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
John Jacob Astor III John Jacob Astor III John Jacob Astor III (June 10, 1822 – February 22, 1890) was an American financier, philanthropist and a soldier during the American Civil War. He was a prominent member of the Astor family, becoming the wealthiest family member in his generation and the founder of their English branch. Astor was the eldest son of real estate businessman William Backhouse Astor, Sr. (1792–1875) and Margaret Alida Rebecca Armstrong (1800–1872). His younger brother, businessman William Backhouse Astor, Jr. (1829–1892), became the patriarch of the male line of American Astors. His paternal grandparents were fur-trader John Jacob Astor (1763–1848)