The Vanderbilt Family (Anderson's lineage)
Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877)
Cornelius Vanderbilt 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.
Cornelius Vanderbilt was the fourth of nine children born in Port Richmond on Staten Island in New York 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
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 his eight daughters. His wife received a $500,000 in cash, their modest New York City home, and 2,000 shares of common stock in New York Central Railroad. (Wikipedia)
HIS CHILDREN:
- Phebe Jane (Vanderbilt) Cross (1814-1878)
- Ethelinda (Vanderbilt) Allen (1817-1889)
- Eliza (Vanderbilt) Osgood (1819-1890)
- William Henry Vanderbilt (1821-1885) (SEE BELOW)
- 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)
William Henry Vanderbilt (May 8, 1821 – December 8, 1885)
William Henry Vanderbilt was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He inherited nearly $100 million from his father Cornelius Vanderbilt and had increased it to about $200 million at his death less than nine years later. At the time, he was the richest man America had ever seen.
William Henry Vanderbilt was involved in a number of philanthropic causes including the YMCA, funding to help establish the Metropolitan Opera and an endowment for the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University.(Wikipedia)
HIS CHILDREN:
- Cornelius Vanderbilt II (1843-1899) SEE BELOW
- Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt-Shepherd (1845-1924)
- William Kissam Vanderbilt (1849-1920)
- Emily Thorn Vanderbilt (1852-1956)
- Florence Adele Vanderbilt -Twombly(1854-1952)
- Frederick William Vanderbilt (1856-1938)
- Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt-Webb (1860-1936)
- George Washington Vanderbilt II (1862-1914) (OWNER OF BILTMORE HOUSE)
Cornelius Vanderbilt II (November 27, 1843 – September 12, 1899)
He was the favorite grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who left him $5 million, and the eldest son of William Henry Vanderbilt, who left him close to $70 million. In his turn he succeeded them as head of the New York Central and related railroad lines in 1885.
He had a reputation as something of a workaholic, though a stroke in 1896 compelled him to reduce his active business involvement. He married Alice Claypoole Gwynne (1852-1934). Their eldest son William Henry Vanderbilt II (1870-1892) died while a junior at Yale University, and Cornelius endowed a large dormitory there. He disinherited his second son Cornelius Vanderbilt III (1873-1942) for marrying without his permission. Third son Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt (1877-1915) went down with the RMS Lusitania. His remaining son was Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt. His daughters were Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and Countess Gladys Vanderbilt Széchenyi.
The fabulous Fifth Avenue mansions he, his brothers, and his sons lived in have been demolished, but the Newport, Rhode Island vacation home he built, The Breakers, still stands as a memory of the lifestyle of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. (Wikipedia)
Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt (1880 – September 4, 1925)
Known as Reggie, he was the youngest son of American railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt II and his wife Alice Claypoole Gwynne (1845-1934). He attended Yale University, where he acquired a reputation for dissipation—and no diploma.
His first wife, whom he married on April 14, 1903, was Cathleen Gebhard Neilson. They had a daughter, Cathleen (1904-1944), and were divorced in 1919. His second wife, whom he married in 1923, was Gloria Laura Mercedes Morgan (1904-1965). They had a daughter, Gloria Vanderbilt (1924- ), who is the mother of journalist Anderson Cooper. By the time Reggie Vanderbilt met Gloria Morgan, he had already squandered the $7 million willed to him by his late father and was using up a $5 million trust set up for him by his grandfather.
Reginald Vanderbilt died of liver failure due to alcohol abuse and was interred in the Vanderbilt family vault in the Moravian Cemetery at New Dorp on Staten Island, New York.
He left a $4 million Trust for Gloria to be administered by her mother but it caused a much publicized court case for the custody of his daughter with his sister, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney who eventually won custody in 1934.(Wikipedia)
Gloria Laura Vanderbilt (B. February 20, 1924)
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