Caroline Astor, The Queen of Gilded Age New York
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- čas přidán 6. 11. 2023
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Caroline was born into old money, and married into the richest new money family in the world. She became the ultimate Queen bee, determining who was and was NOT part of the illustrious 400, the high society of gilded age New York. A coveted invitation to one of her balls was the ultimate achievement for social climbers. Those left off the list might as well catch the next train to Toledo. Like her parties, her feuds were the stuff of legend and sparked major developments in New York City real estate. But under the shimmering veneer was a woman troubled by an unhappy marriage and personal insecurities. Let’s take a journey from her well heeled origin in the oldest part of the City, past the Fifth Avenue Landmarks from wench she once reigned over Manhattan, to her final resting place in the heights. Along the way we’ll get to know the real Mrs. Astor.
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I find it hilarious that her own family didn't meet the snobbish standards she imposed on others.
Her husbands family sort of her family though>>
She’s royally delusional, from common origin which European nobility would look down. Plus she’s entertaining to understand Her mindset.
As the old saying goes, "rules for thee, not for me."
Perfect example of why this sort of snobbish behaviour is stupid: they're all hypocrites! Manners and respectful behaviour should be implemented to make others feel at ease and, duh, respected-not hurt, ostracised and demeaned.
@@KINGCABA-if4nkthis is basically “US Royalty” their descendants are still ruling with money some sort of way
Imagine being such a snob that you snub and look down on people for becoming a millionaire on their own through hard work and dedication, while all you had to do was be born into a filthy rich family…
This is why I don't really like nor sympathize with Caroline Astor 😒. Somebody who managed to become rich through hard work and determination has my respect 🙏 .
At that time, the British peerage was the same. They looked down on people who held job and made money that way.
They looked down on them BECAUSE they worked for it. That’s a weird concept in America but that’s how aristocratic people have been for centuries. Labor is deemed as poverty/low class.
Yes! That seems backwards to me too!
But if you know anything about the British Aristocracy, then you would also understand that "money" didn't matter to them wither. Not as much as "birth". And as the Creator here said, these Ameican socialites very much wanted to be like them.
But I'm like you. I am far more impressed with someone who pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and made something of themselves - so long as it was done honestly- than someone who just happened to be born. 😊❤
Why really is funny is I will bet if they found the real source of their wealth, they would not be able to look down on anyone!!!
The horror of it!! He EARNED his money and didn't inherit it lol that was the best line.
That was from the European aristocrats.
@@charlynegezze8536, the same European aristocracy that *needed* all of that new money to save their financial arses! Those daughters (including Consuelo Vanderbilt) weren’t called “Dollar Princesses” for nothing.
Lol. Right! Omigosh, earned it! How wretched.
I know right. 😂😂😂😂
I read that in her old age,she would wander her ballroom alone greeting imaginary guests, reliving the glory days..
Probably dementia 😢
Every time they mention John Jacob Astor my mind keeps going to “John Jacob Jingelheimer Schmidt …..”, the song my beloved mother in law used to sing to her grandchildren. ❤️😆
I kid you not I was just singing this song before I happenstance upon your comment here lol 🎵😂😚🎶!
Me too!
In my family, it was John Jacob Guggenheimer Schmidt.
His name was my name tooooo😂
HIS NAME WAS MY NAME TOO, whenever I go out the people always shout there goes John Jacob Jingleheimer schmidt nanana XD
I recently read a story about a Parisian apartment frozen in the late 1800s that was discovered somewhere around the 2010s. Apparently the woman had fled the apartment when Germany invaded France and never returned. It was paid for by the family's wealth and was found only after the granddaughter had passed. I will try and find this article for you and share on x
I remember this from when i was little. The pictures looked so beautiful
beautifulbuildings.wordpress.com/2014/09/13/time-capsule-apartment-in-paris-found-untouched-for-70-years/
Hugette Clark had a similar story.
@@freshlysqueezed6850 po
Yes. You. Can. Actually have an apt. In Paris. France. For. Your. Lifetime. If the. Family is paying the rent.....
