Cornelius Vanderbilt

(May 27, 1794 - January 4, 1877)

Cornelius Vanderbilt was born on May 27, 1794, on Staten Island, New York, the son of Cornelius and Phebe Hand Vanderbilt. A descendant of early Dutch settlers, he grew up working alongside his father, who operated a small boat between Staten Island and Manhattan. His formal schooling was limited, and from boyhood he devoted himself to life on the water, quickly proving himself ambitious and resourceful.

Sophia Johnson Vanderbilt

On December 19, 1813, he married his cousin Sophia Johnson. They became the parents of thirteen children: Phebe Jane, Ethelinda, Eliza, William Henry, Emily Almira, Maria Louisa, Frances Lavinia, Cornelius Jeremiah, George Washington, Mary Alicia, Catherine Juliette, and two who died young, Susan and Sophia. Through William Henry Vanderbilt, Cornelius became the patriarch of a dynasty that would remain one of America’s wealthiest families for generations.

In 1817 he began working as a steamboat captain for Thomas Gibbons, who operated vessels between New Jersey and New York. By the late 1820s Vanderbilt had launched his own business, building and running steamships that served both passenger and freight traffic. During the California Gold Rush of the early 1850s, he created a route from New York to San Francisco by way of Nicaragua, which proved faster and less costly than competing services and added greatly to his fortune.

In the 1860s he turned his attention to railroads. Consolidating numerous smaller lines, he forged them into a unified system, most notably the New York Central, which became one of the nation’s leading rail networks. His business battles with rival financiers such as Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, particularly during the Erie Railroad War, established his reputation as a determined and often ruthless competitor.

Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt

Sophia died in 1868, and the following year he married his cousin Frank Armstrong Crawford, a woman over forty years his junior.

Frank was a devout Methodist and is believed to have influenced his decision to make his largest philanthropic gift, the $1 million endowment that established Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee,

in 1873. By this time, he had largely withdrawn from day-to-day management of his business empire, spending his last years in New York overseeing his fortune and enjoying the comforts of wealth.

Cornelius Vanderbilt died at his Manhattan home on January 4, 1877, at the age of eighty-two. His death was widely reported as the passing of one of America’s richest men, with an estate estimated at more than $100 million. His will was highly controversial: the vast majority of his fortune—about $95 million—was left to his son William Henry Vanderbilt, whom he considered the most capable of managing and preserving the family’s wealth. Smaller bequests were made to his other surviving children, and his widow Frank received an income and residence. The unequal distribution led to family disputes and legal challenges, though the will was ultimately upheld in court.

Old Vanderbilt Tomb

He was first laid to rest in the original Vanderbilt family tomb at Moravian Cemetery in New Dorp, Staten Island. In 1888, his remains, along with those of his parents, both wives, and daughter Frances, were transferred to the grand Vanderbilt Mausoleum in the Vanderbilt Cemetery, located beside Moravian Cemetery in New Dorp. His fortune and legacy placed him among the most powerful figures of the Gilded Age, and his name remains synonymous with American enterprise, ambition, and philanthropy.

The Vanderbilt Mausoleum Just after Completion

Above the crypt of Cornelius Vanderbilt the Carving of The Creator

The Rear Half Of the Vanderbilt Mausoleum, Cornelius Vanderbilt's crypt is on the far right.

Today the Vanderbilt Mausoleum is secured with Steel Doors & The Vents/Lighting domes at the top are sealed shut.