New Stories

Still, even after this long, I found two new stories about Astor...1st. He was having dinner with his friends and there was an explosion from upstairs. He excuses himself and comes back saying that it wasn't nothing much. His friend says, but on the contrary, it was very dear, as it took their dear friend from them. Astor promised to be more social in the future...

Story 2- He was coming home late at night and the lackey at the door had fallen asleep on the job. Astor and his friend managed to get in after a bit, without waking the lackey and were headed upstairs, when from behind them them, the butler had whapped the sleeping lackey with a copy of Astor's book. Astor saw this and said, 'Looks like my book was a big hit...'

Okay, so maybe it was funnier in the newspaper...

There was also an early article about Jack making it possible for his wife to play with a bulb of electricity like you would with a gas flue, and the newspaper person was very impressed with this, saying that Astor could make a lot of money if he would market his inventions using electricity in the house...but Astor said that he was only playing around with electricity...

Yet, someone put the indoor light bulb into play and it has changed everything. He was a man ahead of his times.

Still Researching.

Okay, the high has left, and I am back to where I was...which is to say that I am back to reading newspapers and stacking the ones I am going to do something with, and throwing away the ones I'm not. There are a lot of duplicates, both in articles in different newspapers and in same newspaper same article...But I try to err on the side of caution, on the adage of 'when in doubt, keep...'

Still a lot of work ahead, still a bunch of stuff to go through, but I am ready to keep pushing on...

The trip, again.

I just realized that this windfall means that I now have the money for the first part of my Astor trip...

I have the feeling that I am getting help from another source on this book, almost as if the old Colonel, himself, was helping me...:) At this point, it looks as if I will have no problem getting all the money I need for all my different trips.

Of course, this means I am going to have to actually finish the book...I just hope that I have it in me.

Moving on...

I probably shouldn't confess this, but as this is an out of way blog in an out of the way corner which very few people (who aren't my close, personal friends...who I twisted their arms to go take a look at this wonderful, special....*that's enough*...not to be missed...*okaayy, Charlotte, that's enough*...but mommmm....*glaring look*) will even come to see.

We got a windfall today, how much I am not going to tell...but it was enough for me to go to Amazon and purchase the last 43 books I was needing to get for my research. I am not exaggerating. I really did purchase 43 books. I didn't break a thousand, but I got close. I only have 12 more years to print out on Astor (and only Astor) on Newspaper Archive and I will be done with that as well. But what I like about this, is that the research wheel is closing (sorry for the mixed metaphor there.) and I can see an actual end to this part of the work. I may even be done by the time the trip comes...*ooohhh, that sounds good.* I have things to track down but I will be doing that as I work putting all of this into folders that will be useful during my writing process. I have made mistakes in my research, but I have learned from them. I probably bought too many books, and then had to repurchase books that I utterly destroyed in my quest...when I thought this was only going to be research for my fiction book. If I stick in this genre, and I have no reason to think that I won't (at this moment--because who knows what passions will attack me in the future.), then much of the work will have been done.

As I do my books, I will be doing two non-fiction books, one I don't plan on submitting for publication and one I do. You already know about that one. I meant that I will make a notebook for culture and manners of the times, but...hey...this could be another book for those writer's guides...for writers...*Yeah, girlfriend, milk that cow...*

Okay, enough dreaming, I need to get back to work...I still have my two hours of research ahead of me.

Trip Plans

Here is my total trip plans--well more like the idea, general that I have going right now. Things always have a way of changing.

First to California to where the Shafter papers are, to pick up the Astor References listed in them. I plan to fly there and back, the rest, I will probably drive.

Then to Florida to visit the Barum Museum where they have two actual rooms from the Astor mansion, bought when it was being torn down. They also have some Astor artwork there.

Then to the Biltmore to see that, after that,-- to the University of North Carolina where some Astor papers are being stored. Brief stop there. Madeleine Astor later had a plantation there in North Carolina called The Dixie, so I'd like to find that.

Then to Washington, DC to go to the National Archives, and also, the Library of Congress--for the usual reasons.