Germany didn’t invade France in the late 1800s
Snobbery such as hers makes me laugh, you can have an extensive and impeccable pedigree and still not have two nickels to rub together. Wealth can bring so much strife and people like to use you for it. I feel sorry for social icons and wonder if they ever experienced the actual wealth of honest human warmth.
The one benefit is watching wealthy snobs get humbled by those higher up on the pecking order who, well, actually behave like decent human beings, i.e. New York City rich assholes having to take backseats in precedence to even the lowest of Europe’s aristocracy or even people who had knighthoods (which could be very different people from the New York elite)
I agree. They live superficial lives chasing happiness they'll never find. True contentment is found from within.
She did it because she could do it, she had the knowledge and the touch to be a leader in what she liked…high society life. At least that people had some sense of dignity and culture, unlike today, when most people behave like wild animals and cannot hold a decent conversation. Let’s remember that is the members of the upper class the ones who created the many museums, opera halls and theaters in Manhattan. This because they had education and refinement.
@@sibymillerlet’s remember that you’re comparing politicians and millionaire tycoons to regular ass people. Regular people back then were just as awful as they are today. Please take off those weird rose-tinted glasses you have on. You wanna suck rich people peen then go ahead but don’t pretend like it had to do with the time period. They had money to afford entertainment and interest. Regular people had to skirt by on what they had and be miserable the rest of the time just like they do today. 🙄
@@sibymillerbut she didn’t even get an academic education and the people who truly created those building with their skill sets were most likely commoners. I agree she did it cause she could though
You’re right to call her ‘Mean Girl’. I can totally imagine an edit of ‘The Gilded Age’ where Mrs. Astor enters with Missy Elliott playing in the background.
Not missy Elliott 😂 and Astor's got Dutch heritage too, so "Pass That Dutch" is just chef's kiss
😂😂😂
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Lol pulls up in her carriage shouting “GET IN BITCHES” lol
Caroline’s my 5th Cousin 4x removed. My mothers maiden name was Schermerhorn, but they didn’t stick around near the city or Albany. Her third Great Grandfather Symon Jacobse and my seventh Great Grandfather Jacob Jacobse were brothers.
Funny how the same name can go down such different paths. I’ve probably traced dozens of Schermerhorn lines and it’s quite interesting how one man started so many different lineages
Intriguing. Is your family still wealthy?
@@charlynegezze8536 quite the opposite. My branch lost its money quite some time ago in favor of pioneering further into Upstate New York in what would become Lewis and Jefferson Counties around the early 1800s. Some branches kept the money, and some made new fortunes (pretty sure one got really big with oil in Illinois), it’s all pretty much in between.
@@ScreamingAllTheTime How fortunate to know so much about your family history. It's enviable. 🙂
That is so cool!
Those people are so far away from your genes and DNA.
William Waldorf Astor bought Hever Castle, southeast of London. It was the home of Anne Boleyn. He restored it, had a village built and beautiful gardens installed. Spectacular grounds.
Interesting factoid.
Now I see where Waldorf Astoria got it's name most likely 😊
The Waldorf Astoria has a very interesting history behind the name. You should definitely look it up
Imagine the good that could be done in the world if all mean girl energy was redirected toward improving the human condition (for the betterment of the people being served, not as a bid for more power in some complicated "mean girl does good to elevate her social capital" way).
Some did eventually as we move into the progressive era. The Roosevelts being a prime example.
Doesn’t matter whether you’re Mrs. Astor or Henry VIII, you can’t stop time from moving forward. Progress happens. Your only choice is to move along with it or get left behind.
❤❤❤Mi Abuela said this all the time!
NOT all movements or motions are progressive, even though Bob Dylan says "you better start swimming or you'll sink just like a stone"
It's not as simple as that 😮😢😊
@@ulrikjensen6841j
Excellent comment
@@ulrikjensen6841Obviously not, professor. But the commenter wanted to leave a comment, not a write a dissertation 😂
She would make an incredible vampire villain for a gilded age historical drama
I would watch that in a heartbeat 😆!
