The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-05-10
BRIDGEPORT CONN, FRIDAY, MAY 10, 1912
How The. Vast . Astor Fortune
 Was Founded

Vincent Astor, not yet 21 years old. is worth some $6O,00o,OOO. Where did the money come from?
 Vincent Astor's great-great-grand- father was the man who earned Vim cents first dollar for him. He was John Jacob Astor, the first of that name, and he died only sixty-four years ago. He was 84 years old when he died. He came to the United States in 17s4, when he was 20 years seven flutes which he hoped to sell. When he died sixty-four years later, he was worth $20, ,O00, 900, the largest private fortune then known.
 How did he do 1t?
 The first step was taken on spring that day John Jacob Ashdoer-he changed his name to Astor later walked out of the village of Waldorf in Germany to seek his fortune. He was 16 years old and his possessions consisted of little bundle of cloth ing, strapped to his back and a few perhaps g in all. But the schoolmas- ter of Baden. near Waldorf. said when he bade the boy godspeed on his quest:
 Johann will go through the world all right, for he has keen eye, and his head Is large above the ears."
 Johann" was leaving home because his mother was dead and his father had married a second wife, who made the boys life miserable. Johns fath- CT was by turns a farmer and a butch- CT. While his first wife lived, he managed to make a living, for she was much influence over her husband. But the second wife was unable to keep Ashdoer from spending most of his time in the beer shops. The family became actually destitute. Johns two brothers. George and Henry. left vendor of musical instruments In Lon don and Henry went to New York and worked as a butcher Young John Jacob stayed at home for while and went about clothed in rags. half-starv- ed and continually abused bt his step or other. he managed to save g and left home as his brothers had before him. He must have started off with a lump in his throat.
 His brother Henry had written him letter from America, urging him to come. But John couldn't speak Dng- lish, so he decided to join George In London first. Three hundred miles lay between him and the coast. He had resolved bravely to walk the whole distance: but his first piece of luck came in an opportunity to work his way on q lumber raft down the Rayer Rhine. Tn three Nssl1s shs gone to pay his passage across the North Sea to England.
 He set to work in his brothers piano factory. He pinched and saved every penny he could out of his scanty wa ges and managed to set aside 75 cents ITo 11t tc fnV two years and in September, 17S3. when the news came that America had be- come an independent nation he was ready to start for the new land He had learned to speak English and Oe had accumulated IS guineas-about $75. He took ship for Baltimore in Novem- Der, paying $26 passage money. He invested about an equal amount In seven flutes. which he hoped to sell at a profit in New York. He could car " them easily If he were forced to walk, after reaching America. The voyage was long and the mouth of the Chesapeake was not reached til Jan uary, 1784.
 Upon landing in Baltimore. John Ja- cob started at once for New York. Part of the way he came by stage coach and part by foot. When he reached the city he found employment with Quaker named Bonne. who paid 1 him g a week to beat furs. After a time Bonne sent the young man ] northward, and for time he travelled 1 through Canada and the interior of l New York state, carrying a pack on
 his back and exchanging various ar ticles with white and Indian trappers for skins.
 | But Bonne, it is said, often failed
 to pay young Astor his wages and John Jacob found 1t necessary to bor-
 row money from his brother Henry
 again and again, Henry had prosper
 ed in the butcher business. but he fin ally got tired of lending to John and
 said:
 ] T will not be bothered this way
 any more. But if you will sign pa per promising never to ask for an-
 other penny. will give you $500 out
 right, once for al."
 John Jacob jumped at the offer. He was sure that he had learned enough ! about fur trading to go into business for himself, now that capital was of- ' fered him, and he took the money at
 once.
 l With the $500 he opened little shop
 on New Dock street, now Water. where he exhibited for sale pianos 1 tablfshment and carried on a general skin and fur business. The expert ence he had gained while in Bonne's employ was invaluable. He had made
 it practice to talk to all the Indians | and to learn where the best trapping grounds were. He found out very ! soon that he could buy a beaver skin in. western New York for dollars l worth of trinkets, sell 1t in London for g, and reinvest the $8 in cutlery which would retail in New York for l $40. He used often to get the most
 valuable skins in exchange for a little paint or a few glass beads and the 1 prices he paid were always squeezed down to the lowest notch. On the other hand he charged exorbitant fig 1 ures for everything he had to sell. and
 according to actual entries in his old | account books, he sometimes charged
 as much as 8 a pound for tea, $10 a quart for whiskey, s for a blister plaster" and SO on.
 In twenty years Astor was very rich. When he was 46 he embarked tn
 what he called his great national venture" This was the American Fur Company, with a capital of $1, 1,000, 900, contributed entirely by MT. Astor The books of the company from it's be- ginnings in 1877 until Astor sold out in 1884 are still in existence.
 The first entry is dated April 1.
 The aim of the American Fur Com pany was to rival the Northwest Com pany, the great fur trading house founded in 1783, controlling the Cana ldian fur trade. When Lewis and lClarke ascended the Missouri and dis covered and explored the Columbie River Astor saw the possibilities 1T lthis new territory. His enterprise was to establish line of posts across