Faces Of America

     In the TV series Faces Of America, I learned about how important it is to learn about your ancestors and heritage of your family. I learned that even if you dont think that you have a lot of history in your family that if you looked into it more that you can find a lot about where your ancestors came from. I learned that many families from around the world came to America for a new oppertunity.
     Being a Nation of immigrants means that you have a huge melting pot of diversity and backgrounds.

William H. Vanderbilt

     William Henry Vanderbilt was a very self made man, he did not have much help from anyone including his father his father regarded him as incompetent and not hardworking. The only way that Vanderbilt would change his fathers opinion would be if he showed that he could work hard at something and bring it to the success that his father Cornelius had done in his lifetime. William was given the opportunity when he gained control of the Staten Island Railroad from 1857 - 1863. William inherited a bankrupt Staten Island Railroad and then he took it to a very successful Railroad. His father had been proven wrong about his son and that he could work hard and    he could be successful at things that he did in life.

William H. Vanderbilt

     His father with his new opinion about his son gave him the great title of Vice President of the New York and Harlem Railroad in the year 1864, which his father Cornelius Vanderbilt was the President. He then won his fathers full respect with the success that he showed his father at the New York and Harlem Railroad. 

     When his father died in 1877 he was given the position of President of New York Central. But then he hit a rough patch and fell into a little bit of down spiral  "and was only able to get himself out of the down spiral by securing his position as President by giving favorable treatment to commercial customers, and covered his tracks with bribes to officials investigating the preferential treatment." William also contributed to many other organizations like the YMCA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a few examples. 

     When he did retire in 1883 as President of New York Central, he had doubled his family fortune, thus proving that his father was wrong.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0772002.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/622945/William-Henry-Vanderbilt