His parents were poor and his father earned his living by providing low level transportation services. As was usual for the common people in those days, Cornelius went to work at age 11, and was employed by his father. We know little of his parents but his ancestors came from the town of De Bilt, in the province of Utrecht in the Netherlands. His great great great grandfather was Jan Aertsen who came to New Netherland as an indentured worker in , at the time of the early Dutch settlements including New Amsterdam.
Cornelius married his first cousin, Sophia Johnson [] on December 19, when he was only 19 and she was only 18 years old. They had their first child, Phebe Jane Vanderbilt [] the following year in Eleven more surviving children followed until the last one, George Washington Vanderbilt [], was born twenty five years later.
Between the years and Cornelius worked for his father and for the ferry services serving Staten Island. They provided him with the money but with the understanding that he would share the profits from the business with his parents. There was a lot of competition in the ferry service business, but Vanderbilt competed on the basis of lower fares, asking as little as 18 cents per trip.
The war of provided new opportunities for growth. The forts around New York City expanded and Vanderbilt obtained a government contract to supply them. Between and he expanded with additional schooners for freight and passenger services in Long Island Sound and in the coastal trade from New England to Charleston, South Carolina. In he sold all his sailing vessels and became a steamboat captain and partner with Thomas Gibbons who operated a ferry service between New Brunswick, New Jersey and New York City.
The Vanderbilt-Gibbons partnership charged only a quarter of the competitive fares. It soon became the dominant ferry service on the busy Philadelphia-New York City route. During the time period the partnership made a fortune. Again he competed on the basis of price and quickly eliminated the competition. He then expanded his service to Albany, New York. He also opened passenger and freight service to the Long Island Sound, Providence and Connecticut areas.
By the s Vanderbilt had a fleet of steamships and he had become the biggest employer in the United States. At that point he not only competed on the basis of price but also on the basis of comfort, size, speed, luxury and elegance in the steamship passenger transportation industry. During the California gold rush in , Vanderbilt began steamship service to San Francisco by way of Nicaraqua.
His competitors used the Panama route which was longer. Vanderbilt was able to cut two days off the length of the trip to San Francisco, and it was miles shorter. This part of his transportation business netted him over one million dollars per year. The labor movement in the United States grew out of the need to protect the common interest of workers. For those in the industrial sector, organized labor unions fought for better wages, reasonable hours and safer working conditions.
The labor movement led efforts to stop child The automobile was first invented and perfected in Germany and France in the late s, though Americans quickly came to dominate the automotive industry in the first half of the twentieth century. Henry Ford innovated mass-production techniques that became standard, and Ford, One of the most powerful bankers of his era, J.
John Pierpont Morgan financed railroads and helped organize U. Steel, General Electric and other major corporations. The Connecticut native followed his wealthy father into the banking business in the late s, Douglas in a series of seven debates. Thousands of spectators and newspaper reporters from around the country watched as The Knights of Labor was founded as a secret society of tailors in Philadelphia in It grew in size and prominence in the early days of the American labor movement from the mid- to lates and played a key role in the Great Railroad Strike of Uriah Stevens, Knights Known as the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the controversial bill raised the possibility that slavery could Since then, Vanderbilt was unstoppable.
He upended competitions left and right, dismantled monopolies, and grown his reach by taking over connecting railroads. By the end of the s, Vanderbilt has dominated the steamboat business. In , the year when the frenzy of California Gold Rush began, Vanderbilt saw another opportunity.
From inland water and regional steamboat, he ventured to ocean-going steamships. Vanderbilt founded the Accessory Transit Company while transporting migrants to the west coast and carrying gold back to the east via the Lake Nicaragua.
Of course, business is never easy. Disputes with partners and rivalries with competitors erupted which compelled Vanderbilt to change course. Vanderbilt founded another company when his own company kicked him out. He opened a new route by way of Panama. Like water, nothing could stop Vanderbilt from finding a new way. While Vanderbilt was growing his steamship business, he took an interest in the railroad business. In , at the age of 70, the elder Vanderbilt sold his ships and focused on the railroad business.
Together, they helped him build his empire. Vanderbilt was considered to be a man of few words. He rarely talked. He let others do the talking and preferred to listened to what they had to say, but he never allowed the criticism of others to affect him or alter his decisions. He was also considered a very good judge of character. He embraced individuals of high character and went to war with those who were dishonest or untrustworthy.
He never went back on his word. Everyone who did business with him found him to be a man of high integrity. Vanderbilt was a light eater, did not drink alcohol, and was physically active all of his life. Vanderbilt was often described as the calm in the storm. He never panicked and was always in complete control of his emotions, especially during the most turbulent of times. Vanderbilt would often vacation or relax in Saratoga Springs every year.
It helped him to clear his head and recharge his batteries. As a result of his good habits, he remained healthy until the last year of his life, when he died at age Success requires many moving parts.
But those moving parts all fall under one category — good daily habits. For you.
0コメント