William Henry Vanderbilt was born 1821 and lived to 1885. He was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He was president of Staten Island railway in 1862. Three years later, he was appointed vice-president of the Hudson River railway. In 1869, he was made vice-president of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, becoming its president in 1877. He also took over from his father as president of New York Central Railroad, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, the Canada Southern Railway, and the Michigan Central Railroad. After his father's passing, 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. Though frail and seemingly un-ambitious as a youth, William expanded the family's railroad empire to the point of doubling it from 100 milion to an astounding 200 milion by the time of his death.
