John Jacob Astor

John Jacob Astor (July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848), born Johann Jakob Astor, was a German-American businessman, merchant, fur trader, and investor who was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States. He was the creator of the first trust in the United States. He emigrated to England as a teenager and worked as a musical instrument manufacturer.

Astor moved to the United States after the American Revolutionary War. He entered the fur trade and built a monopoly, managing a business empire that extended to the Great Lakes region and Canada, and later expanded into the American West and Pacific coast. Seeing the decline of demand, he got out of the fur trade in 1830, diversifying by investing in New York City real estate and later becoming a famed patron of the arts.

Biography

Early life

Johann Jakob Astor was born in Walldorf near Heidelberg in the old Palatinate. It became part of the Duchy of Baden in 1803. (It is now in Rhein-Neckar-Kreis in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.) He was the youngest son of Johann Jacob Astor (July 7, 1724 – April 18, 1816) and Maria Magdalena Vorfelder (1730–1766). His three elder brothers were Georg (later "George"; April 28, 1752 – December 1813), Heinrich (later "Henry"; 1754–1833), and Melchior (1759–1829). Astor's father was a butcher; he first worked in his father's shop and as a dairy salesman. In 1779, at the age of 16, he moved to London to join his brother George in working for Astor & Broadwood, their uncle's piano and flute manufactory. While there, he learned English and anglicized his name.

John Jacob Astor III

John Jacob Astor III (June 10, 1822 — February 22, 1890) was an American financier, philanthropist, and a prominent member of the Astor family. He was the eldest son of real estate businessman William Backhouse Astor, Sr. (1792–1875) and Margaret Rebecca Armstrong (1800–1872), a nephew of occasional poet John Jacob Astor, Jr. (1791–1869), and a grandson of fur-trader John Jacob Astor (1763–1848), Sarah Cox Todd (1761–1834), Senator John Armstrong, Jr. (1758–1843) and Alida Livingston (1761–1822) of the Livingston family. John Jacob III became the wealthiest member of the Astor family in his generation and the founder of the English branch of the Astor family. His younger brother businessman William Backhouse Astor, Jr. (1829–1892) was the patriarch of the male line of American Astors.

Early life

Astor studied at Columbia University and the University of Göttingen, following which he went to Harvard Law School. He practiced law for a year, to qualify for assisting in the management of his family's immense estate, one half of which later descended to him. It was based on his paternal grandfather's achieving a monopoly in the lucrative fur trade in the early nineteenth century.

John Astor (disambiguation)

John Astor (1923–1987) was an English politician and member of the Astor family.

John Astor may also refer to:

John Jacob

John Jacob may refer to:

See also

John Jacob (East India Company officer)

Brigadier-General John Jacob CB (11 January 1812 – 6 December 1858) was an officer of the British East India Company who served in colonial India for the major portion of his career. He is known for the cavalry regiment called 36th Jacob's Horse and for founding the town of Jacobabad which was single-handedly turned into thousands of acres of arable land from a desert in just twenty years. The scale of progress and prosperity his works brought to the region, can be very well appreciated, by just comparing it with the contiguous areas in today’s Baluchistan which were not under his administrative jurisdiction.

Early life

He was born at Woolavington, in the county of Somerset, England, where his father the Reverend Stephen Long Jacob was incumbent. His mother was Susanna, daughter of the Reverend James Bond of Ashford, Kent, England. He was schooled by his father until he obtained his cadetship to Addiscombe Military Seminary. A number of the young cadets there who were his contemporaries, included such famous officers as Eldred Pottinger, Robert Cornelis Napier, Henry Mortimer Durand, Vincent Eyre and others. He was commissioned into the Bombay Artillery (Bombay Army) on his 16th birthday, and subsequently sailed for India in January 1828, never to set foot in England again.

John Jacob Astor IV

John Jacob "Jack" Astor IV (July 13, 1864 – April 15, 1912) was an American businessman, real estate builder, investor, inventor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War, and a prominent member of the Astor family.

Astor died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic during the early hours of April 15. He was among the 1,514 people on board who did not survive. He was the richest passenger aboard the Titanic and was thought to be among the richest people in the world at that time, with a net worth of nearly $87 million when he died.

Early life, education, and family

Jakie Astor

Major Sir John Jacob Astor VII Kt, MBE, ERD (29 August 1918 – 10 September 2000), commonly known as Jakie Astor, was an English politician and sportsman and a member of the prominent Astor family.

Astor was the youngest child of Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor and Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor. He was educated at Eton and New College, Oxford and served in the Special Air Service and the Life Guards during World War II. He was named after his relative John Jacob Astor IV, who perished on the Titanic in 1912.

In 1945, Astor contested the Plymouth Sutton seat in the British House of Commons that had been held by both his parents. Unsuccessful at first, he won the seat in 1951 as a member of the Conservative Party.

Astor was appointed High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely.

Sir Jakie was a thoroughbred horse racing enthusiast who won a number of prestigious races including the St. Leger Stakes.

Personal life

Astor was married three times. He married firstly on 23 October 1944 Ana Inez "Chiquita" Carcano y Morra (born 1918, died 1992). The couple had three children: