| Madeleine Force Astor | |
|---|---|
| Born | Madeleine Talmage Force June 19, 1893 Brooklyn, New York |
| Died | March 27, 1940 (aged 46) Palm Beach, Florida |
| Cause of death | Heart Ailment |
| Occupation | Socialite |
| Spouse | John Jacob Astor IV (m. 1911-1912) William Karl Dick (m. 1916-1933) Enzo Fiermonte (m. 1933-1938) |
| Children | John Jacob Astor VI William Karl Dick, Jr. John Henry Dick |
| Parents | William Hurlbut Force Katherine Arvilla Talmage |
'Madeleine Astor (née Talmage-Force, formerly Fiermonte) (June 19, 1893 – March 27, 1940) was the second wife and widow of millionaire John Jacob Astor IV and a survivor of RMS Titanic.
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She was born as Madeleine Talmage Force on June 19, 1893, in Brooklyn, New York to William Hurlbut Force and Katherine Arvilla Talmage (1863-c.1930). She had a sister, Katherine Emmons Force.
She first met John Jacob Astor IV in Bar Harbor, Maine the August after finishing Miss Spencer school. On September 9, 1911, the eighteen-year-old Madeleine married the forty-seven year old John Jacob Astor at the Beechwood, the Astor family's Newport, Rhode Island home.
Madeleine boarded the Titanic as a first class passenger in Cherbourg, France, with her husband John Jacob Astor, her husband's valet Victor Robbins, her maid Rosalie Bidois and her nurse Caroline Endres. They also took Kitty, Astor's pet dog, and occupied one of the parlor suites.
On the night of April 14, 1912, Colonel Astor reported to Madeleine that the ship had hit an iceberg. He reassured her that the damage did not appear serious though he helped her strap on her lifebelt. 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. At one point, the Astors retired to the gymnasium and sat on the mechanical horses in their lifebelts. Colonel Astor found another lifebelt which he reportedly cut with a pen knife to show Madeleine what it was made of. When it was time to board a life boat, Madeleine, 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). Mr. Astor had helped Madeleine to climb through the window and asked if he could accompany her as she was 'in a delicate condition'. The request was denied and Mr. Astor stood back. Mrs. Astor would never see her husband again.[1]
John Jacob Astor and his valet perished in the sinking. John Jacob Astor's body was recovered on April 22nd. He was found to be carrying several thousand dollars in cash on him, brought with him from his cabin. Madeleine and the other survivors were rescued by the RMS Carpathia and afterward Madeleine did not talk about the disaster except to mention her last memory of the sinking was seeing John Jacob Astor's pet Airedale, Kitty, pacing on the deck. Madeleine was only 19 years of age and had been married to Astor for only seven months.
Madeleine gave birth to John Jacob Astor VI, named after his father, on August 14, 1912, exactly four months after she had become a widow. His half-brother, Vincent Astor, long maintained that his younger sibling was not a biological Astor. In an A&E Biography interview titled The Astors, a daughter of John Jacob VI states that her father was denied an ample part of John IV's inheritance because John IV had not yet altered his will to accommodate the new baby Madeleine was carrying. When John IV perished in the Titanic sinking, the will was still made out singularly to Vincent, even negating Madeleine as the legal spouse. Consequently, John IV's fortune was bequeathed solely to Vincent, though John VI did receive approximately three million dollars when he came of age. [2]
According to John Jacob Astor's will, Madeleine would have received an income from a $5,000,000 trust fund and have the uses of their New York City and Newport, Rhode Island mansions as long as she did not remarry.
Madeleine's first remarriage was on June 22, 1916, in Bar Harbor, Maine. She married her childhood friend and banker William Karl Dick (1888–1953), who at twenty-eight years old was vice president of the Manufacturers Trust Company of New York and a part owner and director of the Brooklyn Times. As stated in her late husband's will, Madeleine lost her stipend from the trust fund and the right to live in the Astor mansions. During the marriage she and Dick had two sons: William Karl Dick, Jr. and John Henry Dick. The marriage to Dick did not last and they divorced on July 21, 1933, in Reno, Nevada.
Four months later on November 27, 1933, Madeleine married twenty-six-year-old Italian boxer Enzo Fiermonte in a civil ceremony in New York City. They divorced five years later on June 11, 1938, in West Palm Beach, Florida and Madeleine went back to using the surname Dick.
Madeleine Astor died of a heart ailment in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 27, 1940, at the age of 46.[3] She was buried in Trinity Church Cemetery in New York City.