Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794 - 1877)

Born 27 May 1794 in Port Richmond, Richmond, New York, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Sophia (Johnson) Vanderbilt — married 19 Dec 1813 (to 17 Aug 1868) in New York, New York

Husband of Frank Armstrong (Crawford) Vanderbilt — married 21 Aug 1869 in London, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada

Descendants

Died 4 Jan 1877 at age 82 in New York City, New York, United States

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Biography

Cornelius Vanderbilt is Notable.

Cornelius Vanderbilt was a 19th Century American shipping and railroad tycoon. He was best known as the patriarch of the socially prominent Vanderbilt family of New York, and as the founder of the New York Central Railroad. ^[1][2]

Cornelius was born and grew up in Staten Island, New York. He was the child of Cornelius van Derbilt and Phebe Hand van Derbilt, and had nine brothers and sisters.

His name translated from Dutch, literally means "From De Bilt" which is where his great-great-great grandfather, Jan Aertzoon, came from.

He quit school at age 11 to work on his father's ferry in New York Harbor; when he was age 16 he operated his own boat and transporting goods and passengers between Staten Island and Manhattan.^[3]

Cornelius worked as a Ship Transport entrepreneur, later after building his wealth he paid the expenses for the building of new rail lines and was considered a Rail Transport Magnate.

During the 1830s, textile mills were built in large numbers in New England as the United States developed its manufacturing base. Some of the first railroads in the United States were built from Boston to Long Island Sound, to connect with steamboats that ran to New York. By the end of the decade, Vanderbilt dominated the steamboat business on the Sound, and began to take over management of the connecting railroads. In the 1840s, he launched a campaign to take over the most attractive of these lines, the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad, popularly known as the Stonington. By cutting fares on competing lines, Vanderbilt drove down the Stonington stock price, and took over the presidency of the company in 1847. It was the first of the many railroads he would head.^[1]

Cornelius Vanderbilt was the founder of Vanderbilt University^[2][3], the Provident Loan Society^[2] and the New York Central Railroad^[2][3]. He served on the Board of Directors of the Erie Railway, Central Railroad of New Jersey, Hartford and New Haven Railroad, and the New York and Harlem Railroad.^[1]

The one thing that people in modern day know most about him is his incredible wealth, which, he acquired with hard work throughout his life. Upon his death in 1877, his wealth was estimated to be worth $215 billion in 2016 United States dollars.

It was January 4, 1877 when Cornelius passed away from typhoid fever. He was buried in the family vault in the Moravian Cemetery at New Dorp on Staten Island.^[1]

Birth

• Cornelius "The Commodore" Vanderbilt was born on May 27, 1794, in Staten Island, New York to Phebe Hand, age 27, and Cornelius Vanderbilt, age 29.^[1][2][3][4]

Marriages

• Cornelius "The Commodore" Vanderbilt married Sophia Johnson, his cousin, in Staten Island, New York, on November 19, 1813, when he was 19 years old. They had 13 children.^{[1][5][2][3][4]}
• Cornelius "The Commodore" Vanderbilt married Frank "Frankie" Armstrong Crawford in London, Ontario, Canada, on August 21, 1869, when he was 75 years old.^{[1][6][7][2][4]}

Death

• Cornelius "The Commodore" Vanderbilt died on January 4, 1877, in Staten Island, New York, when he was 82 years old. At the time of his death, aged 82, Vanderbilt had an estimated worth of $105 million ($215 billion at 2016 $ value).^[1][2][3][4]

Burial

• Cornelius was buried in the Moravian Cemetery, and later reinterred in The Vanderbilt Mausoleum in the Vanderbilt Family Cemetery and Mausoleum in New Dorp, Richmond County (Staten Island), New York.^[8][1]

Children

• Cornelius and Sophia had the following issue:^[1]
  1. Phoebe Jane Vanderbilt, b. 1814, d. 1878
  2. Ethelinda Vanderbilt, b. 1817, d. 1889
  3. Eliza Vanderbilt, b. 1819, d. 1890
  4. William Henry Vanderbilt,1 b. 8 May 1821, d. 8 Dec 1885
  5. Emily Almira Vanderbilt, b. 1823, d. 1896
  6. Sophia Johnson Vanderbilt, b. 1825, d. 1912
  7. Maria Louisa Vanderbilt, b. 1827, d. 1896
  8. Frances lavinia Vanderbilt, b. 1828, d. 1868
  9. Cornelius Jeremiah Vanderbilt, b. 1830, d. 1882
  10. George Washington Vanderbilt (1832–1836)
  11. Mary Alicia Vanderbilt, b. 1834, d. 1902
  12. Catherine Juliette Vanderbilt, b. 1836, d. 1881
  13. George Washington Vanderbilt, b. 1839, d. 1864

