The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt (123 page)

35
Bray Hammond,
Banks and Politics in America: From the Revolution to the Civil War
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957), 145; William R. Taylor,
Cavalier and Yankee: The Old South and American National Character
(New York: George Braziller, 1961), 47–8; Trollope, 302, 352, 370. The emphasis on being “smart” is also noted by Clifford Browder,
The Money Game in Old New York: Daniel Drew and His Times
(Lexington, K.Y.: University Press of Kentucky, 1986), 38–9. On the New England migration to New York, see Edward K. Spann,
The New Metropolis: New York City, 1840–1857
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1981), 7; Horlick, 69–72; and Dixon Ryan Fox, who observes in
Yankees and Yorkers
(New York: New York University Press, 1940), 198, “It is safe to say that by 1830 the Yankee strain was becoming predominant in New York blood.” On February 14, 1835, Philip Hone attended a meeting called to organize “a regular Knickerbocker society” to counter the influence of New Englanders; Hone, 148–9. On the impact of the decline of traditional authority and new geographical mobility on culture, see
Confidence Men
, esp. 1–15, 19–23. P. T. Barnum dedicated his book,
The Life of P. T. Barnum, Written by Himself
(New York: Redfield, 1855), to “the universal Yankee nation, of which I am proud to be one.” In understanding the rise of the Yankee stereotype, it is worth quoting Gunn again, 27, “Traditional community values declined and were replaced by those of the marketplace. Informal, face-to-face relationships gave way to more formal and impersonal modes of human interaction.”

36
Lane, 50–1; Lane,
Indian Trail
, 196–201; George Henry Preble,
A Chronological History of the Origin and Development of Steam Navigation, 1543–1882
(Philadelphia: L. R. Hamersly 1883), 58–9;
NBF
, July 29, 1829;
Trenton Emporium and True American
, July 11, 1829; Trenton and New Brunswick Turnpike Company Toll Book, fold. 11, box 3, NP; Abstracts of Licenses Enrolled, January 1, 1830, to September 30, 1832, vol. 13044, New York Custom House Records, RG 41, NA. The
Bellona
cost CV around $15,000; see WG to E. Hall, February 6, 1829, GP.

37
On the Stevens family, see in particular Dorothy Gregg's excellent study, “John Stevens: General Entrepreneur, 1749–1838,” in William Miller,
ed., Men in Business: Essays in the History of Entrepreneurship
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1952), 120–52. Robert L. Stevens introduced, among other things, the skeleton beam, a false bow, a hull-stiffening truss, and the placement of engines on platforms over the water; see Morrison, 29, 37–9, 48–51, 66. Hone visited Hoboken on May 21, 1831; Hone, 42. On the impending termination of the Citizen's Line, see WG to E. A. Stevens, November 30, 1828, GP.

38
“The New Jersey Monopolies,”
NAR
, April 1867, 428–76; Lane,
Indian Trail
, 302–4; Gregg, 150–2. A fine survey is in Taylor, 74–90, esp. 89 and 101. For contemporary discussions of the Camden & Amboy monopoly, see
Workingman's Advocate
, August 16, 1834, and
NYH
, April 1, 1837.

39
Lane, 51–2;
HW
, March 5, 1859.

40
On WG'S anxiety about the railroad, see WG to Robert L. Stevens, January 16, 1829, and WG to Robert Baylies, February 2, 1829, GP Details of CVs previously unknown Sawpits venture appear in
Charles Hoyt v. John Brooks Jr
., May 8, 1833, file BM 2163-H, Court of Chancery, NYCC; see also an advertisement in the
EP
, June 15, 1831, which notes that the
Fanny
also worked as a towboat, and
SEP
, April 23, 1831. Contrary to Lane's account, CV moved to New York from New Brunswick between January and September 1830; see James Neilson to George Able, January 28, 1830, and Farm Diary, fold. 17, box 3, NP, and entry for September 19, 1830, Hiram Peck Diary, NYHS. On the location of Sawpits, I am indebted to Alice C. Hudson, chief of the Map Division at the New York Public Library. See, for example, Joseph R. Bien,
Atlas of Westchester County, New York
(New York: Julius Bien, 1893), plate 47. On CVs address at this time, see Croffut, 279.

41
Frances Trollope,
Domestic Manners of the Americans
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1949, orig. pub. 1832), 301. Many historians discuss the commercialization of American society during this period, including Gunn, 23–56; Wood, 325–69; Maier, 51–84; Appleby,
Inheriting the Revolution
, 56–89.

42
Entries for August 3, 11, September 17, 19, 21, October 13, 29, November 19, 1830, July 18, 1831, Hiram Peck Diary, NYHS. On Captain Brooks's relationship to CV see
Charles Hoyt v. John Brooks Jr
., May 8, 1833, Court of Chancery, BM 2163-H, NYCC. It is possible that Peck was writing of a different Vanderbilt, as later he specified “Captain C. Vanderbilt;” however, the reference to Captain Brooks, among other hints, strongly suggests that he meant CV in these entries. Lorena S. Walsh discusses the evolving domestic life of middling Americans during this period, including diet, hygiene, and table manners, in “Consumer Behavior, Diet, and the Standard of Living in Late Colonial and Early Antebellum America, 1770–1840,” in Robert E. Gallman and John Joseph Wallis, eds.,
American Economic Growth and Standards of Living before the Civil War
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), 217–61. On the new social dilemma of the untrustworthiness of one's fellow Americans, see especially
Confidence Men
, 31–53.

