Editing John Jacob Astor (section)

==Biography==

===Early life===
Johann Jakob Astor was born in 1763 in [[Walldorf]], a town near [[Heidelberg]] in the [[Electoral Palatinate]], which is in the present-day German state of [[Baden-Württemberg]].{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}}{{sfnp|''BDNA''|1904}} He was the youngest son of Johann Jacob Astor and Maria Magdalena vom Berg. His three older brothers were George, Henry, and Melchior. In his childhood, Johann worked in his father's butcher shop{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}} and as a dairy salesman.<ref name="Walker 2015">{{Cite book|title=The Legendary Mountain Men of North America|last=Walker|first=J. P.|publisher=Lulu Co.|year=2015|isbn=9781312921511|location=Raleigh, NC|pages=154–158}}</ref> In 1779, at the age of 16, he moved to [[London]] to join his brother George in working for an uncle's [[piano]] and [[flute]] manufacturer, Astor & Broadwood.{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}} While there, he learned English and [[anglicization of names|anglicized his name]] to John Jacob Astor.<ref>Herbert C. Ebeling: ''Johann Jakob Astor – Ein Lebensbild''. pp. 63–69.</ref>

===Migration to the United States===
In November 1783,{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}} just after the end of the [[American Revolutionary War]], Astor boarded a ship for the United States, arriving in [[Baltimore]] around March of the following year.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howden Smith |first1=Arthur D. |title=John Jacob Astor: Landlord of New York |year=2005 |orig-date= 1929 |publisher=Cosimo (orig. Blue Ribbon) |location=New York |isbn=1596057491 |page=27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VBOZyVuMaGgC&q=john+jacob+astor |access-date=December 22, 2021}}</ref> There, he rented a room from Sarah Cox Todd, a widow, and began a flirtation with his landlady's daughter, also named Sarah Cox Todd. The young couple married in 1785. His intent had been to join his brother Henry, who had established a butcher shop in New York City.<ref name="Walker 2015" /><ref name="Notable Biographies">{{Cite web|url=http://www.notablebiographies.com/An-Ba/Astor-John-Jacob.html|title=John Jacob Astor Biography – life, family, childhood, death, mother, son, old, information, born, house|website=Notable Biographies|access-date=October 9, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=A Place That I Love: A Tour Drivers Perspective of Mackinac Island|last=Kitter|first=Walter|publisher=Xlibris Corporation|year=2015|isbn=9781514414552|location=Bloomington, IN}}</ref> A chance meeting with a fur trader on his voyage had inspired him to join the [[North American fur trade]] as well.{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}}<ref name="Notable Biographies" /> After working at his brother's shop for a time, Astor began to purchase raw hides from [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], prepare them himself, and resell them in London and elsewhere at great profit.{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}} He opened his own fur goods shop in New York in the late 1780s and also served as the New York agent of his uncle's musical instrument business.
In 1789, along with Dubois & Stodart{{who|date=April 2025}}, he co-founded the [[Francis Bacon Piano Company]].{{cn|date=April 2025}}

===Fortune from fur trade===
[[File:John Jacob Astor.jpg|thumb|right|John Jacob Astor, by [[Gilbert Stuart]], {{circa|1794}}]]
Astor took advantage of the 1794 [[Jay Treaty]] between Great Britain and the United States, which opened new markets in Canada and the [[Great Lakes region]]. In London, Astor at once made a contract with the [[North West Company]], which from [[Montreal]] rivaled the trade interests of the [[Hudson's Bay Company]], then based in London.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morrison |first=David A |date=October 18, 2013 |title=The North West Company, 1779–1821 |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-north-west-company-17791821-feature |access-date=March 23, 2024 |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada}}</ref>

Astor imported furs from Montreal to New York and shipped them to Europe.<ref name="americana">{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Astor, John Jacob (merchant)|display=Astor, John Jacob, American merchant}}</ref> By 1800, he had amassed over a quarter of a million dollars<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |date=2023 |title=John Jacob Astor {{!}} Real Estate Mogul, Fur Trader, Philanthropist |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Jacob-Astor-American-businessman-1763-1848 |access-date=December 27, 2023}}</ref> (equivalent to about ${{Inflation|US|25|1800|r=-1}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US}}){{Inflation/fn|US}} and had become one of the leading figures in the fur trade. His agents worked throughout the western areas and were ruthless in competition. In 1800, following the example of the ''[[Empress of China (1783)|Empress of China]]'', the first American trading vessel to China, Astor traded mostly opium, but also, furs, teas, and [[sandalwood]] at the port of [[Guangzhou|Canton]] in China, and greatly benefited from it.<ref name="Madsen">Madsen, ''John Jacob Astor''  (2001)</ref>

