The Vanderbilt Family Tree Explained - Grunge (2024)

History

ByJean Mendoza/

The Vanderbilt family is known as one of the most prominent families in the United States. The family's progenitor was a Dutch farmer named Jan Aertsen Vanderbilt who came to New Amsterdam (now New York) in 1640 when he was 13 years old in order to have a better life. The family name Aertsen originated from Jan's father, who was named Aert, and he came from the town of De Bilt in the Netherlands. The word "van" was added, which means "from" in Dutch. The family name had different variations (Van De Bilt, Van der Bilt, Vander Bilt) before settling on "Vanderbilt," per Old Dutch Church NYC.

Jan arrived in New Amsterdam with just the clothes that he wore and with no means to pay for his immigration, so he became indentured for three years before he finally finished his contract at 16 years old. He eventually married a Norwegian woman in his early 20s, and together, they settled on a farm. The Vanderbilt name gained prominence with Cornelius Vanderbilt — Jan's great-great-great-grandson — who was a tycoon in the shipping and railroad industry.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Cornelius Vanderbilt was born into a humble family in 1794. As a child, he spent time with his father, who worked as a farmer and cargo boat operator in New York. He dropped out of school at 11 years old to aid his father at work, and five years later, he decided to establish his own shipping business that provided transport services to and from Staten Island and Manhattan, as reported by the National Railroad Hall of Fame. In the years following, Cornelius worked toward expanding his business and by 1812, he pivoted his focus toward steamboats. Although his formal education was brief, Cornelius proved to be a successful businessman and had a reputation for being competitive. By the 1940s, he reportedly operated about a hundred steamboats and was given the title of "The Commodore" by the public.

Later on, Cornelius also decided to go into the railroad business and acquired stocks for several railways including the Harlem and New York Railroads, as well as the New York Central and Hudson River Railroads. Cornelius worked his way from the ground up, and at the time of his death in 1877, he reportedly had a net worth of approximately $100 million (about $2.5 billion in today's money), and was the wealthiest man in the United States at that time, according to Business Insider. Cornelius learned his business acumen from his mother, who taught him how to save and invest. He was also a frugal man who never had debts throughout his decades in business.

William Henry Vanderbilt

William Henry Vanderbilt was the fourth child and first son of Cornelius Vanderbilt's 13 children. He was born in 1821 and as a young man, his father didn't believe that he was ambitious. Instead of helping out with the family's shipping business, Cornelius sent William to manage a family farm in Staten Island in 1840. However, William proved his father wrong when he turned in big profits by improving farm operations, as noted by New Netherland Institute. William was eventually given a role in his father's railroad business, where he further boosted its success.

William finally received the greatest compliment from his father when the entire Vanderbilt company was turned over to him upon Cornelius' death in 1877. Aside from focusing on the business, he was also a philanthropist who donated substantial resources to various organizations. He was able to grow the business even bigger than it already was, and according to Real Estates in NY, William was able to double the Vanderbilt fortune from $100 million to $200 million before he retired in 1883. He died in 1885 at the age of 64.

George Washington Vanderbilt II

Biltmore Estate is the largest house in the United States, and it was home to one of the Vanderbilts. George Washington Vanderbilt II, born in 1862, was the youngest of William Henry Vanderbilt's children. He wasn't too keen on working in the family business, but he inherited his father's love of the arts and was an avid collector of various forms of artwork and books, according to The Blue Ridge Highlander. Upon William's death, the Vanderbilt fortune was passed down to his children. George's brothers handled the shipping and railroad businesses, while George pursued his passion for the arts.

George traveled to Asheville, North Carolina, and was entranced by the location. Little by little, he purchased land until he had 125,000 acres. It was in 1889 when construction of the Biltmore began, and it became his family home when he married Edith Stuyvesant Dresser in 1898 (via Biltmore). The home has a French Renaissance style and boasts 250 rooms, 65 fireplaces, and 43 bathrooms. The house alone sits on more than 4 acres of floor area and is surrounded by lush gardens. Today, Biltmore Estate is a tourist attraction where visitors can see the original collections of George and Edith.

