate, made the Astor family one of the wealthiest families in the United States.
Astor attended St Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire and later attended Harvard University.
Marriages
In 1891, John Jacob Astor married Ava Lowle Willing. The couple had two children William Vincent Astor, born in 1891 and Ava Alice Muriel Astor, born in 1902 before their divorce in 1909. Colonel Astor's wife, Ava, reportedly had an affair during their marriage, resulting in the birth of daughter Ava. Since no evidence had been found to support the claim, it is assumed that Ava Alice was fathered by Colonel Astor. Since divorce was considered a scandal back then, all in high class society were shocked when Colonel Astor announced that he would marry again.
At the age of 47, the divorced John Jacob Astor married an 18-year–old woman named Madeleine Talmage Force on September 9, 1911 in his mother's ballroom at Beechwood, the family's Newport, Rhode Island home. Madeleine was a year younger than Colonel Astor's son, Vincent. The couple took an extended honeymoon in Europe and Egypt to wait for the scandalous gossip to calm down. Among the few Americans of the socialite class who did not spurn him at this time was Margaret Brown, better known to posterity as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown". She accompanied the Astors to Egypt and France and, by coincidence, was called home to the U.S. at the same time the Astors also found it necessary to abbreviate their touring.
Careers
Among John Jacob Astor's accomplishments was A Journey in Other Worlds, a 1894 science fiction novel titled about a fictional account of life in the year 2000 on the planets Saturn and Jupiter. He also patented several inventions, including a bicycle brake in 1898, a "vibratory disintegrator" used to produce gas from peat moss, a pneumatic road–improver, and helped develop a turbine engine. Astor made millions in real estate. On 1897, Astor built the Astoria Hotel, "the world’s most luxurious hotel" [1], which adjoined Colonel Astor’s cousin, William Waldorf Astor's, Waldorf Hotel in New York City; the complex became known as the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
In 1898 Astor was appointed a lieutenant colonel of a U.S. volunteers battalion he financed in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. During this time he allowed his yacht, the Nourmahal, to be used by the U.S. government. During the war Colonel Astor appeared in the films President McKinley's Inspection of Camp Wikoff in 1898 and Col. John Jacob Astor, Staff and Veterans of the Spanish–American War in 1899.
Aboard the Titanic
While traveling Madeleine became pregnant, and wanting the child born in the United States, the Astors boarded the RMS Titanic as first-class passengers in Cherbourg, France together with Colonel Astor's valet Victor Robbins, Madeleine's maid Rosalie Bidois and nurse Caroline Louise Endres. They also took their pet Airedale named Kitty. He was the wealthiest passenger on board the Titanic.
A short while after the initial crash, Colonel Astor remarked to his wife that the ship had hit an iceberg. He reassured her that the damage did not appear serious.
Later, the Astors sat on the mechanical horses in the gymnasium. They wore their lifebelts but Colonel Astor had found another and cut the lining with a pen knife to show his skeptical wife what it was made of (it was presumed Madeleine was wary of the fragile lifebelts). When Second Officer Charles Lightoller arrived on A deck to finish loading Lifeboat 4, Astor helped his wife with her maid and nurse to board lifeboat 4 and then asked if he might join her because she was on 'a delicate condition'. Lightoller told him that men are not allowed to enter until all the women had been loaded. Astor stood back and just asked Lightoller which boat it was. After boat 4 was lowered at 1:55, Colonel Astor stood alone while others tried to free the remaining collapsible boats.
Madeleine, her nurse and her maid survived while Colonel Astor and his valet died.
John Jacob Astor IV's body was recovered by the steamer Mackay-Bennett on April 22 not far from the sinking:
- NO. 124 - MALE - ESTIMATED AGE 50 - LIGHT HAIR & MOUSTACHE.
- CLOTHING - Blue serge suit; blue handkerchief with "A.V."; belt with gold buckle; brown boots with red rubber soles; brown flannel shirt; "J.J.A." on back of collar.
- EFFECTS - Gold watch; cuff links, gold with diamond; diamond ring with three stones; £225 in English notes; $2440 in notes; £5 in gold; 7s. in silver; 5 ten franc pieces; gold pencil; pocketbook.
- FIRST CLASS. NAME- J.J. ASTOR[2]
He was identified by the initials sewn on the label of his jacket. Among the items found on him was a gold pocket watch which his son, Vincent, claimed and wore the rest of his life. Astor was buried in Trinity Church Cemetery in New York City. On August 14, 1912, Madeleine Astor gave birth to his second son, John Jacob Astor VI.[3][4]
Legacy
John Jacob Astor's prominence made his actions while the Titanic was sinking legendary. Many exaggerated and unsubstantiated accounts about what Astor did the night Titanic sank appeared in newspapers, books and magazines after the disaster. There was a story that he was the one who opened Titanic's kennel and released the dogs; another story has Astor putting a woman's hat on a boy to make sure he was able to get into a lifeboat. Another legend states that after the ship hit the iceberg, he quipped, "I asked for ice, but this is ridiculous."
Astor's fame has made him an often used character in films about Titanic. German actor Karl Schönböck Played Astor in the 1943 Nazi Propaganda film Titanic. William Johnstone also played Astor in the 1953 film Titanic, and in the 1997 version of Titanic he was played by Eric Braeden, who was picked for his strong resemblance to Astor. In the 1997 film, he is killed when the Grand Staircase's dome breaks, flooding the entire room. In the 1996 miniseries, he was played by Scott Hylands. Astor was also portrayed by David Janssen in the 1979 film S.O.S. Titanic.
References
- ^ Stanley Turkel, "The Original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel" (April 4, 2007); http://www.hotelinteractive.com/article.aspx?articleid=7469 (accessed July 8, 2009).
- ^ Encyclopedia Titanica
- ^ "Son for Mrs. Astor. Named for Father. Both Mother and Baby Said to be Very Well, the Child Strong and Well Formed.". New York Times. August 15, 1912, Thursday. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B0DE6DB113AE633A25756C1A96E9C946396D6CF. Retrieved 2008-06-22.
- ^ "John J. Astor 5th, 79. Son of Builder of Hotel". New York Times. June 27, 1992. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/27/obituaries/john-j-astor-5th-79-son-of-builder-of-hotel.html. Retrieved 2009-08-10. "John Jacob Astor 5th, a descendant of one of America's most fabled merchant princes, died yesterday at his home in Miami Beach. ... His father was John Jacob Astor 4th, a businessman and inventor, who built the Astoria Hotel in New York City that was later combined with the hotel next door to become the Waldorf-Astoria. His mother was the former Madeline Talmage Force of New York City. She was pregnant with him when she and her husband sailed on the Titanic. Her husband put her on a lifeboat and went down with the ship on April 15, 1912."
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