Public Family Trees/Vanderbilt/Hamilton McKown Twombly
1849 - 1910 · Male · Boston, Massachusetts, United States
3
Generation
0
Ancestors
0
Descendants
0
Children
1
Marriages
Hamilton McKown Twombly
1849 - 1910
Hamilton McKown Twombly was an American businessman who married Florence Adele Vanderbilt, a daughter of William Henry Vanderbilt, in 1877 and became one of the family's most trusted financial managers. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, and educated at Harvard, he served as a director of the New York Central and other Vanderbilt railroad companies and administered much of the family's investment business after his fathe…
Born1849
The beginning of Hamilton McKown Twombly's recorded life.
Family
A partnership that connects two branches of the Vanderbilt family.
Legacy
A defining role in the story of the Vanderbilt family.
Died1910
The close of a life whose connections continue through the family record.
Your turn
Free, with no sign-up to start. Add yourself, then your parents and grandparents, and watch the tree grow.
Gen 1 · 1794 - 1877
Cornelius Vanderbilt, known throughout his life as the Commodore, was an American shipping and railroad magnate who built the largest private fortune in the United States of his day. Born on Staten Island, New York, into a family of Dutch descent whose father worked as a boatman, he began with a single sailing barge in New York Harbour as a teenager, expanded into steamboats on the Hudson and on coastal and transatlantic routes, then moved into railroads after the Civil War, consolidating the New York Central system and building Grand Central Depot in Manhattan. He married his first cousin Sophia Johnson and, after her death, Frank Armstrong Crawford. Of his thirteen children he entrusted the fortune almost entirely to his eldest surviving son, William Henry Vanderbilt. A gift of one million dollars in 1873 founded Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
Gen 2 · 1821 - 1885
William Henry Vanderbilt was an American railroad executive who, on inheriting the bulk of his father Cornelius Vanderbilt's estate in 1877, nearly doubled the family fortune in eight years and left about two hundred million dollars at his death. Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, he was long dismissed by his father as unfit for business and sent to farm on Staten Island, where his success in running the Staten Island Railway won him a place in the family enterprises. As president of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad he extended the system westward and built the twin mansions on Fifth Avenue. With his wife Maria Louisa Kissam he had eight children, including Cornelius Vanderbilt II, William Kissam Vanderbilt and George Washington Vanderbilt II, and he divided his estate far more evenly among them than his father had.
Gen 1 · 1839 - 1885
Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt was the second wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt, whom she married in 1869, and a distant cousin of his through her mother. Born in Mobile, Alabama, and given a man's name after a family friend, she was educated in the South and was some forty five years younger than her husband. She is remembered chiefly for persuading him to make the gift of one million dollars that in 1873 endowed the Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Nashville, renamed Vanderbilt University in his honour; the institution's founder, Bishop Holland McTyeire, was her kinsman. She had no children with Vanderbilt and survived him by eight years.
Gen 3 · 1843 - 1899
Cornelius Vanderbilt II was an American railroad executive and philanthropist, the eldest son of William Henry Vanderbilt and head of the family after his father's death in 1885. Born at New Dorp on Staten Island, New York, he became chairman of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad and a director of many allied lines, and was known within the family as the hardest working and most devout of his generation. With his wife Alice Claypoole Gwynne he built The Breakers at Newport, Rhode Island, and the vast chateau at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, the largest private house ever built in New York City. Their surviving children were Cornelius Vanderbilt III, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt and Gladys, Countess Szechenyi.
Gen 3 · 1849 - 1920
William Kissam Vanderbilt was an American railroad executive, thoroughbred breeder and yachtsman, the second son of William Henry Vanderbilt. Born at New Dorp on Staten Island, New York, he managed the family's railroad interests alongside his brother Cornelius Vanderbilt II before withdrawing from business to concentrate on racing in France and on collecting. With his first wife Alva Erskine Smith he built the Petit Chateau at 660 Fifth Avenue and Marble House at Newport, and used the celebrated costume ball of 1883 to force open the doors of Mrs Astor's New York society. Their children were Consuelo, Duchess of Marlborough, William Kissam Vanderbilt II and Harold Stirling Vanderbilt. After his divorce in 1895 he married Anne Harriman.
