Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1892-01-29
JOHN JACOB ASTOR.
HOW THE HEAD OF A GREAT
FAMILY SECURED HIS CAPITAL.

| Let me step back a hundred years and
| tell you about the Astors. | may tell
you something's you did not know.
| When John Jacob Aston worked his
way down the Rhine to the sea and
shipped to England away from his sloth-
| full, lazy innkeeping father, he stopped
| in London and went to work for his
brother, a successful manufacturer of
| flutes and pianos, and unless am very
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 was on his way to Amer
| lea, and only went to England to stop
awhile and learn English-a feat which
he had not accomplished when he died
When he reached New York city, not
very long after the close of the Revolu-
tionary war, he had heard about the fur
business and had determined to embark
in it. It does not matter whether he
peddled little before that any more
than it matters whether Jay Gould sold
rat traps before he became a railroad
operator.
In time John Jacob apprenticed him
self to 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
London-he had q 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 a mighty and a cunning
man in business.
He was butcher in the Bowery and
lived above his store there. He had
married a chubby, rosy German wom-
an, of whom he used to boast, ''She was
der poOtiest gal by der Bowery."
THE TWO BROTHERS.
Now the Bowery was no ordinary
street, and Henry was no ordinary butch
er. The Bowery was the southern ter
mination Of the old Boston post road,
and down it came the bulk of the
produce of the countryside which was
eaten in and shipped from New York.
Among other things all the cattle came
into town on that road on the 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 cattle
on the road up in the country. There
he bought the best Of ali 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 as 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. He 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 loan with
bluff ''No." He said he would not be
| bothered any more, but this is what he
would do. He would give John Jacob
the sum of $500 outright as a gift if John
| Jacob would sign a paper promising
never to ask for the loan Of another
| penny from that date forever. John
Jacob jumped at the offer. He took the
| $780, and perhaps that had more to do
| with the foundation of the great Astor
| fortune than any other sum he got in all
his life.
THE SPLIT IN THE FAMILY.
I have heard that there are some
| Astors descendent from Henry living up
the Hudson river, and that the great and
| rich Astors have nothing to do with
| them. l do not know whether 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 family deliberately and in cold blood
when he paid that sum of money to John
| Jacob so as not to be bothered by his
| then poor relations any more.
John Jacob Astor prospered amazingly.
He made millions when it was something
that nobody else unconnected with roy
atty appeared able to do, except the
Rothschilds in Europe. With those
millions, made byputting the entire con-
| tinent under tax for its furs, he estab
| Hshed not only a landed estate, but
family with a principle, with fixed
| purpose.
| He was of incalculable service in the
| development of New York, because he
went to districts the city had not reached
and built dwellings for persons of mod
crate means. He built them very well,
to last as long as possible, and he rented
them for a fair return, thus establishing
a moderate system of rentals with all
the landlords of the city.
In another generation an unfortunate
split occurred, and the estate and the
family have since then gone forward in
two parts, much the larger part nearly
two-thirds, 1 believe), going to the de-
scendants of the elder son, and the small
er part to the descendants of a second
son. William Waldorf Astor now rep
resents the bulk of the estate, and the
little baby, John Jacob, is heir to the
smaller part.-John Ralph in Providence
| Journal.
| Asbestus Three Thousand Years Old.
| Asbestus differs from nearly all other
| minerals in being fibrOus and textile