After Washington, I hope to make New York, where I'd like to see where Astor had his mansion and the area where he worked. I'd like to go see the Metropolitan museum and Central Park. Then, I'd like to visit the pier that the Titanic was suppose to dock at. Not so much for Titanic's sake, but to give me the general area where ships of that time docked.

Trinity Church is on my list, where I'd like to leave flowers on both Madeleine and Jack Astor's graves. Then some research time at the Main Library, as well as to look at the painting of Jack Astor there. The historical society is also on the list of places to stop and do research.

Once done with this, I'd like to go to Newport -- to see mainly Beechwood, The New York Yacht Club and the Newport Casino. Then off to Bar Harbor to see where Jack and Madeleine met, and to take a gander at the Newport Newspapers being held at the University of Maine's library. There is also a museum in Maine that has a full steamboat on dry dock, and exhibits from Web Stewart, a contemporary of Astor's. And since I am in the neighborhood, I'd like to take a look around Bangor, the stomping grounds of my favorite author, just to say I did.

Ferncliff in Rhinebeck comes after that, to take a looksee at the Astor Estate, and to do research at Rhinebeck Historical Society. They seem to have a lot of Astor related material there as well as photos that I haven't seen. I expect to be there several days, at least.

Oh, I forgot, lastly, I plan on going to England, Paris, and Scotland to visit friends. If my money holds out, then I want/will take a Titanic memorial cruise in 2012 to recreate what it must have been like. I am simply looking to get feel for the time of year, and the overall feel of what it must have been like to be on ship.

Of course, I know all of this is subject to change by vicissitude, the universe and a God that doesn't mind playing a joke or two on people who plan too much. I still believe that while my plans have a very small change to work out exactly as planned, that I will be in exactly the right places, at the exact right times to get what I need. I am an optimist, after all.

Photos all done

I have sorted and labled all the photos on the other site. Gosh what a big job. Now, I will only have to do it when I post new photos...and it gives a nice reference point to this blog.

Continued to read in the old newspapers. No new stories. Still...glad to be done with these photos.

Same old, same old.

I am still reading through old newspapers and weeding out the extras, the non-related, non-usable, etc. I still have two more boxes to go though. Next Time...I WILL put them away as I print them. I swear! This is madness what I am doing. I did not realize how much my eyes would hate the small print of these things for two hours a day. I have perhaps 5000 sheets more to read? Two boxes that held 2500 sheets each. Most of which went to printing newspapers...ugh. I don't think I really want to know.

Got a new story on Astor today. One I had not seen before. Seems that a soldier was suffering from Typhoid Fever but the Sgt. couldn't let him in the hospital tent because the medical doc hadn't signed papers to let the man into the mostly empty tent. JJ Astor rode up, saw the man and asked about the soldier. He was told that the soldier had fever and that they could not let him in yet. JJ took out a twenty (about 500 to you and me) and handed it to the Sgt. 'I have had Typhoid Fever. The man needs ice on his head and ice baths. He must be suffering greatly.' The Sgt. did not want private money for a military person but his officer talked him into accepting the money saying that Col. Astor would never miss it and the soldier really did need it.

I have also read where he helped to organize supply runs after the war was basically in Cuba to help the sick soldiers there as medical supplies were running low. He was a generous man who just did what needed to be done. See why I am looking for him?

Lost Blog

I had an entire listing, interesting, pertinent...and 'shoot', it went the way of all data saved incorrectly, into data heaven and I am too tired to recreate it.

Tomorrow is a only a day awayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

I read newspapers for two hours. Mostly, still about the Spanish-American War...and mostly I already read the articles, so nothing new to report. I did learn a neat trick at Amazon that lets me look at more pages than usual. Some of the books I have on my list, I just need need a line or two. What you do is do a search with a keyword on a book that lets you "look inside" and all the references pop up. I had like 10 references on Astor in a book and only one was really the kind of information that I could use. Knowing that now is going to save me a ton of money on old books. I still will buy the ones with photos or with lots of info.



