William Backhouse Astor, Sr.

William Backhouse Astor ( born September 19, 1792 in New York City; † November 24, 1875 ) was the son and heir of John Jacob Astor.

Life

William was born in New York City and studied at Columbia University and the University of Göttingen. There he joined the Corps Curonia. He inherited the vast wealth of his father Johann Jacob Astor and his childless deceased uncle Henry Astor. That made ​​him the richest man in the United States at that time.

During the American Civil War, he successfully sued against an income tax law of the U.S. federal government. The assets of the Astor estate rose in the wake of huge. Finally, the value was estimated at approximately $ 50 million, an enormous at that time fortune.

Around the time the Astor empire between his sons William Backhouse Astor Jr. and John Jacob Astor III was divided. Both operated hotels in the immediate vicinity of the center of New York, they united for the first Waldorf Astoria hotel later. After the 1929 closure of the hotel was built on the same site of the Empire State Building.

William B. Astor married in 1818 in New York Margaret Rebecca Armstrong ( 1800-1872 ). They had seven children:

• Emily Astor (1819-1841), married Samuel Ward, Jr. (1814-1884)
• John Jacob Astor III (1822-1890), married in 1846 Charlotte Augusta Gibbs ( 1822-1887 )
• Laura Eugenia Astor (1824-1902), married in 1844 Franklin Delano Hughes ( 1813-1893 )
• Mary Alida Astor (1826-1881), married in 1850 John Carey ( 1821-1881 )
• William Backhouse Astor, Jr. (1830-1892), married 1853 Caroline Webster Schermerhorn ( 1830-1908 )
• Henry Astor (1830-1918), married in 1871 Malvina Dinehart (1845 -? )
• Sarah Astor (1832-1832) died as an infant

• Americans
• Person (New York City )
• Student Corp. (19th Century )
• Man
• Born in 1792
• Died in 1875