The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-10-07
DRY Americas Northumberland Family;
German IMMIGRANT Loaned Money Uncle Sam

seat at Rhinebeck- Hudson and
had been disinherited promptly.
John Jacob Sd and his brother Will
liam were sensible and anisble men.
and they shared the family honors
without a shadow of disagreement.
Henry, too. on his farm up the Hud-
son, shut out from the family millions.
but stfH far from privatfon, seemed
equally contented with his lot. John
Jacob had married during his fathers
lifetime Charlotte Gibbes, a beautiful
and clever young southern woman who
made 1t the object of her lifetime to put
the Astor family at the head Of the
American social world. and she sue
ceeded admirably. This Mrs. Aston
was undoubtedly the acknowledged So
ciety leader of her day. It was at this
time that the amazing Ward McAllister
became such a celebrity and executed
his fantastic changes on the social lad
der. Mrs. Astor died in 1888, and her
husband who had been far more in
terested in the rise of real estate than
in social pre-eminence. followed her
two years later. He had been much
more successful in his real estate op-
erations than his brother William, al
though that gentleman had little of
which to complain, for when he died,
in 1892. he left an estate Of $4,000, 900.
He died in Paris, in which city he had
spent much of the later part of his life,
owing to i'll health and q desire to es-
cape from the family society feud
which arose at the death Of Mrs. John
Jacob Sd.
| William Waldorf had married a Miss
Paul. beautiful and accomplished wo-
man, the daughter Of an aristocratic
Philadelphia family. At the death OF
/ his mother, who had reigned supreme in
the New York social world, william
/ Waldorf expected that the direct sue
cession would fall to his wife. The
claim was disputed, however, by his
| aunt, Mrs. William, who was a Scher-
merhorn-an old colonial family Of
/ Brooklyn. Mrs. William claimed pre-
| cedence on the ground that she was
| the wife of the male representative of
the old Astor branch. The struggle was
long and fierce. but Mrs. william pre-
| vailed. She and her son, John Jacob
| 4th, took possession Of the famous AS
tor mansion at Fifth avenue and Sixty
sixth street, New York, where they
have reigned aerenely ever since. Mrs.
William Waldorf who had shown lit
tie interest in the conflict, was per-
fectly contented with the outcome, but
her discounted husband was not. He
collected his lares and penates and emf
grated to England, where he has re-
manned until the present day. Soon
mored that he would return to Ameri-
ca Shortly after Mrs. Astor's death he
purchased Ciiveden, a beautiful estate
owned by the Duke of Westminster,
and announced that he should never
again make his home in America. His
daughter Pauline has been married re-
Gently to Captain Spender-Clay. the
son of a multiinillionaire brewer. There
are two other children-William Wal
dorf, Jr.. now twenty-six. and John
Jacob, nineteen.
The present Mrs. Aston" nee Scher-
merhorn, is the mother OF four daugh-
tiers and one son. The Oldest daughter
married James J. Van Allen. the second
J. Roosevelt Roosevelt, a cousin Of the
president, the third became Mrs. j.
Coleman Drayton and is now Mrs. Haig
of London and the youngest is Mrs
OrIne Wilson, mother of Mrs. Cornelius
= Vanderbilt.
: John Jacob 9TH, the only son, nov
e about forty, is a graduate of Columbia
n and he also married a Philadelphia
e young woman of great beauty. Miss
V Ava willing. He is over six feet IL
h / stature and has inherited the marked
h Teutonic facial expression of his an.
: cestors. Colonel Astor, as he is known
+ having been in command OF a battery
r which he presented to the government
e at the breaking out of the Spanish war
} | is as popular in New York social cir
b cles as his cousin William waldorf /.
d the reverse. The John Jacobs have two
= William Vincent, aged four
: teen, and daughter of three
y TRUMAN L. ELTON.