William Henry Vanderbilt

William Henry Vanderbilt, oil on canvas, around 1870

William Henry Vanderbilt's apartment building, 5th Avenue, New York, looking north from 51st Street

William Henry Vanderbilt (* 8. May 1821 in New Brunswick (New Jersey) , † 8. December 1885 in New York City ) was an American railroad - Tycoon and entrepreneurs . He was heir to the famous Vanderbilt family empire.

Live and act

William Henry Vanderbilt (called "Billy") was the eldest son of the twelve children of the railway tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794–1877), called The Commodore , and his wife Sophia Johnson (1795–1868).

William Vanderbilt's entrepreneurship education was carefully planned and overseen by his father. At the age of 18 he first worked in a New York bank . After joining the board of the Staten Island Railway , he became president of the Staten Island Railway in 1862 and, three years later, vice president of the Hudson River Railroad . In 1869 he became vice president of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, in 1877 its president. That year, when Cornelius Vanderbilt died, William Henry Vanderbilt took over as President of the New York Central Railroad , Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway , Canada Southern Railway, and Michigan Central Railroad .

His net worth is said to have been $ 194 million. Converted into today's purchasing power, this corresponded to a value of 231.6 billion US dollars in 2008, according to calculations by Forbes magazine .

Marriage and offspring

John Singer Sargent : Mrs. William Henry Vanderbilt, oil on canvas, 1888

In 1841 he married Maria Louisa Kissam (1821-1896) in New York City .

Nine children emerged from the mutual relationship:

Cornelius Vanderbilt II (1843–1899) ⚭ 1867 Alice Claypoole Gwynne (1845–1934)
Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt (1845–1924) ⚭ 1868 Elliott Fitch Shepard (1833–1893)
Allen (1846-1858)
William Kissam Vanderbilt (1849-1920)

⚭ 1875–1895 Alva Erskine Smith (1853–1933)

⚭ 1903 Ann Rutherford Sands Harriman (1861–1940)

Emily Thorn Vanderbilt (1852-1946)

⚭ 1872 William Douglas Sloane (1844–1915)

⚭ 1920 Henry White (1850–1927)

Florence Adele Vanderbilt (1854–1952) ⚭ 1877 Hamilton McKown Twombly (1849–1910)
Frederick William Vanderbilt (1856–1938) ⚭ 1878 Louise Holmes Anthony Torrance (1844–1926)
Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt (1860–1936) ⚭ 1881 William Seward Webb (1851–1926)
George Washington Vanderbilt II. (1862–1914) ⚭ 1898 Edith Stuyvesant Dresser (1873–1958)

Companies

literature

Arthur T Vanderbilt II: Fortune's Children. The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt. William Morrow, New York 1989, ISBN 0-688-07279-8 .

personal data
SURNAME	Vanderbilt, William Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American railroad tycoon and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH	May 8, 1821
PLACE OF BIRTH	New Brunswick (New Jersey)
DATE OF DEATH	December 8, 1885
Place of death	New York City