William Henry Vanderbilt

William Henry Vanderbilt ( born May 8, 1821 in New Brunswick ( New Jersey); † December 8, 1885 in New York City ) was an American railroad tycoon and entrepreneur. He was heir to the famous Vanderbilt family empire.

Life and work

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

His father planned and monitored carefully William Vanderbilt's entrepreneurial training. At the age of 18, he first worked in a New York bank. After joining the board of the Staten Iceland Rail Road, he became its President in 1862 and three years later became vice president of the Hudson River Railroad. In 1869, he became vice president of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, 1877 its president. This year, as Cornelius Vanderbilt died, William Henry Vanderbilt took over as president of the New York Central Railroad, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, the Canada Southern Railway and Michigan Central Railroad.

He is said to have a fortune of 194 million U.S. dollars. After calculating the Forbes magazine in 2008 which corresponded to a value of 231.6 billion U.S. dollars.

Marriage and issue

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

From the joint compound nine children were born:

  • 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)
  • Emily Thorn Vanderbilt (1852-1946)
  • 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 )

Business

  • Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad
  • Chicago and Canada Southern Railway
  • Detroit and Bay City Railroad
  • Hudson River Railroad
  • Hudson River Bridge
  • Joliet and Northern Indiana Railroad
  • Michigan Midland and Canada Railroad
  • New York Central and Hudson River Railroad
  • New York Central Sleeping Car Company
  • New York and Harlem Railroad
  • Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad
  • Staten Iceland Rail - Road
New Brunswick (New Jersey) John Singer Sargent Alva Belmont Edith Vanderbilt
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