The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-04-17
The CoIoneI's First and His
Second Marriage
VINCENT SUCCEEDS FATHER
Only 81, He Becomes the Head of the
New York Branch of the Family
The Second Mrs. Astor Saved
From Wrecked Titanic.


cob Aston went down in the last death
struggle of the giant Titanic as wireless
reports state, the Aston fortunes and the
! Astor traditions, which are closely inter-
twined with the history of New York,
now rest upon the shoulders of the young
! William Vincent Aston, the last male
survivor of the famous line in New
| York.
To the city in which the name Of Aston
| is household word, the death OF Col.
Astor and the shifting of his estate to
the shoulders of the 2l-year-old Vincent
means the beginning of a new regime in
| both the world of society and the world
| of finance.
John Jacob Astor was b.rn at Fern
cliff, Rhinebeck, n. V, July 10, 1864.
He was the son of William and Caroline
Aston and the great grandson of John
Jacob Aston who at the age of twenty
years came to New York in 1888 and
| laid the foundations of the great house
OF Astor, The Aston family are descend
ants of Olof Stevenson Van Courtlandt,
the last Dutch mayor OF New Amster-
dam, They are also descended from
Col John Armstrong, one of the heroes
of the French and Indian war, and from
Robert Livingston.
John Jacob Aston the first left two
sons, William b. Aston and John Jacob
Astor the second William b. Aston in
herited the bulk of the fortune.
He had three sons, John Jacob third,
William and Henry. Henry married
against the wishes of the family and
went to live in seclusion on the banks
of the Hudson river, with only small
slice of the Astor millions to his ac-
count.
William B. Aston upon his death left
his property in equal shares to his two
favorite sons, John Jacob Aston Sd and
William Aston. John Jacob was the
elder and by far the richer of the two
brothers when he died in 1890.
He left one son, William Waldorf As
tor, who later uprooted his household
goods from American soil and went to
live in London. William Astor died in
1892, leaving two daughters and one son,
Col. John Jacob Aston. Col Aston IN
1891 married Miss Ava L. Willing and
had two children by that marriage, Ava
Alice Muriel Aston, born July L 1902,
and William Vincent Aston, born Nov.
Is, 1901.
This, in brief, is the history of the
name that has descended to young Vim.
cent Aston as the result Of the Titanic's
tragic encounter with an iceberg on Sun
day night last. 1t is a burden almost
equal to that of young prince regent
that now rests upon William Vincent
Astor.
Col Astor was divorced from his first
wife and within the past year married
Miss Madeleine Force, causing a great
deal of comment in society circles in this
city and Newport. Col Aston as sol.
der in the Spanish American war served
in Cuba and went through the siege Of
Santiago de Cubn. He bore the official
terms of the capitulation to the secre-
tary of war.
He has invented several mechanical de-
vices, one of which, a pneumatic machine
for aiding in road construction, received
first prize at the Worlds Columbian ex-
position in 1893. He also invented
practical turbine engine.
He wrote "a Journey in Other Worlds"
and "a Romance of the Future" pub.
lshed in 1894
As capitalist he was a director of
the Aston Trust company, the Illinois
Central railroad, the Mercantile Trust
company, the Morton Trust company and
numerous other great financial enter
prises. He was also a member of the
chamber of commerce, the New York
botanical garden, the New York Zoologi-
cal society, the Society of Colonial Wars,
the Military Order of Foreign Wars the
American Museum of Art, the American
Museum of Natural History and the
New York Academy of Sciences. He
was an enthusiastic sportsman and owned
a large string of automobiles. He was
also fond of riding, yachting and tennis,
and his clubs, almost too numerous to
mention, included the Metropolitan club,
Union club, Knickerbocker club, City |
club, Army and Navy club, Automobile |
Club of America, Authors club, Pill |
grims' club Church club, Strollers' club, |
Pen and Ink club, New York Yacht club, |
Racquet and Tennis club, Turf and Field |
club, Tuxedo club, Newport Golf club,
Travellers club of Paris, Cocoa Tree club |
OF London, and many others.
Mr.. Astor was fond of cruising and |
had been over several seas in his steam |
Yacht Norma. That he should at last /
meet death at the hands of the sea
after having trusted it so long is one OF
the coincidents of the great disaster.