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841 Fifth Ave. in Manhattan in 1895. On September 23, 1853, she married William Backhouse Astor Jr. (1829–1892) at Trinity Church. Her husband was the middle son of real estate businessman William Backhouse Astor Sr. and Margaret Alida Rebecca Armstrong.
Feb 7, 2022 · Despite Caroline’s husband’s penchant for spending more time on his yachts than with his wife, the couple had five children together: four daughters and one son. In birth order, they are...
- Elizabeth Block
- She Came from Big Money
- She Had The Wedding of The Year
- She Married Down
- She Was Ambitious
- She Was A Queen Bee
- She Had A Clique
- She Loved Excluding People
- People Were Obsessed with Her Smell
- She Was in A Sham Marriage
- She Was Desperate For Attention
They say anyone can make it in America, but Caroline Astor was notjust anyone. Born in 1830 to the Schermerhorn clan, she could trace her ancestors all the way back to the founding of New York City, a claim many would beg, borrow, and steal to make. Moreover, all that time in America had produced a mountain of wealth; her father Abraham was worth h...
After an extravagant childhood, Caroline came out into the world with a bang. After learning the best manners money could buy, she married William Backhouse Astor, Jr. at the age of 23. The middle son of the Astor real estate and fur-trading empire, William had a lotof money to throw around, and it was one of the society weddings of the season. But...
Today, the Astor family is a towering dynasty, and old New York and the Gilded Age are practically synonymous with the clan. But believe it or not, it was Carolinewho was stooping when she married William, not the other way around. As one of the oldest families in New York, the Schermerhorns had much more clout than the upstart Astors. And Caroline...
Caroline had been brought up to be unfailingly polite and prim, but the young wife was hiding a dark secret. She quite likedlording her status over people, and after giving William five children, she set about distinguishing herself from anyone beneath her in society. She became infamous as a New York city gatekeeper…and with this “job” came a stra...
At the time, scores of people were rushing into New York to make a name for themselves, and Caroline thought it was her job to perform quality control. As a result, she started fixating on etiquette rules as a test for who was worthy of entering her company. She also began throwing lavish parties, exquisite teas, and impeccable receptions at her ho...
At the height of her party planning and social climbing, Caroline had one bona fide partner in crime: The lawyer and man about town Ward McAllister. Incredibly enough, McAllister was even more obsessed with social standings than Caroline, and together the mean-girl duo took this obsession with cliques to a new level. Like, a particularly terrifying...
In order to flex their power, the duo came up with a devious plot. McAllister made an index of “The Four Hundred”—as in, the mere 400 hundred people who he and Caroline considered the cream of New York society. In fact, Caroline hadsucha hand in this list that the (false) rumor went around that they decided on that number because it was the number ...
Before long, Caroline Astor had more than made a name for herself; she was a downright sensation. Gossip hounds begged to know what she had worn to soirées, and sharp-nosed guests feverishly noted that her perfume was a “sweet odor somewhat like wild lavender and garden roses mixed.” Many even rumored that one of her bodices used to belong to Marie...
Caroline’s marriage to William Astor had been good for both of them, giving him prestige and her even more money.But they were hiding something from society.Even with their five children, it was a supremely chilly marriage, mostly because William preferred lolling about on yachts to doing pretty much anything with his wife. This took a toll on Caro...
Although she always put on a perfect smile for her adoring public, Caroline Astor may very well have been wilting inside. Indeed, many historians believe that it was William’s neglect that pushed Caroline into her frenzied social life, filling her romantic void with the friends and frenemies of the ballroom. Oh, but William had something to say abo...
Apr 8, 2020 · Caroline Astor (née Schermerhorn) could trace her ancestry to the original New York settlers with Dutch names — the trait that defined her as a member of the newly-formed American aristocracy. Big-boned and plain-featured, she was far from beautiful but possessed a no-nonsense personality and a fiery drive to become a leader of society.
Feb 18, 2024 · Caroline Astor had five children, the last one being her only son, John Jacob Astor IV. Following divorce, he married his second wife, Madeleine Talmage Force, in September 1911. The couple was traveling in Europe when Madeleine became pregnant, so they decided to return to America for the child's birth.
Mar 13, 2022 · Mrs. Caroline Astor, Queen of New York. It was not a love match, but an economic and political one. Mrs. Astor had access to the large wealth of her husband and Mr. Astor gained better social standing by marrying a Schemmerhorn.
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