In Search of a Better Husband: The Sad Fate of Madeleine Astor. Titanic Passenger John Jacob Astor
- William Buckhouse Astor Jr. (William Backhouse Astor, Jr.) - father (07/12/1829 - 04/25/1892)
- Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor - mother (09/21/1830 - 10/30/1908)
- Ava Lowle Willing - first wife (09/15/1868 - 07/09/1958; marriage 1891 - 1909)
- Madeleine Talmage Force - second wife (06/19/1893 - 03/27/1940; marriage 1911 - 1912)
- William Vincent Astor - son (11/15/1891 - 02/02/1959)
- Ava Alice Muriel Astor - daughter (07/07/1902 - 07/19/1956)
- John Jacob Astor VI - son (08/14/1912 - 06/26/1992)
After graduation, John Astor continued the family business in the real estate business. In 1897, he built the Astoria Hotel in New York, the most luxurious hotel in the world, adjacent to the hotel of Astor's cousin, William Waldorf Astor. The hotel was called "Waldorf Hotel". The complex of two hotels became known as the "Waldorf-Astoria Hotel" (it was these hotels that received the surviving first-class passengers after the Titanic crash). In addition, he patented several inventions, including bicycle brakes, pneumatic road ameliorators, and helped develop the turbine engine. During a honeymoon trip to Egypt and Europe, Astor's second wife, Madeleine Talmage Force, became pregnant and insisted that the child be born in the United States. The family bought tickets for the Titanic in Cherbourg as 1st class passengers. Together with them, Astor's valet, Victor Robbins, Madeleine's maid Rosalie Baidos and Caroline's nurse Louise Andrews boarded the ship. In addition, their pet, an Airedale named Kitty, went on a journey with them. Astor was the richest passenger on board the Titanic. After the collision of the ship with an iceberg, John put his wife in the boat along with a maid and a nurse, while he himself remained on board the Titanic. The body of the 47-year-old millionaire was discovered on April 22, 1912 by the CS Mackay-Bennett. John Jacob Astor was buried in Trinity Church Cemetery in New York. Madeleine and the other surviving passengers were rescued by the Carpathia liner, and on August 14, 1912, Madeleine Astor gave birth to her second son, John Jacob Astor VI, but later she never spoke of her husband again. 
In the history of world science fiction, the name of John Jacob Astor is noted for the authorship of the utopian novel A Journey in Other Worlds (1894), which describes space travel to Saturn and Jupiter, made by three earthlings in 2088. Planet Earth of the 21st century appears before the reader as a fantastic and wonderful world. Mechanical "water striders" on an air cushion ply the seas, flywheels on "apergic" thrust soar in the sky, and the hero travels around the country on an electric phaeton (The idea of the so-called "apergic" thrust was borrowed by the author from the novel by Percy Greg) Across the Zodiac (1880)). A grandiose project of Aligning the Earth's Axis is being carried out - more precisely, reducing its inclination to the plane of the ecliptic from 23 to 11 degrees, which will make seasonal climate changes not so pronounced ... The political world order, however, is far from perfect in everything: although the American continent, From Canada in the north to Cape Horn in the south, and gradually merged into the All-American United States, Eurasia continues to be riven by controversy. The Cold War between Russia, Germany and France has become protracted; the cunning British did not fail to take advantage of the weakening of their continental opponents and extended their colonial influence throughout Africa and Asia. The spaceship of the heroes of the novel, called "Callisto", sets off on an "apergic" thrust on a long journey beyond the Solar System, but stops first at Jupiter and then at Saturn. On Jupiter, the heroes of the novel find almost the Garden of Eden awaiting the appearance of their Adam and Eve, and on Saturn, on the contrary, it turns out that it is possible to talk with the souls of the dead earthly righteous. Author's works
- Novels
- 1894 - A Journey in Other Worlds: A Romance of the Future / Fig. Dan Beard. - ed. "D. Appleton & Company "(New York), 1894. - 476 p. (NS)
- The same: ed. Longmans, Green and Co., 1894. pp. 476. (n) The same: ed. "C. Ulrich ", 1894. - 476 p. (n) The same: ed. "D. Appleton & Company "(New York), 1898. - 476 p. (n) Same: Fig. Dan Beard. - ed. University of Nebraska Press, 2003. - 234 p. - (Bison Frontiers of Imagination). $ 16.95 (o) ISBN 0-8032-5949-2 Same: ed. Collector's Guide Publishing, 2011. - 300 pp. $ 9.95 (o) ISBN 978-1-897350-57-7
Selected editions
- Journey to Other Worlds: A Novel of the Future. - SPb .: Publishing house. A. Suvorin, 1895 .-- 338 p. (n) - [John Jacob Astaire]
Creativity of the author
- Everett Bleuler. Retz. to John Jacob Astor's novel A Journey in Other Worlds: A Romance of the Future by John Jacob Astor: Review by Everett F. Bleiler // Everett F. Bleiler, Richard Bleiler (Richard J. Bleiler). Science Fiction: The Early Years. - ed. Kent State University Press 1991 - 24
- David Sid. Retz. on John Jacob Astor's novel A Journey in Other Worlds by John Jacob Astor: Review by David Seed // Foundation magazine, 2004, №92 (summer) - pp. 121-122
American millionaire, businessman, writer, member of the famous Astor family in America, Colonel of the Spanish-American War, John Jacob Astor was born on July 13, 1864 in Rinebeck, New York, in the family of the millionaire William Backhouse Astor ).
