John Jacob Astor#Fortune from fur trade

Johann Jakob Astor was born in 1763 in Walldorf, a town near Heidelberg in the Electoral Palatinate, which is in the present-day German state of Baden-Württemberg.{{sfnp|EB|1878}}{{sfnp|BDNA|1904}} He was the youngest son of Johann Jacob Astor and Maria Magdalena vom Berg. His three older brothers were George, Henry, and Melchior. In his childhood, Johann worked in his father's butcher shop{{sfnp|EB|1911}} and as a dairy salesman.{{Cite book|title=The Legendary Mountain Men of North America|last=Walker|first=J. P.|publisher=Lulu Co.|year=2015|isbn=9781312921511|location=Raleigh, NC|pages=154–158}} In 1779, at the age of 16, he moved to London to join his brother George in working for an uncle's piano and flute manufacturer, Astor & Broadwood.{{sfnp|EB|1911}} While there, he learned English and anglicized his name to John Jacob Astor.Herbert C. Ebeling: Johann Jakob Astor – Ein Lebensbild. pp. 63–69.

In November 1783,{{sfnp|EB|1911}} just after the end of the American Revolutionary War, Astor boarded a ship for the United States, arriving in Baltimore around March of the following year.{{cite book |last1=Howden Smith |first1=Arthur D. |title=John Jacob Astor: Landlord of New York |year=2005 |orig-date= 1929 |publisher=Cosimo (orig. Blue Ribbon) |location=New York |isbn=1596057491 |page=27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VBOZyVuMaGgC&q=john+jacob+astor |access-date=December 22, 2021}} There, he rented a room from Sarah Cox Todd, a widow, and began a flirtation with his landlady's daughter, also named Sarah Cox Todd. The young couple married in 1785. His intent had been to join his brother Henry, who had established a butcher shop in New York City.{{Cite web|url=http://www.notablebiographies.com/An-Ba/Astor-John-Jacob.html|title=John Jacob Astor Biography – life, family, childhood, death, mother, son, old, information, born, house|website=Notable Biographies|access-date=October 9, 2017}}{{Cite book|title=A Place That I Love: A Tour Drivers Perspective of Mackinac Island|last=Kitter|first=Walter|publisher=Xlibris Corporation|year=2015|isbn=9781514414552|location=Bloomington, IN}} A chance meeting with a fur trader on his voyage had inspired him to join the North American fur trade as well.{{sfnp|EB|1878}} After working at his brother's shop for a time, Astor began to purchase raw hides from Native Americans, prepare them himself, and resell them in London and elsewhere at great profit.{{sfnp|EB|1911}} He opened his own fur goods shop in New York in the late 1780s and also served as the New York agent of his uncle's musical instrument business.

In 1789, along with Dubois & Stodart{{who|date=April 2025}}, he co-founded the Francis Bacon Piano Company.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

File:John Jacob Astor.jpg, {{circa|1794}}]]

Astor took advantage of the 1794 Jay Treaty between Great Britain and the United States, which opened new markets in Canada and the Great Lakes region. In London, Astor at once made a contract with the North West Company, which from Montreal rivaled the trade interests of the Hudson's Bay Company, then based in London.{{Cite web |last=Morrison |first=David A |date=October 18, 2013 |title=The North West Company, 1779–1821 |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-north-west-company-17791821-feature |access-date=March 23, 2024 |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada}}

Astor imported furs from Montreal to New York and shipped them to Europe.{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Astor, John Jacob (merchant)|display=Astor, John Jacob, American merchant}} By 1800, he had amassed over a quarter of a million dollars{{Cite encyclopedia |date=2023 |title=John Jacob Astor {{!}} Real Estate Mogul, Fur Trader, Philanthropist |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Jacob-Astor-American-businessman-1763-1848 |access-date=December 27, 2023}} (equivalent to about ${{Inflation|US|25|1800|r=-1}} million in {{Inflation/year|US}}){{Inflation/fn|US}} and had become one of the leading figures in the fur trade. His agents worked throughout the western areas and were ruthless in competition. In 1800, following the example of the Empress of China, the first American trading vessel to China, Astor traded mostly opium, but also, furs, teas, and sandalwood at the port of Canton in China, and greatly benefited from it.Madsen, John Jacob Astor (2001)

