Talk:Cornelius Vanderbilt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Trains Portal
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Trains, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to rail transport on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
See also: WikiProject Trains to do list
B This article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale. (assessment comments)
??? This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale within the Trains WikiProject.
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography. For more information, visit the project page.
Biography Portal
B This article has been rated as B-Class on the project's quality scale. [FAQ]

Contents

[edit] Formatting

Some of the formatting code is displayed instead of the output in the article. I'm running Firefox, don't know if that has anything to do with it, but, for example, I see: |align=left

- |width=35%

- |quote=If I had learned education, I would not have had time to learn anything else.

- |source=Cornelius Vanderbilt

- |}}

in the intro etc.

i haven't the technical skill to fix it myself. given that he's a bit famous, it might be important. Thanks. threedimes

  • I'm using Safari, and the quote boxes appear as they should in the article. Athaenara talk 08:03, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Conflicting sources for "The public be damned" quote

Both Cornelius Vanderbilt and William Henry Vanderbilt are cited as the source of the "public be damned" quote. The page dealing with Cornelius briefly mentions William Henry before the quote, so perhaps it's just ambiguous. I'm under the impression that the quote originated from "Interview with William H. Vanderbilt, Chicago Daily News, October 9, 1882". If that's the case, then the quote should probably be removed from Cornelius' page.

[edit] Commodore Vanderbilt?

Is this the Commodore Vanderbilt? I see no reference to it in the page and only one (unlinked) reference in the Vanderbilt family page nor any explanation of how he came by this title. Thanks! Ewlyahoocom 19:35, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

From what I've read, Cornelius got the name Commodore Vanderbilt when he took over most of the ferry lines between Manhattan and Staten island. You may have to look around to find a source, I found it flippin thru Google.
Commodore was a sobriquet (nickname) for Vanderbilt, it's not that he ever held that rank in naval service. I, too, found between 434 and over 34,000 hits depending on how I narrowed my syntax on the search engine. Athaenara talk 08:16, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Jay Gould?

Did Cornelius Vanderbilt really have a competition with Jay Gould? In other sources on the Internet, nothing is mentioned of Gould, and instead, a Daniel Drew is mentioned. Which is correct?

[edit] Poor Formatting/Overhaul Article

This format does not at all comply with the standard of Wikipedia. Needs rewrite/reformat. Rajb245 02:10, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

The format of this article is actually better than average. Maybe most of the improvement was after unregistered user Rajb245's comment. Athaenara talk 05:07, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Protected

Added an antivandal tag, this page gets vandalised alot for some unknown reason. Cosmic Larva 13:11, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Citing sources

The following three lines, one of them embedded/commented out in the text, have been in the Vanderbilt legacy section for months (years?) with no references backing them up:

  • "His public perception was that of a vulgar, mean-spirited man who made life miserable for everyone around him, including his family."
  • "He often said that women bought his stock because his picture was on the stock certificate."
  • "It was also said that he was little concerned about his passengers' safety, as he insulted George Westinghouse and his newly-invented air brakes while many accidents occurred on Vanderbilt's trains."

They've been there too long without verification to be credible. I've removed them and copied them here. If any editor believes they belong in the article and wants to put them back in, please locate and provide "citations to reliable sources to ensure verifiability" as per (Wikipedia:Citing sources). — Athænara ✉ 02:35, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cousin??

Could someone please specify what kind of cousin Cornelius married? i.e. First cousin, second cousin, third, etc. Because just saying, "Cousin" makes him sound really incest. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mossontoes (talk • contribs) 15:01, 9 March 2007 (UTC).


By the sounds of it, a very distant cousin: http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/speccol/vrr/tales.shtml rwjohnst —Preceding comment was added at 21:00, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

His second wife, Frank Armstrong Crawford, was his first cousin twice removed, the great-granddaughter of his mother’s brother, Jacob Hand. And first cousins marry all the time, so really, people who are offended by first cousin marriages just need to get over it. I think the nature of his relationship to his first wife is less well-defined, with some people saying she was also a first cousin. I have the feeling the identity of her mother is uncertain. - Nunh-huh 21:07, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Thomas Gibbons

The link to Thomas Gibbons is incorrect. The correct Thomas Gibbons is a three time mayor of Savannah, GA, lawyer, and plantation owner. I don't believe there is currently an article referring to him. The correct Thomas Gibbons has a brief biography at the following link: Drew University Gibbons Bio