Gloria Laura Vanderbilt

The Vanderbilt Family Tree Explained - Grunge (5)

Jack Robinson/Getty Images

Gloria Laura Vanderbilt was the daughter of Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt — George Washington Vanderbilt II's nephew. Gloria became the subject of headlines in 1934 when she was just 10 years old due to a custody battle between her mother and her aunt, per History. Gloria's mother, Gloria Morgan, became a widow in 1925. It was after Reginald's death when the Vanderbilts accused Morgan of being an unfit mother. After controversial court proceedings, the custody of Gloria was awarded to her aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney.

Gloria made a name for herself and became a theater actress. She also started her own fashion empire and partnered with manufacturer Mohan Murjani to sell jeans — specifically for women — with her signature on the back pocket. According to The New York Times, Gloria expanded her line to include other items of clothing and was earning $100 million annually. In an interview in 1985, she said, "I'm not knocking inherited money but the money I've made has a reality to me that inherited money doesn't have. As the Billie Holiday song goes, 'Mama may have and Papa may have, but God bless the child that's got his own.'" She died of cancer in 2019 at the age of 95.

Anderson Cooper

Broadcast journalist Anderson Cooper is the child of Gloria Laura Vanderbilt with her fourth husband, Wyatt Emory Cooper. He grew up exposed to his mother's lavish lifestyle but in an interview with CBS News, he said that he didn't want to be associated with the Vanderbilt wealth. "The Vanderbilts, when I was a kid, seemed kind of like lay-abouts. I knew they had all these houses and they were museums now. But it had no reality in my life." He also said that his ancestors grew up thinking that money would always be there and they didn't need to work for it, which is the opposite of his philosophy.

Cooper started earning money as a model in his early teens. He graduated from Yale in 1989 with a political science degree, and he worked his way toward being the successful broadcaster he is today. It was only in 2019 after his mother's death that Cooper decided to learn more about the Vanderbilts, so he could one day pass the knowledge to his own son. While cleaning his mother's apartment, he came across letters and other items that revealed stories about the Vanderbilts. "It was really fascinating to start to think of them as human beings and not just historical characters or people I'd read about," he said (via Town & Country Magazine). In September 2021, Cooper released a book he co-authored with Katherine Howe titled "Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty," where he revealed intimate stories and his thoughts on his ancestors.

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The Vanderbilt Family Tree Explained - Grunge (2024)

FAQs

What ethnicity are the Vanderbilts? ›

Ancestry. Cornelius Vanderbilt's great-great-great-grandfather, Jan Aertson or Aertszoon ("Aert's son"), was a Dutch farmer from the village of De Bilt in Utrecht, Netherlands, who emigrated to New Amsterdam (later New York) as an indentured servant in 1650.

Who are the descendants of the Vanderbilt family today? ›

Contemporary descendants include American art historian John Wilmerding, journalist Anderson Cooper (son of Gloria Vanderbilt), actor Timothy Olyphant, musician John P. Hammond, screenwriter James Vanderbilt, and the Duke of Marlborough James Spencer-Churchill.

Are any Vanderbilts still rich? ›

Cornelius Vanderbilt, the founder of the dynasty, had two children. But he had nine grandchildren and they all had issue. There are now so many Vanderbilts around in the seventh generation that the wealth has so grossly diluted that they no more can be classed as plutocrats.

Why did Vanderbilts go broke? ›

The Vanderbilt family began to lose their wealth when the sons of William Henry failed to manage the company business. Their lack of attention to changing transportation needs caused their firms to lose market share. Their extravagant lifestyles depleted the wealth accumulated by their father and grandfather.

Are there any black vanderbilts? ›

Coastal New York did not have a large slave population and Cornelius himself wasnt born into a plantation owner family in Virginia/Carolina etc. But I learned that 18% of Vanderbilts are black and the basketball player Jarred Vanderbilt is very dark-skinned and so are his parents.