The U.S. Embargo Act of 1807 disrupted Astor's import/export business because it closed off trade with Canada. With the permission of President Thomas Jefferson, Astor established the American Fur Company on April 6, 1808.Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "American Fur Company". Encyclopedia Britannica (2018), https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-Fur-Company. Accessed April 5, 2021. He later formed subsidiaries: the Pacific Fur Company, and the Southwest Fur Company (in which Canadians had a part), in order to control fur trading in the Great Lakes areas and Columbia River region. His Columbia River trading post at Fort Astoria (established in April 1811) was the first United States community on the Pacific coast. He financed the overland Astor Expedition in 1810–1812 to reach the outpost. Members of the expedition were to discover South Pass, through which hundreds of thousands of settlers on the Oregon, Mormon, and California Trails used to later pass through the Rocky Mountains.{{Cite web |last=Morris |first=Larry |date=March 24, 2022 |title=Astor Expedition (1810–1813) |url=https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/astor_expedition_1810_1812/ |access-date=May 8, 2023 |website=Oregon Encyclopedia}}

Astor's fur trading ventures were disrupted during the War of 1812, when the British captured his trading posts. In 1816, he joined the opium smuggling trade. His American Fur Company purchased ten tons of Ottoman-produced opium, and shipped the contraband to Canton onboard the packet ship Macedonian. Astor later left the Chinese opium trade and sold opium solely in Britain.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/heroin/etc/history.html|title=The Opium Kings: Opium Throughout History|work=Frontline|publisher=PBS|access-date=September 4, 2011}}

Astor's business rebounded in 1817 after the U.S. Congress passed a protectionist law that barred foreign fur traders from U.S. territories. The American Fur Company came to dominate trading in the area around the Great Lakes, absorbing competitors in a monopoly. Astor had a townhouse at 233 Broadway in New York{{cite book |last1=Madsen |first1=Axel |title=John Jacob Astor: America's First Multimillionaire |date=2002 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons}} and a country estate, Hellgate, in the northern part of the city.

In 1822, Astor established the Robert Stuart House on Mackinac Island in Michigan as headquarters for the reorganized American Fur Company, making the island a metropolis of the fur trade. Washington Irving described this at length, based on contemporary documents, diaries, etc., in his travelogue Astoria. Astor's commercial connections extended over the entire globe, and his ships were found in every sea. He and Sarah moved to a townhouse on Prince Street in New York.{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Astor, John Jacob (merchant)|display=Astor, John Jacob. An American merchant|year=1905}}

Astor began buying land in New York City in 1799 and acquired sizable holdings along the waterfront. After the start of the 19th century, flush with China trade profits, he became more systematic, ambitious, and calculating by investing in New York real estate. In 1803, he bought a 70-acre farm on which he built the Astor Mansion at Hellgate. The property ran west of Broadway to the Hudson River between 42nd and 46th streets. That same year, and the following year, he bought considerable holdings from the disgraced Aaron Burr.Burrows, Edwin G.; Wallace, Mike (1998). Gotham A History of New York City to 1898. Oxford University Press. p. 337. {{ISBN|978-0-19-511634-2}}

In the 1830s, Astor foresaw that the next big boom would be the build-up of New York, which would soon emerge as one of the world's greatest cities. Astor sold his interests in the American Fur Company, as well as all his other ventures, and used the money to buy and develop large tracts of Manhattan Island real estate. Astor correctly predicted the city's rapid growth northward on the island, and he purchased more and more land beyond the then-existing city limits. Astor rarely built on his land, but leased it to others for rent and their use. After retiring from his business, Astor spent the rest of his life as a patron of culture. He supported the ornithologist John James Audubon in his studies, artwork, and travels, and the presidential campaign of Henry Clay.

