The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1892-06-02
HISTORY OF THE ASTORS,
The Butcher Brothers Were the Head O
the Family.

Let me step back one hundred years
and tell you about these Astors. may
tell you some things you do not know.
When John Jacob Astor worked his
way down the Rhine to the sea and
skipped to England away from his
slothful, lazy, inn-keeping father, he
stopped in London and went to work
for his brother, a successful manufac-
turer of flutes and pianos and, unless
am much mistaken, junior partner in
what is still the greatest piano-making
house in England though there are no
AStors in it now. John Jacob Astor was
on his way to America, and only went to
England to stop awhile and learn Eng
lsh "a feat which he had not accom-
plished when he died. When he reach
ed New York city, not very long after
the close of the revolutionary war, he
had heard about the fur business and
had decided to embark in it 1t does
not matter whether he peddled little
before that any more than it matters
whether Jay Gould sold rat traps be-
fore he became a railroad operator. In
time John Jacob apprenticed himself to
Il fur dealer and learned all the tricks
and secrets of the business. But in the
meantime he had come to this city for
the same reason he had gone to Lon
don-he had brother here This
brother was Henry Aston, and in those
days nobody questioned which would
be the more successful of the two for
Henry was mighty and cunning man
in business
lie was butcher in the Bowery, and
lived above his store there. He had
married chubby, rosy German wom
an, of whom he used to boast: she
was der pootiest gal by der Bowery."
Now, the Bowery was no ordinary
street. and Henry was no ordinary
butcher The Bowery was the south
Crn termination of the old Boston Post
road, and down 1t came the bulk of the
produce of the country side which was
eaten in and shipped from New York.
Among other things all the cattle came
into town on that road on hoof to be
sold to the butchers. Henry knew that,
and so did all the other butchers, but
Henry put his knowledge to practical
use. He drove out of town twice a
week on market days and met the cat
tie on the road up in the country. There
he bought the best of all the steers and
cornered the market. 1t was he who
thereafter set the prices and sold to the
other butchers. His young brother,
John Jacob, was just us instinct with
the speculative spirit, but he had no
money to buy with and so he used to
borrow of Henry Henry did not like
that lie distrusted his brothers
shrewdness or else he was close with
his money At any rate he loaned it to
John Jacob unwillingly. and finally he
met request for a loan with a bluff
no" lie SAID he would not be both
cred any more, but this is what he
would do: lie would give John Jacob
the sum of five hundred dollars out
right "a a gift if John Jacob would sign
paper promising never to ask for the
loan of another penny from that date
forever. John Jacob jumped at the Of
fer. lie took the five hundred dollars,
and perhaps that had more to do with
the foundation of the great Astor for
tune than any other sum he got in all
his life | have heard that there are
some Astor descendants from Henry
living up the II adson river, and that
the great and rich Astors have nothing
to do with them. do not know wheth.
or that is true or whether there are such
AStors but if it is true it is all right for
Henry unquestionably parted with the
rest of the fam ly deliberately and in
cold blood when he paid that sum of
money to John Jacob so as to not be
bothered by his then roor relatives any
more.
John Jacob Astor prospered amazing
". He made millions when it was
something that nobody else unconnect-
ed with royalty, appeared able to do,
except the Rothschilds in Europe.
With those millions made by putting
the entire continent under tax for its
furs, he established not only landed
estate but a family with a principle,
with a fixed purpose. lie was of in
calculable service in the development
of New York, because he went to dis
tricts the city had not reached and built
dwellings for persons of moderate
means lie built them very we'll, tC
last as long as possible, and he rented
them for a fair return, thus esta blish
ing a moderate system of rentals with
all the landlords of the city. In anoth
er generation an unfortunate split &C.
Cured. and the estate and the family
have since then gone forward in two
parts, much the larger part NEARLY
two-thirds, | believed, going to the de-
scendants of the elder son, and the
smaller part to the descendants of a
second SON William Waldorf Astor
now represents the bulk of the estate,
and the little baby John Jacob, is heir
to the smaller part. But the old prin-
ciple and purpose still live in all the
Astors They still build and extend
the city; they still ask only fair rentals;
they still refrain from gambling, and
among the mercenary hands which
seize our breadstuffs, our coal, our oil
and our meats in order to raise the
price of our necessities no Astor's
palms are included That is why we
like the Astors. Julian Ralph, in Prov