Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 September 1876 — Vanderbilt's Grandsons. [ARTICLE]

Vanderbilt's Grandsons.

The public, which has been led to expect the speedy demise of the Commodore, is now surprised that he holds on with such tenacity. This arises from his natural strength of constitution. He is chiefly suffering from a local ailment which is not fatal, and therefore he may recover a tolerable state of health, that is for an old man. The Commodore has the satisfaction of beholding two of his grandsons in the management of the Central. These are William K. and Cornelius junior, both sons of William H. Vanderbilt. The first of this pair of brothers is a director, and is also private secretaiy for his father. While Cornelius junior is a treasurer of the road. The latter has always been a favorite of the Commodore, after whom he is named. There is another Cornelius (the Commodore’s son), who is so dissipated that he is not reckoned a true “Cornelius junior.” The Commodore met his favorite grandson on New Year’s day, and said: “Cornelius, you have been a good boy, and here is a trifle for you.” As he said this he handed him a check for $50,000. It is a great satisfaction to William H. Vanderbilt that his sons thus far are very-steady men. Their mother is the daughter of Dominie Kissam, who once preached at Cedar Hill, near Albany, where William used to go on visits of a tender nature. I need hardly say that the Dominie has been well provided for, and when last I heard of him he was living in Brooklyn. William continues to hold his farm on Staten Island, where his children were bom, and where he once raised crops for the New York market—but times have changed since then, and the farmer Dominie’s daughter now occupies a Fifth avenue palace.— N. Y. Letter-