William Kissam Vanderbilt II
Family Life
William Henry Vanderbilt and Alva Smith
Children Consuelo, Muriel and William III
William Henry Vanderbilt and Alva Smith Vanderbilt
William Henry Vanderbilt, (1849- 1920 financier.) He was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He was president of the New York and Harlem Railroad 1886-99, chairman of board of New York Central and Hudson River and of Michigan Central. He soon forced his siblings to settle for few hundred thousand dollars of his father’s estate, inheriting the remaining $95 million and control of the New York Central railroad. A frail and seemingly un-ambitious youth, William was dismissed by his strong and dynamic father as incompetent to run the family business. He was already a successful railway executive in his own right. Cornelius made William Henry Vanderbilt Vice- president of the New York and Harlem Railroad 1864 and became president of the New York Central Railroad in 1877. He retired as president of the railroad in 1883.
William H. Vanderbilt, married twenty two year old Miss Alva Smith on April 20, 1875. Willie’s parents approved of the marriage. Alva had been born and raised in mobile, Alabama. Alva was the daughter of Murray Forbes Smith, a successful cotton merchant of Scottish descent. Her mother was Phoebe Desha, the daughter of General Robert Desha who served as a member of Congress from Tennessee, and the niece of Governor Joseph Desha of Kentucky. William Kissam Vanderbilt was at a party for one of commodore Vanderbilt’s daughters. It came to pass that Alva lunged at Willie. Willie was wonderful. Willie had the build of an athlete, just like his grand father, the Commodore. Willie was good looking. On April 20 1875, a year after meeting him, Alva married Willie Vanderbilt, with Consuelo Yznagaas her bridesmaid. Alva didn’t waste a moment now that she had won a Vanderbilt as her first trophy.
Harold String Vanderbilt
Harold Striling Vanderbilt, July 6, 1884-July 4, 1970. Nicknamed “Professor” of New Port RI, was born at Oakdale New York. Vanderbilt graduated from Harvard Law School in 1910, and then entered his family’s railroad business, New York Central Railroad. He was the last of the famous Vanderbilt family to direct the New York Central Railroad until he was defeated for the control of the company in 1954. He married “Getie” Lewis Conway.
Consuelo Vanderbilt
Consuelo Vanderbilt was born in March 1877 in New York City. She died in 1964 in New York. Consuelo wrote her autobiography, The Glitter and the Gold. She was married to Charles Richard John Spencer Churchill, 9Th Duke of Marlborough on November 6th, 1895. She had two children John Albert Edward Spencer Churchill 10th and Ivor Charles Churchill.
William Kissam Vanderbilt II
William Kissam Vanderbilt II was born in New York City, the second Child and first son of William Kissam Vanderbilt and Alva Kissam Vanderbilt. He was a bother to Harold Stirling Vanderbilt and Consuelo Vanderbilt. Born to life of luxury, he was raised in the Vanderbilt mansions, traveled to Europe frequently and sailed the globe on yachts owned by his father. He also worked in the family business.
Harvard University
Vanderbilt was educated by tutors and private Schools and sent to study at Harvard University but dropped out after the first year. Although he developed an interest in horse racing and yachting, he was totally fascinated with automobiles. At age 10, during a stay in the south of France, he had ridden in a steam powered tricycle from Beauliea, Ardeche, 7 Kilometers to Monte Carlo. As a twenty year old, in 1898, he order a France De Dion- Bouton motor tricycle and had it shipped to New York Soon, he acquired other motorized vehicles and before long began to infuriate citizens and officials a like as he sped furiously through the towns and villages of Long Island, New York en route to Idle Hour, his parent’s summer estate at Oakdale.
Virginia Graham Fair
Virginia Graham Fair Vanderbilt 1875-1935, married William in 1899. She was known as Birdie, whose father James Graham Fair an Irish immigrant who made $200 million from Nevada’s Comstock silver lode, one of the richest silver finds in history. She had three children with William, William Kissam III, Muriel and Consuelo Vanderbilt, the latter named for her aunt. However, the Vanderbilts separated after ten years of marriage but did not formally divorce until 1927 when he wanted to remarry.
Divorce proceeding were handled by his New York lawyers while he and future wife, Rosamund Lancaster Warburton, waited discreetly away from the media at a home in the Paris in suburb Passy, France. When the divorcé matters were complete, the couples were married at the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) in Paris.
Consuelo and Muriel Vanderbilt
Willie K. had two daughters named Consuelo and Muriel (pictured above) and a son William Kissam Vanderbilt III (not shown).
In 1933, tragedy struck the Vanderbilt family when his 26-year-old son, William Kissam III, was killed in an automobile accident in South Carolina while driving home to New York City from his father's Florida estate. His son had inherited his fathers love of fast cars and exotic travel and in his memory, Willie K Vanderbilt added a new wing to his Eagle's Nest home in Long Island to house memorabilia, trophies, and souvenirs including those from his son's African safaris. He then opened the estate for public viewing several days a week and organized his will so that that upon his death the Eagle's Nest property along with a $2 million upkeep fund would be given to Suffolk County, New York to serve as a public museum.
William K Vanderbilt with Rosamund Lancaster Warburton
In September 1927, Willie K and Rosamund Lancaster Warburton of Philadelphia, were married in a civil ceremony at the mayor’s office in Paris. The Official witness was his step-mother Anne, and the mother of the bride. Rosamund was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in May 1897 to John Edward Lancaster and his wife, the former Agnes Maria Fanning. They created a splendid winter estate on Carl Fisher's tropical island in south Florida. This retreat was named Fisher Island. Rosamund died three years later, and Eagle’s Nest along with $200,000 fund for its perpetuation, was left to Suffolk count, Long Island.
Willie Kissam Vanderbilt II died in early 1944 of heart ailments and was interred in the family mausoleum at the Moravian Cemetery on Staten Island, New York.
Source: Vanderbilt USA & Wikipedia
