I recently checked out a few books about the Vanderbilt family, one being The Vanderbilt’s In My Life: a Personal Memoir. This book was written by Shirley Burden, who was a 2nd great-grandson of the Commodore.Shirley was the son of Florence Twombly Burden, daughter of Florence Adele Vanderbilt Twombly, daughter of William Henry Vanderbilt, eldest son of the Commodore.
This is mostly a pictoral book, with excerpts by Shirly to narrate the pictures. It is a very touching and humrous read, even though it is not a long book. By reading it, I was able to add to this branch of the family, as up until now, I’d only had that documentation of his grandmother’s marriage to Twombly and no other information. So, now I have several more details to follow up on. I learned from his obituary in the New York Times that he was a photographer by trade, so no surprise his book is a pictoral.
I’m still in the process of adding to the tree, but if you can find this book in a library near you and you’re interested in the Vanderbilt’s, it is worth looking at.
Vanderbilt Family Genealogy 