The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-05-03

five months he will be twenty-one
years old. And he is the first man
in the lneal descent of the family
who will hold his fortune in fee
simple, to do with as he pleases.
There will be trustees to watch over
him, as there were to watch over his
father, and if he chooses to make a
will or to make any disposition of
his property in his own life he will
! be in a position to do with it as he
| pleases
1t is believed that the only import
ant business which induced his faith
er to sail on the Titanic was to ar
range papers which he should sign
on the attainment of his majority,
which would maintain the estate in
trust through his lifetime and for
| his heirs, as it had been held
/ through four generations of Astors.
The tragic, unforeseen death of the
! father thus thrust upon the son a
! burden that no Astor since the first
| has borne.
The only personal home of his
own which Colonel Astor was in a
position to will is Ferncliffe, the
country estate up the Hudson. Its
disposition and of such floating mon
eys as he might have possessed was
the only volitional resource he had.
The revelation of his testament in
this regard is all that remains for
the contemplation of the two fami-
lies united to him by marriage, the
vikings and the Astors.
He possessed none of the Celebrat-
ed Astor family jewels. They were
willed by Mrs. William Astor to her
daughters and their children, and in
part to her daughter-in-law, Mrs
Ava Willing Astor
First Mrs. Astor.
At the time of Ava Willing Astor's
marriage, (the first wife), in ac.
cordance with the custom of the AS
tor family, inaugurated by the origi-
nal John Jacob Astor, she signed
over her dover rights in the estate
for a settlement. This settlement
was the income on $2,0OO,0O0
which she was to have only after the
death of Colonel 'Astor, and the1
only for her own lifetime. Thus
during her married life with Colone
Astor, she received nothing whatever
except what he chose to give her.
His allowance to her was 81 SOC
a
she had for her own use until she
received a legacy through the de
cease of certain members of her OWL
family.
At the time of her divorce Mrs
Ava Willing Astor relinquished hel
rights to this settlement and receiv
ed in place of it, for life, the income
on the property known as the
Knickerbocker Hotel. The Knicker
booker Hotel is worth about So,
100000. This income she will con
tinue to receive as long as she lives
but upon her death it will revert tC
the Astor estate, which will then be
possessed by her son, Vincent. Thi:
, is all she ever has or will receive
from the Astor estate.
At the same time it must be re
membered that her daughter, now
only ten years old, will have from
. four millions to seven millions, anC
her son approximately sixty mil
lions.
Second Mrs. AStOr.
Another remarkable fact concern
z ing the Astor fortune must be re
vealed at this time, in contradiction
of many rumors and published state
ments which have been prevalent fol
the past six months. This is the
true terms of the settlement on the
second Mrs. Astor, which have beer
variously stated as being at least two
millions and probably five millions.
When Miss Madeline Force mar
ried Colonel Astor she signed ava!
all claims to any dover rights in the
estate for a cash settlement of $500,
600.
Therefore, herself or his family Of
her friends will have no opportunity
to contest the will, and she has bu
one chance to increase her fortune
That will be in the presentation o
; posthumOus heir. The arrival o
this heir has been confidently pre-
dicted as due at any time after thu
first of June.
OF the celebrated Astor jewels
3 Mrs. Madeline Force Astor received
; none. At the time of her engage
ment Colonel Astor presented hel
with a ring containing a solitaire TO
which he paid a leading jewele
$4,000. She received from him al
wedding present a sapphire anC
ruby pendant, and during their tril
, in Europe he made some additiona
presents, These will probably bt
the extent of the mementos, of he
, husband.
However, in value, they apprais,
at approximately S25O,OOO. Also, i
must be remembered, that should {
child be born to her within the com
ing few months and should that hei
live burt five minutes Mrs. Astor 9th,
second) would inherit the deaC
child's share of the Astor estate.
- PEATH AKE