William van horne biography
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William C. Van Horne: Railway Titan
Excerpt
Cuba Beckons
Van Horne&#;s trip to the West coast in the spring of , just before he retired from the railway presidency, reinforced his view that he did not want to devote the remaining years of his life to his many hobbies. So long as he had major responsibilities, first as general manager and then as vice-president and president of the CPR. he found that painting and building up magnificent collections of art, porcelain, and model ships enthralled and delighted him. One he resigned, however, they failed to kindle the same level of interest in him. He realized that hobbies could not fill his life.
At this point, Van Horne was only fifty-six years old, but he knew that his health had been &#;in an uncertain state for several years.&#; Nevertheless, there was still too much energy churning in his massive frame to allow him to settle into a life of ease. What he needed was a major utmaning, one that would tax his problem-solving abili
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William Cornelius Van Horne ()
( words)
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS
If you can’t export the scenery, we’ll import the tourists
William Cornelius Van Horne was born on February 3, on a farm in Will County, Illinois. His great grandfather, Jan Cornelissen Van Horne had emigrated from the Dutch Republic in to the British colonies and settled in New Amsterdam, now known as the Island of Manhattan. The family prospered and became landowners and businessmen who played an important role in the industrial and political development of New York State.
William Van Horne’s father, Cornelius Covenhoven Van Horne, was trained as a lawyer at Union College. He is said to have “chafed at the dullness of life in that profession”, and cast it all aside to go west in with his wife and two children, seeking his fortune. But, life in the west was hard. His first wife and two children died in a fire that destroyed his home, barn, and law books. Cornelius Van Horne marr
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VAN HORNE, Sir WILLIAM CORNELIUS, railway builder and official, capitalist, and artist; b. 3 Feb. near Chelsea (Frankfort), Ill., eldest child of Cornelius Covenhoven Van Horne, a lawyer and farmer, and Mary Minier Richards; m. March Lucy Adaline (Adeleine) Hurd of Joliet, Ill., and they had two sons, one of whom died in childhood, and a daughter; d. 11 Sept. in Montreal and was buried in Joliet.
Dutch ancestors of the Van Horne family came to North America in the s; William Van Horne’s mother was of German and French-Pennsylvanian stock. The family moved to Joliet in , and when William was 11 his father died, leaving the family in poor circumstances. William took whatever odd jobs he could find. Among other tasks, he carried messages for the local telegraph company, where he learned the basic elements of telegraphy. His formal schooling ended when, at 14, he was so severely punished for drawing and circulating some unfl