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Madeleine Astor

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Madeleine Astor
Astor, c. 1910
Born
Madeleine Talmage Force

(1893-06-19)June 19, 1893
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedMarch 27, 1940(1940-03-27) (aged 46)
Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.
Burial placeTrinity Church Cemetery
EducationMiss Ely's School
Miss Spence's School
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1911; died 1912)​
William Karl Dick
​
​
(m. 1916; div. 1933)​
​
​
(m. 1933; div. 1938)​
ChildrenJohn Jacob Astor VI
William Force Dick
John Henry Dick
RelativesKatherine Emmons Force (sister)
Tunis V. P. Talmage (grandfather)

Madeleine Talmage Dick (née Force; previously Astor, later Fiermonte; June 19, 1893 – March 27, 1940) was an American socialite and a survivor of the RMS Titanic.[1] She was the second wife and widow of businessman John Jacob Astor IV.

Early life

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Katherine (left) and Madeleine Force.

Madeleine Talmage Force was born on June 19, 1893, in Brooklyn, New York, the younger daughter of William Hurlbut Force (1852–1917) and the former Katherine Arvilla Talmage (1863–1930). Madeleine's elder sister Katherine Emmons Force was a real estate businesswoman and socialite. Through her father, she had French ancestry and was a great-niece of builder Ephraim S. Force (1822 – March 12, 1914).[2] Her mother had Dutch ancestry.

William Force was a member of a well-established business family. He owned the successful shipping firm William H. Force and Co., and his father had been prosperous in the manufacturing industry. In 1889, Force married Katherine Talmage, the granddaughter of former Brooklyn mayor Thomas Talmage. The Forces were part of Brooklyn high society, while William Force was a member of numerous prestigious clubs in the city.[3] He also owned an art collection. Like the Astor family, the Forces were members of the Episcopal Church. Madeleine's maternal grandfather was New York State Assemblyman Tunis V. P. Talmage and her great-grandfather, Thomas G. Talmage, was Mayor of Brooklyn.[4] She is also distantly related to Col. Benjamin Tallmadge, who served directly under George Washington in the American War of Independence.[5]

Madeleine was educated at Miss Ely's School and then for four years at Miss Spence's School, on West 48th Street in Manhattan. According to one report, she was "counted an especially brilliant pupil" at this school. She and her sister were also taken abroad by their mother and toured Europe several times. When she was introduced to New York social life, she was immediately adopted by the Junior League, a clique of debutantes.[6] She appeared in several New York society plays and attracted quite a following. She was known to be a very competent horsewoman and enjoyed yachting. One report said she was bright and good with drawing-room conversation.[6]

Courtship and first marriage

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Madeleine with Colonel Astor.
Madeleine with John and their Airedale, Kitty.

She met Colonel John Jacob "Jack" Astor IV, the only son of businessman William Backhouse Astor, Jr. and socialite Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn.[7] During their courtship, he took her on automobile drives and yacht trips, and they were often followed by the press. They became engaged in August 1911 and were married on September 9, 1911.[8] There was a considerable amount of opposition to the marriage, not only because of their age difference (29 years apart, with Madeleine being 18 and John being 47)[9] but also because of his recent divorce (November 1909) from his previous wife. After several Episcopal priests refused to celebrate the nuptials,[10] the couple was eventually married by a Congregationalist minister in Beechwood, his Newport mansion.[11] His son William Vincent Astor served as best man.[12]

After their marriage, they had an extended honeymoon. They visited several places locally first, then in January 1912, they sailed from New York on the Olympic, and enjoyed a long Egyptian tour.[13] While returning from this part of their honeymoon, they booked their passage on the Titanic.

Aboard the Titanic

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Newspaper report of the sinking of the Titanic. Most reports featured the Astors in the headlines.

