VAXDERBILT
VAXDERBILT
eminent accept lier as a present from their hum-
ble servant ? " He received no reply to his com-
munication, and subsequently, wlien long range
cannon came into use, the government accepted
'•the gift." In 1864, when the state department,
through J. C. Derby, despatch agent to New-
York, delivered to Mr. Vanderbilt a resolution
which had been passed " presenting the thanks
of Congress to Cornelius Vanderbilt for a gift of
the steamship Vanderbilt," approved, Jan. 28,
1864. by President Lincoln, Speaker Colfax and
Vice-President Hamlin, Mr. Vanderbilt, after
carefully reading the resolutions, is reported to
have said, " Congress be damned ! I never gave
that ship to congress. When the government
was in great straits for a suitable vessel of war, I
offered to give the ship if they did not care to
buy it; however, Mr. Lincoln and Mr. AVelles
think it was a gift, and I suppose I shall have to
let her go." The gold medal ordered to besti'uck
to •' fitly embody an attestation of the nation's
gratitude for the gift " was delivered in 1865. He
sold all his steamboat interests in 1859, when
sixty-five years of age, and engaged in specula-
tion in Wall street, purchasing shares in the New
York and Harlem and New York and New Haven
railroads for a low price. He successfully oper-
ated a corner in Norwich and Worcester railroad
stock ; was elected president of the New York
and Harlem road in 1863, and in 1864 managed a
corner in the stock of the Hudson River road,
uniting it with the Harlem road. In 1867 he be-
came president of the New York Central railroad,
and in 1869 of the consolidated New York Central
and Hudson River railroad. He placed 1000
miles of track ; established new fast trains ; built
new stations; adopted a four track system, and
made the railroads under his control one of the
great trunk line systems of the country. He en-
deavored to corner the stock of the Erie railway,
and tlius gain complete control of the z-ailroad
system in tlief state, but failed, and the road
passed into the hands of Jay Gould and James
Fisk, Jr. In 1868. he organized and consolidated
liis railroad interests between New York and
Chicago. He was also interested in the Western
Union Telegraph company and other valuable
stocks, and at the time of his death, his fortune was
estimated variously at from $60,000,000 to $100,-
000,000. He was twice married : first, in 1813, to
Sophia Johnson, who died in 1868, and secondly
in 1869, to Frances Crawford of Mobile, Ala. He
gave $50,000 for the property and buildings of
the Mercer Street church, which became the
Church of the Strangers, New York city, and
presented the same to the Rev. Dr. Charles F.
Deems, in trust, and soon after, probably through
the suggestion of Dr. Deems and Bishop McTyeire,
he founded Vanderbilt university at Nashville,
X. — 16
Tenn., at a cost of $1,000,000, which gift was lib-
erally supplemented by gifts from his son and
grandsons. By his will, he bequeathed to his
eldest sou, William Henry Vanderbilt, nine-
tenths of his entire fortune, leaving $11,000,000
to the latter's four sons, and $4,000,000 to his
own daughters. In selecting names for a place
in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, New
York university, October, 1900, the name of Cor-
nelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877), was one of the six
named in " Class B, Business men, and received
29 votes, the largest number in the class. He
died in New York city, Jan. 4. 1877.
VANDERBILT, Cornelius, capitalist, was born in New Dorp, S.I., Nov. 27, 1843; eldest son of William Henry and Maria Louisa (Kissam) Van- derbilt. He received a good education ; engaged in business as a clerk in the Shoe and Leather bank of New York, and later in the brokerage office of Kissam Brothers, and in 1865 lie held a posi- tion in the office of the Harlem railroad, becoming treasurer of the company. He was married in Feb- ruary, 1867, to Alice, daughter of Abram E. Gwynne of Cin- cinnati, Ohio. In 1877, on the acces- sion of his father to
tlie presidency of
the New York Central and Hudson River rail- road, Cornelius became first vice-president with financial control of the road, and in 1883, when his father retired, was elected president of the Canada Southern railway, and chairman of the board of directors of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad compain-, and of the Michigan Central Railroad company. In 1886 he became president of the New York and Harlem railroad and of the Beech Creek railroad. He gave $100,000 toward the erection of the Protes- tant Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in New York city, and built a club house for the employees of the New York Central and Hudson River railroad. He was elected a trustee of Columbia college, a vestryman of St. Barthol- omew church, and trustee of the Theological seminary, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and of the American Museum of Natural History. The bulk of his fortune of $70,000,000 he left to his son, Alfred Gwynne. His eldest son Corne- lius, with whom he had quarreled when the son disregraded his wishes as to contracting a mar- riage with Miss Wilson, was cut off with the in-
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