Go ahead and write the script! Ill watch lol
You’re not far from the truth about all of them
@@ShushaSofia😂😂
Wait, Schermerhorn? Van Cordtland? Knickerbocker? Well dang, now I know finally where all these street/ train station names came from 🤷🏾♀️
Astor place
And how the NY Knicks got their name.
She had nothing else to do but be a socialite.
Imagine tearing down mansions and building massive hotels in retaliation. What a time☺️
That's how rich people back in the day "duked" it out it seems lol 😂.
And the hotel was torn down to build the Empire State Building
What I absolutely love about Mrs. Astor story is her prophetic parting interview. She knew a new Queen would rise after she was gone but not only one rose but three! Mrs. Astor place was not an easy task to fulfill and it took three women to control New York society in her place.
Who were the three Queen Bees if you don't mind me asking? I'm just genuinely curious 😁.
@@TheMeloettafulThey were Marion Graves Anthon Fish, Theresa Fair Oelrichs, and Alva Belmont (formerly Vanderbilt, the same one who held that ball invitation hostage from the Astors to get them to acknowledge her).
Witnesses say that when "Jack" Astor handed his wife Madeleine into the lifeboat, she asked him to go and get their dog (Kitty) from the ship's kennel. It's thought that he's the one who released all of the dogs on the Titanic, so at least they'd have a chance.
How did that work out?? 😥
@@TheNancypooI hope some of them made it onto the lifeboats 😢
Three dogs survived, all of them small. They were probably staying with their owners in cabins and were small enough to fit on a lap. Astor was at some point seen standing with Kitty on deck. It's heartbreaking to think of those sweet animals in harm's way.
😢
😢
We’ve just started to watch the new season of the series “the Gilded Age” and this made it so much clearer to what is fiction and what is fact. Very interesting! Thank you so much for putting this together and sharing it. ❣️
I wish they'd do a second season! 💛
@@ref5095 Season 2 just came out this month! Episode 2 was out on Sunday
@@ref5095 that’s what we just started to watch 😀
Oh, I didn't know they were continuing it, either!
@@foxy.grandpaI didn’t realize they’d released Season 2. I need to catch up.
Hi Lindsay, I have a video suggestion for you: Marozia of Tusculum. She was an extremely powerful woman in Rome in the 900s. She was the lover of one pope, mother of another, and ancestor of six more! She hand selected three popes and had three husbands. Useful charts did a video on her, I will link
czcams.com/video/f7E6NSP0rQI/video.htmlsi=S4OcvGuCCyDipPwH
Ooooohhhh thank you for the information!!! Checking her out!!! 🤯
I appreciate that you are a real person, and that you don’t use a robot voice. Thanks for the video
This was a very intriguing glimpse into The Gilded Age. 😊 I hope we learn more about women from The Gilded Age, and The Gilded Age itself. It seems so fascinating. 👑
I found the American bride situation of this time very intriguing.
I get reminded all the time that this wasnt that long ago. My great grandparents were alive during her downfall.
So were mine!!❤
Same. A bit surreal to be honest.
When I was a child in the late 60's/early 70's and when my mother thought I had a high and mighty attitude about something... she called me "Mrs. Astor". I didn't know who that was or why she called me that. I finally figured it out. 😂
Wow, Astor's character was cast perfectly! The Gilded Age actress looks just like her!
When I was a kid, I was fascinated by the stories of high society here in New York. The Astors were fascinating to me because of all the parties they had. There is a picture here in one of the Upstate NY museums showing the get together of all these families in their finery. I wouldn't be surprised if Caroline arranged it. The picture is a sight to see.
Thoroughly enjoyed this! Please do one about the Vanderbilts or the Rockefellers!
More Gilded Age content plz!!
This is the earliest I've ever been! From one Lindsay to another, I love your content! I also want to shout out The GIlded Gentleman and The History Chicks podcasts if anyone wants more info on the Astors or the Gilded Age!
You manage to pack SO much amazing info into your content. It’s awesome! I always look forward to your content. And you're such an incredible story teller girl! I could hear you talk about milk and still have a great time!
