Cornelius Vanderbilt

Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877) was a U.S. entrepreneur who built his wealth in shipping and railroads and was the patriarch of the Vanderbilt family. In later life he was known as Commodore Vanderbilt.

Early life

Cornelius was the fourth of nine children born in Port Richmond on Staten Island in New York City to a family of modest means. His great-great-great-grandfather, Jan Aertson, was a Dutch farmer from the village of De Bilt in Utrecht, the Netherlands, who immigrated to New York as an indentured servant in 1650. The Dutch "van der" (of the) was eventually added to Aertson's village name to create "van der bilt," which was eventually condensed to Vanderbilt.

On December 19, 1813 Cornelius Vanderbilt married his cousin and neighbor, Sophia Johnson (1795-1868), daughter of his mother's (Phebe Hand Vanderbilt) sister (Elizabeth Hand Johnson). He and his wife had 13 children, one of which, a boy, died young.

Ferry empire

As a young boy, Cornelius Vanderbilt worked on ferries in New York City, quitting school at age 11. By age 16 he was operating his own business, ferrying freight and passengers between Staten Island and Manhattan.

During the War of 1812 he received a government contract to supply the forts around New York City. He operated sailing schooners and that is where he gained his nickname of "commodore."

In 1818 he turned his attention to steamships. Working for Thomas Gibbons He undercut the prices charged by Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston for service between New Brunswick, New Jersey and Manhattan -- an important link in trade between New York and Philadelphia. Livingston and Fulton sued and the case went before the Supreme Court and ultimately broke the Fulton-Livingston monopoly on trade.

In 1829, he struck out his own to provide steam service on the Hudson River between Manhattan and Albany. By the 1840s he had 100 steamships plying the Hudson and was reputed to have the most employees of any business in the United States.

During the 1849 California Gold Rush he offered a shortcut via Nicaragua to California -- shaving 600 miles and half the price of the Panama isthmus shortcut.

Rail empire

Early rail interest

Vanderbilt's involvement with early railroad development led him into being involved in one of America's earliest rail accidents. On November 11, 1833, he was a passenger on a Camden & Amboy train that derailed in the meadows near Hightstown, New Jersey when a coach car axle broke due to a hot journal box, derailing part of the train. He spent a month recovering from injuries that included two cracked ribs and a punctured lung. Uninjured in this accident was former U.S. President John Quincy Adams, riding in the car ahead of the one that derailed.

In 1844 Vanderbilt was elected as a director of the Long Island Rail Road, which at the time provided a route between Boston and New York via a steamboat transfer. In 1857 he became a director of the New York and Harlem Railroad. [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1857%20Mar%2005.pdf

New York Central Railroad

Vanderbilt was 70 when he began in earnest building his rail empire.

In the early 1860s, Vanderbilt started withdrawing capital from steamships and investing in railroads. He acquired the New York and Harlem Railroad in 1862-1863, the Hudson River Railroad in 1864, and the New York Central Railroad in 1867. In 1869 they were merged into New York Central and Hudson River Railroad.

Grand Central Depot

Main article: Grand Central Terminal

In October 1871 Vanderbilt struck up a partnership with the New York and New Haven Railroad to join with the railroads he owned -- New York and Harlem Railroad and the New York Central Railroad to consolidate operations at one terminal at West 42nd Street called Grand Central Depot which was the original Grand Central Terminal where his statue reigns today. The glass roof of the depot collapsed during a blizzard on the same day Vanderbilt died in 1877, however, the station was not replaced until 1903-1913.

Rivalry with Jay Gould

By 1873 he had extended the lines to Chicago, Illinois. Around this time Vanderbilt tried to gain control of the Erie Railroad, which brought him into direct conflict with Jay Gould, who was then in control of the Erie. Gould won the battle for control of the railroad by "watering down" its stock, which Vanderbilt bought in large amounts. Vanderbilt lost more than $7 million in his attempt to gain control, although Gould later returned most of the money. Vanderbilt was very accustomed to getting what he wanted, but it seems that he met his match in Jay Gould. Vanderbilt would later say of his loss " never kick a skunk." In fact this was not the last time that Gould would serve to challenge a Vanderbilt. Years after his father's death, William Vanderbilt gained control of the Western Union Telegraph company. Jay Gould then started the American Telegraph Company and nearly forced Western Union out of business. William Vanderbilt then had no choice but to buy out Gould, who made a large profit from the sale.

