The record-union., 1897-12-13

| means, who keep watchful eye on
| its financial needs. The Vanderbilt
| family has never ceased to manifest
| the liveliest interest in the institution.
William H. Vanderbilt, the 'Commo-
dore's" son, gave 5000 to it, and
the present head of the family, Cor
nelius Vanderbilt, has made it one or
| two donation for specified purposes.
| Commodore" Vanderbilt, the found
er Of this university in Nashville, had
| very little opportunity in his youth
| to obtain the education which he miss
| ed so much in the autumn and winter
of his lifetime. Born at Port Rich
| mond, s. l., May q, 1874, he grew up
| in a half-neglected fashion, with no
pains taken to shape his juvenile mind
| in the direction Of "book learning
| Occasionally his mother would send
him to school, but as he instinctively
preferred boating and fishing ne was
permitted to drift along in his OWE
way. He was a sturdy boy, quite tall
and full of muscular activity and en-
durance. While yet in his teens he
became a local celebrity as a wrestler,
an oarsman and a horseman. He de-
yeloped an enthusiastic fondness for
| the water, and when other boys of
| the neighborhood We're poring over
their books in the little village school
house young "Corneel'' Vanderbilt was
exploring the adjacent waterways in
| some rude craft. His father owned
| a clumsy sailboat with two masts and
no deck, in which garden and farm
| produce was conveyed to the New
York market. The future millionaire
| began his business career with this
| crude vessel.
| When he was 16 years old 'Corneer'
| threatened to run away and go to sea
unless he could have a boat of his
own. His mother pleaded with him
| to give up the idea, and finally made
| him promise to stay at home by telling
him he could have the first S1O0 he
earned to buy a boat with. This was
regarded by "Corneel'' and his asso-
| ciates as very liberal concession, in
asmuch as parents in those days laid
claim to every penny of their chill
dren's earnings until the latter became
| of age. Young Vanderbilt went to
work with a will and soon converted q
stony ten-acre lot into a productive
cornfeld. He raised and sold corn
enough within two years to buy the
coveted boat, and thereafter his career
was one of steady acquisition, although
he made but slow headway at first.
When he began to operate his little
ferry between Staten Island and New
| York he worked sixteen hours out OF
every twenty-four. A single fare was
| Is cents, but the trip was long one.
| He landed his passengers at the foot
of Pearl street, Hanover Square being
| the central market place then. lie
! carried freight also. At the end of
| his first year as a ferryman he gave
his mother the 800 which she had per-
mitted him to use in buying his boat,
| and 81, ZOO besides. At the end of the
second year he gave his mother an
other $1,000 and was able to buy IN
| terests in two more boats.
From his boyhood days to the time
of his death this rugged money -getter
spelled his own name Van Derbilt.'
That was the name that, when 19 years
old, he proudly bestowed upon his
| cousin Sophia Johnson. The young
couple encountered some opposition
|
married, nevertheless, in December,
| 1913. For the first few years the young
Benedict plodded along as a hard-work-
| ing and faithful ferryman, and when
he was % years old he counted up his
assets and found that he was worth
| just $4,000. He was one of the first
of the old-fashioned sailboat men to
| recognize the practicabilfty and su-
periority of Fulton's ideas of running
| boat by steam, and he deliberately
| gave up the income of $1,000 a year
which his sailboats netted him to ac-
cept the Captaincy of the new steam
boat Mouse of-the- Mountains at a sal
airy of 81 600 a year This was his first
steam ferry.
In the New York City Directory for
1S15-16 first appeared the entry, Cor
nelius Van Derbilt," mariner, 90 Broad
street" Four years later he was known
as a Steamboat master" but some
time afterward he resumed the calling
of simple mariner" and retained it
until 1898. Early in the twenties Cap
tain Van Derbilt, as he was then called
went to New Brunswick, n. j., to live
and there his son, William II. Wander
| bilt, was born. In 1899 the busting
mariner brought his family to New
York, and lived there for a few months
in comfortable quarters in East Broad
way, but the love of Staten Island was
strong in the hearts of both himself
| and wife. and they soon removed to
Stapleton.
Before Cornelius Vanderbilt was 40
years old he was worth fully 100000
He was the owner of about a score of
vessels. most of which he had built
himself With such a fleet under his
control, it was small wonder that his
associates bestowed upon him the title
of Commodore" This badge of dis
tinction was at first distasteful to him,
but in later years he became proud of
it. From 1910 TO 1850 Commodore
Vanderbilt made money very rapidly,
and became power in the field of
water transportation. AT the outbreak
of the California gold fever, in 1S49.