William Backhouse Astor Jr.

William Backhouse Astor, Jr.
Born	(1829-07-12)July 12, 1829 Manhattan, New York
Died	April 25, 1892(1892-04-25) (aged 62) Paris, France
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Caroline Webster Schermerhorn (m. 1853—1892; his death)
Children	Emily Astor Helen Schermerhorn Astor Charlotte Augusta Astor Caroline Schermerhorn Astor John Jacob Astor IV
Parent(s)	William Backhouse Astor, Sr. Margaret Rebecca Armstrong
Relatives	John Jacob Astor (grandfather) John Armstrong, Jr. (grandfather) John Jacob Astor III (brother) William Waldorf Astor (nephew) James Roosevelt Roosevelt, Jr. (grandson) William Vincent Astor, grandson Ava Alice Muriel Astor (granddaughter) John Jacob Astor VI (grandson)

William Backhouse Astor, Jr. (July 12, 1829 — April 25, 1892) was a businessman and racehorse breeder/owner. He was also a member of the prominent Astor family.

Biography

He was born on July 12, 1829, the middle son of William Backhouse Astor, Sr. (son of John Jacob Astor and Sarah Todd) and Margaret Rebecca Armstrong (daughter of John Armstrong, Jr. and Alida Livingston), younger brother of John Jacob Astor III, and nephew of John Jacob Astor, Jr. His younger brother was Henry Astor III.

Astor graduated from Columbia College in 1849. In 1853 he married the socially ambitious Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn, who reigned over New York and Newport society as simply "the Mrs. Astor." William, however, had little interest in society parties, and his wife would try to keep him at his club late to prevent him coming home and sending the orchestra out and his children to bed.

He supported the abolition of slavery before the American Civil War, and during the war, he personally bore the cost to equip an entire Union Army regiment.

Unlike his business oriented father, William Jr. did not aggressively pursue an expansion of his inherited fortune, preferring life aboard the "Ambassadress," at the time the largest private yacht in the world, or horseback riding at Ferncliff, the large estate he had built on the Hudson River. Astor's horse "Vagrant" won the 1876 running of the Kentucky Derby.

William, Jr. often spent winters in Jacksonville, Florida aboard his yacht and was responsible for the construction of a number of prominent buildings in the city. He and sixteen other businessmen founded the Florida Yacht Club in Jacksonville in 1877, though he was the only person in Florida to actually own a yacht. The club is now the oldest social club in Jacksonville and one of the oldest yacht clubs in the United States. Liking the area, in 1874, he purchased a land tract of around 80,000 acres (320 km²) along the St. Johns River north of Orlando in an area now called Lake County, Florida. There he and two partners used 12,000 acres (49 km²) to build an entire town that he named Manhattan but was later changed to Astor in his honor.

His project, which would come to include several hotels, began with the construction of wharves on the river to accommodate steamboats. These steamboats attracted a steamship agency that could bring in the necessary materials and supplies. William Astor enjoyed his development and purchased a railroad that connected the town to the "Great Lakes Region" of Florida. He donated the town's first church and the land for the local non-denominational cemetery, and he also helped build a schoolhouse, both of which are still standing today. In 1875, one of the many nearby lakes was named Lake Schermerhorn after William Jr.'s wife, Caroline Webster Schermerhorn.

The town of Manhattan, Florida boomed, and William, with an eye on the large New York market, expanded his interests to a grapefruit grove, a fruit that at the time was only available on a very limited basis in other parts of the United States. But William Astor did not live long enough to see the orchard grow to production. Following his death in 1892, the property fell to his only son, John Jacob Astor IV. By then though, rapid changes were taking place throughout Florida. New railroads had been built in 1885 through the central and western part of the state, and in the late 1890s, Henry Flagler built a railroad line running down Florida's east coast from Daytona Beach. All this expansion left the town of Astor isolated and it was all but abandoned after train service to Astor was discontinued.

William Backhouse Astor, Jr. died of an aneurysm in 1892 in Paris, France. He was buried in Trinity Church Cemetery in Washington Heights, New York.

Descendants

William Backhouse Astor, Jr. descendants

William Backhouse Astor, Jr. married 1853 Caroline Webster Schermerhorn (1830—1908), daughter of Abraham Schermerhorn and Helen White. William, Jr. and Caroline had 5 children:

1. Emily Astor (1854—1881), m. 1876 James John Van Alen (1846—1923) They had 3 children:
   1. Mary Van Alen (1876—1959), m. Griswold A. Thompson (1875—1945) (no issue)
   2. James Laurens Van Alen (1878—1927), m. 1910 Margaret Louise Post (1876—1969) (3 children)
   3. Sarah Steward Van Alen (1881—1963), m. 1902 Robert Joseph Collier (1876—1918) (no issue)
2. Helen Schermerhorn Astor (1855—1893), m. 1878 James Roosevelt Roosevelt (1854—1927). They had 2 children:
   1. James Roosevelt Roosevelt, Jr. (1879—1958), m. 1900 Sarah Messinger (ca 1875-1940) (no issue)
   2. Helen Rebecca Roosevelt (1881—1962), m. 1904 Theodore Douglas Robinson (1883-1934) (4 children)
3. Charlotte Augusta Astor (1858—1920). She had 4 children from her 1st marriage. She m. 1st 1879 (divorced 1896) James Coleman Drayton, married 2nd 1896 George Ogilvy Haig
   1. Caroline Astor Drayton (1880—1965), m. 1910 William Phillips (1878-1968) [U.S. Ambassador] (4 children)
   2. Henry Coleman Drayton (1883—1942), 1st m. 1905 Mary Constance Knower, 2nd m. 1922 (divorced 1928) Catherine Livingston Hamersley
   3. William Astor Drayton (1888—1973), m. 1912 Helen Fargo Squiers (2 children)
   4. Alida Livingston Drayton (1890-1898) (died in infancy)
4. Caroline Schermerhorn Astor (1861—1948), m. 1884 Marshall Orme Wilson (1860—1926). They had 2 sons:
   1. Marshall Orme Wilson, Jr. (1885—1966), m. Alice Elsie Borland (1887—1987)
   2. Richard Thornton Wilson III (1886—1977)
5. John Jacob Astor IV (1864-1912). He had 2 children from his 1st, and 1 son from his 2nd marriage. He m. 1st 1891 (div 1910) Ava Lowle Willing (1868—1958), m. 2nd 1911 Madeleine Talmage Force (1893—1940)
   1. William Vincent Astor (1891-1959) (no issue), m. 1st 1913 (divorced) Helen Dinsmore Huntington, m. 2nd 1940 (divorced 1953) Mary Benedict Cushing, m. 3rd 1953 Roberta Brooke Russell (1902-2007)
   2. Ava Alice Muriel Astor (1902—1956). She had 2 children from her 1st, 1 daughter from her 2nd, and 1 daughter from her 3rd marriage. She married 1st 1924 (divorced 1932) Sergei Platonovitch Obolensky (1890-1978), married 2nd circa 1933 (divorced before 1939) Raimund Hoffmann, Edler von Hofmannsthal, married 3rd 1940 (divorced before 1946) Philip Harding, m. 4th 1946 (divorced 1952) David Pleydell-Bouverie, of the Earls of Radnor (born 1911)
   3. John Jacob Astor VI (1912—1992). He had 1 son from his 1st, and 1 daughter from his 2nd marriage. He m. 1st 1934 (div 1943) Ellen Tuck French (died 1916), m. 2nd 1946 (divorced 1954) Gertrude Gretsch, m. 3rd 1954 Dolores Fullman and divorced soon after, m. 4th Sue Sanford

References