John Jacob Astor IV IV was born on July 13, 1864 at his parents' country estate Ferncliff in Rhinebeck, New York. He was the youngest of five children and only son of businessman, collector, and race horse breeder/owner William Backhouse Astor, Jr. and socialite Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn. His four elder sisters were Emily, Helen, Charlotte, and Caroline ("Carrie"). He was a great-grandson of fur-trader John Jacob Astor and Sarah Cox Todd, whose fortune made the Astor family one of the wealthiest in the United States. Astor's paternal grandfather William Backhouse Astor, Sr. was a prominent real estate businessman. Through his paternal grandmother, Margaret
Michael Astor Michael Astor The Hon. Michael Langhorne Astor (10 April 1916 – 28 February 1980) was a British Conservative Party politician. Michael Astor was born on 10 April 1916. He was the fourth child of Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor, and Nancy Witcher Langhorne, both Members of Parliament. He was educated at Eton College. He gained the rank of Captain, serving in the Royal Artillery (Territorial Army). He was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for Surrey East in the 1945 General Election. He kept his seat in the 1950 election but did not stand in 1951. He wrote a memoir,