He was the grandson of one of America's richest men, fur tycoon John Jacob Astor.
Astor was educated at St. Paul's School in Concord, and then graduated from Harvard University. After traveling abroad in 1888-1891, John Astor returned to the United States to manage the family business.
In 1894, Astor wrote the science fiction novel Journey to Other Worlds, describing the journey of heroes in a spaceship outside the solar system, to the planet Saturn, where it was possible to communicate with the souls of the dead.
In addition to literary creativity, John Astor was fond of invention. In 1898 he filed a patent for a bicycle brake. Astor was also involved in the development of the turboprop engine and the pneumatic road rammer.
In 1897, Astor built a luxury (Hotel Astoria) in New York next to William Waldorf Astor's cousin Hotel Waldorf. The new complex became known as the Waldorf-Astoria.
The united hotel became not only the largest hotel in the world, but also the most fashionable hotel of that time. Later, in 1905-1906, Astor built two more hotels - St Regis and Knickerbocker.
During the Spanish-American War in 1898, Astor donated his personal yacht, the Nourmahal, for the needs of the American government, and also equipped a mountain artillery battery at his own expense. John Astor himself in this war received the rank of colonel in the volunteer battalion.
At the beginning of the 20th century, John Jacob Astor's fortune as head of the Astor family was about $ 150 million.
In 1909, John Jacob Astor divorced his first wife, Ava Lowle Willing, with whom he had been married since 1891 and raised two children - a son and a daughter.
In 1911, Astor married eighteen-year-old Madeleine Force, who was a year younger than his son. Society greeted this marriage very irritably, and the spouses had to go overseas to let gossip subside. They traveled to Egypt, spent time in Paris and decided to return to New York when Madeleine was already pregnant.
On April 10, 1912, the Astors boarded the Titanic in Cherbourg with two servants, a nurse for a young Mrs in an interesting position, and an Airedale dog Kitty. They occupied the first class cabins C-62-64.
Immediately after the fatal blow on the night of April 14, Astor left his cabin to find out what had happened. Returning, he told his wife that the liner collided with an ice floe. The incident, he said, was not dangerous. After a while, first-class passengers were asked to climb from the cabins to the promenade deck. The Astors sat in the middle of the sports equipment on the gymnastics field. John Jacob Astor was calm and unconcerned as the passengers began to take their seats in the boats. He believed that the deck of a huge liner was much more reliable than overloaded lifeboats.
At 1:45 am, Captain's Mate Charles Lightoller appeared on deck and ordered the boats to be lowered, then Astor helped his wife, her maid and nurse into boat # 4. He told Lightoller that Madeleine was in a delicate position and asked if he was allowed to join her. Lightoller replied that the men should remain on deck until all the women were boarding the boats. Astor nodded and stepped aside. At 1:55 am the boat was launched, and John Astor stood alone on the boat deck and watched as people tried to lower the remaining boats.
John Jacob Astor drowned on the night of April 15, 1912. Astor's body was recovered by the crew of the cable ship McKay-Bennett on April 22nd. He was buried at Trinity Cemetery in New York.
