Morris and Essex Rail Road Co. Bond Receipt Signed by John Jacob Astor III for William B. Astor - 1869 dated Autographed Bond Receipt

John Jacob Astor III signs this Bond receipt for Wm. B. Astor. Very Rare! Biographies and portraits included.

William Backhouse Astor Sr. (September 19, 1792 – November 24, 1875) was an American business magnate who inherited most of his father John Jacob Astor's fortune. He worked as a partner in his father's successful export business. His massive investment in Manhattan real estate enabled major donations to the Astor Library in the East Village, which became the New York Public Library.

William was born in New York City on September 19, 1792 and named after William Backhouse, a friend of his father who was a New York merchant. He was a son of fur-trader John Jacob Astor (1763–1848) and Sarah Cox Todd (1761–1834). His seven siblings were Magdalena (1788–1832), Sarah (1790–1790), John Jr. (1791–1869), Dorothea (1795–1874), Henry (1797–1799), Eliza (1801–1838), and an unnamed brother who died shortly after his November 13, 1802 birth.

He attended local public schools. His spare hours and vacations were employed in assisting his father in the store. When he was sixteen, he was sent to the University of Göttingen in Germany, where he joined the German Student Corps Curonia of the Baltic German students; later he moved to the University of Heidelberg. He chose as his tutor a student, afterward known as the Chevalier Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen, with whom he also traveled.

In 1815, he returned to the United States and entered partnership with his father, who changed the name of his firm to John Jacob Astor & Son and engaged in the China trade. William's elder brother John Jacob Astor Jr. was sickly and mentally unstable, and had no part in the business. He worked there until his father's death. One source argued that his role in the company was never anything more than as "an industrious and faithful head clerk", despite his official title of head of the firm's chief subsidiary, the American Fur Company, in its last several years of its ownership by Astor & Son.

Although William's fortunes grew with his father's company, he became a truly wealthy man when he inherited the estate, worth around $500,000 (equivalent to $13.2 million in 2019), of his childless uncle Henry Astor I, who died in 1833. When John Jacob Astor Sr. died in 1848, William became the richest man in America.

Following the example of his father, he invested in real estate, principally situated below Central Park, between 4th and 7th Avenues, which rapidly increased in value. For about 13 years prior to 1873 he was largely engaged in building until much of his hitherto unoccupied land was covered by houses. He was said to own in 1867 as many as 720 houses, and he was also heavily interested in railroad, coal, and insurance companies. His management of the family real estate holdings succeeded in multiplying their value, and he left an estate worth close to $50 million. His house at Barrytown, New York, known as Rokeby, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

During the American Civil War he successfully brought a case against the income tax imposed by the United States government, which was ruled unconstitutional.

He added 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 edifice was completed under his directions in May, 1853. In 1855 he presented to the trustees the adjoining lot, and erected thereon a similar structure, which was completed in 1859. He next gave $50,000 for the purchase of books. He gave much patient attention for many years to the administration of the library.

He gave $50,000 to St. Luke's Hospital, and in his will he left $200,000 to the Astor Library, in addition to $49,000, the unexpended balance of his earlier donation. The gifts and bequests of William Backhouse Astor Sr. to the Astor Library amounted altogether to about $550,000. In 1879, William's eldest son John Jacob Astor III presented three lots adjoining the library building, and erected on them a third structure similar to the others, and added a story to the central building. His outlay, exclusive of land, was about $250,000, making the entire gift of the Astor family more than $1,000,000. In 1852–53, he built the St. Margaret's Home at Red Hook, New York and supported it until his death in 1875.

On May 20, 1818, William married Margaret Alida Rebecca Armstrong (1800–1872), the daughter of Senator John Armstrong Jr. and Alida (née Livingston) Armstrong and sister of Horatio Gates Armstrong. Her mother, a member of the prominent Livingston family, was the youngest child of Judge Robert Livingston and Margaret (née Beekman) Livingston as well as the sister of Chancellor Robert R. Livingston and Secretary of State Edward Livingston. Her father, John Armstrong Jr. was President James Madison's second Secretary of War. Together, William and Margaret had seven children:

1. Emily Astor (1819–1841), who married Samuel Cutler "Sam" Ward (1814–1884), a financier/lobbyist/author, on January 5, 1838, and had two children.
2. John Jacob Astor III (1822–1890), who married Charlotte Augusta Gibbes (1825–1887) on December 9, 1846, and had one son.
3. Mary Alida Astor (1823–1881), who married John Carey (1821–1881) on April 16, 1850 and had three children.
4. Laura Eugenia Astor (1824–1902), who married Franklin Hughes Delano (1813–1893), on September 17, 1844 (no issue).
5. William Backhouse Astor Jr. (1829–1892), who married socialite Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn (1830–1908) on September 20, 1853, and had five children.
6. Henry Astor III (1830–1918), who married Malvina Dinehart (1844–1918) in 1871 (no issue).
7. Sarah Todd Astor (1832–1832), who died in infancy.

