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
Viscount Astor second Viscount, all gained prominence in public life. The family seat is Ginge Manor, near Wantage, Oxfordshire. The first three Viscounts Astor are buried within the chapel (also known as the "Octagon Temple") at the Cliveden estate near Taplow, Buckinghamshire. The heir apparent is the present holder's eldest son, the Hon. William Waldorf Astor (b. 1979).<br> The heir apparent's heir apparent is his son, William Waldorf Astor (b. 2012) Viscount Astor Viscount Astor, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1917 for the financier and