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1820-1890
1820s: Stephen Girard
He was born in 1750 in Bordeaux as the son of a naval captain. At a relatively young age, he also jumped into the water, then settled in Philadelphia in 1776 and began working as a merchant. Girard made significant fortunes from the export and import of various goods, and by 1810 he had become the richest man in the world. In 1811, he founded his own bank, which became the main creditor of the American government during the War of 1812. At the time of his death in 1831, the wealth of the philanthropic financier was $ 7.5 million, which was then 150 of America’s GDP (today, at such proportions, that would be more than $ 140 billion) and converted to today’s money of $ 182.2 million. it would be worth a dollar. He donated his fortune almost entirely to charity, and also received orphanages, libraries, and schools in Philadelphia and New Orleans.
1830s: Nathan Mayer Rothschild
After Girard’s death in 1831, Nathan Mayer Rothschild claimed the title of the richest man in the world. He was born in Frankfurt in 1777 and then moved to England in 1798, where he built textile factories and banking businesses, and his wealth was mainly due to these. At the time of his death in 1836, his wealth amounted to a little 0.62% of national income.
1840s: John Jacob Astor
John Jacob Astor was born in Germany in 1763, immigrated to America at the age of 21, where he was soon able to gain a monopoly in the market with the fur trade. At his death in 1848, he had $ 20 million in wealth, which would mean $ 599 million in today’s money.
1850s, 1860s, and 1870s: Cornelius Vanderbilt
He was born in 1794 on Staten Island, New York. Vanderbilt dropped out of school at age 11 and started a ferry service business at age 16. By the 1850s, with his wealth, he had become the richest man in the world. He also boarded the railroad in 1863, for which he sold all of his steamship interests a year later so that he could fully focus on rail investment. He created the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, one of the first megacorporations in the United States. At the time of his death in 1877, his fortune was $ 105 million, which would mean $ 2.6 billion today. He left much of his fortune to his eldest son, William Henry Vanderbilt.
1880s: William Henry Vanderbilt
William picked up where his father, Cornelius Vanderbilt, had left off and further expanded the family’s rail exhibition, while donating significant sums of money to charities. When he died in 1885, he doubled his family’s fortune to $ 232 million, which would mean $ 6.2 billion today.
1890s: John D. Rockefeller
Born in New York in 1839, he founded Standard Oil in 1870 and was on his way to getting 90% of America’s refined oil into his hands. In the 1890s, the barrel of oil also earned interests in iron ore and natural gas, and it also had a significant influence on the country’s rail industry. By 1916, he had become the world’s first billionaire.
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