Recently, my distinguished colleague, Dr. Rodney E. Wilmoth of Omaha, Nebraska, shared in a printed sermon some information about what I believe to be a sad legacy and memorial left by a man, John Jacob Astor. When he died in the 1800s, he was considered to be the richest man in America. However, the memory that many people had of him was anything but rich and honoring.

 

He was born in the village of Waldorf in West Germany. He left home at age sixteen and eventually found his way to America by ship. The ship on which he was a passenger got stuck in the ice of the Chesapeake Bay for two months in January of 1783. Astor put this to good use by learning everything he could about the fur trade from a fellow passenger. For two years he worked with his brother in New York City, and then travel…