File:Mrs. John Jacob Astor (Sarah Todd).jpg

On September 19, 1785, Astor married Sarah Cox Todd (April 9, 1762 – August 3, 1842). Her parents were Scottish immigrants Adam Todd and Sarah Cox.Herbert C. Ebeling. Johann Jakob Astor – Ein Lebensbild, p. 141. Although she brought him a dowry of only $300, she possessed a frugal mind and a business judgment that he declared better than that of most merchants. She assisted him in the practical details of his business,{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Astor, John Jacob|year=1900}} and managed Astor's affairs when he was away from New York.{{cite web|last1=Emmerich|first1=Alexander|title=John Jacob Astor|url=http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=6|website=Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies|publisher=German Historical Institute|access-date=July 7, 2016|date=January 1, 2016}}

They had eight children:

• Magdalena Astor (1788–1832), who married first Adrian Benjamin Bentzon in 1807, secondly John Bristed in 1820. She was the mother of Charles Astor Bristed.
• Sarah Todd Astor (1790–1790), who was stillborn.
• John Jacob Astor Jr. (1791–1869), sickly and mentally unstable.{{cite news |title=The Astor Dynasty |url=https://www.dailyastorian.com/news/the-astor-dynasty/article_d9163297-dfb7-5c77-83d8-3db1340017f7.html |access-date=September 27, 2021 |work=The Astorian |date=December 7, 2018}}
• William Backhouse Astor Sr. (1792–1875), who married Margaret Alida Rebecca Armstrong, daughter of Senator John Armstrong Jr., in 1818.{{cite book |last1=Dickinson |first1=Rachel |title=American Dynasties: A History of Founding and Influential American Families |date=February 1, 2021 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4930-4815-1 |page=114 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7z8KEAAAQBAJ |access-date=September 27, 2021}}
• Dorothea Astor (1795–1874), who married Walter Langdon. They owned the Langdon Estate Gatehouse.
• Henry Astor II (1797–1799), who died as a child.
• Eliza Astor (1801–1838), married Vincent Rumpff
• Unnamed son (1802–1802), who died within a few days of his birth.

Astor belonged to the Freemasons, a fraternal order, and served as Master of Holland Lodge #8, New York City in 1788. Later he served as Grand Treasurer for the Grand Lodge of New York.{{cite news |url=http://www.nymasons.org/about-freemasonry/famous-masons-i.html |publisher=MWGLNY |title=Famous Masons |date=January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110010123/http://www.nymasons.org/about-freemasonry/famous-masons-i.html |archive-date=November 10, 2013}} He was president of the German Society of the City of New York from 1837 to 1841.{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/annualreportofge1883germ|title=Annual report of the German Society of the city of New York for the year ...|publisher=New York, N.Y. : Burr Printing House|via=Internet Archive}}

At the time of his death in 1848, Astor was the wealthiest person in the United States, leaving an estate estimated to be worth between $20 and $30 million,{{rp|268}} (equivalent to about ${{Inflation|US|20|1848|2020}} billion to ${{Inflation|US|30|1848|2020}} billion in 2020) or 0.9% to 1.35% of estimated US GDP at the time. By comparison, the fortune of Jeff Bezos was worth approximately $200 billion in 2020,Ponciano, Jonathan. "Jeff Bezos Becomes The First Person Ever Worth $200 Billion". Forbes. Archived from the original on August 26, 2020. similar to Astor at approximately 0.9% of US GDP.https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDP/, retrieved for Q4 2020 on April 6, 2021.

In his will, Astor bequeathed $400,000 to build the Astor Library for the New York public,{{sfnp|EB|1878}} which was later consolidated with other libraries to form the New York Public Library. He also left $50,000 for a poorhouse and orphanage in his German hometown of Walldorf.{{sfnp|EB|1878}} The Astorhaus is now operated as a museum honoring Astor. It is a renowned and popular fest hall for marriages. Astor donated gifts totaling $20,000 to the German Society of the City of New York, during his term as president, from 1837 until 1841.Wust, Klaus (1984). Guardian on the Hudson: The German Society of the City of New York, 1784–1984. New York: The Society. {{ISBN|0-917968-11-5}}. pp. 26–27.

Astor left the bulk of his fortune to his second son William, because his eldest son, John Jr., was sickly and mentally unstable. Astor left enough money to care for John Jr. for the rest of his life. William continued building the family fortune, and was an ancestor of John Jacob Astor III, John Jacob Astor IV, and John Jacob Astor VI.

Astor is buried in Trinity Church Cemetery in Manhattan. Many members of his family had joined its congregation, but Astor remained a member of the local German Reformed congregation to his death.James Parton (1865). [https://archive.org/details/cihm_18845 Life of John Jacob Astor: To which is appended a Copy of his last will]. New York: The American News Comp. p. 81. In the short story Bartleby, the Scrivener, Herman Melville used Astor as a symbol of men who made the earliest fortunes in New York.{{Cite web |last=Course Hero |date=2019 |title=Bartleby the Scrivener Study Guide |url=https://mseffie.com/assignments/billy_budd/Bartleby%20Course%20Hero.pdf |access-date=June 13, 2022}}

The pair of marble lions that sit by the entrance of the New York Public Library Main Branch at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street were originally named Leo Astor and Leo Lenox, after Astor and James Lenox, who founded the library from his own collection. Next, they were called Lord Astor and Lady Lenox (both lions are males). Mayor Fiorello La Guardia renamed them "Patience" and "Fortitude" during the Great Depression.{{Cite web |title=The Library Lions |url=https://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/library-lions |access-date=June 13, 2022 |website=The New York Public Library}}

The neighborhood of Astoria in Queens, New York City, is named after Astor.

Astor Place in Manhattan, New York City, was named after Astor, soon after his death.{{cite streetbook}}

The coastal town of Astoria, Oregon, is named after Astor, as well as an elementary school named in his honor. The background to the founding of this town is described in Washington Irving's Astoria, a book whose writing was financed by Astor.

The historic neighborhood of Astor Park in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is named after Astor. In 1835, John Jacob Astor founded the Town of Astor in Wisconsin. After the Town of Astor was united with the Town of Navarino to form the Borough of Green Bay, one neighborhood was named after him.{{cite web | url=https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/hazelwood08#:~:text=In%201835%2C%20John%20Jacob%20Astor,finest%20homes%20in%20the%20community | title=Astor Street neighborhood home to Green Bay history | date=February 3, 2008 }}

In 1908, when the association football club FC Astoria Walldorf was formed in Astor's birthplace in Germany, the group added "Astoria" to its name in his, and the family's, honor.[http://www.fussball.de/vereinsnamen-serie-fc-astoria-walldorf/id_52005140/index "Warum heißen die so? Heute: FC Astoria Walldorf"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122224913/http://www.fussball.de/vereinsnamen-serie-fc-astoria-walldorf/id_52005140/index |date=January 22, 2014 }} {{in lang|de}}. Fussball.de. December 8, 2011. Retrieved December 9, 2011.

• Russian-American Company
• Astor family
• Astoria (book)
• Astor Place
• Astor Row
• List of richest Americans in history
• List of Freemasons
• Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
• Joseph LaBarge – Steamboat captain hired by Astor and the American Fur Company, his primary shipper.

{{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite EB9 |mode=cs2 |wstitle=John Jacob Astor |volume=2 |ref={{harvid|EB|1878}} |page=737 }}
• {{cite EB1911 |mode=cs2 |wstitle=Astor, John Jacob |volume=2 |ref={{harvid|EB|1911}} |pages=793–794 }}
• {{citation|first=Herbert C. |last=Ebeling |title=Johann Jakob Astor: Ein Lebensbild |year=1998a |place=Walldorf, Germany |publisher=Astor-Stiftungsrat|language=de }}.
• {{citation|first=Herbert C. |last=Ebeling |title=Johann Jakob Astor zum 150. Todestag |year=1998b |place=Walldorf, Germany |publisher=Astor-Stiftungsrat|language=de }}.
• {{citation |editor-last=Johnson |editor-first=Rossiter |ref={{harvid|BDNA|1904}} |title=The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans |publisher=The Biographical Society |location=Boston |date=1904 |contribution=John Jacob Astor |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vmlmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PT159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vmlmAAAAMAAJ |page=159 }}.
• {{cite BDA1906 |wstitle= Astor, John Jacob (merchant) |volume= 1 |pages= 156 |short=}}