Great video! As a born and raised New Yorker, it’s great to hear the stories of why certain areas/streets got their names.
What’s fascinating to me is how the wealthiest and most powerful people in cities throughout the USA built immense mansions and lorded it over the rest of the local population, but within just a few decades the mansions deteriorated and were demolished and the descendants lost their money and prestige. You’ll find the names of these families today on streets and parks and schools, but almost nobody knows who they were. Their moment of significance was just a quick blip of time.
It is a well known fact that majority of the formally wealthiest families, riches are squandered by the time the third generation is born like the Vanderbilts. This is also the case of my mother‘s family, who happened to have been one the wealthiest families in town but by the time I was born already, most of the wealth had depreciated with barely, my mother and her sibling inheriting property in their trusts in the 5 figures.
yes this is fascinating.How did they lose their money? Squandered or mismanaged or heirs who just weren't as good as their forefathers in generating wealth? I find it a crying shame that these beautiful abodes weren't kept as part of New York's history or turned into museums. Apparently Brooke Astor had a very sad end-elderly abuse by her own son but thankfully,her grandson came to her rescue in the last year of her life but the money had been squandered.
So sad the french style mansion and the original hotel were demolished... I bet they were beautiful
The Gilded Age is such an interesting part of history!
I'm an economist and I've studied a lot of the "new money" people in the HBO series, but I did not know much about the old money people, except when their patriarchs were new money. Lol
Thank you for this video, it really does help me understand the micro history, as well as the culture and the political intrigues of the time. HBO should promote your channel, because it really does help much better understand the show.
I am now a new sub.
Facts on Caroline:
She is found in old money
She came from old money family
She was the queen of New York high society
She invented the 400 club with McAllistor
She has a battle with new money, until she came around
She battled against her nephew in-law and his wife, until they left for England where the descents were still living as this day
She arranges marriages for wealthy people of high society
She has a feud with Ava Vanderbilt
Her only son has a miserable marriage with his first wife when he divorced her after his mother's death
She ignores scandals of gossip around her and her children
Your summary deserves a C- for effort.
Scratch that, she has a feud with her nephew and niece in-law, not her brother and sister in-law
Your range and dedication is always appreciated girl! Keep going! Your work is among the very best and an inspiration!😊😊😊😊❤❤❤❤
Thank you so much!!
@@LindsayHoliday Always
Her patriarch society fizzling out due to “lack of interest” must have been a heavy blow to her ego. Though with how snobbish she was I can’t say I feel too sorry for her.
And the stories of her greeting non existent visitors in her dementia were bone chillingly eerie!
Most people with dementia "revert" to things that are no longer there.
“Catch the next train to Toledo,” CRACKED ME UP as an Ohioan😂
Ohio & Michigan nearly went to war to control Toledo
It sounds like her parties were the precursor to the Met Gala
This was EXTREMELY enjoyable. I wish it was longer… The antebellum period right through the gilded age is one of my favorite American periods historically, socially, and sartorially.
As a transplant to New York from California it makes me even more fascinated with this place to know how this place is always changing
I hope this is a new series! I love reading books about and watching shows about of this era.
I'm starting to get into this era more because of HBO's The Guilded Age! Do you have any good book or tv show/movie recommendations?
Today we value more a person who has earned their money instead of inherited it.
As a NYC native, it's cool to see all these last names that still exist in some way in NYC, whether named streets or city nicknames or buildings and more :)
Honestly when ever I learn about early "American history" I just think about how much of hypocrites these people.
Yeah, me too
I’d like to mention that Anderson Cooper’s books and ‘The Gilded Age’ got me interested in that time period.
the Waldorf Astoria was run by and made very successful by George Boldt...he built, but never finished, a castle across from Alexandria Bay NY. It is still being restored and SOOO worth a visit. Perhaps an episode on that "treasure"
Omg I’m beyond ecstatic that you made content on this HBO Drama series 🤩 The happens to be one of my favorite television shows 🙌🏾 I’m beyond in love with the Mrs. Russell character 🥰 actually this is the type of American History I find absolutely fascinating 🧐 thank you so very much for creating this very interesting content and educating me about one of the alluring characters Mrs. Astor 👍🏾 I can’t stress enough how much I’m enjoying this wonderful drama 👏🏾 !!!!
