Foreword

John Jacob Astor was pre-eminently the opener of new paths, a breaker of trails. From his first tramp alone through the Black Forest of Baden, at sixteen, his life never lost this typical touch. In America, both shores of the Hudson, and the wilderness to the North-west knew his trail. The trees of the forests west of the Mississippi were blazed by his hunters and trappers; and his partners and agents planted through this vast region the flag of the American Fur Company. The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans were invisibly lined by the path of his vessels. His were the first American ships to habitually circle the globe, trading around the earth. With his far-sighted vision withdrawn from distant scenes, and centered on Manhattan Island, he led the way toward the upbuilding of the largest, and most important city in the new world.

Emboldened by Walter Barrett, the racy writer of "Old Merchants of New York," who assures his readers, that "no man would enjoy the publication of the true facts concerning his life, more than Mr. Astor, himself, were he alive," I have not hesitated to give the initial steps in this great man's career, feeling that humble and arduous as they were, they held the keynote to his later successes.

Whoever breaks for his fellows new and valuable paths, serves his countrymen and the generations which come after him in a peculiar manner. It has been my endeavor to give some history of John Jacob Astor's service in this direction, in the pages which follow, as well as to offer some account of the personal character, aspirations and ideals, which governed this remarkable man.

In compiling this history, the writer has gleaned information from many sources. Letters and descriptions written from Waldorf, Germany, have made the little town very real. A Chronicle of the House of Waldorf; The Journal of Rev. Johann Heinrich Helffrich, (A diary of his voyage across the Atlantic in 1771); The Records of the German Reformed Church in New York; and an article on John Jacob Astor, in Harper's, 1865, have all shed light on the German side of John Jacob Astor's life.

Beside these, I have consulted: Old Merchants of New York, by Walter Barrett, Clerk; (Joseph A. Scoville); The Astor Genealogy, by Joel Munsell's Sons; The Todd Genealogy; National Encyclopedia of American Biography; Historic Families of America, by Walter W. Spooner; Prominent Families of New York, edited by L. H. Weeks; Famous Families of New York, by Margherita Arlina Hamm; John Jacob Astor, by William Waldorf Astor, Pall Mall Magazine, 1899; Story of the Astor Family, by W. Chambers, Chambers' Journal; John Jacob Astor, by Julian Ralph, Chautauquan, 1891; The Astor Family in New York, Seribner's, 1876; The Astor Family, by W. S. Bridgman, Munsey's; The Astor Family, by Harold Parker, Munsey's; The Astor Fortune, by Burton J. Hendricks, McClure's Magazine; History of the City of New York, by Mrs. Martha J. Lamb; Memorial History of the City of New York, by James Grant Wilson; Famous Americans of Recent Times, by James Parton; New York, the Metropolis; When Old New York was Young, by Charles Hemstreet; In Olde New York, by Charles Burr Todd; Reminiscences, by Julia Ward Howe; The Early History of Saugerties, by Benjamin M. Brink; The Hudson River, by Bacon; Manual of the Reformed Church in America; Larned's History for Ready Reference; Life of Thomas Jefferson, by James Parton; Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin, by James Parton; Life of Washington Irving, by Pierre M. Irving; Clippings from the New York Times; Story of Astoria, by P. Koch, Magazine of American History; Astoria, by Archer Butler Hulbert, Chautauquan, 1904; The Cruise of the Tonquin, by C. F. Brady, Harper's Magazine; Astoria, by Washington Irving; Our Lost Opportunity on the Pacific, by C. M. Harvey, North American; The Vikings of the Pacific, by A. C. Laut; Adventures on the Columbia River, by Ross Cox; Rocky Mountains Exploration, by Reuben Gold Thwaites, LL. D.; Gabriel Franchére's Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America, 1811-1814; (English translation by J. V. Huntington); Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River, 1810-1813, by Alexander Ross, edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites, LL.D.; Breckenridge's Journal Up the Missouri, 1811, edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites, LL. D.; Alexander Mackenzie's Voyages, 1801; Journal of Daniel Harmon; The French in the Heart of America, by John Finley, in Scribner's; The Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Company, by George Bryce, M. A., LL. D. The Astor Library, by J. G. Cogswell, Littell's Living Age; The Astor Library, by F. R. Saunders, Magazine of American History; Cogswell's Life and Letters, by Anna Ticknor; The Astor Library, by P. Koch, Living Age; Early Means of Transportation by Land and Water, by Clara D. Patterson, American Monthly Magazine; Shoe and Canoe, by John J. Bigsby, M. D.; Travels in the Western Territories, by Zebulan Pike; Original Journals of Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806; A Letter to the Honorable Horace Mann, by Charles Astor Bristed; Journals of Alexander Henry and David Thompson, edited by Elliott Cones; Diary of Philip Hone.