The U.S. [[Embargo Act of 1807]] disrupted Astor's import/export business because it closed off trade with Canada. With the permission of President [[Thomas Jefferson]], Astor established the [[American Fur Company]] on April 6, 1808.<ref>Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "American Fur Company". Encyclopedia Britannica (2018), https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-Fur-Company. Accessed April 5, 2021.</ref> He later formed subsidiaries: the [[Pacific Fur Company]], and the Southwest Fur Company (in which Canadians had a part), in order to control fur trading in the Great Lakes areas and [[Columbia River]] region. His Columbia River trading post at [[Fort Astoria]] (established in April 1811) was the first United States community on the Pacific coast. He financed the overland Astor Expedition in 1810–1812 to reach the outpost. Members of the expedition were to discover [[South Pass (Wyoming)|South Pass]], through which hundreds of thousands of settlers on the [[Oregon Trail|Oregon]], [[Mormon Trail|Mormon]], and [[California Trail]]s used to later pass through the [[Rocky Mountains]].<ref name="Madsen"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Morris |first=Larry |date=March 24, 2022 |title=Astor Expedition (1810–1813) |url=https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/astor_expedition_1810_1812/ |access-date=May 8, 2023 |website=Oregon Encyclopedia}}</ref>

Astor's fur trading ventures were disrupted during the [[War of 1812]], when the British captured his trading posts. In 1816, he joined the [[History of opium in China|opium smuggling trade]]. His American Fur Company purchased ten tons of [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]]-produced opium, and shipped the contraband to [[Guangzhou|Canton]] onboard the packet ship ''Macedonian''. Astor later left the Chinese opium trade and sold opium solely in Britain.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/heroin/etc/history.html|title=The Opium Kings: Opium Throughout History|work=[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]]|publisher=PBS|access-date=September 4, 2011}}</ref>

Astor's business rebounded in 1817 after the U.S. Congress passed a [[Protectionism|protectionist]] law that barred foreign fur traders from U.S. territories. The American Fur Company came to dominate trading in the area around the Great Lakes, absorbing competitors in a monopoly. Astor had a townhouse at 233 Broadway in New York<ref name="Madsen 2002">{{cite book |last1=Madsen |first1=Axel |title=John Jacob Astor: America's First Multimillionaire |date=2002 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons}}</ref> and a country estate, Hellgate, in the northern part of the city.<ref name="Madsen 2002" />

In 1822, Astor established the [[Robert Stuart House]] on [[Mackinac Island]] in Michigan as headquarters for the reorganized American Fur Company, making the island a metropolis of the fur trade. [[Washington Irving]] described this at length, based on contemporary documents, diaries, etc., in his travelogue ''[[Astoria (book)|Astoria]]''. Astor's commercial connections extended over the entire globe, and his ships were found in every sea. He and Sarah moved to a townhouse on Prince Street in New York.<ref name="nie">{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Astor, John Jacob (merchant)|display=Astor, John Jacob. An American merchant|year=1905}}</ref>

===Real estate and retirement===
Astor began buying land in New York City in 1799 and acquired sizable holdings along the waterfront. After the start of the 19th century, flush with [[Old China Trade|China trade]] profits, he became more systematic, ambitious, and calculating by investing in New York real estate. In 1803, he bought a 70-acre farm on which he built the Astor Mansion at Hellgate. The property ran west of [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] to the Hudson River between [[42nd Street (Manhattan)|42nd]] and 46th streets. That same year, and the following year, he bought considerable holdings from the disgraced [[Aaron Burr]].<ref>Burrows, Edwin G.; Wallace, Mike (1998). ''Gotham A History of New York City to 1898''. Oxford University Press. p. 337. {{ISBN|978-0-19-511634-2}}</ref>

In the 1830s, Astor foresaw that the next big boom would be the build-up of New York, which would soon emerge as one of the world's greatest cities. Astor sold his interests in the American Fur Company, as well as all his other ventures, and used the money to buy and develop large tracts of [[Manhattan Island]] real estate. Astor correctly predicted the city's rapid growth northward on the island, and he purchased more and more land beyond the then-existing city limits. Astor rarely built on his land, but leased it to others for rent and their use. After retiring from his business, Astor spent the rest of his life as a patron of culture. He supported the [[ornithologist]] [[John James Audubon]] in his studies, artwork, and travels, and the presidential campaign of [[Henry Clay]].<ref name="Madsen"/>