Who was Americas first millionaire?
Actually several claims have been made for that title complicated by how one wishes to measure wealth especially when the late 1700s were a time when financing was much more creative than today (2008)…. Several sources cite John Jacob Astor whose fortune was made well after 1800 but others push the date back to the 1770s… Claims have also been made for Robert Morris who helped to finance America’s Revolution and who ended his days in a debtors prison. Will toss links and snippets at you and let you make up your own mind.. Elias Hasket Derby http://209.10.134.179/65/de/DerbyElH.htm… “””(dûr´b) (KEY) , 1739–99, American merchant, b. Salem, Mass. He inherited the considerable wealth and maritime business that his father, Richard Derby (1712–83), also of Salem, had acquired in trade with Spain and the West Indies previous to the American Revolution. In the Revolution, Elias increased his wealth by fitting out a numb
