This page, clockwise from above left: Ward McAllister, as featured in Town Topics (January 11, 1894); Emily Astor and Samuel Ward (cousin for Ward McAllister) from a miniature by Ann Hall; a portrait of Ward McAllister; Caroline Astor’s family, as painted by Lucius Rossi; Caroline and her husband, William Backhouse Astor, Jr., pictured as hosts of a reception.
lates to “Light of the Harem”). There, he could be found with a lot of “lights,” which were known to family and friends as “second-rate women,” or prostitutes. There, he found his real solace—along with large amounts of alcoholic beverages. It was well known that he also had no interest in society and that life. His wife, apparently, had no problem with his long absences. She once remarked, when asked about his whereabouts, that he was off having a “delightful cruise,” saying, “The sea air is so good for him.” She wouldn’t set foot on the yacht, claiming that she didn’t have sea legs, and she was glad to have her husband out of the house when she was entertaining, since he would drink whatever was in sight. Lina was never indiscreet about her husband’s long meanderings, for she had the ability to look away from anything she didn’t want to see: “Dear William is so good to me; I have been so fortunate in my marriage.” As Elizabeth Drexel Lehr wrote in her memoirs about the lives for the women during the Gilded Age, Lina “was always dignified, always reserved […] She gave friendship but never intimacy […] No one ever knew what thoughts passed behind the calm repose of her face.” 112 QUEST
Lina had a plan. Power. She would never have characterized her actions as a quest for power, but that’s what they were. She was from a Knickerbocker family— which was more than could be said for the Astors, whose wealth was accompanied by the association with the corrupt Tweed. Lina’s experience with the aristocracy of Europe meant a familiarity with wealth untainted that could shape taste and fashion. She would become the arbiter. In 1872, with the death of her motherin-law, Margaret, Lina bid for her place as matriarch of the Astor clan (and without hesitation). The position should have gone to her sister-in-law, Charlotte, but— fortunately for Lina—she had no interest in what she referred to as “social frivolity.” Now, Lina had daughters to marry off. The Civil War had changed everything in the world of the Knickerbockers. They were old news. They were yesterday. The population of the city was growing, nearing 1 million people. The wealth generated by the Civil War invited the success stories from around the country, including many from the South and the West. They were industrialists, profiteers—people on the make that were succeeding. Among them was a man from a wealthy
family in Savannah, Georgia, a cousin (through marriage) of Emily: Ward McAllister. McAllister was married to a Savannah heiress who had no interest in society but didn’t mind his spending her money to pursue his intense interest in it. He would become Lina’s amanuensis, which was a very early version of a public relations and marketing adviser. McAllister had educated himself in the ways and means of the European aristocrats. He urged Lina to play the role of aristocrat. He understood she had the financial means to do it, given her access to the Astor fortune. A student of that style, they set out to create a new society in New York. This new society would be the most exclusive and fashionable, consisting of what McAllister named the “Nobs” and the “Swells.” The Nobs were members of the old Knickerbocker families. The Swells were the new money, who often had a lot more money than the fortunes of the older families, so they could not be overlooked. The latter, now flushed with cash and aspiring, would be blended with the old (and, perhaps, not as rich). They were happy to be there to rub elbows. McAllister advised his “client” to invest in fashions from Paris; paintings