ASTOR, JOHN JACOB. Autograph letter signed ("John Jacob Astor," with paraph) to John Henry, Ballston Springs [New York], 5 August 1797. 1 page, 4to, integral address panel in Astor's hand, stamped postmark "Schen[ectady] Aug.7." The financier, who has apparently been staying at a spa, informs Henry that it is "Mrs. Hallowell's...intention to leave this monday morning with the stage, when I shall have the pleasure to accompany her to Albany," and explains their delay: "...we meant to have gone off this day but the badness of the wheather prevented our setting out." Astor (1763-1848) emigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1784. He entered the fur trade in 1786, and prospered to the extent that he founded Astoria, a trading post on the Columbia River in 1810, made substantial loans to the Federal government (1814), and eventually monopolized the Mississippi Valley fur trade, retiring in 1834. His letters, especially of relatively early date like this example, are rarely encountered.