Personalities header

Cornelius Vanderbilt III and Wife ~ 1915

There were no two-way radios
or telephones to alert an aspiring
paparazzi when a celebrity was
within camera range . . . photographers like Eddie Jackson had to target their quarry and wait for an opportunity to shoot. This never before seen photo of Cornelius Vanderbilt III and his wife Grace headed for church on Easter Sunday in 1915 relates this fact.


Cornelius Vanderbilt III was the
great-grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, railroad and steamship financier who at the age of 16 borrowed $100 from his mother to start a boat freight business to carry merchandise and other goods from Staten Island to New York City. This modest start led to owning many steamships and railroads. When he died in 1877 he left behind a fortune of over $100 million. When he was 70 years old, Cornelius Vanderbilt decided that the wave of the future was in railroads. He invested heavily in many railroad companies. A few years later, his New York Central railroad eventually controlled the lucrative route between New York and Chicago. When he died he was the richest man in the U.S. “Neily” Vanderbilt III (shown in photo) an entrepreneur in his own right, patented more than 30 inventions
for improving locomotives. After visiting Paris and London, he soon partnered with August Belmont Jr. to build the Interborough Transit Company for the construction of New York City’s first subway.

 

 

Cornelius Vanderbilt and his wife
C. Vanderbilt

Eddie Jackson happened upon Cornelius Vanderbilt again in 1917 when Eddie had joined the Signal Corps as a photographer. Not only, it seemed, was ‘Neily’ Vanderbilt a member of the New York elite, he also served his country with honors before and
during World War One. This photo taken at the Spartanburg, SC army camp by Eddie Jackson, where Colonel Vanderbilt would soon be assigned as commander for the 102nd Engineers and sent to the war. He would rise through the ranks to become a
Brigadier General, and return to New York a war hero. For his services during the war "Neily” Vanderbilt would receive the Distinguished Service Medal, the Conspicuous Service Medal, Order of the Crown (Belgium) and awarded the Croix de Guerre.
France made him a Commander of the Legion of Honor. Cornelius Vanderbilt, in addition to his inventions and mechanical designs, maintained an army career for 33 years
Cornelius Vanderbilt III Camp Wodsworth, SC 1917.
Cornelius Vanderbilt III and wife Grace Wilson on Easter Sunday 1915. Photo was taken on 5th Avenue. Note that Grace Wilson-Vanderbilt is carrying a prayer book in her left hand.

John Wanamaker

William Avery Rockefeller•••

Helen Gould Shepard

J. P. Morgan

Reginald Vanderbilt

Andrew Carnegie & Louise Whitfield

John Burroughs

Diamond Jim Brady

Henry Ford

Richard Harding Davis

Cornelius Vanderbilt &Grace Vanderbilt

Sir Thomas Lipton

Thomas Alva Edison

Link to Wikipedia - Edward N. Jackson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jackson_(photographer)