Elizabeth
Patterson Bonaparte was, for a
couple of years, the sister-in-law of Napoleon
Bonaparte, Emperor of France. Unfortunately,
Napoleon did not agree with her marriage to his
younger brother, and had the marriage annulled. |
John
Jacob Astor started in the fur
business in 1784, and by 1800 had a net worth of
$250,000. In 1811 one of his companies founded
what is now Astoria, Oregon, and by the early
1820's he had a total monopoly on fur trade in
the United States. |