Not far from the lovely Heidelberg on the Rhine, is the picturesque
village of Walldorf, which is the birth place of John Jacob Astor, who
was born in 1763. His father was a peasant, thus it is seen that he had
not the advantages of family influence or assistance. He saved what
little money he could earn, and at sixteen set out on foot for the sea
coast, where he took passage in a vessel for London. He had a brother in
that city who was, in a small way, a manufacturer of musical
instruments. Here he remained until 1783, when he embarked for America,
taking some flutes with him. On the voyage he made the acquaintance of a
furrier. This individual he plied with numerous questions, until he was
quite familiar with the business, and when he reached America he at once
exchanged his flutes for furs, and hastening back to England succeeded
in selling them at a fair profit over all expenses.
Having disposed of his business in London, he engaged passage in a ship
which did not return for some weeks. In the meantime he purchased a lot
of goods which he thought would prove salable in America. He also
improved the time in visiting the Governor of the then great East India
Company. The Governor was from his native town in Germany, and Astor,
making the most of this fact, secured from him a permit to trade at any
port subject to the East India Company. When he arrived in New York once
more he at once closed a bargain with a West India trader, that
gentleman furnishing a ship and cargo, Astor the permit, which was very
valuable, as it gained them access to Canton, China, which was closed to
all foreigners save the vessels of the East India Company. The terms of
this bargain was that each should participate equally in the profits of
the voyage, and Astor's share was several barrels of milled dollars, the
total profit being about $110,000.
He after this bought ships of his own, and shipped his own merchandise
to the East, bringing back cargoes to be sold in the new world. The
Government at Washington approved of Astor's proposition to get
possession of the fur business of the Interior, controlled at that time
by British companies. He succeeded in raising a corporation with
$1,000,000 capital, and within a few years Mr. Astor controlled the fur
interests of the country. This was back in Jefferson's time when the
city of New York was a small village. Astor, with that keen foresight
which marked his life's history, had been buying land on Staten Island,
and the marvelous growth of the city brought the price of his
possessions up to fabulous amounts, and the latter part of his life his
whole attention was occupied in taking care of his great blocks of real
estate.
While other merchants went to their desks at nine, Astor could always be
seen there at prompt seven. He early in life, before leaving his old
home on the Rhine, resolved to be honest, to be industrious, and to
avoid gambling. Upon this solid moral basis he built the superstructure
of his fame and secured his great wealth.
The one great act of John Jacob Astor's life, which must forever keep
the name of Astor before the people, is the establishment of the Astor
Library by donating for that purpose $400,000, to which have been added
large contributions by his son William B., to whom the elder Astor left
about $20,000,000. The library contains about two hundred thousand
volumes, the catalogue alone contains two thousand five hundred pages
alphabetically arranged. The Astors are the principal real estate owners
of America.