This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Russell, Astor Classification: Obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/oZEBAIB/5762.1 Message Board Post: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooke_Astor#Early_life (There is more on the webpage of her life) She was born Roberta Brooke Russell in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the only child of John Henry Russell, Jr. (1872-1947), a Marine Corps officer, and his wife, née Mabel Cecile Hornby Howard (1879-1967). Her paternal grandfather was John Henry Russell, a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy. She was named for her maternal grandmother, Roberta Traill Brooke MacGill Howard, and has been known as Bobby to close friends and family.[1] Her father, who retired as a major general, ended his military career as 16th commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. Due to her father's career, she spent much of her childhood living in China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and points beyond. She briefly attended The Madeira School in McLean, Virginia, in 1919.