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
Violet Astor 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, and Maud Evelyn Hamilton. They had two children: Her husband was killed in action on 30 October 1914 while fighting in World War I. On 28 August 1916 she married John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever, youngest son of William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor, and Mary Dahlgren Paul. They had three sons: She died on 3 January 1965 in her villa at Pégomas, near Grasse. Lord Astor died on 19 July 1971. Violet Astor Violet Mary Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound DStJ (28 May 1889 – 3 January 1965) was an English aristocrat. She was the daughter