The Biographical Dictionary of America/Astor, John Jacob (soldier)

ASTOR, John Jacob, 4th, soldier, was born in Rhinebeck, N.Y., July 13, 1864; son of William and Caroline (Schermerhorn) Astor. He was educated at St. Paul’s school, Concord, N.H., and at Harvard college. He travelled extensively in the United States, Europe and Asia, much of the time on his commodious steam yacht. His farm at Rhinebeck-on-Hudson was conducted on model plans, and he became an intelligent breeder of stock. He gave to Trinity church, New York city, as a memorial to his father, the six bronze doors designed by Karl Bitter and placed in position in 1895, and to the Church of the Messiah at Rhinebeck, N.Y., in 1898, its elegant chancel window, also a memorial. He invented a labor-saving device for the improvement of roadways. In April, 1898, he offered to the government free transportation for troops and munitions of war over the railroads under his control in the middle western states, and he equipped a battery of artillery of 6 guns, 150 men, and 54 horses, at an expense of $75,000 for the Spanish-American war. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of U.S. volunteers. May 4, 1898, and served on the staff of Maj.-Gen. W. R. Shaffer as inspector, general during the war with Spain. He was married in 1891 to Ava, daughter of Edward S. Willing of Philadelphia. He is the author of "A Journey in Other Worlds" (1890).