Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-01-14
JOHN JACOB ASTOR.
HOW THE HEAD OF A GREAT
FAMILY SECURED HIS CAPITAL.

HOW THE HEAD OF A GREAT
FAMILY SECURED HIS CAPITAL.
The Butcher Brother of the Great Fur
Trader Gave the Pioneer of the West
$500 to Be Rid of "A Poor Relatise-A
Princely Fortune Has Been Made Since.
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, 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. 1t does not matter whether he
peddled little before that any more
than it matters whether Jay Gould sold
rat traps before he became 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 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.
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
week on market days and met tho cattle
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 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 IL to John Jacob Inwillingly, and
finally he met u request for loan with
"a 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 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 offer. He took the
500, and perhaps that had more to do
with the foundation of the great Aston
fortune than any other sum he got in all
his life.
THE SPLIT IN THE FAMILY.
| 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. | 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 Aston 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 by putting the entire con-
tinent under tax for its furs, he estab-
iished not only landed estate, but
family with q principle, with fixed
purpose.
He was of incalculabIe service in the
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 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, believe), going TO the do
scendants Of the elder son, and the small
err part to the descendants Of a second
son. William Waldorf Aston 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.