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Cornelius Vanderbilt
Sign in to saveAlso known as Commodore Vanderbilt, Cornelius Vanderbilt I
American businessman and tycoon (1794–1877)
OverviewAI-generated
Cornelius Vanderbilt was a male American entrepreneur born on May 27, 1794, on Staten Island. He was a member of the Vanderbilt family and spoke English. Vanderbilt received the Congressional Gold Medal during his lifetime. He died on January 4, 1877, in Manhattan and was buried at Moravian Cemetery. His son was William Henry Vanderbilt.
The subject is described in sources including Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography, Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, The Nuttall Encyclopædia, and the 11th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica. A quote attributed to him states, "I would recommend them all [other citizens] to pursue the course that I pursue." Note that separate records for an author named Cornelius Vanderbilt IV, born in 1898 and deceased in 1974, list works such as *The Living Past of America A Pictorial Treasury of Our Historic Houses and Villages* and *The Vanderbilt feud*.
Synthesized by Vinony from 30 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, Last.fm, Wikiquote, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Key facts
- Born
- May 27, 1794, Staten Island , New York , U.S.
- Died
- January 4, 1877 (1877-01-04) (aged 82), Manhattan , New York, U.S.
- Burial place
- Vanderbilt Family Cemetery and Mausoleum , Staten Island, New York, U.S.
- Occupation
- Businessman
- Spouses
- Sophia Johnson ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1813 ; died 1868 ) Frank Armstrong Crawford ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1869 )
- Relatives
- Vanderbilt family
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Cornelius
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Staten Island
- Place of death
- Manhattan
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Family
- Vanderbilt family
- Image
- Cornelius Vanderbilt Daguerrotype2.jpg
Show 7 more facts
- Commons category
- Cornelius Vanderbilt
- date of death
- 1877-01-04
- date of birth
- 1794-05-27
- Commons gallery
- Cornelius Vanderbilt
- name in native language
- Cornelius Vanderbilt
- place of burial
- Moravian Cemetery
- on focus list of Wikimedia project
- Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~27 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, he worked his way into leadership positions in inland and coastal shipping, then invested in the rapidly growing railroad industry, which transformed the geography of the United States.
As one of the richest Americans in history and wealthiest figures overall, Vanderbilt was the patriarch of the wealthy and influential Vanderbilt family. He provided the initial gift to found Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. For his monopoly on shipping and the railroads, facilitated in part by political manipulation, Vanderbilt is often described as either a "captain of industry" or a "robber baron".
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Cornelius Vanderbilt” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.