Childhood
William Vanderbilt was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1821. He inherited nearly $100 million from his father, railroad mogul and family patriarch "The Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt upon his death in 1877 and had increased it to almost $194 million at his death less than nine years later. When he died, he was the richest man in the world. In 1841 he married Maria Louisa Kissam (1821–1896), the daughter of a Presbyterian minister.
Vanderbilt said in an interview with the Chicago Daily News on October 9, 1882, "The railroads are not run for the benefit of the 'dear public' — that cry is all nonsense — they are built by men who invest their money and expect to get a fair percentage on the same." In 1883, when questioned by a reporter about the discontinuance of a fast mail train popular with the public, he declared: "The public be damned!... I don't take any stock in this silly nonsense about working for anybody but our own."{Interview, Chicago Daily News, October 9, 1882}
His father Cornelius constantly berated and criticized him, calling his eldest son a "blockhead" and a "blatherskite". Billy (as he was called) longed to show his father that he was not, in fact, a blatherskite, but never dared stand up to the fearsome Commodore.
Read more about this topic: William Henry Vanderbilt
Famous quotes containing the word childhood:
“The fact remains that the human being in early childhood learns to consider one or the other aspect of bodily function as evil, shameful, or unsafe. There is not a culture which does not use a combination of these devils to develop, by way of counterpoint, its own style of faith, pride, certainty, and initiative.”
—Erik H. Erikson (1904–1994)
“Oh! mystery of man, from what a depth
Proceed thy honours. I am lost, but see
In simple childhood something of the base
On which thy greatness stands; but this I feel,
That from thyself it comes, that thou must give,
Else never canst receive. The days gone by
Return upon me almost from the dawn
Of life: the hiding-places of man’s power
Open; I would approach them, but they close.”
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850)