Biltmore Estate Photos from Hugh Morton

The University of North Carolina @ Chapel Hill has recently placed online a collection of photographs from Hugh Morton, noted photographer and nature conservatist.   The collection can be found online at http://www.lib.unc.edu/dc/morton/index.html.

The online collection only represents a portion of the collection available at UNC, but there are a few pictures online of George Washington Vanderbilt’s Biltmore Estate.

I particularly like this aerial view.

You can view the others in the collection here.

I’ve Got Rand’s Book

My public library’s interlibrary loan department ROCKS! In the past few weeks, I’ve requested several books through interlibrary loan.  Today, I picked up the copy of Jean Rand’s book,  Some Descendants of Jan Aertsen Vanderbilt, and will begin to really start looking it over tomorrow.

The book is dense! Over 300 pages of geenalogical data about various Vanderbilt families and spans 10 generations of descendancy from Jan Aertsen.  I am very excited!

Hyde Park: Home of Frederick William Vanderbilt

Today is the anniversary of the death of Frederick William Vanderbilt.  He was a grandson of the Commodore and died June 29, 1938.  One of his homes was located in Hyde Park, NY and is now a National Historic Site.

Vanderbilt Mansion – Hyde Park. Digital image. LIFE Images. Google. <http://is.gd/1iuFn>.

Benny Goodman Weds A Society Girl

From the Dallas Morning News
March 23, 1942

Las Vegas, Nev. – March 22 (UP).  Benny Goodman, the king of swing, was married to Alice Duckworth, eastern socialite, in a brief ceremony performed by District Judge George E. Marshall in the Clark County Courthouse.  The 32-year-old orchestra leader had not been married previously.  It was the second marriage, however, for Miss Duckworth, 36.  She was divorced here Jan. 26 from her previous husband.

The couple came to the courtroom of Judge Marshall accompanied by the sister of the bride, Rachel McLenahan, and a friend, Ann Emmons, both of whom witnessed the ceremony.  Miss Duckworth was said to be the daughter of a wealthy manufacturer of musical insturments.

Miss Duckworth, was in fact Alice Frances Hammond, daughter of Emily Vanderbilt (Sloane) Hammond & John Henry Hammond.  Emily was a  great-granddaughter of the Commodore. Alice’s mother in fact caused quite the uproar in her selection of husbands, a “poor” lawyer as she was the only great-granddaughter of the Commodore not to unite her money with money.

Wordless Wednesday: Mrs. Reginald Vanderbilt’s Exquisite Skin Care

Mrs. Reginald Vanderbilt gives her skin this exquisite care. 1925. Emergence of Advertising in America, 1850-1920. Duke Digital Collections. <http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/eaa.P0186/>

Idle Hour Burns

“Idle Hour” was the home of William K. Vanderbilt Jr. and his wife, Virginia Graham Fair.  The couple were married in 1899 and an article from the 12 Apr 1899 issue of The San-Fransisco Call newspaper describes how it burned.  The home shown below, was located near Oakdale, Long Island.  The mansion built to replace this one, is now part of Dowling College.  On their website, you can read some more history and take a virtual tour.

You can read the whole article here.

Leasing Vanderbilt Land

The November 5, 1903 issue of the Kinston Free Press newspaper of Kinston, NC reported the following:

“E.B. Moore, manager of Kenilworth Inn, has returned from the north and said today that he was confident of effecting the lease of the famous Vanderbilt hunting preserve, which embraces about 150,000 acres.  It is said that the sum contemplated in the lease of this preserve is nearly $200,000.”

Kenilworth Inn, opened in 1890, has had quite an interesting history.  There is a Wikipedia article about the hotel and all the different events that have happened there, including a fire in 1909, and the various functions it has had. It is currently an apartment complex and their website is here. 

[image fromhttp://dlib.uncc.edu/special_collections/exhibits/ncscenes/ncpt7.htm]

A New York Times article from a few months after this news item gives a detailed account on George Vanderbilt’s possible lease of his property to be used as a hunting preserve.  E.B. Moore is Edgar B. Moore and he was forming a hunting club and apparently Vanderbilt’s land was just ripe for hunting.  The article reports that no hunting had occurred there in the 8-10 years which G.W. owned Biltmore.  The article can be found here. 

I must add this to my to-do list next time I visit Asheville. 

Wordless Wednesday: Gloria Vanderbilt

Gloria Vanderbilt as photographed by Gordon Parks for Life Magazine – July 1954.   Source: Life Image Collection

Searching Sunday: Sophia Vanderbilt Cross Morse

 

Searching Sunday posts will be dedicated to blogging about tracking the Vanderbilts through census records.

Sophia Vanderbilt Cross Morse (1839-1903) was the granddaughter of the Commodore’s via his daughter, Phebe Jane Vanderbilt and husband James Madison Cross.   In 1864 she married Jerome Bonaparte Morse.  In 1870, I find Sophia sans Jerome. Perhaps he was away? He is not dead in 1870 since their youngest child, Ethelinda, would be born in 1872.  I wonder where he is?

In any case, here are Sophia and children Grace (age 4) & Howard (age 3) in 1870. They are enumerated in Saybrook, Middlesex County, Connecticut, the town where Hartford native, Katherine Hepburn, died in 2003.

 They live with a family whom I’m not yet sure of the connection. 

Source: Year: 1870; Census Place: Saybrook, Middlesex, Connecticut; Roll: M593_108; Page: 369; Image: 300.

Wordless Wednesday: Rough Point

Rough Point (Newport, Rhode Island) – home of Frederick William Vanderbilt, the Commodore’s grandson (son of William H.)

Rough Point [Taken by G E L]. Digital image from Flickr. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonmetal/870364645/>

I’ve added the home to the list on the Homes page.