In this time of his dawning prosperity, while still inhabiting the small house of which his store was a part, he married.  Sarah Todd was the maiden name of his wife.  As a connection of the family of Brevoort, she was then considered to be somewhat superior to her husband in point of social rank, and she brought him a fortune, by no means despised by him at that time, of three hundred dollars.  She threw herself heartily into her husband’s growing business, laboring with her own hands, buying, sorting, and beating the furs.  He used to say that she was as good a judge of the value of peltries as himself, and that her opinion in a matter of business was better than that of most merchants.

Of a man like Astor all kinds of stories will be told, some true, some false; some founded upon fact, but exaggerated or distorted.  It is said, for example, that when he went into business for himself, he used to go around among the shops and markets with a basket of toys and cakes upon his arm, exchanging those articles for furs.  There are certainly old people among us who remember hearing their parents say that they saw him doing this.  The story is not improbable, for he had no false pride, and was ready to turn his hand to anything that was honest.

Mr. Astor still traversed the wilderness.  The father of the late lamented General Wadsworth used to relate that he met him once in the woods of Western New York in a sad plight.  His wagon had broken down in the midst of a swamp.  In the melee all his gold had rolled away through the bottom of the vehicle, and was irrecoverably lost; and Astor was seen emerging from the swamp covered with mud and carrying on his shoulder an axe,—­the sole relic of his property.  When at length, in 1794, Jay’s treaty caused the evacuation of the western forts held by the British, his business so rapidly extended that he was enabled to devolve these laborious journeys upon others, while he remained in New York, controlling a business that now embraced the region of the great lakes, and gave employment to a host of trappers, collectors, and agents.  He was soon in a position to purchase a ship, in which his furs were carried to London, and in which he occasionally made a voyage himself.  He was still observed to be most assiduous in the pursuit of commercial knowledge.  He was never weary of inquiring about the markets of Europe and Asia, the ruling prices and commodities of each, the standing of commercial houses, and all other particulars that could be of use.  Hence his directions to his captains and agents were always explicit and minute, and if any enterprise failed to be profitable it could generally be distinctly seen that it was because his orders had not been obeyed.  In London, he became most intimately conversant with the operations of the East-India Company and with the China trade.  China being the best market in the world for furs, and furnishing commodities which in America had become necessaries of life, he was quick to perceive what an advantage he would have over other merchants by sending his ships to Canton provided with furs as well as dollars.  It was about the year 1800 that he sent his first ship to Canton, and he continued to carry on commerce with China for twenty-seven years, sometimes with loss, generally with profit, and occasionally with splendid and bewildering success.