The Indianapolis journal., 1896-06-01
THE ASTOR SKELETON
ROMANCE OF A BROTHER WHO MAR
RIED BENEATH HIS STATION.
Henry Ast0r's Broad Acres I'm Colrm.
bia County, New York, Where the
Exilcd Brother Still Resides.
Nex York Ionrnal

Astor is living out life's romance. He
is straight from the stock. this Astor; the
Oldest living representative of the family,
honest, ;ovable and warm-hearted. But he
married beneath his station" as the AS
tors Of New York city and London would
tell you, If they could be brought to speak
of him at all, which they could not. And
for this crime he was cast off by his father.
repudiated by his brothers and Stunned by
his nephews, William Waldorf and John
Jacob Astor, the controllers to-day of the
family millions. Had he consented to throw
over the woman who won his love. Henry
Astor would to-day be a leading citizen
of the metropolis. a millionaire of distinc-
ton. But he preferred to remain loyal to
his sweetheart and gave up the millions
and the position which might have been
his
Whether he made a sacrifice, whether he
has ever regretted the price he paid for his
loyalty, no one may tell. For Henry Astor
has this, in common with his family: he is
intensely proud, and reserved and gives no
man his confidence. For more than a quar-
ter Of a century now he has dwelt with his
wife in isolation among the hills of Column
bia county. His residence is miles away
from any railway, and from years end to
years end he scarcely ever leaves his own
grounds. His visits to this city since he
first went into seclusion. could be counted
on the fingers of one hand. The metropolis
has grown from a place that sheltered hun
dreds OF thousands to place that shelters
millions since he left it. The Astors have
BUILT towering hotels. acres Of residences
and gorgeous palaces. but Of them all Henry
Astor has seen nothing. Not apparently
has he cared.
When he was disowned for his love he
was by no means left a beggar. Relentless
as was the resentment of his family, they
sun saw to 1t that he was comfortably pro-
s,ueo Ior. In the country where he lives
he Is looked upon as prince with fabulous
riches. In comparison with his neighbors,
ne Is certainly a nabob. But when his estate
IS compared with the wealth Of those Astors
who remain in the world it is so Insignia
cant as TO count hardly as drop in the
bucket. How much his family gave him
Ii is thought to have been somewhere in the
ne,ghborhood of $250O0O or 100000. On the
income from this Henry Astor has buiided
very soundiy. for, like his relatives and his
forefathers, he Is fine husbandmar, pos
sessing to the full that prudence which ena-
bied the first John Jacob Astor to build
colossal fortune from the humble beginning
as Bowery furrier.
HALE, HAPPY AND CONTENTED.
To-day Henry Astor is in his sixty-fourth
year, in excellent health and apparently
happy and contented. The woman for whom
he braved his family has been stricken with
an incurable disease-cancer, it is said. For
several years no one has seen her outside
Of her home. The same devotion that held
him true to her when all turned against
him keeps Mr.. Astor at his wife's side in her
affi.cton. He scarcely leaves her for more
than an hour at time, and then only TO
w 81
ways bringing her back a choice bouquet.
whether the other members of the family,
those who spurned him, had happier and
Sed n the SHADOW Wis Of fea
that had sprung from bitter social rivalry.
His other brother, William, lived long
enough to see the family name dragged in
the mire by a scandal that terminated in
the divorce court His nephew, William
Waldorf, after striving in vain for prom
inence here, went to England, where. after
many heart-burnings, he was finally sue
cessful, as the cable tells us, in securing the
countenance Of that distinguished moralist,
the Prince of Wales. And the other nephew,
who remained here as the present head of
the family, has been close pushed on all
sides to hold the position that he covets in
the front rank OF the social and business
world.
Ali this strife and trouble has left Henry
Astor untouched among his green hills. He
has grown to ripe old age, and from pres
left to him. He is big, broad-shouldered,
fully six feet high, of very large proportions
bordering almost on corpulency. His face Is
beard covers most of it, falling well down
on his vest His amiable eyes shine shrewd-
ly through pair Of gold-rimmed spectacles
ends under a bushy, well-kept crop Of hair.
His clothing is plain, but wem made, such
as any country gentleman might wear. AL
together this Astor impresses one most ia
w iS a 1cat
shyness. But as to his romance:
ONCE A GENUINE URBANITE.
He was thorough city man in his youth.
Not rake. nor particularly dissipated.
There again he was an Astor. But he en-
joyed the good things of life. and enjoyed
them to the full. Unlike his father and
two brothers, he had little stomach for
business, but on the other hand he never
got into debt so far as Is known. His
distaste for business matters kept him
aloof from any connection with the prac-
tical management Of the family fortune,
and a fondness that he developed for coun-
try life led him to spend much time on a
large farm owned by the Astors IN Duchess
county, near Red Hook. He came gradual
ly to take entire charge of this property,
part of which was let out to John pmehart,
fairly good farmer. but man of no
property. Dinehart had five sons and two
daughters, and until he moved to Red Hook
lived In Columbia county, at place Known
as Copake Iron Works. On what Is known
now as Cooks HILL overlooking the station
of Copake Iron Works. which is on the Har-
lem branch of the New York Central Dine
hart's children were born. The farmer s
children were not particularly different
from any other people in that neighborhood,
except that they enjoyed the advantages
of having a mother who was educated be-
yond the ordinary farmers wife. The chill
dren were given the benefit of this, so that,
besides the learning which they absorbed
In the country schools, they were polished
ordinarily do not flnd their way into the
home of a poor tenant farmer
The youngest daughter. Malvina, was the
beauty of the family, and for that matter,
Of the neighborhood. Even to-day the.older
men who gather in the village stores of
that section of Columbia county will tell
tales of her good looks. Henry Astor sue
cumbed almost at once to Malyvina's at
fractions. He fell honestly in love with her.
and asked her to marry him. She consent
ed Then came the storm at home. Henry
was then in the thirties, ard while he
lacked the keen business qualities of his
family he had all its traits of determina-
ton, even to the point of stubbornnsss His
He was threatened with disinheritance and
ostracism. But he remained firm. He would
marry Malvina at anv cost, and he did.
Then came the formal family excommunica-
ton, an accommodation that has endured
all these years
WITH THE WIFE OF HIS LOVE
Young Astor settled down with his wife
and the Dineharts on a Red Hook farm
until the arrangements that settled his com
paratively modest fortune upon hin
were competed. Then he looked abou
for a permanent location, and settles
on the spot that Is row var