Madeleine Astor, then five months pregnant, boarded the Titanic as a first-class passenger in Cherbourg, France, with her husband; her husband's valet, Victor Robbins; her maid, Rosalie Bidois; and her nurse, Caroline Endres. They also took Kitty, Colonel Astor's pet Airedale, and occupied one of the parlour suites. On the night of April 14, 1912, Colonel Astor reported to his wife that the ship had hit an iceberg. He reassured her that the damage did not appear serious, though he helped her strap on her life jacket. While they were waiting on the boat-deck, Mrs. Astor lent Leah Aks, a third-class passenger, her fur shawl to keep her son, Filly, warm.[citation needed] At one point, the Astors retired to the gymnasium and sat on the mechanical horses in their life jackets. Colonel Astor found another life jacket which he reportedly cut with a pen knife to show Mrs. Astor what it was made of. When it was time to board a lifeboat, Mrs. Astor, her maid, and her nurse had to crawl through the first-class promenade window into the tilting lifeboat 4, which had been lowered down to A deck to take on more passengers. Colonel Astor helped Mrs. Astor climb through the window and asked if he could accompany her as she was 'in a delicate condition'. The request was denied by Second Officer Charles Lightoller.[14] An account of Madeleine Astor's boarding of the lifeboat was given by Archibald Gracie IV to the US Senate Titanic inquiry. Gracie was a fellow passenger and recalled the events regarding Mrs. Astor in the following terms.

The only incident I remember in particular at this point is when Mrs Astor was put in the boat. She was lifted up through the window, and her husband helped her on the other side, and when she got in, her husband was on one side of this window and I was on the other side, at the next window. I heard Mr Astor ask the second officer whether he would not be allowed to go aboard this boat to protect his wife. He said, 'No, sir, no man is allowed on this boat or any of the boats until the ladies are off.' Mr Astor then said, 'Well, tell me what is the number of this boat so I may find her afterwards,' or words to that effect. The answer came back, 'No. 4.'[15]

Colonel Astor and his valet died in the sinking; the former's body was recovered on April 22. He was found to be carrying about $2,500 in cash, brought with him from his cabin.[16] His young widow and the other survivors were rescued by the RMS Carpathia around 03:30.

Madeleine Astor gave an account of what she recalled almost immediately after her arrival home through her spokesman Nicholas Biddle, who was a trustee of the Astor estate. The account given by her spokesman is:

On landing from the Carpathia, the young bride widowed by the Titanic's sinking told members of her family what she could recall of the circumstances of the disaster. Of how Colonel Astor had met his death she had no definite conception.

She recalled she thought that in the confusion as she was about to be put into one of the boats Colonel Astor was standing by her side. After that she had no very clear recollection of the happenings until the boats were well clear of the sinking steamer.

Mrs Astor, it appears, left in one of the last boats which got away from the ship. It was her belief that all the women who wished to go had then been taken off. Her impression was that the boat she left in had room for at least 15 more persons. The men, for some reason (that) she could not and does not now understand, did not seem to be at all anxious to leave the ship. Almost everyone seemed dazed.[17]

Widowhood

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Astor in Belmont Park, 1915.

After Astor returned home from her ordeal, she was kept in strict retirement. Her first social function was not until the end of May, when she held a luncheon at her mansion on Fifth Avenue for Arthur Rostron, the captain of the Carpathia, and Dr. Frank McGee, the ship's surgeon. She held this event with Marian Thayer, also a survivor of the Titanic. Both wished to thank these men for their assistance when they were aboard the Carpathia.[18]

In his will, John Jacob Astor IV left his wife an outright sum of $100,000, the income from a trust fund of $5 million, and the use of the house on Fifth Avenue. Both of the latter provisions she would lose if she remarried. A fund of $3 million was set aside for his unborn child John Jacob "Jakey" Astor VI, which he would control when he became of age.[19] On August 14, 1912, Astor gave birth to Jakey at her Fifth Avenue mansion. For the next four years, she raised him as part of the Astor family. She did not appear very often in society until the end of 1913, when according to the press, they published her first photograph since the Titanic disaster.[20]

After this, she appeared more often in public and her activities were frequently reported in the press. In 1915, she remodeled her house on Fifth Avenue and this was made a feature article in the New York Sun.[21] Many articles about her eldest son were also published.