Funny, I have learned so much about researching after the fact...after I don't need it, or don't remember where I got that very interesting fact or photos that I really should go back and document now that I know I am writing a non-fiction book. Or save for the group photos. I hadn't decided that until *after* I started finding so much information. At first, I just collected photos and printed them out, without saving them. Now, I want to share and I am going to have scan them in before I *can* share them at about 5 times the trouble. I will be glad when I finish the listing of my photos on my group. Over a thousand photos that had to be labeled and then sorted in some kind of order. And I still have about 10 directories to finish up. I should stop babbling now.

Astor's Battery

I read newspapers today, mostly from the Spanish-American War. I learned something that I had not known. JJ Astor's Astor Battery had both better food than the usual soldier -- better than JJ himself was eating, actually, -- and that JJ Astor was paying the wages of the Astor Battery during the entire time that it served. Mind you, the agreement was that he would raise the Battery and equip it until it mustered in. He also let the government have free passage on his railroad and volunteered his yacht as a gunboat.

I had had suspicions that he went to war, he was so insistent on going to Cuba, because a few months earlier the papers had reported him stating that Cuba would be a wonderful place to develop if the US would annex. It had gotten me to thinking that he might have wanted to go to scout out the lay of the land, so to speak. But, learning this about his Battery and how well care of he took of them, well, it makes me think differently. He didn't have to feed them so well -- his men had lamb chops and milk and other things the other troops could only wish for (and this in the field) -- that if it had been the work of a man just wanting a first foot in the door, he would have let them eat just what the rest of the Army ate. He also provided pipes and tobacco.

He worked hard, and shared in the daily life of the men he served with. Granted, the rest of the men did not have valets and private secretaries along with him, but he did eat the food, sleep in a tent and all the rest. He even developed a liking for pork n' beans. I think that this would have changed him and made him more sensitive to the working man, and what it was to work hard for a living. I think that this would have stripped off the entitlement veneer that most very rich people grow up with. But it probably took off some of his romantic idealism as well. That would have been a loss, but gaining clarity about his place in the world...well, as the commercial says....priceless.

Two New Books

Got home from Nebraska this morning, and found that two books that I had ordered had come in. Just like with any book you order without being able to see if they will be useful, one was perfectly what I wanted, and the other was not.

The first one is "The Astors" by Harvey O'Connor, published in the 1940s. I read the chapters! over Colonel Astor and I could not find any mistakes. He had a bit of what I didn't know, while the rest was clear, factual and non-sensationalized. Mostly. I have found some information on Colonel Astor that wasn't in the book, but I don't blame poor Mr. O'Connor as I have the Internet to help me and he didn't. Also, he researched all the Astors and I am going after a particular one which makes things for me much easier. I think I will use this particular book as a frame to help me structure my own book correctly. I have never written a biography before and I want to be sure to do it correctly and well. It would be useful if it were interesting in spots, too.

Now the other book--A 1912 book called "The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Diasters." It is in poor shape, and pages are coming out...while the cover looks like it was well read. One edge is showing a lot of wear. I bought this one because it seemed to promise more information on Astor, and it didn't keep its promise. It doesn't look like the author did any real deep research...but it does have some cool pictures. If I wasn't so tired from my trip, I would post some for you.

One Winner, one loser...mostly.

Still not too bad for a day's acquisition.

I did mention to my husband that I am going to be purchasing the books that I can't get otherwise. I have mentioned it to him before without telling him how many. Tonight, I causally threw in the number of 40 or so. He didn't say anything and I breathed a sigh of relief.

More Astor. More Astor. More Astor. :)

His Child?

I have to go off for a quick trip to Nebraska. We'll be picking up the grandchild and bringing him to stay with us until Christmas. It's been a long time since I have had a child in my life so needless to say, I am a bit nervous about having him in the house. Not will *he* survive it, but will I?

But this blog is about looking for Colonel Astor. When I was in Nebraska the last time, I found that he had come through Omaha on an inspection tour in Oct. of 1903. (I have it printed out somewhere and will post it when I find it.) Mainly it said the directors walked around Omaha a bit, said they were impressed with Omaha's growth as a city, and that they were pleased with the condition of the lines of the Illinois Central Railroad. The article gave the names of the private railroad cars as well. Astor was described as tall, atheleticly built, and quiet. I know now that his marriage to his wife was in trouble during this time, and that they had just had a child together that some wags had said belonged to someone else. So he had a lot to be quiet about.

