The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt (128 page)

29
Elliott J. Gorn,
The Manly Art: Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting in America
(Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986), 69–79; Anbinder, 156–7, 159, 201–6; Burrows & Wallace, 633–5; Edward K. Spann,
The New Metropolis: New York City, 1840–1857
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1981), 24;
NYT
, May 14, 1845, February 4, 1849.

30
NYT
, January 5, 1877. An example of how the press followed Yankee Sullivan is in
NYH
, May 14, 1845, as well as its story of February 4, 1849.

31
NYH
, June 13, August 15, 1845, August 15, 1846; Grund, 212, 214. Halttunen's observations in
Confidence Men
(esp. 6–23, 93–4) of the disruptive impact of the market, the anonymity of Jacksonian society, and the importance of behavior in establishing gentility underscore the point I am trying to make about the artificiality of social status. On the NYH's mixture of “fawning” and “exposé” in its high-society coverage, see Burrows & Wallace, 525–7, 640. The idea that Jacksonian America experienced a great deal of social mobility was attacked by Edward Pessen; see especially
Riches, Class, and Power Before the Civil War
(Lexington, Mass.: D. C. Heath, 1973). However, Frederic Cople Jaher,
The Urban Establishment: Upper Strata in Boston, New York, Charleston, Chicago, and Los Angeles
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982), 160–250, illustrates the extreme instability of the upper stratum following the end of the culture of deference. Pessen's point is well taken here, as many of the antebellum wealthy came from prosperous backgrounds. However, not all belonged to the old aristocratic families of the eighteenth century; the old aristocracy disappeared as a functional category, breaking the grip of a select group of families on wealth and power. Eric Homberger,
Mrs. Astor's New York: Money and Social Power in a Gilded Age
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), 3, is interested in the period that followed the downfall of the culture of deference, in the ways in which a highly unstable social elite sought to write and enforce rules of status. As my discussion will show, this issue pertains to my analysis as well, but I am more concerned with the new distinction between
a fashionable
elite and
a functional
one.

32
NYH
, March 2, 1840; Homberger, 135–42.

33
Book of Minutes 1, July 30, 1844, to March 18, 1891, box 1, New York Yacht Club Library and Archives, New York, NY.

34
Burrows & Wallace, 625–8, 635–8; Spann, 36–9, 55, 117, 132–3.

35
“The Islets of the Gulf,”
Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion
, January 1847; Dickens, 89, 91.

36
BE
, June 5, 1845;
NYH
, July 2, 8, 19–21, 1845;
NYTr
, July 22, 1845;
BE
, June 5, 1845; Meetings of September 29, 1845, and October 10, 1846, Minute Book of the Elizabethport and New York Ferry Company, box 4, Central Railroad Company of New Jersey Papers, Hagley Museum and Library. It should be noted that the Richmond Turnpike Company's charter expired on April 1, 1844. On January 29, 1844, before the corporation formally dissolved, Mauran and CV assigned to themselves all of its property and leases, and continued the business as the Staten Island Ferry. See
People of the State of New York v. CV, Anthony Bird, Stephen Williams, Elias Butler, Jacob Van Cleef and Jacob Arnold
, November 22, 1851, Supreme Court, Richmond County, box SI-68, NYMA.

37
Liberator
, March 24, 1848;
NYT
, January 5, 1877; Eric Homberger,
The Historical Atlas of New York City
(New York: Henry Holt, 1994), 78, and
Mrs. Astor's New York
, 111–9.

38
Phebe Vanderbilt v. Charles M. Simonson and His Wife, John K. Vanderbilt and Charles M. Simonson Junior, Executors, and Mary Simonson, Executrix of the Last Will and Testament of Cornelius Simonson, Deceased, and John K. Vanderbilt
, April 27, 1844, file D CH-177-V, Court of Chancery,
Jacob H Vanderbilt and John Vanderbilt v. the People of the State of New York
, May 10, 1844, file PL-1844-P-424, Supreme Court Pleadings,
People of the City of New York v. Jacob H Vanderbilt
, December 19, 1844, file 1844–771, Court of Common Pleas, NYCC;
NYT
, December 19, 22, 1877;
NYW
, November 14, 1877;
NYS
, November 14, 1877. CJV later testified that his first seizure came at the age of seven;
NYS
, December 22, 1877.

39
NYW
, November 14, 1877;
NYS
, November 13, 14, 1877;
NYT
, November 13, 14, 1877.

40
NYH
, August 15, September 7, 1846. See also
SA
, August 27, 1846;
NYTr
, June 1, August 15, 27, 1846;
MM
, September 1846;
ProvJ
, November 30, 1846. CV charged the Norwich Railroad about $160,000 for the
Atlantic
.

41
NYW
, November 14, 1877;
NYS
, November 13, 14, 1877;
NYT
, November 13, 1877.

42
ProvJ
, November 28, 30, December 2, 1846;
ARJ
, December 5, 1846;
Liberator
, December 4, 1846;
NYH
, November 29, 30, December 10, 1846.

43
NYH
, June 2, 1847;
SA
, March 27, 1847;
HC
, September 10, 1846; Morrison, 312–3, 328; Heyl, 6:73–7.

44
Morrison, 312–3; WDL to CtP, March 6, 1843, fold. 1, box 4, WDLP.

45
Morrison, 312–3;
NYH
, September 5, 9, 1846, June 1, 1847;
EP
, June 1, 1847;
NYTr
, June 2, 1847.

46
A Sketch of the Events of the Life of George Law
(New York: J. C. Derby, 1855); entry for George Law,
DAB; ARJ
, April 11, 1846;
David S. Manners and Lydia Roberts, Administrators of Samuel Roberts, Deceased, v. George Law and Arnold Mason
, March 18, 1854, file 1854–2117, Superior Court, NYCC;
Curtis Peck v. Daniel Drew
, file PL-1850-P 3, January 7, 1850, Supreme Court Pleadings, NYCC; Heyl, 2:185–6. He also served for a year as a director of the Long Island Railroad, starting in 1843; see Long Island Railroad Company Directors' Minutes Book 1, 274, 318, PennCentral Collection, NYPL. Law actually owned the
Oregon
with A. P. St. John; see a lawsuit regarding the sinking and raising of the
Oregon
at Hell Gate,
Russell Sturgis v. George Law and Alanson P. St. John
, March 27, 1850, 1850–922, Superior Court, NYCC.

47
Morrison, 312–3;
NYH
, June 1, 2, 4, 1847;
EP
, June 1, 2, 1847;
NYTr
, June 2, 1847;
SA
, June 25, 1847;
Anglo-American
, June 5, 1847. On the telegraph, see
ARJ
, January 2, 1847. Lane, 76–7, eager as always to repeat undocumented anecdotes, reverses the reasons for the defeat, claiming that CV prevented a slackening of speed.

48
Hone, 801;
NYH
, June 26, 1847.

49
Oliver Vanderbilt v. Richmond Turnpike Company
, July 17, 1848, file 1848-#1238, Superior Court, NYCC; Stonington Reports, 44–54;
EP
, November 18, 1848; Long Island Railroad Company Directors' Minutes Book 2, 41–3, 64, box 305, PennCentral Railroad Collection, NYPL.
ARJ
, August 5, 1848, quoting the
Hartford Times
, referred to the
Commodore
as a “magnificent and agile steamer.”

50
ARJ
, February 5, 1848;
Liberator
, March 24, 1848.