Born in Waldorf, Germany, John Jacob Astor (1763-1848) immigrated to the United States in 1784 and became a successful fur trader and real estate dealer in New York City. In 1785, he married Sarah Todd, with whom he had five children. Astor established the American Fur Company in 1808, which exported furs from the Great Lakes and Canada to Europe. In the early 1800s, Astor began purchasing and developing land on Manhattan Island. At the time of his death in 1848, he was the wealthiest person in the United States.
Source: “John Jacob Astor Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. Accessed
August 2, 2011.
The John Jacob Astor Collection, 1798-1799, 1816, consists of two signed receipts to William Irving, the brother of Washington Irving, and a November 1816 letter from Astor to President James Madison concerning a transmit of payment from France to the United States from Albert Gallatin, former Senator and Minister to France.
This collection is open for research use.
John Jacob Astor Collection, 1798-1799, 1816, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
This collection was processed by Evan Usler, August 2011.