• Brands, H. W. [https://archive.org/details/mastersofenterpr00bran Masters of Enterprise: Giants of American Business from John Jacob Astor and J. P. Morgan to Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey] (1999).
• Ebeling, Herbert C.; Horn, W. O. Johann Jacob Astor – Ein Lebensbild aus dem Volke, für das Volk und seine Jugend (in German). Walldorf: Astor-Stiftung (2004).
• Emmerich, Alexander. John Jacob Astor and the First Great American Fortune (2013).
• {{cite book|last=Gebhard|first=Elizabeth Louisa|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeventuresofor00gebhrich|title=The Life and Ventures of the Original John Jacob Astor|year=1915|publisher=Hudson, N.Y., Bryan printing company |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book|last=Haeger|first=John D.|url=https://archive.org/details/johnjacobastorbu0000haeg|title=John Jacob Astor: Business and Finance in the Early Republic|date=1991|publisher=Wayne State University Press|location=Detroit|isbn=9780814318768 }}
• {{cite book|last=Madsen|first=Axel|title=John Jacob Astor: America's First Multimillionaire|date=2001}} [https://www.amazon.com/John-Jacob-Astor-Americas-Multimillionaire/dp/0471385034 excerpt]
• {{cite book|last=Porter|first=Kenneth Wiggins|url=https://archive.org/details/johnjacobastorbu0000port|title=John Jacob Astor: Business Man|year=1931|publisher=Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Arthur Douglas Howden|title=John Jacob Astor, Landlord of New York|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.155606|location=Philadelphia|publisher=J.B. Lippincott|year=1929}}
• Waldrup, Carole Chandler. More Colonial Women: 25 Pioneers of Early America. McFarland, 2004 {{ISBN?}}

• {{citation |date=1865 |contribution=John Jacob Astor |title=Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. XXX |pages=308–323 |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tX8CAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA309 |publisher=Harper's Magazine Co. |ref={{harvid|Harper's|1865}} }}.
• Youngman, Anna. "The Fortune of John Jacob Astor," Journal of Political Economy,
• [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1820664 Part 1: vol. 16, no. 6 (June 1908), pp. 345–368]
• [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1820843 Part 2: vol. 16, no. 7 (July 1908), pp. 436–441]
• [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1820382 Part 3: vol. 16, no. 8 (Oct. 1908), pp. 514–530]

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{{commons category|John Jacob Astor}}

• [http://archives.nypl.org/mss/141 Astor family papers, 1792–1916] at the New York Public Library
• [http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HBS.Baker.EAD:bak00112 John Jacob Astor Business Records at Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School]
• [http://www.waldorfastoria.com The Waldorf Astoria Hotel]
• [http://www.museum-im-astorhaus.de/ The "Astorhaus" in Germany, now a museum]
• [http://manybooks.net/titles/irvingwaetext98stria10.html# Astoria, Author Washington Irving full text (pdf)]
• [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/heroin/etc/history.html Frontline show]
• [https://archive.org/stream/nationalportraitv2duyc#page/30/mode/2up National Portrait Gallery]
• {{Wikisource-inline|list=
• {{Cite Collier's|wstitle=Astor, John Jacob (merchant)|display=Astor, John Jacob, an American merchant|short=x |noicon=x}}
• {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Astor, John Jacob (merchant)|display=Astor, John Jacob, American merchant|short=x |noicon=x}}
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• {{Cite AmCyc|wstitle=Astor, John Jacob|short=x |noicon=x}}

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{{s-ttl|title=Richest man in the United States|years=?–1848}}

{{s-aft|after=William Backhouse Astor Sr.}}

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{{Pacific Fur Company}}

{{Wild West}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Astor, John Jacob}}

Category:1763 births

Category:1848 deaths

Category:19th-century American merchants

Category:American businesspeople in real estate

Category:American Freemasons

Category:American Fur Company people

Category:American fur traders

Category:American investors

Category:American people of German descent

John Jacob

Category:Burials at Trinity Church Cemetery

Category:Businesspeople from New York City

Category:Emigrants from the Holy Roman Empire

Category:Immigrants to the Kingdom of Great Britain

Category:Immigrants to the United States

Category:People from Walldorf (Baden)

Category:Pre-statehood history of Oregon