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== = Cornelius Vanderbilt =

He was born on May 27, 1794 and died on January 4, 1877. He was born and lived in Port Richmond, Staten Island.He was the 4th of 9 children and became a famous horseman when he was little. By the time he was 6 years of age he could ride a race horse at full speed. When he was 12 his father put him in charge of transporting the cargo from a ship which had gone ashore near Sandy Hook, and to convey it to New York. The lighters which were to transport the cargo could not reach the ship so they had to carry the cargo to the lighters by wagon and from there they were transported to New York. In the earlier years in his adulthood he owned a ferry. He would transport goods and people to and from New York and Staten Island. Later on he eventually bought some trains and started his railroad empire. In the beginning of his railroad tycoon he purchased the New York Central and Hudson River railroads. Several years after his purchase he murged the two railroads to form the New York Central and Hudson River railroad. After gaining partnership with the New York and New Haven railroads Cornelius tried to buy the Erie railroad. The current owner Jay Gould put up a struggle by watering down the stocks (Which Cornelius owned alot of) and causing Cornelius to lose seven million dollars which Jay eventually gave back. That incident caused Cornelius to become a robber baron. He married his cousin which is also his nabor and had thirteen kids with her.