History

John Jacob Astor IV was born at "Ferncliff", the family's estate in Rhinebeck, New York, to William Backhouse Astor, Jr. and Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor. John Jacob IV was the great–grandson of John Jacob Astor whose fortune, made in the fur trade and real estate, made the Astor family one of the wealthiest in the United States. The astor family also owned a victorian/colonial style mansion in New Jersey, that was later owned by Lance Clarke, excecutive chairman of Clark Shoes.

Astor attended St Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire and later attended Harvard University. In 1891, Astor married Ava Lowle Willing, a Philadelphia socialite. Together they had two children, William Vincent Astor and Ava Alice Muriel Astor; the latter, however, was believed by many to be Ava Astor's child by a New York socialite named Hatch.

Among Astor's accomplishments was A Journey in Other Worlds, an 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 and in 1897, Astor built the Astoria Hotel which adjoined 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.

Madeleine and the Titanic

In 1909 Astor divorced his wife Ava and on September 9, 1911 married eighteen year–old Madeleine Talmadge Force in his mother's ballroom at Beechwood, the family's Newport, Rhode Island home. The divorce and marriage to Madeleine, who was a year younger than Vincent Astor, caused a scandal and John Jacob IV and Madeleine took an extended honeymoon in Europe and Egypt to wait for the gossip to calm down. Among the few Americans of the socialite class who did not spurn JJ IV 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.

While traveling Madeleine became pregnant, and wanting the child born in the United States, the Astors booked first–class passage on the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic which they boarded at Cherbourg, France. Astor was the richest person on the ship and, along with his wife, his party included his manservant, his wife's maid and nurse and his pet Airedale, Kitty. At 11:40 PM on April 14, 1912 the Titanic hit an iceberg and began sinking. At first Astor didn’t believe the ship was in any serious danger, but later helped his wife into a lifeboat. He asked if he could join his wife, mentioning her "delicate condition", but the officer in charge said no men until all the women and children were away. Astor reportedly stood back, asked for the lifeboat number, lit a cigarette, and tossed his gloves to Madeleine. Both she and Mrs. Brown survived. He perished.

John Jacob Astor IV's body was recovered by the MacKay-Bennett on April 22. Because his body was badly crushed and covered in soot, Astor is believed to have been smashed by the first smokestack as it fell from Titanic. His body was identified by the initials sewn on the lapel of his jacket. Among the items found on him were £225, $2440, and a gold watch which his son, Vincent, claimed and wore the watch the rest of his life. Astor was buried in Trinity Church Cemetery in New York City.  His second son, John Jacob Astor VI was born on August 14, 1912. Madeleine died in Miami, Florida in 1940.

Legends

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 and books 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.

Astor's fame has made him an often used character in films about Titanic. William Johnstone played Astor in the 1953 film Titanic and in the 1997 Titanic he was played by Eric Braeden, who was picked for his strong resemblance to Astor.

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