Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/268

240 and school. Father Van den Broek was the pioneer of Roman Catholic colonization in Wisconsin. In 1847 he left Little Chute and went to Europe. Shortly after his arrival in Amsterdam he published a pamphlet describing the advantages that Wisconsin offered to industrious immigrants. This publication, with his lectures, induced a large number of Hollanders to emigrate, and in 1848 three vessels arrived with them at New York. These people were settled at Little Chute, Hollandtown, Green Bay, and other localities. The work of Father Van den Broek in Holland continued to bear fruit, and Dutch colonies were founded not only in Wisconsin, but in Minnesota, Nebraska, and other western states.

VANDENHOFF, George, actor, b. in England, 18 Feb., 1820. He first appeared on the stage as Leon in " Rule a Wife and Have a Wife " at the Covent Garden theatre, London, on 14 Oct., 1839. In the summer of 1842 he came to the United States, appearing at the Park theatre, New York, as Hamlet, on 21 Sept. After a successful career he retired from the stage in November, 1856, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1858, but devoted himself chiefly to public readings and the teaching of elocution in the cities of the United States and also in England, making New York city his ordinary residence. He was the author of "A Plain System of Elocution," which was republished under the title of "The Art of Elocution" (New York, 1846) ; " Dramatic Reminiscences, or Actors and Actresses in England and America" (London, 1859); "Leaves from an Actor's Note-Book, with Reminiscences and Chit-Chat of the Greenroom and the Stage in England and America" (1860); "Clerical Assistant, or Elocutionary Guide" (1862); and " A Lady's Reader, with Rules for reading Aloud" (1862). His wife, whom he married in Boston on 20 Aug., 1855, was, as Miss Makeath, successful on the stage in the role of Julia in "The Hunchback," and in other characters, making her first appearance in Philadelphia on 25 Dec, 1854. She finally retired from the stage, and gave dramatic instruction in New York until her death in 1883.

VANDERBILT, Cornelius, financier, b. near Stapleton, Staten island, N. Y., 27 May, 1794; d. in New York city, 4 Jan., 1877. He was descended from Jan Aertsen Van der Bilt, a Dutch farmer, who settled near Brooklyn, N. Y., about 1650. Cornelius's great-grandfather, a son of the emigrant ancestor, removed about 1715 to New Dorp, Staten island, where the family was converted to Moravian doctrines by religious exiles from Bohemia. His father was a farmer in moderate circumstances, who conveyed his produce to market in a sailboat, which the son early learned to manage. The boy, who was hardy and resolute, early became schooled in practical affairs and the direction of men, but neglected every opportunity for education. When sixteen years of age he purchased a boat, in which he ferried

and goods between New York city and Staten island, and at the age of eighteen he was the owner of two boats and captain of a third. A year later he married a cousin, Sophia Johnson, and removed to New York city. He extended his interests in boats, sloops, and schooners, engaged in traffic as well as transportation along the shores of New York bay and Hudson river, and built new craft on the latest and most approved models. In 1817 he engaged as captain of a steamboat that made trips between New York city and New Brunswick, N. J., and for twelve years worked for a salary. In 1827 he leased the ferry between New York city and Elizabeth, and, by putting on new boats, made it very profitable. Returning to New York city in 1829, he began to build steamboats of improved construction and fittings, and to compete in prices and service with the wealthy capitalists who owned the existing lines on Hudson river and Long Island sound. His success as a steamboat builder and manager caused the title of &ldquo;Commodore&rdquo; to be popularly attached to his name. Before he was forty years old his wealth was estimated at $500,000. He withdrew his steamboats from the Hudson river by arrangement with Robert L. Stevens, but maintained lines connecting New York city with Bridgeport, Norwalk, Derby, New Haven, Hartford, and New London, Conn., Providence and Newport, R. I., and Boston, Mass. When the emigration of gold-seekers to California began, he established a passenger line, by way of Lake Nicaragua, gaining large profits. Selling this in 1853, he visited Europe in the &ldquo;North Star,&rdquo; which was constructed after his own designs, and surpassed all steam yachts that had before been built. The company to which he had transferred the Nicaragua short line evaded payment, and on his return Vanderbilt again engaged in the California traffic, threatening to force his dishonest competitors into bankruptcy. This he accomplished, and in the course of eleven years he accumulated $10,000.000 in this business. He engaged in ocean transportation while British ships were withdrawn during the Crimean war, building three of the finest and fastest steamers, and establishing a line between New York and Havre. His offer to carry the mails for nothing impelled the government to withhold the subsidy that it had paid to the Collins line and caused the cessation of its operations. A few years later Vanderbilt, who had begun to invest largely in the stock of the New York and New Haven railroad as early as 1844, retired from the transatlantic trade on account of the sharp competition of Europeans, and gradually transferred his capital from shipping to railroad enterprises. When the &ldquo;Merrimac&rdquo; attacked the National vessels in Hampton Roads, he had his finest steamship, the &ldquo;Vanderbilt,&rdquo; fitted up for naval purposes and sent to James river, intending to run down the Confederate ram. He gave the vessel to the government, and, at the conclusion of the war, congress voted him a gold medal in recognition of his gift. His first important railroad venture was in 1863, when he purchased a large part of the stock of the New York and Harlem railroad, and obtained a charter for a connecting street railroad through New York city, causing the stock to rise from ten dollars a share to par. Daniel Drew and other heavy speculators, with foreknowledge of the intention of the city council to cancel the franchise for a horse-car line through Broadway, sold stock for future delivery, causing it to decline heavily. Vanderbilt bought what was offered, till it was all in his hands,