In August 1912, Madeleine had a son, whom she named John Jacob Astor in memory of her husband. After her husband's death, she inherited $ 5 million in trust and houses on Fifth Avenue and Newport. Madeleine married twice more, in her second marriage she had two sons. She divorced her third husband, an Italian boxer, after 5 years of marriage, in 1938. Madeleine died in 1940 in Palm Beach, Florida at the age of 47.
Astor's youngest son, John Jacob Astor, was married three times and had two children from his first marriage. Died June 26, 1992 in Miami Beach Florida at the age of 79.
Astor's eldest son, William Vincent Astor, was married three times, but died childless on February 3, 1959.
Astor's daughter, Ava Alice Muriel Astor, first married Prince Sergei Obolensky, a former officer of the tsarist army, after she married three more times. All four marriages ended in divorce. She died on July 19, 1956 in New York from a stroke at the age of 54, leaving four children.
Madeleine Talmage Force(English Madeleine Talmage Force; June 19, 1893 - March 27, 1940) - the second wife of millionaire John Jacob Astor IV and one of the surviving passengers of the Titanic.
Biography
Madeleine was born in Brooklyn, New York to William Harlbat Force and Catherine Arvilla Talmage. She had an older sister, Catherine Emmons Force. Madeleine first met John Jacob Astor IV in Baire Harbor, Maine, in August 1911, shortly after Mrs. Spencer's high school graduation. On September 9, 1911, eighteen-year-old Madeleine Force married forty-seven-year-old John Jacob Astor in Newport, at the Astor family home.
On board the Titanic
The Astors boarded the Titanic as first class passengers in Cherbourg, France. They were accompanied by valet Victor Robbins, maid Rosaline Bidosh, nurse Caroline Endres and Airedale Kitty.
On the night of April 15, 1912, Colonel Astor informed Madeleine about the collision of the ship with an iceberg. He assured that the damage was minor and asked his wife to dress in a purple suit, put on a mink collar and take with her a fur hoop, an emerald and diamond necklace, pearl earrings, a wedding ring, several precious stones and $ 200.
Madeleine got into boat number 4 through the window of promenade A, along with a maid and a nurse. As parting, Astor gave his wife his gloves. John Jacob Astor and his valet were killed. The colonel's body was found on April 22nd. Madeleine and the other surviving passengers were rescued by the Carpathia liner, and she later did not speak of her husband again.
Future life
On August 14, 1912, Madeleine gave birth to a son, John Jacob Astor VI, named after his father. Astor's son, William Vincent, argued that the child was not the biological son of the late colonel.
On June 22, 1916, Madeleine married the banker William Carl Dick (1888-1953). In the marriage they had two sons, William and John. The couple divorced on July 21, 1933. Four months later, she married Italian boxer Enzo Firemont, in a civil ceremony in New York. Five years later, on June 11, 1938, they divorced and Madeleine regained her surname Dick.
Death
Madeleine Astor died of heart disease in Palm Beach, Florida on March 27, 1940 at the age of 46. She was buried in the Trinity Church cemetery in New York.
In cinema
- 1943: Titanic - Charlotte Thiele
- 1953: Titanic - Francis Bergen
- 1979: Save the Titanic - Beverly Ross
- 1996: Titanic - Jen Mortyl
- 1997: Titanic - Charlotte Chetton
- 2003: Ghosts of the Abyss: Titanic - Piper Gunnarson
- 2012: Titanic - Angela Ecke
The story of the couple John Jacob Astor - one of the richest men in 1912 - and Madeleine Astor is one of the most romantic and tragic at the same time. In fact, it is not known where Madeleine Force and John Jacob Astor first met, but there is a version that even before Madeleine's debut ball, when she was first introduced to high society in December 1910, they already knew each other, and this acquaintance of them later shocked the entire high society ...
When they met, John Jacob Astor was 45 and recently divorced, while Madeleine just turned 17. Divorced at a time when divorce was strictly prohibited. There is a version that Mrs. Force, the mother of Madeleine and her older sister Catherine, wanted Catherine to marry Astor, but he chose Madeleine. Astor was 29 years older than her, and his son was already 18 from his first marriage.