43
On Cornelius J. Vanderbilt's birth, see
Richmond County Advance
, April 15, 1882. On the children's lingering resentment, see, for example,
NYS
, November 13, 1877;
NYW
, November 13, 14, 1877;
NYTr
, March 28, 1878.

44
On the life of Jackson, see Robert V. Remini,
The Life of Andrew Jackson
(New York: Penguin, 1988). For an insightful account of Jackson's personality, see Andrew Burstein,
The Passions of Andrew Jackson
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003).

45
Entry for
General Jackson
, November 2, 1830, Abstracts of Licenses Enrolled, January 1, 1830, to September 30, 1832, vol. 13044, New York Custom House Records, RG 41, NA Heyl, 2:97–8;
EP
, June 8, 1831;
New York Commercial Advertiser
, June 20, 1831;
SEP
, June 11, 1831; Lane, 53–5. Lane mistakenly reads the
EP
article to mean that Jacob Vanderbilt himself had run to Peekskill for two years, whereas the Custom House records show that he enrolled as the
General Jackson's
captain in November 1830.

46
EP
, June 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 1831;
SEP
, June 11, 1831;
New York Commercial Advertiser
, June 20, 1831;
Workingman's Advocate
, June 18, 1831; entry for June 8, 1831, Hone, 42–3;
New York Illustrated Magazine of Literature and Art
, September 20, 1845. For a useful summary of steamboat explosions during this era (including one on the
Bellona
, killing two, in 1825), see
The American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge
, 1835.

47
SEP
, June 25, 1831.

48
SEP
, April 23, 1831;
Charles Hoyt v. John Brooks Jr
., May 8, 1833, Court of Chancery, BM 2163-H, NYCC.

49
SEP
, April 23, June 25, 1831;
Charles Hoyt v. John Brooks Jr
., May 8, 1833, Court of Chancery, BM 2163-H, NYCC; entry for
Cinderella
, October 19, 1831, Abstracts of Licenses Enrolled, January 1, 1830, to September 30, 1832, vol. 13044, New York Custom House Records, RG 41, NA; Lane, 53;
New York Gazette
quoted in the
Workingman's Advocate
, September 10, 1831.

50
CFA, “A Chapter of Erie,”
NAR
, July 1869; Henry Clews,
Fifty Years in Wall Street
(New York: Irving Publishing, 1908), 121; Smith, 131; Fowler, 127. It should be noted that this book will not cite the often-cited
Book of Daniel Drew
, a 1910 publication which purports to be a secret autobiography. I agree with Drew's biographer, Clifford Browder, who argues it is a fraud; see Browder's
The Money Game in Old New York: Daniel Drew and His Times
(Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1986). The
Book of Daniel Drew
was a hoax, and should be shunned by historians. Drew's son denounced the book on its publication, and declared that he had never seen his father write anything more than his signature;
NYW
, April 25, 1910.

51
Walter Blair v. Daniel Drew
, March 10, 1831, file 1831-#87, Court of Common Pleas, and
Fitz G. Halleck v. Daniel Drew
, March 15, 1820, file 1820-#479, Court of Common Pleas, NYCC. Drew's overlordship of the livestock market is demonstrated by a report he sent to the
New York Farmer
for its 1831 issue.

52
HW
, March 5, 1859;
EP
, August 12, 1831; Heyl, 3: 337–8. On Drew, see Browder, esp. 32–9, and J. M'Clintock, “Daniel Drew, Esq. of New York,”
Ladies' Repository
, September 1859. See entries for
Water Witch
, September 20, 1831, May 26, 1832, and
Fanny
, June 14, 1831, Abstracts of Licenses Enrolled, January 1, 1830, to September 30, 1832, vol. 13044, New York Custom House Records, RG 41, NA.

53
Charles S. De Forest v. Tunis Egbert, Francis Perkins, Preston Sheldon, and Helmus M. Wells
, March 5, 1852, box SI-68, Supreme Court, Richmond County, NYMA; entries for July 5, September 12, 15, 18, Hiram Peck Diary, NYHS;
NR
, July 28, 1832;
EP
, January 17, May 1, 2, 1832;
NYS
, November 14, 1877;
NYW
, November 14, 1877.

54
Entries for July 5, September 12, 15, 18, Hiram Peck Diary, NYHS.

55
Charles Hoyt v. John Brooks Jr
., May 8, 1833, Court of Chancery, BM 2163-H, NYCC; Heyl, 5: 293–4.

56
EP
, June 12, 13, and 15, 1833; Trollope, 345;
American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine
, December 1833; Hone, 42. On CVs manner, see the testimony of Dr. Jared Linsly
NYS
, November 14, 1877. On New York's new elite, see Burrows & Wallace, 452–72.

57
Ariel
, April 16, 1831;
NR
, September 28, 1833. On December 18, 1832, Hone found it worth recording that the Camden & Amboy was complete; Hone, 85. On the early craze for railroads, see especially Taylor, 74–94.