The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-10-07

IN 49, AN point Of antiquity
8. !. !. :. !.
49, which amounts to
quite as much IN
54 America as it does
~ elsewhere-the Astor
(Is family is pre-eminent
Kl14SA esS The German founder
kA2&S5 - 81 of the American
branch Of the family
-sr,s To the new world a few years be
tore the close of the seventeenth cen
fury. BY the time the eighteenth had
become fairly started he was already
Americas first multimillionaire and
richest citizen. which of itself is dis
finetfon worthy of record. The near
est aDproach to a contemporaneous IL
val IA the art of money getting was
the Frenc Imam Stephen Girard- me
latter came to America seven years
aarlier hut did not succeed in accumu-
iating his first million until after the
thrifty German had acquired twice lhat
amount and died leaving an estate OF
only $4,000 600, while that OF the hrst
American Astor was between $2O,OOO'OVV
and sSO.O00.0OO.
s4ephen Girard founded no family.
ne ives so engrossed in the business of
en1arRine his estate that he neglected
fhat duty to society, an omission for
which he atoned by bequeathing his
entire accumulation to philanthropic
nurposes. Astor followed the prudent
German fashion of marrying first and
sattinr rich afterward, and as result
he has ninety-one living descendants at
fine rresent dav. Three of these are
grandchildren, twenty-nine are great
grandchildren. forty-four are great
great grandchildren and hfteen are
H.
great great great grandchildren VI
these only seven now bear the name Of
Astor. one of them is little girl. the
daughter of John Jacob 4th. Two Of the
surviving grandchildren are women
Mrs. De .Lanccy Kane and Mrs. Jean dc
Notbeek The only grandson is Henry
Astor. now seventy three years OF age.
The great-grandsons are William Wal
dorf Astor. aged hfty-seven, and John
Jacob Aston 4th, now forty. The three
great great grandsons bearing the As
tor namo are William Waldorf, now
twenty-six. and John Jacob. nineteen,
sons of William waldorf Aston, and
William Vincent son of John Jacob 4th,
who is now fourteen. The death of these
three young men. all unmarried. without
issue would mean the extinction of the
AstOr family i'm the direct line.
The fifth generation of the sturdy
reigns in the palaces which his shrewd-
ness and business capacity made pos
sible. No one among them all has ever
shown more than a shadow Of the splen-
did courage and energy which animated
the founder of the house. Some of them
have not been devoid of lofty ambitions
and noble impulses, but all of them
have been hampered by the incubus OF
great wealth Most of them have been
content to attempt no higher achieve
ment than the orderly administration
of the riches which are their birthright
providing for a constant increase and
guarding against a possible diminution
Yet the family history is not devoid OF
romance, coupled with the individual
efforts Of certain OF its members tC
maintain pre- eninence as social lead
ers.
The family is now divided into two
hostile camps - the William Waldori
Astors, transplanted to British soil anc
by far the richer and the John JacoE
Astors, thoroughly American and WITH
wealth sufficient to make them con-
spicuOus among their multimillionair.
neighbors. The sum total of the ag-
gregate family treasure is not a matter
Of estimate. For many years it was the
synonym of unspeakable wealth anc
was grossly Overestimated. More re-
Gently, however, it has probably beer
underestimate, for real estate value:
in New York city have scared to such
an eminence that no ordinary human
being has been abIe to keep the rec
ord. Those who dabble i'm such matter.
regard half a billion as a very conserv
alive figure at which to reckon tn,
combined Astor holdings
The beginning of the Aston famil,