Remarriages

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Four years after Colonel Astor's death, Astor married her childhood friend, banker William Karl Dick (May 28, 1888 – September 5, 1953), on June 22, 1916, in Bar Harbor, Maine, and honeymooned in California. He was a vice-president of the Manufacturers Trust Company of New York and a part owner and director of the Brooklyn Times. As stated in Colonel Astor's will, she lost her stipend from his trust fund. They had two sons:

  • William Force Dick (April 11, 1917 – December 4, 1961)
  • John Henry Dick (May 12, 1919 – September 18, 1995) ornithologist, photographer, naturalist, conservationist, author, painter, and bird illustrator[22]

They divorced on July 21, 1933, in Reno, Nevada. Four months later, on November 27, 1933, Astor married Italian actor/boxer Enzo Fiermonte in a civil ceremony in New York City. They honeymooned in Palm Beach, Florida, and eventually moved there. They had no children together and divorced on June 11, 1938, in West Palm Beach, Florida.[citation needed]

Death

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Madeleine died of a heart ailment at her mansion in Palm Beach on March 27, 1940, at the age of 46.[23] She was buried in Trinity Church Cemetery in New York City, in a mausoleum with her mother.

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Film and TV

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Books and literature

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  • The Second Mrs. Astor, by Shana Abé (2021)

References

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  1. ^ "Madeleine Force Astor Biography - Facts, Birthday, Life Story - Biography.com". Biography.com. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  2. ^ "E. S. FORCE DIES AT 92" (PDF). The New York Times. March 12, 1914.
  3. ^ Howard, Henry Ward Beecher; Jervis, Arthur N. (1893). The Eagle and Brooklyn: the record of the progress of the Brooklyn daily eagle. Cornell University Library. Brooklyn : The Brooklyn daily eagle. p. 379.
  4. ^ "Tunis Van Pelt Talmage". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Vol. 70, no. 330. New York, N.Y. November 29, 1909. p. 3 – via Brooklyn Public Library Historical Newspapers.
  5. ^ Talmadge, Arthur White (1909). The Talmadge, Tallmadge and Talmage genealogy; being the descendants of Thomas Talmadge of Lynn, Massachusetts, with an appendix including other families. Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. New York, The Grafton press.
  6. ^ a b "Eighteen-Year Old Madaline Force Has Difficult Task Ahead". The Washington Times. August 3, 1911. p. 8. ISSN 1941-0697. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  7. ^ "Bar Harbor's Social Season Promises to Lasi Until the Snow Flies --- Col. Astor a Host an Many Dinners" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
  8. ^ "Col. Astor Weds Madeleine Force". The New York Times. September 9, 1911. Retrieved November 16, 2012. Col. John Jacob Astor, head of the Astor family in America, and one of this country's wealthiest men, was married at 9:55 o'clock this morning to Miss Madeleine Talmage Force, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Force, of New York, at the Newport home of the bridegroom, Beechwood, on the Cliffs and Bellevue Avenue.
  9. ^ "Titanic Survivor Stories - Madeleine Talmage Force Astor". rmstitanic.net. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  10. ^ "Meriden Morning Record". Google News Archive. August 9, 1911. p. 9. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  11. ^ "Meriden Weekly Republican". Meriden Morning Record. September 14, 1911. p. 11. Retrieved October 21, 2019 – via Google News Archive.
  12. ^ "COL. ASTOR WEDS MADELEINE FORCE". The New York Times. September 10, 1911. Retrieved July 17, 2013 – via encyclopedia titanica.
  13. ^ Maxtone-Graham, John (March 19, 2012). Titanic Tragedy: A New Look at the Lost Liner. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393083392.
  14. ^ "Colonel John Jacob Astor". encyclopedia titanica. Retrieved April 4, 2011.
  15. ^ "TIP | United States Senate Inquiry | Day 11 | Testimony of Archibald Gracie (First Class Passenger, SS Titanic)". Titanic Inquiry. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
  16. ^ "Colonel John Jacob Astor". Encyclopedia Titanica. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  17. ^ "Wreck Survivors Tell Tales of Horror". The San Francisco Call. April 19, 1912. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  18. ^ "Carpathia's Captain and Surgeon; Their Hostesses Titanic Widows". The evening world. May 31, 1912. p. 1. ISSN 1941-0654. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  19. ^ "Astor Estate Goes to Son". The Evening News. May 7, 1912. Retrieved July 10, 2023 – via Google News Archive.
  20. ^ "Mrs. John Jacob Astor". The Logan Republican. November 29, 1913. p. 1. ISSN 2158-2815. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  21. ^ "The Astor Residence As Remodeled". The Sun. April 25, 1915. p. 9. ISSN 1940-7831. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  22. ^ "William K. Dick". Accuracy Project. Retrieved January 1, 2012.
  23. ^ "Mrs. Fiermonte Dead In Florida". The New York Times. Associated Press. March 28, 1940. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
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