Born July 17, 1763

Waldorf, Germany

Died March 29, 1848

New York, New York

First American immigrant millionaire

John Jacob Astor. National Portrait Gallery.

"Rogues do their work at night. Honest men work by day. It's all a matter of habit, and good habits in America make any man rich. Wealth is a result of habit."

John Jacob Astor was one of the first examples of what became a great American myth: poor boy sails from Europe to the United States and ends up a millionaire thanks to hard work. But in Astor's case, it was not myth: He did sail from London to Baltimore, Maryland, before he was twenty years old, with very little money in his pocket. When he died, he was thought to be the richest man in the United States. The usual version of his life describes how Astor made a fortune buying...