The Ottawa free trader., 1875-12-04
THE FAMILY.

THE FAMILY.
! William B. Astor's eldest brother was per.
son of eccentricites, and could not be trusted
alone. His tutor was appointed his guardian
a. a handsome salary, and attended him
wherever he went He was often very viOlen
in his dealings with those with whom he
came in contact and his quarrels with his
guardian were frequent. He was secluded
from society as far as possible, and was for
long time confined IN his house at Fourteenth
street and Ninth avenue, and there he died
few years ago.
Henry, the youngest son of VIM. g., inner.
tied the estate of his uncle, John Jacob, six
years ago. He married the daughter of
poor farmer in Barrytown, Duchess county,
against the wishes of his relatives, Since his
marriage he has retired to a place near
Hudson, and he rarely comes to the city,
although the most of his property is in New
York.
The Astor estate descends to John Jacob
the eldest son Of William g. Hc is about
| sixty years of age, and has one son, named
William
| 1t has been the neverfailing custom in
the Astcr family for three generations to de
post 100000 In bank at the birth Of son
or daghter, the money and the interest to be
given to the child when he or she became of
age.
| Mr.. William b. Astor had. three daugh-
ters, the eldest OF whom was the first wife OF
Sam Ward. Another was the wife of Frank
Delano, of Grinnell, Minturn & Co., and the
third is married to Mr.. John Carey The
Hon. John Winthrop Cnanler married one of
his grand'daughters.
Mr.. Astor was sharp and exactIng in his
business dealings. AS his friends expressed
it, when he paid out cent he wanted a cent
in IVn ,,at IN,
charitable works as was his wife, who died
few years ago. She was q manager in sever
al charitable institutions, and gave away a
fortune among the poor She was daughter
OF Gen. Armstrong, and was related 10 the
family of Alexander Hamilton.
AsTOR's WEALTH
| 1t would be difficult to determine the extent,
and wholly impossible to determine the value,
of his property, either real or personal. 1t
probably aggregates nearly $28OOOO,OO0. Mr..
Astor paid more taxes on real estate than any
other man in the country. He paid annually
as taxes on his real property $500,00O which
is one SEVENTEEN of the whole amount of the
lax collected annually in the city. The as
sessed value of his real estate Is understood
to be some $56,OOO,000, with probable &C
tual value of some $75000,0OO He owned
real estate in every ward and in nearly every
of him that in every mile he walked or rode
he passed some buildings owned by him.
| SELFINSURED.
| None of William b. Astor's property was
insured. He believed like Mr. Stewart that
the cost of insurance would be greater than
his losses. The terms of his fathers will pro.
hibited the building of brown-stone houses,
as they were too extravagant. He strictly
abided By this rule, and the brown-stone
houses that he owned he bought from others,
as they reverted TO him on the expiration of
leases. The most of the residences that he
built on Madison and Fifth avenues anu
Thirty third and Thirty-fourth streets in re-
cent years were of Nova Scotia free stone or
brick with stone trimmings. Mr.. Astor at
tended personally to the rental of his real
estate, and was assisted by his sons and
agents, Mr.. Hallock and Mr.. Bruce His
office was at No. s. Prince street, and he
went TO the Office every day until recently.
He retired Mr.. Bruce upon pension.
In 1870 Mr.. Astor paid two million dollars
taxes on his houses and lots. Among the
places that he owned outside of New York is
Green Bay, Wisconsin.