Colonel John Jacob "Jack" Astor IV, was the only son of businessman William Backhouse Astor, Jr. and socialite Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn.

Astor, 47, met Madeleine Talmage Force, who was 18, and they fell in love. During their courtship he took her on automobile drives and yacht trips, and they were often followed by the press.

When they were married on September 9, 1911, there was a considerable opposition not only because of their age difference but also his recent divorce from his previous wife. Several Episcopal priests refused to celebrate the nuptials so the couple were eventually married by a Congregationalist minister at Beechwood, his Newport mansion.

On an extended honeymoon they sailed from New York on Titanic’s sister ship Olympic enjoying a long Egyptian tour. It was while returning from this part of their honeymoon they booked passage on Titanic.

In April of 1912, the Astors boarded the RMS Titanic from Cherbourg, France on their way back to New York. Madeleine was five months pregnant.  

On April 14 John Astor woke his wife with the news of the iceberg. He assured her the situation was not serious, though put all of the jewelry on her. After putting on their life jackets the couple were seen sitting on the mechanical horses in the gymnasium.

As the situation progressed, Madeleine, along with both her nurse and maid, were instructed to get into lifeboat 4. They were forced to squeeze through a window from the first-class promenade to be lowered into the boat. Astor asked for permission to accompany Madeleine as he explained she was “in a delicate situation.” He was not permitted as the order was women and children first.

She clung to her husband and wanted to stay with him, but he reportedly said, "The sea is calm. You'll be alright. You're in good hands. I'll see you in the morning.”

Astor was last seen smoking on the deck and his body was later recovered from the water. He was wearing a dinner suit with twenty-five thousand dollars cash in a pocket, and holding a personalized pocket watch.

Mrs. Astor’s maid and nurse were rescued, but Astor’s manservant Victor Robbins perished in the sinking. Madeleine and her maid Rosalie Bidois attempted to rescue two men by pulling them into the lifeboat, but one had already died and the other died shortly afterwards. 

After she was rescued, Madeleine suffered a nervous collapse and did not appear in public for over a month after the sinking. She reappeared at a luncheon held at her Fifth Avenue residence for the Captain of Carpathia, Arthur Rostron. This event was held to thank both he and the doctor onboard for their assistance with the Titanic survivors.

Despite the tremendous stress of the Titanic ordeal, she successfully carried her pregnancy to term, giving birth to a son on August 14, 1912, naming him John Jacob Astor VI (later dubbed the "Titanic baby" in the press).

Astor's will left the bulk of his fortune to Vincent, his son from his first marriage, but gave Madeleine $100,000 outright (worth about $2.75 million today), as well as the full use of his home on Fifth Avenue in New York and a trust fund of $5 million. For their son, he left behind a $3 million trust fund (valued at $82.6 million).

Although the terms of his will were generous, it included a clause that if Madeleine ever remarried she would lose the trust fund along with the Fifth Avenue house. 

In 1916, after years of relative seclusion from society events she married childhood friend William Karl Dick, in a "simple ceremony" as the sun shone brightly overhead.

She lost the house, trust fund, and the famous last name, but remained the most famous and tragic widows of the disaster.

Here, Madelaine Astor leaving church on Easter Sunday in White Sulphur Springs on the second anniversary of the Titanic disaster with her sister and fiancee behind her. Even in mourning, Madeleine wore the diamond dog collar and pearls her husband had given her.

Divorcing William in 1933 in Reno, Nevada, Madeleine went on to marry prize-fighter Enzo Fiermonte (translated as fiery mountain) but they too divorced in 1938 and she took back the surname Dick. 

Fiermonte said of her after the divorce, "she carried her troubles with her like her pearls."

Madeleine Dick died in Palm Beach, Florida in 1940 at the age of 46, officially of heart disease but possibly after an overdose of prescription drugs. She is buried in New York City at the Trinity Church Cemetery in a mausoleum alongside her mother.

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