“Commodore” Cornelius Vanderbilt was crude. One of the wealthiest people of the 19th century by way of steamships and railroads, he had earned his fortune through hard work, undercutting the competition, and, at times, via unscrupulous business maneuvers. He was not one for putting on airs.
Vanderbilt’s disdain for social graces and his devil-may-care attitude toward New York City’s societal elites did not last too far down the family line. Among those elites was the family of William Backhouse Astor, whose family fortunes had begun with his father John Jacob Astor. The Astor patriarch died with the honor of being America’s first millionaire. Vanderbilt, though, died as America’s richest man.