The negative attitudes towards divorce in the early 1900s may be difficult to grasp today, but it was very difficult to obtain. It is unknown whether Astor or his wife, Ava Lawle Williams, filed for divorce, but only Astor's wealth helped complete the process.
However, Astor's problems did not end with the divorce. After meeting Madeleine in the summer of 1910, he announced his intention to marry her, but due to the divorce, almost no one wanted to marry the couple, since divorced ones were not allowed to marry again.
They nevertheless married on September 9, 1911 at Beechwood, Astor's estate. Finding a priest turned out to be a rather difficult task, since neither money nor prayers stopped two of them from refusing. Astor's son was his best man (being a year older than his stepmother).
After the wedding, John took Madeleine to his yacht and, before leaving, he said, “Now that I'm happily married, I don't care about the complexity of divorce and remarriage. I sympathize with almost all the foundations of this society from the bottom of my heart, but I believe that remarriage should be allowed, since marriage is the happiest thing that can be for a person and society. "
To avoid gossip, the newlyweds went on a long journey. First they visited Egypt, then Paris. Overseas, they met Margaret Brown, who did not match many members of high society did not consider their wedding something indecent. She continued to travel with them until the Astors decided to return home.
The reason for the sudden decision to return after 8 months of travel was simple - Madeleine became pregnant, and the couple wanted the child to be born in America. They took tickets for the Titanic, and what happened next - we already know.
After the collision, John Jacob left the cabin to find out what was the matter. He returned rather quickly and informed his wife that the ship had hit an iceberg, but the danger did not seem serious.
Later, as the first class passengers began to gather on the boat deck, the Astors sat in the gym, where John found another life jacket and cut it open a bit to show Madeleine what it was made of. Later, Mrs. Astor gave her shawl to Leah Ax (3rd grade passenger) to wrap up her ten-month-old son Philly.
Even as the boats descended, Astor scoffed at the idea of leaving the solid deck of the Titanic for the fragile boat. “We're much safer here than in this little boat,” he told Madeleine. But around 01:45, he changed his mind when Second Officer Charles Lightoller came to Deck A to finish loading Boat # 4.
Lifejacket Madeleine Astor. Belongs to the "Titanic Historical Society"
John Jacob helped Madeleine into the boat and asked if he could join her in view of her "delicate situation." Lightoller told him that no man would board the boat until all the women had. Then John approached Madeleine and asked her for one of her white gloves. “I’ll give her back to you when we meet again in New York,” he told Madeleine, and with these words he was really able to calm his pregnant wife. Then Astor walked away and only asked Lightoller for the number of this boat. Madeleine never saw her husband alive again.
In his will, John Jacob Astor left Madeleine $ 100,000, a $ 5 million trust fund income, and his mansion. She lost the last two points in case of remarriage. He also left $ 3 million for his unborn child, which he could manage after reaching the age of majority. Returning home after the experience of the disaster and the funeral of her husband, Madeleine Astor practically did not appear in public, until the end of May, when she arranged a dinner in honor of Captain Rostron in her mansion to thank him for saving him. It was attended by two more surviving passengers who became widows due to the disaster: Mrs. Marian Thayer and Florence Cumings.
On August 14, 1912, Madeleine gave birth to a son, John Jacob Astor VI. For the next 4 years he grew up in the Astor family, and Madeleine very rarely appeared in society until the end of 1913, when the press was finally allowed to publish her first photograph after the Titanic disaster.
In 1918, Madeleine renounced her late husband's inheritance, marrying childhood friend William C. Dick, vice president of the New York Manufacturers Trust Company, and co-owner and director of the Brooklyn Times. They had two children, John and William. This union lasted 15 years, and in 1933 the couple quickly divorced. There are rumors that the husband raised his hand against his wife.
In early 1932, Madeleine decided that she needed to escape somewhere from a crumbling marriage and try to improve her fragile health. She told her doctor, who always traveled with her, that a trip to Europe would be just the way. In January of that year, Madeleine took a first-class ticket to Vulcania. One evening, while sailing, the doctor asked her if she would like to talk to a handsome young man, Italian boxer Enzo Fiermonte, who was traveling in second class. At first Madeleine refused, considering it indecent to invite such a person to her table, but in the end she gave up. The attraction between a 39-year-old woman who looked like a girl and a rather sleazy dark-haired boxer who looked younger than his 24 was instantaneous.
