Inside the Astor family, one of America's wealthiest Gilded Age dynasties whose descendants are friends with British royals
The Astors came from nothing.
Johann Jacob Astor worked as a butcher in Walldorf, southeastern Germany, Elizabeth Louisa Gebhard wrote in her 1915 book, "The Life and Ventures of the Original John Jacob Astor." His ancestors are said to have been French Huguenots who'd fled to Germany after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which had granted protection to Protestants.
His son, John Jacob Astor, was born in Walldorf in 1763.
As a youngster, John Jacob Astor worked for his father as a dairy salesman. He had three brothers, the eldest of whom, George, left home to work for an uncle in London who made musical instruments. John Jacob Astor met up with him there after his 16th birthday.
William Backhouse Astor continued his father's real-estate ventures and philanthropy.
He continued to invest in real estate by building over 700 stores and residences in New York City, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.
He also bequeathed thousands of dollars to St. Luke's Hospital on the Upper West Side and the Astor Library, which eventually became the New York Public Library.
William and his wife, Margaret, had seven children — John Jacob Astor III and William Backhouse Astor Jr. were the most prominent.
William Jr. had some success as a developer in Florida.
John Jacob Astor III, along with his wife Charlotte Gibbs, was a major philanthropist who founded the Children's Aid Society.
The simmering tensions prompted William Waldorf Astor to move to London in 1891.
There, he bought and restored the 125-acre Hever Castle in 1903, purchased the British newspaper The Observer in 1911, and obtained the rank of Viscount in 1917.
