Cornelius+Vanderbilt



Cornelius Vanderbilt was born on May 27, 1794, in Staten Island, New York, and died on January 4, 1877, in New York City, New York, at age 82. As one of the richest men in history, he gained all his money by having successful railroad businesses and steamship businesses. As a boy, He had started to work on his father's ferry. At age 11, he quit school and at age 16 he decided to start his own ferry service. By ferrying freight and carrying passengers between Staten Island and Manhatten, he began his ferry service. In December of 1813, he married his first cousin, Sophia Johnson. Vanderbilt and his wife had 13 children together, including William Vanderbilt who later took his father's roles of presidency in his railroad businesses. As a steamship business man, he was included in a lot of business mergers and possibilities to succeed more. In November of 1833, an accident had occured on the Camden and Amboy Railroad in New Jersey. Vanderbilt was almost killed in the Hightstown rail accident. During the 1850s, Cornelius started to take interest in railroads. He had started to serve on the boards of directors of The Erie Railway, The New Jersey Central, The New Haven and Hartford, and The New York and Harlem. In 1863, he had taken control of The Harlem in a famous stock market corner. He wanted to take the railroad from worthless to one of the main railroads in the country. The railroad had run through 4th street, know known as Park Avenue, and stopped at a station on 26th street. The depot was replaced by Grand Central Terminal in 1913 Selling his last ships in 1864, he had started focusing on his railroads by taking control of The Hudson River Railroad, The New York Central Railroad, and the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway. While owning the New York and Hudson River Railroad, it became one of the first giant corporations in American History. After his wife's death in 1868, He had traveled to Canada to find his 2nd wife, Frank Armstrong Crawford, who was 43 years younger than Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt had created Vanderbilt University and gave 1 million dollars to the university. Also, for Crawford's congregation he bought her a church, The Church of the Strangers, for $50,000. On January 4, 1877, at age 82, he died immediately from exhaustion, brought on by long suffering from a complication of chronic disorders and was buried at his church, The Church of the Strangers. At his death, his fortune was estimated at $100 million, in which he gave 95% of it to his son William Vanderbilt who later took the roles of his companies.

Bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_Vanderbilt#Railroad_empire