Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1869-10-27
lFrom the N. Y. Herald.l
WILLIAM B, AST0R.

WILLIAM ID, ADIUh,
The Richest Man In America-EarIy
Career In Ills Fathers Fur Store
school and University, IsducatIon ana
! hui'loh In His Fathers fBusiness-IIo,y
he Learned TO Make Money and Made
M.Iwenty Millions Rolled Up 10 sixty
uIinons IN Iwenty fears-Iiis Gifts 10
tne Astor Library and other Charities
His business and Personal Life.
Among the representative men of
this metropolis there is no one moro
conspicuous than William B. Astor.
lnheriting fortune of princely mag.
nlhcence he has shown himself, in the
power to acquire wealth, possessed of
all tho extraordinary ability ofhis illus.
trious father. With the noble and
unexampled inheritance of his fathers
buildings and bonds, and lands and
leases, and stocks and securities, he
Inherited also his genius for money
making-his promptness, prudence,
shrewdness and honesty-those allied
gifts and the rightful employment of
which, from the humble trader in furs,
mado John Jacob Astor the richest
man in America. Had William b.
Astor been born poor he would have
become a rich man. Itcould not have
been Otherwise. His mind was con.
stituted for tho acquisition of wealth.
all the powers aud energy of his
strong nature centred on this point.
The incisive force of his will alone
would have compassed this result.
Under his slilful management his pos.
sessions have rapidly increased. Its
his marvellous executive ability in
controlling this vast wealth and adding
so greatly TO its magitude that makes
him a representative man. He has
not squandered his splendid estate by
dissipation, by extravaganza or by
speculation, us many differently con
stitutcd would have done. He has
made secure investments. He has
kept out Of the vertex of seductive
speculation. Though all his life in
flexible honesty Of dealing has been
his guiding maxim. 1t is this last
strongly marked element of his char
acter, combined with the large but
unobtrusive benevolence of his nature,
that has given high moral grandeur
to his name and fame; that has evoked
for him universal respect, aud that
will cause his memory to be held in
perpetual grateful remembrance. Of
such life there is little TO be written.
His grand life mission has been per-
formed in quiet, in silence, in the al
most clustered seclusion of his'little
one story Office on Prince street. The
The lesson of his life are the teach
ings Of an unremitting attention to
business, of integrity and benevolcnce
These dominant traits in his charac.
ter are revealed in striking boldness Of
his career given below-a record
compulsorily brief, and which the
exceeding simplicity of his habits and
the monotonous routine of his daily
life necessarily make it so.
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.
At No. l49 Broadway, in March,
1874, William B. Astor was born.
Appended to the name of John Jacob
Astor 10 the City Directory were
these words, "Furrier, l49 Broadway"
The house was a plain two story and
attic brick structure. His father car.
ried on his business in the first story
and, with his family, occupied the rest
of the house II was not, indeed, un.
I'll six years later, when be had been
in business fifteen years and was worth
some 5000, 900, that be INDUCED in the
luxury Of living in house separate
from his business. His first separate
residence was No 223 Broadway, on
the present site of the Astor House
n very respectable house in those early
days of the city's embryo growth.
but in size and exterior finish and
interior appointments bearing very
slight resemblance TO the palatial
abodes of our present leading men OF
wealth. William b. Astor's earliest
remembrances are connected with his
fathers store. lie early learned TO
assort the furs, and helped TO beat
them and free them from moths. He
little dreamed the wealth Of future
gold to be evolved from those small,
dingy, dusty furs in that small, dingy,
dirty store. But while his father was
smoking his pipe and drinking beer
and playing checkers and occasionally
going 10 the theatre, his fortune
was rapidly nccumulating No special
pains were taken with young Will
Jams earliest education. With other
boys of his age he went to the public
oe6ools. His father AT longth, sooiug
the growing expansion of his business
and wealth, and particularly afier he
had begun sending his furs to China,
and bringing back cargocs Of teas, on
single cargoes Of which he often real
lied handsome fortune, determined
to give him a thorough education,
such as would III him for his future
position and 10 carry on the gigantic
business 80 rapidly swelling into
colossal proportions.
GOES TO nEIDELBuRG UNIVERSITY.
A few years preliminary training in
the most select schools in this city
was the starting point for a university
education abroad
"Thc education here aint good
enough" his father said to him one
day. "The German universities give
the only education worth having; !
am going TO send you TO one. How
do you like the idea p
II like IT," answered William.
"wiIl you study hard it ! send you
there Z"
"Yes. sir"
"Wh you promise TO stay till Isend
for you and not get homesick y
ayes, sir"
"well, then, get ready for Ilcidcl-
burg"
And for Hoidelburg he prepared
himself and to Heidelburg be went.
He remained there several years,
acquitting himself in his studies with
marked honor and becoming an adept