Vanderbilt legacy

After the death of Sophia Vanderbilt, he ran away to elope in Canada where on August 21, 1869, he married a distant cousin from Mobile, Alabama by the name of Frank Armstrong Crawford. Ms. Crawford's mother was a sister to Phebe Hand Vanderbilt (the Commodore's mother) and to Elizabeth Hand Johnson (the Commodore's former mother-in-law and maternal aunt). Ms. Crawford was 43 years his junior. It was her nephew by marriage who convinced Cornelius Vanderbilt to commit funding for what would become Vanderbilt University.

Ruthless in business, Cornelius Vanderbilt was said by some to have made few friends in his lifetime but many enemies. His public perception was that of a vulgar, mean-spirited individual who made life miserable for everyone around him, including his family. He often said that women bought his stock because his picture was on the stock certificate. In his will, he disowned his sons except for William, who was as ruthless in business as his father and the one Cornelius believed capable of maintaining the business empire. At the time of his death, Cornelius Vanderbilt's fortune was estimated at more than $100 million. He willed $95 million to son William but only $500,000 to each of his eight daughters. His wife received $500,000 in cash, their modest New York City home, and 2,000 shares of common stock in New York Central Railroad.

It was also said that he was little concerned about his passengers' safety, as he insulted George Westinghouse and his newly-invented air brakes while many accidents occurred on Vanderbilt's trains.

Vanderbilt gave little of his vast fortune to charitable works, leaving the $1 million he had promised for Vanderbilt University and $50,000 to the Church of the Strangers in New York City. He lived modestly, leaving his descendants to build the flock of Vanderbilt houses that characterize America's Gilded Age.

Descendants

Main article: Vanderbilt family

Cornelius Vanderbilt was buried in the family vault in the Moravian Cemetery at New Dorp on Staten Island. Three of his daughters and son Cornelius Jeremiah Vanderbilt contested the will on the grounds that their father had insane delusions and was of unsound mind. The unsuccessful court battle lasted more than a year, and Cornelius Jeremiah committed suicide in 1882.

Vanderbilt is the great-great-great grandfather of journalist Anderson Cooper.

Surviving children of Cornelius Vanderbilt & Sophia Johnson:

Phebe Jane (Vanderbilt) Cross (1814-1878)
Ethelinda (Vanderbilt) Allen (1817-1889)
Eliza (Vanderbilt) Osgood (1819-1890)
William Henry Vanderbilt (1821-1885)
Emily Almira (Vanderbilt) Thorn (1823-1896)
Sophia Johnson (Vanderbilt) Torrance (1825-1912)
Maria Louisa (Vanderbilt) Clark Niven (1827-1896)
Frances Lavinia Vanderbilt (1828-1868)
Cornelius Jeremiah Vanderbilt (1830-1882)
Mary Alicia (Vanderbilt) LaBau Berger (1834-1902)
Catherine Juliette (Vanderbilt) Barker LaFitte (1836-1881)
George Washington Vanderbilt (1839-1864)

Quotes

"You have undertaken to cheat me. I won't sue you, for the law is too slow. I will ruin you." - Cornelius Vanderbilt in a letter to a former business associate. (1853)
"If I had learned education, I would not have had time to learn anything else." Cornelius Vanderbilt
"What do I care about law? Hain't I got the power?" Cornelius Vanderbilt.

Trivia

Some say that potato chips were invented after Native American chef George Crum grew tired of Vanderbilt's complaining about how his potatoes were too thick, too soggy, and not salty enough. Crum then decided to slice the potatoes as thin as possible and fried them, creating the first potato chips.

References

Burton W. Folsom, Jr., The Myth of the Robber Barons, Young America.
Robert Sobel The Big Board: A History of the New York Stock Market (1965) reprinted Beard Books (May 2000) ISBN 1893122662

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