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
Gavin Astor, 2nd Baron Astor of Hever Gavin Astor, 2nd Baron Astor of Hever Gavin Astor, 2nd Baron Astor of Hever (1 June 1918 – 28 June 1984), was an English soldier, publisher, peer, and member of the Astor family. Astor was the eldest son of John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever (1886–1971), and Lady Violet Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound (1889–1965). He had two younger brothers, Hugh (1920–1999) and John (1923–1987). His mother had two children, Mary (1910–2003) and George (1912–1997), from her previous marriage to Lord Charles Petty-Fitzmaurice (1874–1914). He was educated at Eton College and New College, Oxford, before joining the Life Guards, where he reached