Johann Jakob Astor
| Johann Jakob Astor | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Born | 17 July 1763 Walldorf near Heidelberg, Electoral Palatinate, Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation | ||
| Died | 29 March 1848 (aged 84) New York City, U.S. | ||
| Nationality | German American | ||
| Occupation | Businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, investor, fur trader | ||
| Spouse | ∞ 1785 Sarah Cox Todd (1762–1842) | ||
| Children | 8, including William | ||
Johann Jakob Astor (17 July 1763 – 29 March 1848) was a German American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor. Astor made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by exporting opium into the Chinese Empire, and by investing in real estate in or around New York City. He was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States.[1]
Life
Johann Jakob Astor was born in 1763 in Walldorf, which is in the present-day German state of Baden-Württemberg. He was the youngest son and sixth (another source states seventh) of twelve children of Johann Jacob Astor (1724–1816) and his first wife Maria Magdalena, née vom Berg (1730–1764). His three older brothers were Georg "George" Peter (1752–1813), Johann Heinrich “Henry” (1754–1833), and Johann Melchior (1759–1829). His oldest brother Peter ( 1750–1752) died young. In his childhood, Johann worked in his father's butcher shop and as a dairy salesman. In 1779, at the age of 16, he moved to London to join his brother Georg in working for an uncle's piano and flute manufacturer, Astor & Broadwood. While there, he learned English and anglicized his name to John Jacob Astor.
- Thought to be the richest man in the United States when he died in 1848, he began life as a butcher’s son in Germany. Johann Jakob Astor was born to a Lutheran family in the town of Walldorf (later Americanised to Waldorf), near Heidelberg. His mother died when he was three years old. In his early teens he helped his father in the slaughterhouse and the butcher’s shop, but he did not enjoy it and in 1779, aged 16, he left Walldorf to join his oldest brother, who had a successful business making musical instruments in London. There he learned to speak English, though with a lifelong German accent, and called himself John Jacob. Another brother was in America, working as a butcher, and in 1783 young Astor took ship to the New World. Arriving in New York City, he got a job with a fur dealer, which he combined with selling musical instruments imported from London. He soon started dealing in furs on his own account and married his landlady’s daughter, a girl called Sarah Todd. By the 1790s Astor was buying furs in the northern United States and Canada and exporting them to Europe. He also exported furs to China with other products, including opium. In 1808, he set up the American Fur Trading Company, which came to dominate the trade from the Great Lakes area and the Pacific Northwest. Meanwhile he had begun buying property in New York City. Sensing that the fur trade’s heyday was over, Astor withdrew from it in the 1830s. Now a millionaire, he started acquiring more and more land in Manhattan and it was this that made him his gigantic fortune. His biographer Axel Madsen quotes a friend of Astor’s, who said that ‘All he touched turned to gold.’ When he died at the age of 84 he was believed to be worth at least $20 million, equivalent to more than $110 billion now. The Astors have remained rich and influential ever since.[2]
From 1787 onwards he spent every summer in Montreal, bought furs, had them shipped to New York via London and soon became the most important fur trader in the USA. A treaty concluded in 1796 between the USA and Great Britain defined the fur trading areas between the two countries. This meant that the French-Canadian fur traders had to vacate their positions in the United States. Astor managed to fill this gap. Astor eliminated the competition from the state fur trading stations, which exchanged civilian goods such as plows with the North American Indians in return for fur, by supplying weapons instead. He refused to sell alcohol because drunken Indians were not good hunters.
In 1808, with the support of the third American president, Thomas Jefferson, he founded the American Fur Company. Its headquarters were three large branches in the interior of the country (in St. Louis, Detroit and Mackinac). A connection to the west coast of the USA seemed important at this time. Astor relied on the shipping route around Cape Horn. His ship Tonquin was to circumnavigate South America and find a land connection to the Columbia River from the west coast. The Pacific Fur Company was founded for this purpose in 1810. The expedition paid for by Astor was the first to reach the Columbia River in 1811 and founded the settlement of Astoria (Oregon). The attempt to make Astoria the centre of a wide-ranging trade network between Asia, the USA and Europe failed due to the distances, attacks by Indians and the British-American War of 1812. Astor's agents sold the Astoria branch under duress and against Astor's will on 12 December 1813 to the English, who were anchored off the coast with a warship of the Royal Navy. Even during the war, Astor continued to do good business. Through his relationships with high-ranking government officials, he managed to gain control of the North West Company's trading areas in the United States, including after the elimination of the Canadian fur trade in the USA. After eliminating his competitors, Astor dominated the fur trade, particularly in the upper Mississippi Valley. From there he expanded his activities to the Missouri. He had little success in competing with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. In addition, fashion tastes had changed since the 1820s, particularly with the move away from hats made of beaver hair to silk hats. Astor began to withdraw from the fur trade.
In the 1820s, Astor traveled to Europe and of course to the German Confederation three times (June 1819 to April 1822, June 1823 to April 1826, June 1832 to April 1834). In 1834, he finally broke away from his original business area with the sale of the American Fur Company and devoted himself solely to land and property speculation. 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.
Memberships
He was a freemason and member of the 1784 founded German Society of the City of New York, he served as president of the German Society from 1837 to 1841. Astor donated $5,000 annually.
Death
Astor died on 29 March 1848. In his testament he left another $20,000 to the German Society. In his will, Astor bequeathed $400,000 to build the Astor Library for the New York public, which was later consolidated with other libraries to form the New York Public Library. He also left $50,000 for the construction of an educational and retirement home in his German hometown of Walldorf. A further $30,000 was earmarked for the foundation of a professorship for German literature at Columbia University. However, due to disagreements with the university's leadership, Astor deleted the passage from his will. In addition, he supported several organizations that helped widows, orphans, the sick and people affected by the floods.
Honours
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.
His hometown of Walldorf had a monument erected to him by Heinrich Bauser, which was inaugurated in 1898. The bust was removed in 1943 as part of the "Action Metal Extraction" during the Second World War. A new bust was unveiled on the market square on the 100th anniversary of Astor's death in 1948. This bust was designed by the sculptor Helmut Werner and later exhibited in the Astor Garden.
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.
The neighborhood of Astoria in Queens, New York City, is named after Astor. The one-block Astor Place street in Manhattan, New York City, was named after Astor, soon after his death.
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.
Further reading
- Alexander Ross: Adventures of the first settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River; being a narrative of the expedition fitted out by John Jacob Astor to establish the Pacific Fur Company; with an account of some Indian tribes on the coast of the Pacific. Smith, Elder and Co., London 1849
References
- ↑ At the time of his death in 1848, Astor was the wealthiest person in the United States, leaving an estate estimated to be worth at least $20 million, or 0.9% of estimated US GDP at the time, which is equivalent to $598 billion in 2020. By comparison, the fortune of Jeff Bezos was worth approximately $200 billion in 2020, similar to Astor at approximately 0.9% of US GDP.
- ↑ Birth of John Jacob Astor
