John Jacob Astor IV Alida Rebecca Armstrong, Astor was also a great-grandson of Senator John Armstrong, Jr. and Alida Livingston of the Livingston family. His maternal grandparents were Abraham Schermerhorn, a wealthy merchant, and socialite Helen Van Courtlandt White. He was also a nephew of financier and philanthropist John Jacob Astor III, and grandnephew of occasional poet John Jacob Astor, Jr. His sister Helen's husband was diplomat James Roosevelt "Rosey" Roosevelt, half-brother of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the Roosevelt family. Another sister, Carrie, a noted philanthropist, was the wife of Marshall Orme Wilson (brother of banker Richard Thornton Wilson, Jr. and socialite Grace
William Backhouse Astor Jr. Episcopalian, was buried in Trinity Church Cemetery in New York City, New York. He is one of several responsible for opening up the tourist trade in Florida. His widow died years later in 1908. William Backhouse Astor Jr. William Backhouse Astor Jr. (July 12, 1829 – April 25, 1892) was a businessman, racehorse breeder/owner, and yachtsman who was a prominent member of the Astor family. Astor's elder brother financier and philanthropist John Jacob Astor III became head of the English line of Astors, and William Jr. was head of the male American line of Astors with his wife, Caroline Schermerhorn