Page 95 - Cousins - Celebrities, Saints & Sinners

Livingston and Robert Fulton, who had designed the steamboat. Though both Livingston and Fulton had died
by the time Vanderbilt started working for Gibbons, the monopoly was held by Livingston's heirs. They had
granted a license to Aaron Ogden to run a ferry between New York and New Jersey. Gibbons launched his
steamboat venture because of a personal dispute with Ogden, whom he hoped to drive into bankruptcy. To
accomplish this, he undercut prices and also brought a landmark legal case – Gibbons v. Ogden – to the United
States Supreme Court to overturn the monopoly.
Working for Gibbons, Vanderbilt learned to operate a large and complicated business. He moved with his
family to New Brunswick, New Jersey, a stop on Gibbons' line between New York and Philadelphia. There his
wife Sophia operated a very profitable inn, using the proceeds to feed, clothe and educate their children.
After Thomas Gibbons died in 1826, Vanderbilt worked for Gibbons' son William until 1829. Though he had
always run his own businesses on the side, he now worked entirely for himself.
In 1834, Vanderbilt competed on the Hudson River against the Hudson River Steamboat Association, a
steamboat monopoly between New York City and Albany. Using the name "The People's Line," he used the
populist language associated with Democratic president Andrew Jackson to get popular support for his
business. At the end of the year, the monopoly paid him a large amount to stop competing, and he switched
his operations to Long Island Sound.
During the 1830s, textile mills were built in large numbers in New England as the United States developed its
manufacturing base. They processed cotton from the Deep South, so were directly tied to the slave societies.
Some of the first railroads in the United States were built from Boston to Long Island Sound, to connect with
steamboats that ran to New York. By the end of the decade, Vanderbilt dominated the steamboat business on
the Sound, and began to take over management of the connecting railroads. In the 1840s, he launched a
campaign to take over the most attractive of these lines, the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad,
popularly known as the Stonington. By cutting fares on competing lines, Vanderbilt drove down the Stonington
stock price, and took over the presidency of the company in 1847. It was the first of the many railroads he
would head.
When the Confederate ironclad Virginia (popularly known in the North as the Merrimack) wrought havoc with
the Union blockading squadron at Hampton Roads, Virginia, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and
th
President Abraham Lincoln (8 cousin, 4 times removed) called on Vanderbilt for help. He responded by
donating the Vanderbilt to the Union navy, equipping it with a ram and staffing it with handpicked officers. It
helped bottle up the Virginia, after which Vanderbilt converted it into a cruiser to hunt for the Confederate
commerce raider Alabama, captained by Raphael Semmes. For donating the Vanderbilt, he was awarded
a Congressional Gold Medal.

One of Vanderbilt's great-great-granddaughters, Gloria Vanderbilt, was a renowned fashion designer, and her
youngest son, Anderson Cooper, is a television news anchor. Another descendant is actor Timothy Olyphant.

Cornelius' grandsons, George Washington Vanderbilt II, built the 250-room Biltmore Estate in the mountains
of Asheville, North Carolina, as his main residence with part of his inheritance from his grandfather. It still
retains the title of the largest privately owned home in the United States, though it is open to the public.

References:
1. Relative Finder, associated with FamilySearch, and the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS)
2. Wikipedia.org
3. Learn more – Cornelius Vanderbilt
4. LDS Family Tree attached

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