After thinking about this for a while and studying the photos of the child, I think the child was Astor's. For these reasons--he had *big* feet, so did she, poor thing. She looks like her brother in her older age, and John Jacob Astor did provide for her, even though he divorced her mother a while bit later.

I'll post some pictures and show you what I mean.

Do you see the big feet...and yes, I know what they say about big feet....

I put the pictures in and I haven't yet figured out how to put them where I want, so I guess we'll just have to make do...

The one on top is of Alice Murial Astor and her brother Vincent when they were older. Notice how much they look alike.

The little girl is Alice when she was about 10? or 12? See those big feet?

And the bottom left is of John Jacob Astor and Madeleine Astor soon after getting married. You can see the big feet there. So, what do you think? His or not?

Next post, I'll put up one of her grandmother, since one of my friends could see a resemblance between the two...

Reason for the blog.

I am a writer. That is a pretty hard thing to have out there in print for everyone to see. Not a hesitant -- I think I am a writer or I want to be a writer, but plain and simple: I am a writer. As a writer, I have written several books -- most trash, some good, and just enough really good stuff that I want to hold it up and wave it around for everyone to see. But I won't. I promise.

But I digress...About 2 years ago, I was reading up on the Titanic prior to a museum visit and I got captivated by the story of the Astors, i.e. John Jacob Astor and Madeleine Force Astor. Her-- a young pregnant bride; him--an older, rich man. Both seeming in love, willing to defy the world--which made me want to find out who these people were. But every book gave me little information other than a handful of lines about how Col. Astor had divorced his wife, dared to marry a girl half his age, and then had the audacity to die on the Titanic, which promptly revitialized his reputation with the public. After that, nothing much would be said about his young widow except, mostly, how she had had a posthumous child that grew up to be a playboy like his father. I got to thinking how utterly sad Madeleine must have been to lose her husband of less than a year to the ocean. How in a moment everything changed for her. How did everything happen? What was the truth in all of it? Was Col. Astor a lothario who had a 'harem' in New York City who made passes at his friend's wives or was he the religious, patriotic soldier who had put his wife on a life boat, stepped back and helped other women to board as well. Was Madeleine a gold-digger pushed into a loveless marriage by her mother or was she the loving, young wife who morned for her husband for the rest of her life?....I wanted to KNOW! And since I am a writer, I wanted to write about it. To write, meant research and more research. After a lot of digging, I realized there was still more out there about both of them that nobody had ever seemed bothered to look over. Books usually had a scant chapter on Col. Astor, and those usually referring back to the same few sources. What I found in the Newspapers didn't agree with what I read in those short chapters. Sometimes, they were wrong.

Being the obcessive that I am, I turned to the Internet and found Newspaper Archives, which I haven't finished yet. Two years doing this, looking and checking and checking some more and I still haven't yet gotten all the informtion printed out, to get to the place where I can organize it, to actually write a fiction and a non-fiction book. In the mean-time, I have collected over a thousand period photographs, artifacts, and I still haven't found everything I want to find. Two years, I been doing this. At least two hours a day, sometime more.

My family accepts my obcession now, and while my husband teases me by calling me the 'Astor Channel' since sometimes its 'All Astor, all the time.', he has been supportive.

Whew! All that, to get to the reason for the blog. I wanted somewhere to chronicle my search and to perhaps, if I am very lucky, to share with other Astorphiles out there the information that I have found. (Or maybe, just to get *them* to share with me!)

I plan to go to California, Florida, South Carolina, Washington, then New York and Maine to finish the research up. I will have the money to do so in a year in the spring. *Cross my fingers.* I also plan a Titanic cruise in 2012, to retrace that last journey of the Titanic ..already a cruise line plans to offer this and I imagine they will not be alone. I hope to finish this all in another year or two. The research, the books, all of it. Then, done, put it down for something else.
I hope.

You know that quote don't you? To make God laugh, tell him your plan...