As a wedding gift, Astor gave Franklin and Laura Delano the southern-most 100 acres of Rokeby estate. The estate came to be known as "Steen Valetje" (which means "little stone valley" in Dutch).

Margaret Astor died on February 15, 1872, William Astor survived his wife by three years dying on November 24, 1875 in his townhouse at Lafayette Place in New York City. He was buried next to his wife in the Astor vault at Trinity Church Cemetery, designed by Frederick Clarke Withers, in New York City. In 1866 he conveyed the adjoining 142 acres of Rokeby to his son, Henry. Henry Astor built a brick dwelling on this land, but in 1873 conveyed the property to Laura.

Astor's local newspaper The New York Times eulogised,

Mr. William B. Astor. an illness of four days ends an honored and successful life the public events in Mr. Astor's career a ripe scholar and philanthropic man. Mr William B. Astor, after an illness of only a few days, died at his residence in this City yesterday at 9:30 A.M., aged eighty three years. Mr. Astor was in his usual good health, except for a slight cold, until Saturday of last week. On that morning his cold began to trouble him and occasioned a severe cough.

John Jacob Astor III (June 10, 1822 – February 22, 1890) was an American financier, philanthropist and a soldier during the American Civil War. He was a prominent member of the Astor family, becoming the wealthiest member in his generation. Astor was the eldest son of real estate businessman William Backhouse Astor Sr. and Margaret Alida Rebecca Armstrong. One of his younger brothers was businessman William Backhouse Astor Jr.

His paternal grandparents were merchant-trader John Jacob Astor, who made his first fortune in the North American fur trade, and Sarah Cox Todd. Astor's maternal grandparents were Senator John Armstrong Jr. and Alida Livingston of the Livingston family.

John Astor III studied at Columbia College, graduating in 1839, and the University of Göttingen, following which he went to Harvard Law School, graduating in 1842. He practiced law for a year, to qualify for assisting in the management of his family's immense estate, one half of which later descended to him. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jacob_Astor_III

The Morris and Essex Railroad was a railroad across northern New Jersey, later part of the main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.

The M&E was incorporated January 29, 1835, to build a line from Newark in Essex County west to and beyond Morristown in Morris County. The first section, from Newark west to Orange, opened on November 19, 1836. Under an agreement signed on October 21, the New Jersey Rail Road provided connecting service from Newark east to Jersey City via the Bergen Hill Cut. The original connection between the two lines was in downtown Newark; the M&E turned south on Broad Street to meet a branch of the NJRR at Market Street. Service to Paulus Hook in what is today Jersey City commenced on October 14, 1836 and passengers could transfer to the Jersey City Ferry and cross to lower Manhattan at the nearby ferry slips.

On January 1, 1838, the M&E was extended their route to Morristown. On October 29 of that year, an agreement was signed to move the NJRR connection to the foot of Centre Street (via the northeast side of Park Place, to the NJRR alignment along the Passaic River), and the track on Broad Street was removed. Through car service began August 1, 1843, with horse power used along the streets, between Broad Street station and the foot of Centre Street.

Continuations opened west to Dover on July 31, 1848, Hackettstown in January 1854, and the full distance to Phillipsburg in 1866.

A new alignment, including a bridge over the Passaic River, was built by the NJRR and opened on August 5, 1854, ending at East Newark Junction with the NJRR main line in Harrison. This eliminated the street running in downtown Newark; those tracks were removed the next year after a lawsuit was filed by Newark.

On March 6, 1857, a supplement to the M&E charter was passed, authorizing it to buy the new alignment (until then owned by the NJRR as their East Newark Branch) and build a new line to Jersey City, as long as it passed under Bergen Hill in a tunnel. With this authority, the M&E became important as a possible competitor to the NJRR, and began negotiations with the Camden and Amboy Railroad. The New Brunswick, Millburn and Orange Railroad was proposed as a connection between the two, allowing for a C&A route to Jersey City without using the NJRR.

The Hoboken Land and Improvement Company operated a ferry across the Hudson River between Hoboken and New York City. Until early 1859 the NJRR paid the HL&I for the business that instead used the NJRR ferry. Because of this, the HL&I decided to help the M&E by building their new alignment, using the New York and Erie Railroad's Long Dock Tunnel. To use the Erie's tunnel a supplement to their charter was needed; this was passed March 8, 1860 after arguments against the bill from the NJRR. Another legal obstacle was the NJRR's monopoly over bridges, granted to the Passaic and Hackensack Bridge Company, invalidated by the state in 1861. The first excursion train operated on the new alignment on November 14, 1862, but a contract required the M&E to continue using the NJRR until October 13, 1863. The next day, regular service began via the new alignment.

