48 



ASTOE, WILLIAM B. 



of pecuniary embarrassments, awarded it to 

 Mr. Aspinwall, who, with Richard Alsop and 

 Henry Chauncey, Messrs. G. G. and S. S. 

 Howland, and Edwin Bartlett, took the neces- 

 sary measures for carrying out the under- 

 taking. Mr. Aspinwall was made the active 

 manager. A charter was procured from the 

 Legislature of New York in 1848, to continue 

 in force for twenty years, under the title of 

 the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, with a 

 capital stock of $400,000. The pioneer steam- 

 ship was the California, which sailed on Octo- 

 ber 5, 1848. In 1850 the capital stock was 

 increased to $2,000,000. From this time to 

 1856 the company was very prosperous. In 

 that year Mr. Aspinwall, the founder, its first 

 managing director, and its president up to 

 that time, retired from the executive chair. 

 About eight years ago an elegant and costly 

 monument was erected at Aspinwall, in honor 

 of the founders of the Panama Railroad, Messrs. 

 Aspinwall, Chauncey, and Stephens, whose 

 busts in bass-relief were carved at its base. 

 Mr. Aspinwall was a patron of the fine arts, 

 and his gallery of paintings was one of the 

 best private collections in the United States. 

 It was for some time open to the public. Mr. 

 Aspinwall spent a considerable part of the last 

 twenty years of his life in travel. 



ASTOR, WILLIAM BACKHOUSE, was born in 

 New York, September, 1792, and died in the 

 same city, November 24, 1875, aged 82 years. 

 He was the eldest son of the celebrated John 

 Jacob Astor and his wife Sarah Todd. At 

 the time of his birth his father was a furrier, 

 doing business at No. 149 Broadway. Until 

 he was sixteen he went to the public schools, 

 employing his spare hours and vacations in 

 assisting his father in the store. He was then 

 sent to Heidelberg in Germany to continue 

 his education, and after two years of study 

 he went to Gottingen in 1810, and chose as 

 his tutor a student, a year older than himself, 

 afterward known as the German scholar and 

 diplomatist, Chevalier Bunsen. Young Bun- 

 sen acted as an instructor to him, residing 

 with him, and acting as his traveling com- 

 panion. In 1813 they traveled together in 

 Austria and Northern Italy. The connection 

 continued with some interruptions nearly six 

 years, until July, 1816, when Mr. Astor was 

 unexpectedly called home by his father. Af- 

 ter forty years Mr. Astor renewed his friendly 

 acquaintance with Baron Bunsen, writing to 

 him in 1855 and visiting him at Heidelberg in 

 1857. Upon his return to New York at the age 

 of twenty-three his father then engaged in the 

 China trade, and took him into partnership. 

 In 1827 the firm was dissolved, and the " Amer- 

 ican Fur Company " was formed, William be- 

 ing appointed its president. In 1812 the war 

 with Great Britain having defeated the scheme 

 of monopolizing the fur-trade, both father and 

 son withdrew from the company and aban- 

 doned commercial pursuits. The father had 

 early begun to make investments in real es- 



tate in New York. These were so successful 

 that at the time of his death in 1848 he is 

 said to have left $20,000,000. Observing the 

 law of primogeniture, he made his eldest son 

 the principal heir, although he provided well 

 for his other relatives. William was already 

 rich, having been successful in business, and 

 having received a large sum, a bequest from 

 his uncle Henry. William B. Astor, then 

 fifty-six years of age, gave himself to the pres- 

 ervation and growth of the vast property. 

 But he first supplied what he regarded as de- 

 ficiencies in his father's will. He increased 

 the annuity of Fitz-Greene Halleck from $200 

 to $1,500 a year, and sent a handsome sum to 

 an old sea-captain in China who had saved a 

 large property from destruction. He also add- 

 ed to the bequest of his father for the Astor 

 library the sum of $250.000, of which he paid 

 during his lifetime $201,000 in land, books, 

 and money. The project of founding a library 

 for the use of literary men was suggested by 

 Washington Irving to his father, who be- 

 queathed for that purpose the sum of $400,000. 

 William B. Astor having literary taste, and be- 

 ing in full sympathy with American men of 

 letters, gave much patient attention for many 

 years to the administration of the affairs of the 

 library. Following the example of his father, 

 he invested principally in real estate, which 

 rapidly increased in value. For about thirteen 

 years prior to 1873 he was largely engaged in 

 building, until much of his hitherto unoccupied 

 land was covered by houses, mostly of the 

 first class. His rent-rolls were enormous, and 

 at the age of eighty he is said to have owned 

 720 houses. The records of the tax-office show 

 that he paid taxes in 1875 on about $16,000,- 

 000 worth of real estate in the city of New 

 York. The market-value of this property is 

 said to be about thirty per cent, above the 

 assessed valuation, or about $20,000,000. The 

 same records show that he possessed about 

 $636,000 in bank-stock. He was also a holder 

 of large amounts of State, city, and national 

 bonds and railroad-stock. Probably the total 

 value of his estate does not exceed $45,000,- 

 000. He possessed a valuable private library, 

 and passed many of his leisure hours among 

 his books. For many years he contributed 

 annually to various charities. The most note- 

 worthy of his earlier gifts was that of $50,- 

 000 to St. Luke's Hospital. He leaves a legacy 

 of $10,000 to the American Bible Society, 

 with lesser bequests to other societies. Of 

 general interest is that part of William B. 

 Astor's will which relates to the Astor Li- 

 brary. The will recites that the testator had 

 formed the resolution to add $250,000 to the 

 endowment of the library, and had intended 

 to execute it in his lifetime. He directs his 

 executors to pay to the trustees of the library 

 whatever portion of this sum may remain un- 

 paid. In a codicil he declares that the unpaid 

 balance is $49,000, and by the same codicil he 

 gives to the trustees of the library an addition- 



