Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt
| Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt | |
|---|---|
Gwynne as "The Electric Light" at a costume ball on March 26, 1883
|
|
| Born |
Alice Claypoole Gwynne November 26, 1845 Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Died | April 22, 1934 (aged 88) Manhattan, New York City |
| Spouse(s) | Cornelius Vanderbilt II (m. 1867; his death 1899) |
| Children | Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt William Henry Vanderbilt II Cornelius Vanderbilt III Gertrude Vanderbilt Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt Gladys Moore Vanderbilt |
Alice Claypoole Gwynne Vanderbilt (November 26, 1845 – April 22, 1934) was the wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt II and reigned as the matriarch of the Vanderbilt family for over 60 years.
Alice Claypoole Gwynne was born and raised in Cincinnati, the daughter of lawyer Abraham Evan Gwynne and Rachel Moore Flagg, and stepdaughter of Albert Mathews, who wrote under the name Paul Siogvolk. She was the great great granddaughter of Major Ebenezer Flagg who served in the 1st Rhode Island Regiment during the American Revolution who was killed in action in 1781.
Alice donated to various charitable causes. Throughout her life she was a large supporter of the YMCA, Salvation Army, Red Cross, Trinity Church and St. Bartholomew's Church. She and her husband donated Vanderbilt Hall to Yale College in memory of their eldest son, Bill, a student there when he died in 1892. She gave the front gates to her former mansion on Fifth Avenue to be placed in Central Park. Mrs. Vanderbilt also donated a facility to Newport Hospital in 1903 in memory of her husband, Cornelius.
In 1914, she was responsible for the construction of the Gwynne Building in Cincinnati, Ohio, site of the first shop of Procter & Gamble, later the company's headquarters.
She met Cornelius Vanderbilt II, the eldest son of William Henry Vanderbilt and Maria Louisa Kissam, while teaching Sunday school at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church. They were married on February 4, 1867 at the Church of the Incarnation on Madison Avenue in New York. She and her husband had four sons and three daughters:
...
Wikipedia