“I guess I was staring at her,” Enzo said of that first meeting. “She was different. I couldn't even figure out how old she was. When she smiled, she looked very young. When she was serious, she could pass for a middle-aged lady. Perhaps she noticed my scrutinizing gaze, as her pale blue eyes immediately fixed on me, and she looked in a way that no woman had ever looked at me. I became 160 pounds of embarrassment. I couldn't even talk. And all the time we were together, she continued to stare at me. "
Their relationship developed quite rapidly, but there was one obstacle - marriage. Enzo was married and had a son. Madeleine was still married, although her marriage was rapidly deteriorating. The couple went to great lengths to, with difficulty overcoming all obstacles, get married in 1933. But this relationship turned out to be rather cruel. Enzo did not perceive the society in which Madeleine lived, so scandals often occurred in the family, it even came to assault. The couple divorced in 1938 due to excessive cruelty.
In 1939, Fiermonte, who had already started his acting career, sold the history of their marriage to True Story magazine, which finally undermined Madeleine's reputation. In August, she heard the dire news of her mother's death after a long illness. Over the next few months, the poor woman became addicted to various drugs.
In January 1940, Madeleine left for Palm Beach, Florida, where she died on March 27. She was 47 years old. The official cause of death was called a heart attack, but her family suspected that she died from a deliberate overdose of sleeping pills.
J.J. Astor VI - son of John and Madeleine:
John Jacob ("Jackie") Astor VI was born in New York on August 14, 1912. Madeleine raised him in Newport, Rhode Island, in the Astor family. He graduated from St George's School in Newport and later from Harvard University.
As you already know from the post about Madeleine Astor's later life after the Titanic, in 1916 she remarried to William Dick, with whom Jackie became very close. After their divorce, when Madeleine met Enzo Fiermonte, Jackie was against the developing relationship, and often quarreled with his mother about this, insisting that she leave Enzo (as it turned out, not in vain). They quarreled badly, but later, a couple of months after the wedding of Madeleine and Enzo, they reconciled. When Jackie was asked about his mother's new wedding, he replied: "Unfortunately, it's true."
Jackie received his $ 3 million, which his late father bequeathed to him, on his 21st birthday. After Madeleine's death 
In 1940, he received all of her small savings.
However, Jackie's half-brother, Vincent Astor, John Jacob's son from his first marriage, despised Madeleine and from the very birth Jackie believed that he was born of another man, so he did not even mention him in his will. After Vincent's death in 1959, Jackie sued his widow to get his share. He was convinced that Vincent signed the will in a deranged state from frequent alcohol and smoking. Vincent's widow insisted that he was completely sane, although she herself often brought him alcohol to the hospital. Jackie managed to win $ 250,000.
Astor Jr.'s personal life was also not going smoothly.
Initially, he was supposed to marry Eileen Gillespie, but she broke off the engagement literally two days before the wedding, explaining that “she felt that he was you 
grew up single, so he was a little eccentric and not mature enough to get married. "
Jackie later married Ellen French in 1934. The couple divorced in 1943 and had one son, William Backhouse Astor.
Astor married Gertrude Gretch in 1944. The couple had a daughter, but this marriage ended in divorce.
In 1954, Jackie married Dolores Fulman again, but they separated shortly after their honeymoon.
The fourth wife was Sue Sandford, whom he survived, dying in 1992 at the age of 79. 
Perhaps the most daring glimpse into the future was taken in the late nineteenth century by John Jacob Astor (1864-1912). His novel A Journey in Other Worlds: A Romance of the Future, published in 1894, was clearly influenced by Percy Greg (Astor, for example, borrowed the term apergy from him), but the book's action is resolutely relegated to the future - a hundred years ahead.
The Earth of 2000 appears to the reader as a fantastic and wonderful world. Mechanical "water striders" on an air cushion ply the seas, flywheels on "apergic" thrust soar in the sky, and the hero travels around the country on an electric phaeton. A grandiose project of Aligning the Earth's Axis is being carried out - more precisely, reducing its inclination to the plane of the ecliptic from 23 to 11 degrees, which will make seasonal climate changes not so pronounced ...
The political world order, however, is far from perfect in everything: although the American continent, from Canada in the north to Cape Horn in the south, has gradually united into the All-American United States, Eurasia continues to be torn apart by contradictions. The Cold War between Russia, Germany and France has become protracted; the cunning British did not fail to take advantage of the weakening of their continental opponents and extended their colonial influence throughout Africa and Asia.
The ship of the heroes of the novel, Callisto, was sent on an "apergic" thrust outside the Solar System, but it stops first at Jupiter and then at Saturn. On Jupiter, the heroes of the novel find almost the Garden of Eden, awaiting the appearance of their Adam and Eve, and on Saturn, on the contrary, it turns out to be possible to talk with the souls of the dead earthly righteous. The author points out in the introduction that "science has become the main, after religion, the hope for mankind," and he consistently carries this idea through the entire novel ...
Although Astor's contributions to fiction are limited to this book, his biography is well worth dwelling on.
John Jacob Astor the Fourth was a hereditary millionaire. His great-grandfather, John Jacob Astor I, is one of the most famous industrialists in American history: in the late eighteenth century, he made a huge fortune in the fur trade. His great-grandson was born on July 13, 1864, in the family home in Rinebeck, New York. After graduating from Harvard, he went traveling in 1888 and returned to the States three years later to take over the management of the family capital. In addition to literary creativity, Astor was also fond of invention. Of course, he did not catch up with Edison in this field, but on his inventive account there is such a useful thing as a bicycle brake (a patent was filed in his name in 1898). In addition, he took part in the creation of a turboprop engine and a pneumatic road rammer.
In 1897, inspired by the example of his cousin, William Waldorf Astor, who built a hotel in New York, John Jacob Astor invested in another luxury hotel. The buildings standing nearby received a common name, which was destined to become famous throughout the world - "Waldorf-Astoria". At that time, it was the largest hotel complex in the world. Astor subsequently built the St. Regis and Knickerbocker hotels.
During the Spanish-American War, Astor donated his personal yacht Nurmahal for the needs of the American government, and also fully equipped a mountain artillery battery at his own expense. He himself did not intend to sit in the rear either, and in 1898 received the rank of colonel in a volunteer battalion.
Best of the day
Since 1891, Astor was married to Ave Willing, they had a son and daughter. However, in 1909, Astor suddenly filed for divorce, and in 1911 he married eighteen-year-old Madeleine Force (Astor's son, William Vincent, was a year older than her). Public opinion greeted this marriage with a deep grumble, and the newlyweds chose to go overseas to let the noise subside. They traveled to Egypt, lived in Paris, and decided to return to New York only when Madeleine was already five months pregnant.
In April 1912, the Astors and their servants (John had a footman, Madeleine had a maid and a nurse) occupied two first-class cabins on the Titanic.
Immediately after the fatal blow, Astor left the cabin to find out what had happened, and almost immediately returned with the message that the liner collided with an ice floe. The incident, he said, was not dangerous. However, after a while, first-class passengers were asked to climb from the cabins to the promenade deck. The Astors settled among the sports equipment on the gymnastics field. John was calm, he did not show concern even when the passengers began to take seats in the boats - he believed that the deck of a huge liner was much more reliable than overloaded lifeboats. At a quarter to two in the morning, Captain's Mate Charles Lightoller appeared on deck, who ordered the boats to be lowered, and only after that Astor helped his wife, her maid and nurse climb through the window of the closed promenade deck into boat No. 4. He told Lightoller that Madeleine was "in a delicate position. ", and asked if he could join her. Lightoller replied that the men should remain on deck until all the women were boarding the boats. Astor nodded, stepped aside, and for the rest of the time calmly watched from afar the passengers' attempts to launch other boats.
Madeleine and the rest of the passengers in lifeboat No. 4 survived. Madeleine had a son in August, who at baptism was named after his father - John Jacob Astor the Fifth. For the Russian reader, it will be interesting that Astor's daughter from her first marriage, Ava Alice Muriel Astor, later became Princess Obolenskaya, the wife of an officer of the White Guard, Prince Sergei Obolensky.
If it is true that everyone is rewarded according to his faith, then the soul of the courageous Colonel John Jacob Astor should now dwell on Saturn ...
The material was written as part of an essay on the history of American science fiction in the first half of the 20th century.
