The richest person in the world 200 years ago was probably one of these: Czar Alexander I of Russia, Muhammad Ali, khedive of Egypt, Mahmud II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, or American entrepreneur John Jacob Astor. I wouldn't mind having the power that each of them wielded.
John Jacob Astor went down with the Titanic. All the money in the world didn’t make him less mortal than the rest of the passengers who drowned/froze to death with him.