Is Anderson Cooper a Vanderbilt descendant? ›

Anderson Cooper, son of Gloria Laura Vanderbilt [1924], is currently the only known prominent and active descendant of the famous Vanderbilt family, which had its origin with Cornelius Vanderbilt [1794-1877], the shipping and later the railroad tycoon of the nineteenth century.

Is Anderson Cooper related to Consuelo Vanderbilt? ›

Consuelo Vanderbilt is the third of her name — her great great grandmother and great great great aunt were both Consuelo Vanderbilts — and is the third cousin, twice removed, of Anderson Cooper, the CNN journalist.

Who owns Biltmore Estate now? ›

The Biltmore Company is an American firm that owns and operates Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. The company is owned by the family of William Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil, the younger grandson of George Washington Vanderbilt II.

Is the Biltmore family still alive? ›

The estate is still family-owned. George Vanderbilt's great-grandson, Bill Cecil Jr, is the current CEO of Biltmore Company. His father (and George Vanderbilt's grandson William Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil) was responsible for most of the dramatic growth of Biltmore.

How did Gloria Vanderbilt lose her fortune? ›

According to a June article in Forbes, Gloria spent her own funds lavishly. Even though she generated millions of her own dollars from the line of jeans she established in the 1980s, she ultimately had to sell two homes to pay her tax bill. Four divorces probably didn't help, either.

Who squandered the Vanderbilt fortune? ›

But unlike her father, Reginald Vanderbilt, who squandered most of the family fortune, Gloria made more money than she inherited during her career as a fashion designer, actress, model, and artist, building a denim business that was worth an estimated $100 million.

Does Anderson Cooper own the Biltmore? ›

Gloria Vanderbilt is their daughter. The owner of Biltmore Estate, William Vanderbilt Cecil, is a cousin "removed a time or two," Sims said. Bottom line: "Anderson Cooper does not have any ownership in, or get any special privileges at, Biltmore Estate," Sims said, "although we would love to have him visit."

What was the scandal about the Vanderbilt family? ›

In 1895 Alva scandalized society by divorcing William Kissam Vanderbilt on the grounds of adultery. Even if the accusation was true, divorce was not acceptable in New York's high soci- ety. Later she married Oliver H. P. Belmont, a wealthy sum- mer neighbor in Newport, Rhode Island.

How much was Gloria Vanderbilt worth when she died? ›

Although she was a scion of a great fortune and inherited a trust fund that was worth $5 million in 1925 (the equivalent of $73 million today), she established herself as an artist and fashion entrepreneur in her own right and was reportedly worth around $200 million at the time of her death from stomach cancer.

What Vanderbilts are still alive today? ›

Anderson Cooper is the son of Gloria Vanderbilt, the “Poorest little Rich Girl” in The US. You can read all about it on line. Contemporary descendants include journalist Anderson Cooper, actor Timothy Olyphant, musician John P. Hammond and screenwriter James Vanderbilt.

What is the Vanderbilt family heritage? ›

A descendant of Dutch settlers who came to America in the mid-1600s, Cornelius Vanderbilt was born into humble circ*mstances on May 27, 1794, on Staten Island, New York.

What nationality was George Vanderbilt? ›

George Washington Vanderbilt II (November 14, 1862 – March 6, 1914) was an American art collector and member of the prominent Vanderbilt family, which amassed a huge fortune through steamboats, railroads, and various business enterprises.

What nationality was Gloria Vanderbilt? ›

Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt (born Maria Mercedes Morgan; 23 August 1904 – 13 February 1965) was an American socialite.

What nationality was Cornelius Vanderbilt? ›

Cornelius Vanderbilt (born May 27, 1794, Port Richmond, Staten Island, New York, U.S.—died January 4, 1877, New York, New York) was an American shipping and railroad magnate who acquired a personal fortune of more than $100 million.

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