Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt
Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt (born October 20, 1877 in New York City , New York , † May 7, 1915 ) was an American entrepreneur and member of the prominent American Vanderbilt family . He died when the RMS Lusitania was sunk in the Atlantic off Ireland .
Live and act
Vanderbilt was one of six children of the wealthy businessman and financier Cornelius Vanderbilt II (1843-1899) and his wife Alice Claypoole Gwynne (1845-1934) and a great-grandson of the American entrepreneur Cornelius Vanderbilt . His siblings were
- William Henry Vanderbilt II (1870-1892)
- Cornelius Vanderbilt III (1873-1942), was born because of Marriage of the gardener's daughter Grace Wilson disinherited.
- Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875-1942)
- Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt (1880-1925)
- Gladys Moore Vanderbilt (1886-1965).
Alfred Vanderbilt studied at St. Paul's School in Concord , New Hampshire and later at Yale University ; as a Yale student he was accepted into the local Skull & Bones secret society. After graduation, Vanderbilt went on a world tour with some friends that lasted two years. In Japan he received the news of his father's death on September 29, 1899. At the last will of his father, Alfred became head of the family branch.
In the offices of the New York Central Railroad he began as an employee to familiarize himself with the administration of the various companies in order to be able to fill the position of majority owner. Subsequently, he was elected as a director in the companies, including Fulton Chain Railway Company, Fulton Navigation Company, Raquette Lake Railway Company, Raquette Lake Transportation Company and the Plaza Bank of New York.
Alfred Vanderbilt's eldest brother William died at the age of 22 and his other brother Cornelius had been disinherited by his father because of his inappropriate marriage to Grace Wilson . Therefore, after the death of his father, Alfred received most of his fortune; the rest of the inheritance was shared between his youngest brother Reginald and his father's sisters. Among Alfred Vanderbilt's major equity interests were positions on the New York Central Railroad , Beech Creek Railroad , Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway , Michigan Central Railroad , Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, and the Pullman Company .
He also developed a flair for real estate deals. He had the Plaza Hotel built on Park Avenue and 34th Street on the site of his family's former homes, including some adjacent land , which opened on October 1, 1890 and where Vanderbilt also took his townhouse. The first Plaza Hotel was demolished in 1905 to build a larger one in 27 months, which opened on October 1, 1907. In 1892 the New Netherlands Hotel and the Savoy Hotel opened across the street.
Marriages and children
On January 11, 1901, Vanderbilt married in Newport , Rhode Island, Ellen Tuck French, called "Elsie", the daughter of the President of the Manhattan Trust Company, Francis Ormond French (1839-1893), and his wife Ellen Tuck. Elsie was a niece of the banker Edward Tuck. On November 24th of the same year the only child
- William Henry Vanderbilt III (1901–1981), born who later became Governor of the US state of Rhode Island .
After Alfred Vanderbilt committed adultery with Agnes O'Brien Ruiz, wife of the Cuban trade attaché in Washington, DC , it sparked a social scandal. In 1901 he built Vanderbilt Hall in Newport, Rhode Island, which is now a hotel, for his lover. Both the Ruiz and Vanderbilts were divorced, and Agnes Ruiz died of suicide. Alfred and Elsie Vanderbilt were divorced on April 1, 1908. Elsie married the Navy Lieutenant Paul Fitzsimons on April 3, 1919. She died on February 27, 1948.
After the divorce, Vanderbilt spent time in London. On December 17, 1911, he married in Surrey , England, the eight years younger divorced Margaret Emerson (1884-1960), daughter of the wealthy drug manufacturer Captain Isaac Edward Emerson (1859-1931) and his wife Emily Askew. She was the sole heir to the Bromo-Seltzer estate. From 1902 to 1910 she was with the surgeon Dr. Smith Hollins McKim, who came from a long-established family in Baltimore, Maryland.
Alfred Vanderbilt and Margaret Emerson had two sons together:
- Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt II (1912–1999), later a well-known race horse breeder as well
- George Washington Vanderbilt III (1914–1961), sports sailor and scientific explorer.
Margaret kept Sagamore Camp, bought in 1901 by Alfred G. Vanderbilt . She kept the property for 39 years and spent her holidays here with her children and grandchildren until 1954. Then she handed it over to Syracuse University .
Vanderbilt's widow Margaret married twice: first on June 12, 1918 in Lenox, Massachusetts Raymond T. Baker, Congressman and diplomat from Washington, DC, and on November 5, 1928 in Manhattan, New York, Charles Minot Amory from Boston. In some reports and newspaper articles about the American upper class of the time, Margaret was often referred to as the most married woman of her time (" most married woman of her time"). She died on January 2, 1960 at the age of 75.
death
On May 1, 1915, Alfred Vanderbilt embarked first class in New York aboard the RMS Lusitania to chair a horse breeders' congress in London .
It is said that he was warned in vain by his friars. An alleged telegram to him from the same day is said to have read: “Lusitania doomed. Don't travel with her. Death. ” An article was published on the front page of the Washington Times on the day of the ship's departure that: a. Vanderbilt had received a warning that the ship would be torpedoed. On the trip he was accompanied by his valet Ronald Denyer. On board Vanderbilt met many old friends such as the New York theater producer Charles Frohman or the actress Rita Jolivet . Six days after the departure of the ocean liner in the Irish Channel from was U-boat U 20 of the Imperial German Navy torpedoed. After two explosions on board, the ship sank in just eighteen minutes. Vanderbilt and his servant helped many women and children into the boats; they themselves were among the approximately 1200 fatalities. Vanderbilt's body was never found.
His sister Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney founded the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City in 1931 .
See also
literature
- Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt In: The Cyclopaedia of American biography New enl. ed. of Appleton's cyclopaedia of American biography , originally edited by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske. Revision to 1914 complete under editorial supervision of Charles Dick and James E. Homans (1918) Volume VIII, pp. 42–44.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Plaza-Hotel history
- ^ Vanderbilt Houses
- ↑ The Vanderbilt Grace is an historic boutique hotel
- ↑ Great Camp Sagamore ( Memento from September 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) - History the rest
- ↑ chroniclingamerica.loc.gov: Washington Times front page , May 1, 1915, accessed Dec 28, 2014
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Vanderbilt, Alfred Gwynne |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American entrepreneur and member of the American Vanderbilt family |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 20, 1877 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City , New York |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 7, 1915 |
| Place of death | Irish Sea |