Founder

• 1873 - Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee^[2][3]
• Accessory Transit Company
• Provident Loan Society
• New York Central Railroad^[2][3]

Property

• Opened Grand Central Depot, later replaced by theGrand Central Terminal in 1913. ^[1][3]

Businesses Owned by Vanderbilt (other than Railroads) ^[1][3]

• Staten Island Ferry (1838-1858)
• Accessory Transit Company, Founder
• Several other small businesses,

Railroads controlled by Vanderbilt ^[1][3]

• New York and Harlem Railroad (1863–)
• Hudson River Railroad (1864–)
• New York Central Railroad (1868–), Founder
• Canada Southern Railway (1873–)
• Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway (1873?–)
• Michigan Central Railroad (1877–)
• New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate Road, 1882–)
• West Shore Railroad (1885–)
• Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad
• Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley and Pittsburgh Railroad
• Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway
• Lake Erie and Western Railroad
• Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad

Honors Received

• Cornelius was awarded the United Stated Congressional Gold Medal for his contributions during the Civil War.^[1][3][4]
• In 1999, Cornelius Vanderbilt was inducted into the North America Railway Hall of Fame, recognizing his significant contributions to the railroad industry^[1]

Occupation

• Railroad/water transport businessman, philanthropist^[1][2][3][4]

Research Notes

• Mistress: Tennessee Celeste Claflin Bartels Cook.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16} Wikipedia contributors, "Cornelius Vanderbilt," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cornelius_Vanderbilt&oldid=1051560822 (accessed November 13, 2021)
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10} Hamm, Margherita Arlina. Famous Families of New York - Historical and Biographical Sketches of Families which in successive generations have been Identified with the Development of the Nation, Vol II, page 207-209. G.P. Putnum’s Sons; New York; 1901 https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/98950-redirection
3. ↑ ^{3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12} Wilson, James Grant and Fiske, John, Editors. Appleton’s Cyclopedia of American History, Volume VI, . Sunderland - Zurita, page240-241. D. Appleton and Company; New York; 1889. https://archive.org/details/AppletonsCyclopediaOfAmericanBiographyVol.6/page/n1/mode/2up
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5} Hall, Henry, Ed. America's Successful Men of Affairs: An Encyclopedia of Contemporaneous Biography. Vol I.Page 207-209. New York: The New York Tribune; 1895. https://archive.org/details/americassuccessf01hallrich/page/n7/mode/1up
5. ↑ Renehan, Edward J., Jr. (2009). Commodore: The Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Basic Books. p. 39. ISBN 9780465010301 – via Google Books
6. ↑ Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Reel: 1, page 367. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7921/images/ONMS932_1-0391?pId=3365911
7. ↑ Weekly Atchison Champion; Publication Date: 28/ Aug/ 1869; Publication Place: Atchison, Kansas, USA; URL: https://www.newspapers.com/image/95928014/?article=174cee24-f80b-4782-8afc-fb2ac23b8958&focus=0.8569297,0.65701246,0.977191,0.6785212&xid=3398
8. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1058/cornelius-vanderbilt : accessed 12 November 2021), memorial page for Cornelius Vanderbilt (27 May 1794–4 Jan 1877), Find a Grave Memorial ID 1058, citing Vanderbilt Family Cemetery and Mausoleum, New Dorp, Richmond County (Staten Island), New York, USA ; Maintained by Find a Grave .

See also:

• "Fortune Magazine's "richest Americans"". [1] CNN. Archived from the original on September 13, 2009
• Renehan, Edward J., Jr. (2009). Commodore: The Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Basic Books. p. 39. ISBN 9780465010301 – via Google Books
• New York, Births and Christenings, 1640-1962 index, FamilySearch, Cornelius Van Der Bilt, 27 May 1794; citing , reference ; FHL microfilm 476226.
• Ontario Marriages, 1869-1927 index, FamilySearch, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Frank A Crawford, 21 Aug 1869; citing registration 1108, London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada, Archives of Ontario, Toronto; FHL microfilm 1862473.

• London Public Library Marriage of Cornelius Vanderbilt & Frank Armstrong (Crawford) Elliot. August 21, 1869. London, Ontario, Canada.
• Wilson, John Grant and Fiske, John, Ed., Appleton’s Cyclopedia to American Biography, Sunderland -Zurita, Volume VI, D Appleton and Company; New York; 1889. Page 240-242. https://archive.org/details/appletonscyclop06wilsuoft/mode/2up