He and his wife eventually had 12 children, one of whom died in childhood. He later bought the Canada Southern as well. He later explained that he wanted to show that he could take this railroad, which was generally considered worthless, and make it valuable. But the new Nicaraguan government refused to allow Vanderbilt to restart the transit business, so he started a line by way of Panama, eventually constructing a monopoly on the California steamship business. At the end of the year, the monopoly paid him a large amount to stop competing, and he switched his operations to Long Island Sound. Although Vanderbilt kept his own businesses running, he became Gibbons's business manager. Eventually he promoted him to operational manager of all his railroad lines. MAI TO JOV. William Harrison Gross M 1836 . The unsuccessful court battle lasted more than a year, and Cornelius Jeremiah Vanderbilt committed suicide in 1882. He was the favorite grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who left him $5 million, and the eldest son of William Henry Vanderbilt… He and his wife eventually had 13 children, one of whom died in childhood. Cornelius Vanderbilt's business was railroads. 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. Following his wife's death in 1868, Vanderbilt went to Canada where, on August 21, 1869, he married a cousin from Mobile, Alabama, named Frank Armstrong Crawford. In addition, he donated to churches around New York, including a gift to the Moravian Church on Staten Island of 8½ acres for a cemetery (the Moravian Cemetery). He married Maria Louisa … Explore how the celebrity world connects. Another calculation, from 1998, puts him in third place, after Andrew Carnegie. He said "I don't care half so much about making money as I do about making my point, and coming out ahead." Vanderbilt is also heavily associated with the standardization of gauges and the use of steel in rails. Walker was forced to give up, and was conducted out of the country by a U.S. Navy officer. Vanderbilt gave $1 million, the largest charitable gift in American history to that date. [13], In November 1855, Vanderbilt began to buy control of Accessory Transit once again. He suffered a grievous loss when George Washington Vanderbilt I, his youngest and favorite son, and heir apparent, a graduate of the United States Military Academy, fell ill and died without ever seeing combat. Death Following his wife Sophia's death in 1868, Vanderbilt went to Canada. Vanderbilt's life story has inspired works of fiction, including the ambitious character of Nat Taggart in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged (1957). They defeated the corner by issuing "watered stock" in defiance of state law, which restricted the number of shares a company could issue. Garrison. In early 1853, he took his family on a grand tour of Europe in his steamship yacht, the North Star. Vanderbilt took control of the company just before these developments were announced. In each case, the strife ended in a battle that Vanderbilt won. 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. I won't sue you, for the law is too slow. [16], Vanderbilt brought his son William Henry Vanderbilt in as vice-president of the Harlem. This brought him into direct conflict with Jay Gould and financier James Fisk, Jr., who had just joined Drew on the Erie board. In 1863, Vanderbilt took control of the Harlem in a famous stockmarket corner, and was elected its president. Jay Gould then started the American Telegraph Company and nearly forced Western Union out of business. Her cousin's husband, Holland Nimmons McTyeire, convinced Vanderbilt to endow what would become Vanderbilt University, named in his honor. The Court never heard Vanderbilt's case, because on March 2, 1824, it ruled in Gibbons' favor, saying that states had no power to interfere with interstate commerce. The depot was replaced by Grand Central Terminal in 1913. Ms. Crawford's great-grandfather, was a brother to Phebe Hand Vanderbilt (the Commodore's mother) and to Elizabeth Hand Johnson (the Commodore's former mother-in-law and maternal aunt). The protection of competitive interstate commerce is considered the basis for much of the prosperity which the United States has generated. In 1999, Cornelius Vanderbilt was inducted into the North America Railway Hall of Fame, recognizing his significant contributions to the railroad industry. Ethelinda Allen (born Vanderbilt) was born on month day 1818, at birth place, New York, to Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt and Sophia Vanderbilt (born Johnson). He spent a month recovering from injuries that included two cracked ribs and a punctured lung. At the end of the year, the monopoly paid him a large amount to stop competing, and he switched his operations to Long Island Sound. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney [1899-1992] was a prolific businessman and promoter. Rockefeller. Cornelius Vanderbilt was buried in the family vault in the Moravian Cemetery at New Dorp on Staten Island. View Cornelius Vanderbilt's Family Tree and History, Ancestry and Genealogy. [13] During the 1850s, Vanderbilt also bought control of a major shipyard and the Allaire Iron Works, a leading manufacturer of marine steam engines, in Manhattan. Dr. Jared Linsly testifying as to the mental and physical condition of Cornelius Vanderbilt, during court proceedings surrounding the challenge to his will. 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