William Backhouse Astor Sr (1792 - 1875)

Born 19 Sep 1792 in New York City, New York County, New York, United States

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 24 Nov 1875 at age 83 in New York, United States

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Biography

William Astor Sr is Notable.

William was born in New York City to fur-trader John Jacob Astor and Sarah Cox Todd. He was one of seven siblings were Magdalen, Sarah, John Jr., Dorothea, Henry, Eliza and an unnamed brother who died shortly after his birth. He attended local public schools. His spare hours and vacations were employed in assisting his father in the store. When he was sixteen, he was sent to the University of Göttingen in Germany, where he joined the German Student Corps Curonia of the Baltic German students; later he moved to the University of Heidelberg. He returned to the United States in 1851 and entered partnership with his father, who changed the firm name to John Jacob Astor & Son and engaged in the China trade. He worked there until his father's death. One source argued that his role in the company was never anything more than as "an industrious and faithful head clerk", despite his official title of head of the firm's chief subsidiary, the American Fur Company, in its last several years of its ownership by Astor & Son.

Although William's fortunes grew with his father's company, he became a truly wealthy man when he inherited the estate, worth around $500,000, of his childless uncle Henry Astor I. When John Jacob Astor, Sr. died in 1848, William became the richest man in America.

Sources

• 1818 Marriage Notice in Newspaper

• 1850; Census Place: New York Ward 15 Eastern half, New York, New York; Roll: M432_552; Page: 244A; Image: 498.

• 1870; Census Place: New York Ward 15 District 4 (2nd Enum), New York, New York; Roll: M593_1033; Page: 108A; Image: 219; Family History Library Film: 552532.

• Ancestry.com. U.S., Newspaper Extractions from the Northeast, 1704-1930 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.

• Record of Wills, 1665-1916; Index to Wills, 1662-1923 (New York County); Author: New York. Surrogate's Court (New York County); Probate Place: New York, New York.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Backhouse_Astor_Sr.

• Find A Grave: William Backhouse Astor, Sr.

• This WikiTree profile is referenced from Wikidata: Item Q870607, en:Wikipedia