The Astor family achieved prominence in business, society, and politics in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries. With German roots, some of their ancestry goes back to the Italian and Swiss Alps,
the Astors settled in Germany, first appearing in North America in the 18th century with John Jacob Astor, one of the wealthiest people in history.
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Founding family members
John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor) was the youngest of four sons born to Johann Jacob Astor (1724–1816) and Maria Magdalena vom Berg (1730–1764).
The Astor family can trace their ancestry back to Giovan Asdour (1595–1668) and Gretta Ursula Asdour (1589–?). Giovan was born in Chiavenna, Italy, and died in Zürich, Switzerland. Their son, Hans Pieter Asdor, was born in Switzerland and died in Nußloch.
John Jacob and his brother George, born in Walldorf left Germany and moved to London in 1778. There, they established a flute making company. In 1783, John Jacob left for Baltimore, Maryland, leaving his brother in charge of the London business, and was active first as a dealer in woodwind instruments, then in New York as a merchant in opium, furs, pianos, and real estate. After moving to New York, John met and married Sarah Cox Todd (1762–1842). She worked alongside her husband as a consultant, and was accused of witchcraft after her success with the company in 1817. The accusations never led to legal action. They had eight children, including John Jacob Astor Jr. (1791–1869) and real-estate businessman William Backhouse Astor Sr. (1792–1875).
John Jacob's fur-trading company established a Columbia River trading post at Fort Astoria in 1811, the first United States community on the Pacific coast. He financed the overland Astor Expedition in 1810–1812 to reach the outpost, which was in the then-disputed Oregon Country. Control of Fort Astoria played a key role in British and American territorial claims on the region.
John and George's brother Henry (born Heinrich) (1754–1833) also emigrated to America. Henry was a horse-racing enthusiast, and purchased a thoroughbred named Messenger, who had been brought from England to America in 1788. This horse became the founding sire of all Standardbred horses in the United States today.
Melchior, the third of the four brothers, remained in Germany.
During the 19th century, the Astors became one of the wealthiest families in the United States. Toward the end of that century, some of the family moved from America to England and achieved high prominence there. During the 20th century, the number of American Astors began to decline, but their legacy lives on in their many public works including the New York Public Library. British descendants of the Astors hold two hereditary peerages: Viscount Astor and Baron Astor of Hever.
While many Astor family members joined the Episcopal Church, John Jacob Astor remained a member of a Reformed congregation to his death.
Family namesake places
For many years, the members of the Astor family were known as "the landlords of New York". Their New York City namesakes are the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and Astor Row, Astor Court, Astor Place, and Astor Avenue in the Bronx, where the Astors stabled horses. The neighborhood of Astoria, Queens, was renamed to incite John Jacob Astor to invest there.
Beyond New York City, the Astor family name is imprinted in a great deal of United States history and geography. Astor Street, in Chicago's landmark Gold Coast district, is named after John Jacob Astor. There are towns of Astor in the states of Florida, Georgia, Iowa, and Kansas and there are Astorias in Illinois, Missouri, and Oregon. In Astoria, Oregon, the primary elementary school, a filming location for the 1990 film Kindergarten Cop, is called John Jacob Astor Elementary. The city is also home to the Astoria Column.
In Maidstone, Kent, United Kingdom, there was a secondary state school named Astor of Hever School. It was located within Oakwood Park, a former residence of the Astor family, which the family gifted to the Borough of Maidstone to be used for educational purposes. Whilst the Astor of Hever School changed its name in the early 2010s, it is still located on the Oakwood Park Estate, along with a Grammar School, a Catholic Secondary school and the Maidstone campus of Mid-Kent College. At one time the Oakwood Park Estate also contained an educational farm attached to the Astor of Hever School.
There is a neighborhood called Astor Park just south of downtown Green Bay, Wisconsin. At the heart of this neighborhood is a park (also called "Astor Park"); the Astor family donated this land for the building of a trade school.
The Astors were also prominent on Mackinac Island, Michigan, and Newport, Rhode Island, with their summer house, Beechwood. At Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, there are the Lord and Lady Astor Suites; the hotel salon is called Astor's. There is even a Hostel in York, England called The Astor. In addition, a dormitory at St. George's School in Newport, Rhode Island, bears Astor's name.
The Danubius Hotel Astoria in the center of Pest, Budapest, Hungary, opened in 1914, was given its name by the original hotel owners and Mihály Gellér, the first General Manager of the hotel, who formerly worked for the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. This hotel in turn gave its name to a Budapest Metro station. In Shanghai, China there is the Astor House Hotel in the Bund.
Members by birth order
John Jacob Astor Sr. (1763–1848)
William Backhouse Astor Sr. (1792–1875)
Charles Astor Bristed Sr. (1820–1874)
John Jacob Astor III (1822–1890)
William Backhouse Astor Jr. (1829–1892)
Matthew Astor Wilks (1844–1926)
DeLancey Astor Kane (1844–1915)
S. Nicholson Kane (1846–1906)
William Waldorf Astor I (1848–1919)
John Innes Kane (1850–1913)
Sybil Kent Kane (1856–1946)
Woodbury Kane (1859–1905)
Carrie Astor Wilson (1861–1948)
John Armstrong Chaloner (1862–1935)
Winthrop Astor Chanler (1863–1926)
John Jacob "Jack" Astor IV (1864–1912, died in the sinking of the Titanic)
William Astor "Willie" Chanler Sr. (1867–1934)
Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler Sr. (1869–1942)
Margaret Chanler Aldrich (1870–1963)
Robert Winthrop Chanler (1872–1930)
Peter Augustus Jay (1877–1933)
Spouses by birth order
Vincent Rumpff (1789–1867): husband of Eliza Astor
Franklin Hughes Delano (1813–1893): husband of Laura Eugenia Astor
Samuel Cutler "Sam" Ward (1814–1884): husband of Emily Astor
John Winthrop Chanler (1826–1877): husband and widower of Margaret Astor Ward
Caroline Webster Schermerhorn (1830–1908): widow of William Backhouse Astor Jr.
James John Van Alen (1848–1923): husband and widower of Emily Astor
Augustus Jay (1850–1919): husband of Emily Astor Kane
James Roosevelt "Rosey" Roosevelt Sr. (1854–1927): husband and widower of Helen Schermerhorn Astor
Count William Eliot Morris Zborowski (1858–1903): second husband of Margaret Laura Astor Carey
Marshall Orme Wilson (1860–1926): husband of Caroline Schermerhorn Astor
John Jay Chapman (1862–1933): husband of Elizabeth Astor Winthrop Chanler
Richard Aldrich (1863–1937): husband of Margaret Livingston Chanler
Amélie Louise Rives (1863–1945): wife of John Armstrong Chaloner
Ava Lowle Willing (1868–1958): first wife of John Jacob "Jack" Astor IV
Lines of succession to the family titles
Both in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, the titles
Viscount Astor, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent (1917), with subsidiary title Baron Astor, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent (1916), and Baron Astor of Hever, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent (1956), were granted with the standard remainder to the legitimate male heirs of the bodies of the original grantees.
Both then-current titleholders continued to sit in the House of Lords following the expulsion of the majority of the hereditary peers by the House of Lords Act 1999, with Viscount Astor continuing to sit in the Lords until the removal of all remaining hereditary peers by the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act 2026.
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Businesses
The following is a list of companies in which the Astor family have held a controlling or otherwise substantial interest.