Connecticut western news., 1875-12-10
AN IMMENSE FORTUNE,
The AstSP Family ahd Their Wealth...H8v
 the Foundation Was taidl

The AstSr Family and Their Wealth...iSv the Foundation Was taidl
 Itis only matter of conjecture, as hobody knows the amount of wealth I left by the late Wm. B. Astor. Estimates place the amount all, the way frotn $5O,- 900, 900 to $80, ,0Oe, GOO, while the vener- able Peter Cooper, who probably knows Es much about it as any outside man, puts the figures at the enormous amount of $15O, 900, 900 if not moro,
 John Jacob Astor left the bulk of his fortunes over $2O, 100000, to Wm. B. Ain uncle also left him 8 large fortune, and before the death of his father, Wm. 5. Astor, aside from the fortunes he had received, was wealthy.
 When he died Wm. B. Astor was eighty four years of age, and had de- voted his long life to money making. At this time it is interesting to read how the foundation for the great wealth of the Astors was laid.
 The head of the Astor family ill New York was John Jacob Astor. He was born in the village of Waldorf, near Heidelburg, in Germany, on July IF, 1763. He was the youngest of the four sons of a peasant and passed his boyhood in work upon his fathers farm. Religi- ous instruction formed an important part of his early training. Rising early in the morning, his first waking hours were devoted to reading the Bible and his prayer book, and these practices he is said to have adhered to through life. Two of his brothers left home before him, one to establish himself in London as musical instrument maker and the other to settle in America. When six teen years old he bid farewell to his old home and his parents, walked to the coast of Holland and embarked in a Dutch smack to join his brother in Lon don. Arrived there, he discovered his industrious character by invariably rising, as was his previous custom, at four o'clock in the morning and scrupu- ,lously performing all duties assigned to him. At the age of twenty he possessed a manly person and good address,.
 A few months after the recognition by Great Britain of the independence of the United States, in 1783, he sailed for Baltimore, Md, having with him musi cal instruments to the value of a few hundred dollars. When the vessel reached Chesapeake bay storm threat ened her destruction, and Astor display ed phase of character that his fellow voyagers afterward remembered. In the midst of the danger he appeared on ! deck, dressed in his best suit, deter mined, if saved, to be as presentable as possible. On the voyage he became ac- quainted with a fur trader, by whose advice he exchanged his musical inst1u- ,tc these furs he hastened back to London, where he advantageously disposed of them, after which he again prepared to cross the Atlantic, determined to apply himself systematically to the fur trade. Meanwhile he made himself familiar with the different kinds of fur and studied the continental markets. On his return to America he established himself in New York, where he after ward continued to reside. In the pur- suit of his business he frequently visit ed London, however, and the distant trading posts in Canada. His extensive acquaintance with trappers and traders enabled him to profit largely by sending furs to Europe and the East when the treaty negotiated by MT. Jay in 1794 re- moved the Instructions to their exporta- tion which had previously existed. About this time his business became so ' extensive that he had dealings in every quarter of the globe. He was then worth $25O, 900, the result of sixteen years of business, at the beginning of the century. Then he began to contemplate great schemes of trade and colonization. It was his desire to organize the fur trade from the lakes to the Pacific coast, by establishing several trading posts, making at the mouth of the Columbia river central depot. He also wished to obtain one of the Sandwich islands as station, to supply the Chinese and In dian markets. From this venture he is said to have looked for no return during the first ten years. During the next ten years some returns were expected, but afterward he hoped to reap immense profits. But two of the three first vessels dispatched on this enterprise were lost. The account of this fatal disaster he heard with composure, and soon after he sold Astoria, the first post established, to the British Northwest fur company. The fur trade was not the sole source of his fortune. His real estate invest ments broughth him enormous profits, and he erected many private and public buildings. He accumulated the largest fortune ever amassed up to that time in America. the sum being estimated at $2O, OOO,O GOO. His possessions embraced vast tracts of land in Western States, be- sides his fur trade and his New York real estate. He was married to Sarah Todd about seven years after his arrival in New York his wife bringing him a fortune of $500. At his death he left two sons, William B. Astor, whose death is this day recorded, and another son, imbecile from his birth. One of his daughters, who died in 1846, in Paris, became the Countess of Rumpff an other was the wife of MT. Bristed, an author and clergyman, of Bristol, R. l., and father of the late Charles Astor Bristed. ..