I absolutely love History Tea Time with Lindsay Holiday because her historical content is accurate 🙌🏾 it’s obvious she does her research and create content that can be used in History classrooms around the world 👏🏾 I also am immensely in love with the @HBO drama The Gilded Age it’s remarkable television 👍🏾 I grateful to CZcams content creators like Lindsey because she’s putting out high vibrational content to enjoy. May she continue to be blessed and you also Happy Christmas 🎄 !!!!
Thank you, this was very interesting. I live i Asheville NC and have been a long time pass holder to the Biltmore Estate built by the Vanderbilt family in the 1880's so I have been interested in this time period for quite a while. I am loving the Gilded Age TV series.
Sis you need to be on PBS with your own documentaries!!!
I am from Brooklyn and I knew some of this. I know Astor Place and Schemerhorn Street and I knew they were named after rich ppl from way back in the early NY days.
I binged watch MAX’s The Guilded Age Series Season 2 because I love my City and worked on E. 77th St & 5th Ave at Brandeis University’s Fundraising Office in the 1980s. They had all of their Fundraising Dinners at the Waldorf Astoria for the University with their rich alumni who were all legal top guns around the World. I knew the Waldorf Astoria as it was in the late 1980s. My coworkers used to tell me stories about the Gilded Age we always knew about Mrs. Astor. Some of those mansions are still there on Park & 5th Avenues to this day. I used to have lunch in Central Park near E. 77th Street.
Ken Burns is the historical documentary King! But he’s “old money/old school”! It’s time for some “new money/new school” historical documentaries and from a Queen at that!! I enjoy your content very much.
LIKE IF YOU AGREE!
I have watched many documentaries about the families of great wealth in this era. The Vanderbilts, the Rothschilds, Astors and many more. The documentary about Gloria Vanderbilt was really good, did you know that Anderson Cooper is a Vanderbilt? So much juicy details about these families and their contributions to society today
I like how the counters are rising up while I'm watching the video ❤
I'm a New Yorker who grew up enjoying the museums that showed the opulence of this age and these families, but only later in life am I interested in and learning about the social life of these people. Fascinating! Thank you so much for this deep dive into their world--with a very professional approach.
This was such an interesting video. I have always been fascinated by the Gilded Age and the various mansions of the prominent people of that society….American Opulence at its best. The HBO show The Gilded Age just added to the ever-increasing curiosity… It will be great if you could make more such videos on this era.
I love the gilded age show. Cool to hear the history behind it
Would love a series on Gilded age women 😊
I'm so fascinated by the guilded age, as I grew up in homestead Pa and we still have some mansions from that time in Pittsburgh
This is amazing!!!! There is so much information in this video and not a second of it was boring or irrelevant, just amazing
btw her rule of "you need to have at least $1million would be over $60 million in today's money!
The governor who handed over New Amsterdam to the English… is actually my ancestor. Wikipedia and other sources say that his last direct descendants have already passed.. but we are still alive.. lol
I don’t think they were part of The Four Hundred, though.
How are you related for it to be direct?
@@JB-vd8bi you have to be descended through a male line, I believe. At least this is what my parents have told me. Wikipedia says it is descendants that have a direct line from the ancestor (not a cousin or a niece)
I’m always fascinated with history especially our city’s history, thank you for sharing this. It’s great to know the origins of the names we see or hear every day.
Absolutely love this story. I would enjoy hearing more about the high society of America's gilded age.❤
This was excellent. Whenever I hear her story it reminds me so much of one of my favorite novels, Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence. Love how Wharton went into so much detail of the era, the customs, and of course in the end through Archer’s own kids how New York Society ended up moving on.
