S History
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt was born on May 27, 1794, on Staten Island, New York. His parents were poor farmers and, on the side, ran boats between Staten Island and Manhattan in his “two-masted sailing vessel” referred to as a “periauger”. Cornelius worked with his father on the boat while he went to high school. As a teenager he traded cargo in his own periauger. After that, they owned a fleet of boats and learned about design.
During the Civil War, Cornelius gave away his…
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