John Jacob Astor - Biography

Financier and inventor, born in Rhinebeck, New York, USA, the great-grandson of John Jacob Astor. He built the Astoria section of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in 1897. He served in the Spanish-American War, and as an inventor designed a bicycle brake and an improved turbine engine. He went down with the Titanic after a notable display of courage and gallantry.

John Jacob (originally either Johann Jakob or Johann Jacob) Astor (July 17, 1763 - March 29, 1848) was the first of the Astor family dynasty and the first millionaire in the United States, making his fortune in the fur trade and real estate industries.

Biography

Early life

Born in Walldorf, near Heidelberg in the old Palatinate which became part of Baden during the 19th century, Germany (currently in the Rhein-Neckar district), his father was a butcher, and he learned English in London while working for his brother, George Astor, manufacturing musical instruments.

Astor arrived in the United States in March 1784 just after the end of the Revolutionary War.

Fortune from fur trade

Astor took advantage of the Jay Treaty between Great Britain and the United States in 1794 which opened new markets in Canada and the Great Lakes region. In 1800, following the example of the "Empress of China", the first American trading vessel to China, Astor traded furs, teas and sandalwood with Canton in China, and greatly benefited from it. With the permission of President Jefferson, Astor established the American Fur Company on April 6, 1808. 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 Columbia River and Great Lakes area.

His fur trading ventures were disrupted once again when the British captured his trading posts during the War of 1812, but rebounded in 1817 after the U.S. Congress passed a protectionist law that barred foreign traders from U.S. Territories. In 1822, Astor established the Astor House on Mackinac Island as headquarters for the reformed American Fur Company, making the island a metropolis of the fur trade.

In 1802, Astor purchased what remained of a ninety-nine year lease from Aaron Burr for $62,500.

Real estate and retirement

In 1834, as the cost of fur went up due to over trapping, and the demand went down due to changing fashions, Astor withdrew from the American Fur Company, as well as his other ventures, and focused solely on Manhattan real estate.

After retiring from his business, Astor spent the rest of his life as a patron of culture. In his Will, he gave orders to build the Astor Library for the New York public (later consolidated with other libraries to form New York Public Library), as well as a poorhouse in his German hometown, Walldorf. The great bulk of his fortune was bequeathed to his second son, William Backhouse Astor Sr., instead of his eldest son John Jacob Astor II (1791-1869).

John Jacob Astor is interred in the Trinity Churchyard Cemetery in the New York City borough of Manhattan.