John Jacob Astor III

John Jacob Astor III (June 10, 1822 — February 22, 1890) was a financier, philanthropist, and the eldest son of William Backhouse Astor, Sr. (son of John Jacob Astor and Sarah Todd) and Margaret Rebecca Armstrong (daughter of John Armstrong, Jr. and Alida Livingston). One of his uncles was John Jacob Astor, Jr. (1791—1869). John Jacob III became the wealthiest member of the Astor family in his generation and the founder of the English branch of the Astor family.

Biography
Astor studied at Columbia College and the University of Göttingen, following which he went to Harvard Law School. He practiced law for a year, to qualify for assisting in the management of his family's immense estate, one half of which later descended to him. It was based on his paternal grandfather's achieving a monopoly in the lucrative fur trade in the early nineteenth century.

During the American Civil War, Astor he served as a volunteer aide-de-camp to General George B. McClellan. For his services during the Peninsular Campaign, he was brevetted brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers. He regarded this period as the best of his life; he attended the reunions of the Loyal Legion with zeal.

As a businessman, Astor dabbled in railroad investment, but was outsmarted by Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt and forced to yield control of the original New York Central Railroad line (from Albany to Buffalo) to him. His principal business interest was the vast Astor Estate real estate holdings in New York City, which he managed profitably and parsimoniously.

Marriage and family
In 1846, Astor married Charlotte Augusta Gibbes (February 27, 1825 — December 12, 1887) of South Carolina, daughter of Thomas Stanyarne Gibbes, Jr. and Susan Annette Vanden Heuvel. They had one son, Viscount William Waldorf Astor (1848—1919). In 1859 he built a home at 350 Fifth Avenue, today the street address of the Empire State Building. Later, he had an imposing vacation home, Beaulieu, built in Newport, Rhode Island.

Philanthropy
John Jacob Astor III donated objects and funds to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (in 1887 he presented it with his wife's collection of valuable laces and left a bequest of $50,000). He and his brother presented Trinity Church with a memorial to their father: a sculptured reredos and altar costing $80,000. He left a bequest of $450,000 to the Astor Library, bringing the family benefactions to the institution to a total of about $1,500,000. He also gave generously to the New York Cancer Hospital ($100,000 bequest), the Woman's Hospital, St. Luke's Hospital ($100,000 bequest) and the Children's Aid Society.

He took an active interest in the Astor Library beyond funding. He was treasurer of its board of trustees, and in 1879 deeded to it the three lots on which the northern wing of the present building was later constructed by him. He presented it with his collection of early books and rare manuscripts.

His deeply religious wife Charlotte supported the newly formed Children's Aid Society and sat on the board of the Women's Hospital of New York, an institution that to her dismay refused to accept cancer patients. She persuaded her husband to donate the money ($225,000) to erect the New York Cancer Hospital's first wing, the "Astor Pavilion." For twenty years, she supported a German industrial school. From 1872 until her death, she was a manager of the Woman's Hospital, besides taking an active part in the Niobrara League to aid the Indians and in many other charities. She bequeathed $150,000 to charitable organizations.

John Jacob III increasingly visited London in his later years. His son moved there permanently with his family in 1891 and became a citizen in 1899 where he was later made a peer. John Jacob Astor III died on February 22, 1890 and was interred in the Trinity Church Cemetery in Manhattan.