Evening star., 1934-04-23
ALICE VANDERBILT
DIES IN NEW YORK
Widow of Railroad Magnate
Once Was Leader of
"FOur Hundred"
BY the Associated Press.

NEW Iolth, hpIll Eo.-MTS. ALICE
Gwynne Vanderbilt, widow of the
railroad magnate. Cornelius Wander
bilt, and mother Of the brigadier gen.
eral of the same name, died last
night at her town home of an illness
from which she had been suffering
for more than year. She was more
than 80 years old.
The dowager Mrs. Vanderbilt head
OF the distinguished family from the
standpoint of age, virtually retired
from social activity after the death
OF her husband at the turn of the
century. Prior to that time she had
been a leader In the original -four
hundred of socially prominent New
Workers.
Her husband was grandson Of the
famed Commodore Vanderbilt, who
laid the foundation Of the family for
tune.
Surviving are a son, Gen. Cornelius
Vanderbilt. and two daughters, Mrs.
Harry Payne Whitney and the Coun-
tess Laszlo Szechenyi, wife of the
former Hungarian Minister to Wash
ington.
Three sons of Mr.. and Mrs. VAN
derbilt are dead. William Henry
Vanderbilt, the eldest child, who was
born in 1870, died in 1892. Alfred
Gwynne Vanderbilt, born in 1877, was
among those who perished on the
Lusitania in 1915. Reginald Clay
poole Vanderbilt, the youngest son,
who was born in 1880, died 10 years
ago
She had been under the care of
Or. Charles Easton and DIR. Lewis F.
FriSsell
Gen. Vanderbilt Is on a cruise in
the West Indies and his wife is in Hot
Springs, Va. Plans for the funeral
are being held in allegiance pending
word from the general
Mrs. Vanderbilt's exact age has been
for many years a matter of specula
ton. although it was believed she was
about three years younger than her
husband, who was born on November
81, l843.
Although only feet tall, she had a
vigorous and commanding personality
which belied her more than 80 years.
The vagarieS of fashion interested her
little and she clung to the modes
which she considered attractive.
Lived Quiet Life.
For many years she had been known
as the Dowager Mrs. Vanderbilt"
Legends of her vast wealth and the
social triumphs which dazzled the
city in the final decade of the nine
teenth century still clung to her name,
but in her later years she lived a quiet
and retired life.
The symbol Of her dominance re-
mains, however, in the somber, tur-
reted chateau in Fifty-seventh street,
where for 20 years she Steadfastly re-
sisted the advance of trade.
In 1925 that, too, gave way to the
twentieth century, and Mrs. Wander
bilt took up her residence at the home
in which she died, the former home of
George j. Gould.
She spent long Summers at Newport
at The Breakers, the last link with
her husband and early social career,
and took less and less interest in the
affairs of present-day society, except
to frown. it was reported, upon the
young men and women involved in
divorce suits.
She lived simply in her vast rooms
at The Breakers and was sometimes
seen driving to market in Newport,
quite in the manner of the grand
ladies of the pre-gasoline age.
The death of Chauncey M Depew
in 1928 parted her from her oldest
friend. For more than half century
he was the attorney and confidential
adviser of the Vanderbilts in their
business and personal affairs. In
November, 1881, her sister, Mrs. Cot
tie Moore Gwynne Shepherd. died in
New York, the last member of her
generation of the Gwynne family.
Comes of Distinguished Family.
Mrs Vanderbilt was the daughter
of Abraham Evan Gwynne and
Rachel Moore Flagg Gwynne of Gin
cinnati and New York. She was a
descendant of James Claypoole, who
came to Philadelphia from England
in 1888 and became treasurer of the
Free Society of Traders of Pennsyl-
Vania.
Another ancestor was Abraham
George Claypool, who fought in the
Revolutionary Army, and still another
was David Gwynne, an officer of the
United States Army in 1912. Through
them she became member of the
National Society of Colonial Danes
and of the Daughters of the Daugh-
tiers of the Cincinnati.
In 1867 Alice Gwynne was teaching
a Sunday school class at st. Bartholo-
news Church, then in Lafayette place,
and thus became acquainted with
young Cornelius Vanderbilt, one of
the four grandsons who shared the
wealth of the famous commodore.
Their marriage attracted little at
tention and for many years they lived
quietly, rearing six children, and ap-
parently not aspiring to the social
honors that later came to them.
Commodore Vanderbilt had died in
1877, leaving a fortune of S100, 600, 900,
but it was not until 1893 that his
grandson built the mansion at Fifty
seventh street and Fifth avenue which
stood for generation as the symbol
of the family wealth and prestige.
1t was designed after the Chateau
De Blois, on the River Loire in
France, with an interior especially
planned for elaborate entertainments.
The original cost was $4,000 900 and
it was sold in 1925 for $7,100,0o0.
PUPILS TO ENTERTAIN