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List of Mrs Astor's original 25 patriarchs (1872/73)
Notes :
Additions/modification in brackets made by the author (A Classification of
American Wealth)
Links to Encyclopedia profiles where available or short biographical data
and sketch also by the author.
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John Jacob Astor [III]
William [Backhouse] Astor [jr]
F.G. D'Hauteville
William Butler Duncan [1830-1912]
Banker in New York (1851-75), president and later chairman of the board of
the Mobile & Ohio Railroad. He supported the Metropolitan Museum of Art and
the American Museum of Natural History. His son and namesake served in the
Navy and was a famous yachtsman.
C. G. Goodhue
John W. Ham[m]ersley
Lewis Colford Jones[1827-1874]
[Oliver] DeLancey Kane [1816-1874]
Oliver DeLancey Kane married a grand-daughter of John Jacob Astor. He was an
eager socialite and clubman and had several sons who shared his social
enthusiasm.
A[rchibald] Gracie King
A son of James Gore King and Sarah Rogers Gracie. His father was a prominent
shipping merchant and a partner in the banking house of Prime, Ward, Sands &
Company. Archibald Gracie King pioneered the organization of the coming-out
balls for young ladies, the debutantes, at Delmonico's in 1870's. The famous
restaurant thereby gained much social esteem.
Walter Langdon [jr] [1822-1894]
A grandson of the first John Jacob Astor . His father was from New
Hampshire, a man of great literary acquirements.
Eugene A[ugustus] Livingston [1813-1893]
Maturin Livingston [jr] [1816-1888]
A son of Maturin Livingston, who descended from Robert "the Nephew"
Livingston and married Margaret Lewis, who inherited substantial wealth
trough her mother from the Clermont branch of the Livingston family. His
mother was a first cousin of Margaret Rebecca (Armstrong) Astor, the mother
of John Jacob Astor (III) and William Astor. His twin daughters were
prominently married : Ruth became Mrs Ogen Mills and Elizabeth Mrs
Cavendish-Bentinck. Ruth inherited Staatsburgh, the estate Morgan Lewis
built with his Livingston inheritance and extended it to new grandeur.
[(Samuel)] Ward McAllister [1827-1895]
Gentleman and social arbiter. Born in Savanah, Georgia, Mr McAllister spent
the early 1850's in San Francisco, where he was responsible for public
relations in a law firm. He returned East in 1853, where he married Sarah T.
Gibbons, a heiress and spent her inheritance on extensive travels to Europe.
He returned to America in 1958 and settled on "Bayside Farm" at Newport,
then a favorite summer resort of wealthy New Yorkers and Bostonians. There
he launched his famous "fetes champetres" and entertained the summer
society, gradually becoming a social arbiter. The overwhelming influx of new
rich, mostly from New York, to Newport after the Civil War, gave Ward
McAllister the opportunity to consolidate his position of society leader. He
therefore associated his talents and experience with the wealth and pedigree
of Mrs Caroline (Schermerhorn) Astor and together they ruled Newport and New
York Society for a quarter century. His book "Society as I found it" and a
series of statements judged misplaced, finally caused his estrangement from
Mrs Astor and the patriarchs.
Royal Phelps[1809-1884]
A merchant and West India trader, partner in New York City of Maitland,
Phelps & Company. A member of the New York State Legislator (1862-63),
strong supporter of the Union cause, despite being a Democrat. He
contributed largely to the erection of George Washington's statue in front
of the sub-treasury building on Wall street. His only daughter married John
Lee Carroll of Maryland.
Edwin A. Post
[Dr] Robert G. Remsen
Francis R. Rives
Lewis M[orris] Rutherfurd [1816-1892]
William C[olford] Schermerhorn [1821-1903]
A first cousin of Mrs Astor and the youngest son of wealthy Peter
Schermerhorn jr.
He married Anne Cottenet and they had three daughters.
Frederick Sheldon
E. Templeton Snelling
William R. Travers[1819-1887]
A successful Wall Street operator, who grew rich during the 1870's and
1880's from his bearish attitude, notably regarding railroad stocks. He was
also an able socialite, who had the wits to turn his stuttering handicap to
advantage. He supported horse racing, but was critical about yachting,
because it was increasingly being dominated by bankers and brokers. William
Travers left a large fortune to several sons and daughters.
Alexander Van Rensselaer [1814-1878]
The youngest son of Stephen Van Rensselaer III, the last patroon of
Rensselaerswyck.
George Henry Warren
Benjamin S. Welles
The father of another Benjamin Sumner Welles, the famous diplomat and
Roosevelt cabinet member.
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Source : Dixon Wecter's
"The Saga of American Society"
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1937 |
Encyclopedia of American Wealth
> Historical
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