The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-10-21

!. 9. :. !. :. !.
g NGSNl He vanderbilts have
F6 60 ~ been building the
~ III family fortune for
iaNH eSlR2 about hundred
~ N years. The Roth
l<SAA /S<W schilds-Iong the syn
i1N see u onym of wealth be-
yond computation and
the word which has
almost displaced Croesus as a term of
comparison-began to pile up treasure
in the middle OF the eighteenth cen
fury. At the present time the Roth
schild holdings, divided among twenty
families, are estimated at $500. 000,O 900.
The founder of the Vanderbilt millions
now aggregating $3.50. 1000 O00-was
boy Of eighteen when the old Frank
flrt bankers life OF singular prosperity
and probity was brought to a, close, but
he had already entered upon that ca
reer of successful accumulation which
enabled him to bequeath S90,000,0 900 to
his favorite son
There had been Vanderbilts in Ameri-
ca for more than a hundred years be-
fore the birth OF Cornelius. the one
who was destined to rescue the family
from the obscurity under which it had
fhriven in numbers, but not in wealth.
The drst one OF the race came as early
as 1850 end settled at Flushing. on
Long Island. he was Jan Aerstsen
van der Bilts a sturdy peasant from
the Netherlands, and if some prophetic
seer had told him that when the TWEEN
tfeth century was stu young one Of
his descendants would reign as mis-
fress OF Blenheinns the foundation Of
England's greatest fighter John
Churchill, drst duke OF Marlborough
who was born the very year in which
the stolid Dutchman came to America,
he would have shaken his head and
continued to smoke placidly. After
Jan there was an Aris, and he was
followed by a Jacob, and the only thing
that is recorded Of that worthy is that
he emigrated to Staten Island, which
was something OF an achievement in
those days.
Jacob was the grandfather of Cor
neIius, known to his contemporaries
and to posterity as "the commodore"
The latter's father was also Cornelius,
a name as characteristic Of the Van
derbilta as is John Jacob Of the Astors.
The elder Cornelius was the premier
Staten Island ferrymau, having become
the proprietor Of a small boat at the
age OF seventeen in which he used to
carry passengers between the island
and the mainland. He was twenty
six before he had saved money enough
TO take a wife. He was reputed to be
rather thriftless, and his iancee stipu-
lated that she should be made the de-
pOsitary Of his earnings until enough
had been accumulated to begin house
keeping. This excellent woman, Phoebe
Hand. the adopted daughter OF a
Dutch Reformed minister at Port
Richmond, then the chief settlement
on the island, seems to have been a
person Of uncommon shrewdness. She
liked Cornelius. but was not at all de-
oefved as to the sIackness of his BUSH
ness methods. She did not even be-
lieve in her own capacity to transform
hirl. She convinced herself. however,
that she could supply what he lacked.
and she married him with that under
standing.
The marriage OF this Mrs. Wander
bilt was in striking contrast to some
of the family weddings of recent years.
1t took place in the little Port Rich
unond meeting house on Sunday morn
ing after a sermon nearly two hours
long and the singing of the F'Orty-dfth
Psalm by the congregation.
From this marriage there came
seven sons none Of them in any way
remarkable except Cornelius, the Sec
ond, born in 1884. He began to show
the money making tendency at quite
an early age. When he was sixteen he
wanted to buy sailboat and he asked
his mother to advance the 500 neces-
ssry to secure it. She reminded him
that his birthday was near at hand
and promised that If he would plow,
harrow and plant their patch of eight
acres before the anniversary she would
let him have the money. It is quite
likely that she did not expect him to
accomplish the undertaking, for it was