On November 1, 1865, the Atlantic and Great Western Railway leased the M&E as part of its planned route to the west. However, the A&GW went bankrupt in 1867 and the lease was cancelled. The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad leased the M&E on December 10, 1868, connecting to their Warren Railroad at Washington.

In 1868 the Morris & Essex leased the Newark and Bloomfield Railroad, which connected Roseville Avenue to Bloomfield and Montclair, then West Bloomfield.

In 1876 the new tunnel under Bergen Hill opened, after hostilities including a frog war in late 1870 and early 1871, caused by the M&E's attempts to modify the connection between their Boonton Branch, a newer freight bypass, and the Erie tunnel.

The DL&W built the New Jersey Cut-Off, a long low-grade bypass in northwestern New Jersey, opened in 1911 from the M&E at Port Morris west to Slateford Junction just inside Pennsylvania.

On July 26, 1945 the M&E was formally merged into the DL&W. However it remained the Morris and Essex Division, and even today New Jersey Transit calls it the Morris and Essex Lines. In 1960 the DL&W merged with the Erie Railroad to form the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad, becoming part of Conrail in 1976.

Stations

1. New York (Foot of Barclay Street)
2. New York (Foot of Christopher Street) (ferry)
3. Hoboken (MP 1.25) (ferry)
4. West End (MP 3.25)
5. Seaboard (MP 5)
6. Kearny Junction (MP7.0)
7. Harrison (MP 9)
8. Newark (MP 10) - Junction Newark and Bloomfield Railway
9. Roseville, Avenue (MP 11.0)
10. East Orange (MP 12)
11. Brick Church (MP 13)
12. Orange (MP 13)
13. Highland Avenue (MP 14)
14. Mountain Station (MP 15)
15. South Orange (MP 16)
16. Maplewood (MP 17)
17. Millburn (MP 19)
18. Short Hills (MP 20)
19. Summit (MP 22)
20. Chatham (MP 26)
21. Madison (MP 28)
22. Convent (MP 30)
23. Morristown (MP 32)
24. Morris Plains (MP 34)
25. Mount Tabor (MP 38)
26. Denville (MP 38) - Junction with Boonton Branch
27. Rockaway (MP 40)
28. Dover (MP 43) - Junction with Chester Railway
29. Wharton (MP 44)
30. Chester Junction (MP 45)
31. Lake Junction (MP 45) - Junction with Central Railroad of New Jersey
32. Mount Arlington (MP 47)
33. Drakesville (MP 48)
34. Lake Hopatcong (MP 49)
35. Port Morris Junction (MP 50)
36. Port Morris (MP 51)
37. Sussex Branch Junction (MP 53)
38. Netcong/Stanhope (MP 53)
39. Waterloo (MP 56) - Junction with Sussex Railroad of New Jersey
40. Hacketttstown (MP 62)
41. Port Murray (MP 67)
42. Washington (MP 71) - Junction with Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
43. Broadway (MP 76)
44. Stewartsville (MP 80)
45. Phillipsburg Union Station (MP 85)
46. Easton (MP 85), - Junction with Lehigh Valley Railroad, Central Railroad of New Jersey, and the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad

Branches

The Boonton Branch was first built as a short branch from the main line at Denville east to Boonton. It was later extended much further east toward Paterson to return to the main line at the west end of Bergen Hill; this opened on September 17, 1870. A realignment was later built at the west end, bypassing Denville and some curves, for a shortcut of both the branch and the main line. In 1903 the Kingsland Tunnel opened as part of a short realignment at Kingsland. The Harrison Cut-Off was also built around this time as a connection from the Boonton Branch at Kingsland south to the main line in Kearny.

The Morris and Essex Extension Railroad was chartered in 1889 and opened later that year, connecting the Boonton Branch to Paterson.

The Newark and Bloomfield Railroad was chartered in 1852 and opened in 1855 as a short branch from the main line at Roseville Avenue/Bloomfield Junction northwest to Montclair via Bloomfield. It was built by the M&E and mostly owned by them. The M&E leased it on April 1, 1868.

The New Jersey West Line Railroad was a failed plan to build a new line across the state; only the part from Summit on the M&E west to Bernardsville was completed, and it was soon renamed the Passaic and Delaware Railroad. The DL&W leased it on November 1, 1882 as a branch of the M&E. The Passaic and Delaware Extension Railroad was chartered in 1890 and opened later that year, extending the line to Gladstone.

The Chester Railroad was incorporated in 1867 and opened in 1872, running from the M&E west of Dover southwest to Chester.

The short Hopatcong Railroad was a branch from the M&E at Hopatcong north to Roxbury. The DL&W bought it in 1892.

The Sussex Railroad stretched north from the M&E at Waterloo (later Stanhope) to Newton and beyond. The DL&W leased it in 1924.

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