Binged through the gilded age. I thought the announcing of the guest and leaving the calling card on the silver platter bit was an overexaggeration but here it is 😂
No wonder William Astor is glossed over in The Gilded Age series. Episode 4 of season two dropped last night. Thank you!
Thank you As someone who watch the gilded age series I was hoping you make a videos about New York upper society ladies of the gilled age
I liveee for the shade and pettiness😅
The Gilded Age was definitely the era of snobbery 🤣 thanks for the incredible historical facts. Keep up the good work.👍
I’ve got to say I love your channel and so happy I found it. You have a gift.
I love your channel and this video.
I became interested in the Gilded Age after reading a book about Allene Tew's life. Now she had a FULL and INTERESTING life!
She was determined to have Mrs. Astor accept her into the 400, and she did! Her life after America was amazing also.
Allene Tew would be a great subject for a video.
Well done! There were a lot of stories to tell here and you managed to get things in quite nicely!
Your content brought so much clarity and light to the HBO drama. A very contemporary narrative on a historical drama, disnguishing fact from fiction. Kudos. 👏.🎉
Well, it's always better to be insecure inside a huge mansion than to be insecure and depressed on the streets 😅
so sad that so beautiful old buildings were destroyed to build some new houses instead.
OMG. This is like Gossip Girl before Gossip Girl.
Kinda wild, I was just walking down the streets where their houses and later the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel were three days ago and I never knew all that drama happened right there. And now it's the Empire State Building.
This was so well done. Look forward to more history. Thank you so much.
That was super interesting. Watched it the second time just now, because it's so detailed and full of faszinating little tidbits.
That was wonderful. Informative and well-narrated. Thank you.
YEEEEESSSSS!!! I love The Guilded Age im so glad you're talking about it!!
Good work! Thank you for this episode!
This is by far my favourite video of yours!! fascinating
On the one hand, it’s easy to criticize these people for being the most horrible snobs, and caring so much about things that don’t matter. On the other hand, being a woman during these times was so much more difficult now because they had no value to society except as wives and mothers. Being forced into loveless marriages in order to keep money intact and expected to put up with infidelities must have been traumatic no matter how much money a person had. I can see how this would lead to the obsession she had with money and “proper” society. I wonder what kind of person she would have been if she could have lived in modern times.
Well done! Thank you for this well-documented insight into this part of history.
Thank you so much for this video, it was absolutely fascinating. How quickly time and tides changed in New York City, as I suppose they still do.
Thank you very much for producing this content! It was well informed 👌
Theres a series of books by john Jakes (the kent family chronicles) and "the American " is based in this period around a wealthy Boston family. This Astor comes up often in the book. Its one of the best historical dramas I've ever read because even though its fiction its so historically accurate it feels like its nonfiction and you can really imagine it. Great book. Highly recommend. The entire series is phenomenal but the American is my favorite and you don't have to read the entire series to understand. Its just based on one family through many generations beginning in france w the first man in the i believe 1600s. There's also movies based on the books.
Just ordered the first three books
Superb video !!! Thank you !!! Hope to see more videos about this era/families !
I love how people are appalled at the snobbery but absolutely love this era of time. I get it, but deep down ppl don’t hate the snobbery, probably just a bit envious tbh 😉
I was watching The Guilded Age and thought of you making a video! Beyond cool, thanks!
Excellent and well researched as all your videos are. Thank you for all your hard work. It's a pleasure to watch your fascinating videos.
This is such a great story and told so well! I enjoyed watching!
Such a neat and incredible story. She basically created an American “court” system like that of Europe and ruled over it with an iron first. Incredibly impressive I love it
This was sooooo good!! You nailed it!
I've just been watching the series 2 premiere of The Gilded Age. Its so good.
Fascinating video, Lindsay. Thank you.
The upspeak kills me...togetherrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....asterrrrrrrrrrr
Very enjoyable and informative video, as always. Thank you !
I loved this! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Thank you Lindsey ❤
Excellent video as always! Would love more content from this era! ❤❤❤
Just began the gilded age season two and this made so much sense! Next time I’m in NYC I’ll have to do some historical sightseeing