Gen 3 · 1852 - 1946
Emily Thorn Vanderbilt was a daughter of William Henry Vanderbilt and Maria Louisa Kissam and a philanthropist in New York City. She married William Douglas Sloane of the furnishings firm W. and J. Sloane in 1872, and with him built Elm Court at Lenox in the Berkshires, one of the largest shingle style houses in America. She was a principal benefactor of the Sloane Hospital for Women in New York, endowed with her husband, and of institutions at Lenox and in the city. Widowed in 1915, she married the diplomat Henry White in 1920. Sister of Cornelius Vanderbilt II, William Kissam Vanderbilt and George Washington Vanderbilt II, she lived to the age of ninety three.
Gen 4 · 1873 - 1942
Cornelius Vanderbilt III was an American military officer, engineer and yachtsman, the eldest surviving son of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Born in New York City and trained at Yale in mechanical engineering, he patented improvements to locomotives and railway cars and held senior posts in the New York Central system. His marriage in 1896 to Grace Graham Wilson, made against his father's wishes, cost him his place as principal heir, most of the estate passing instead to his younger brother Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt. He served in the Spanish American War and commanded engineer troops in France in the First World War, rising to brigadier general, and was a prominent member of the New York Yacht Club.
Gen 4 · 1875 - 1942
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney was an American sculptor, art patron and the founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art. The eldest surviving daughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt II and Alice Claypoole Gwynne, she was born in New York City and married Harry Payne Whitney in 1896. She trained in New York and Paris and won major public commissions in her own right, among them the Titanic Memorial in Washington, the Buffalo Bill monument at Cody, Wyoming, and the American war memorial at Saint Nazaire in France. She opened the Whitney Studio in Greenwich Village to show living American artists, and when the Metropolitan Museum declined her collection she founded the Whitney Museum in 1930. Her children included Flora Payne Whitney and Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney.
Gen 4 · 1877 - 1915
Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt was an American businessman and sportsman who became the principal heir of his father Cornelius Vanderbilt II after his elder brother's marriage displaced him. Born in New York City and educated at Yale, he held directorships in the family railroads but was best known as a coaching enthusiast, reviving four in hand coach driving on English and American roads and racing horses under his own colours. He married Elsie French in 1901 and Margaret Emerson in 1911. He died in May 1915 in the sinking of the Cunard liner Lusitania off the Irish coast, where survivors described him helping women and children into the boats. His sons included William Henry Vanderbilt III and Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Jr.
Gen 5 · 1897 - 1986
Flora Payne Whitney was an American art patron and museum administrator, the eldest child of the sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and Harry Payne Whitney. Born in New York City, she grew up between her mother's studio world and the Whitney racing stables, and made the Whitney Museum of American Art her life's work, serving as its president and later its chairman and guiding it through the move to the Marcel Breuer building on Madison Avenue in 1966. She was engaged to Quentin Roosevelt, the youngest son of Theodore Roosevelt, who was killed in action in 1918, and afterwards married Roderick Tower and then George Macculloch Miller.
Gen 5 · 1897 - 1972
John Albert Edward William Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough, was a British peer, the elder son of the 9th Duke and Consuelo Vanderbilt and therefore a grandson of William Kissam Vanderbilt. Educated at Eton, he served in the Life Guards in the First World War and again in the Second, during which Blenheim Palace, which he had inherited in 1934, was given over first to a relocated school and then to government intelligence work. He sat in the House of Lords, held county office in Oxfordshire, and worked to keep Blenheim intact by opening it more fully to visitors. He was a first cousin once removed of Winston Churchill.
The House of Bonaparte is the French imperial dynasty founded by Napoleon I, a family of minor Corsican nobles from Ajaccio who within one generation ruled France and placed brothers and sisters on the thrones of Spain, Holland, Naples and Westphalia, and whose senior line survives today in Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoleon. The family descends from Carlo Buonaparte, an Ajaccio lawyer, and Letizia Ramolino, whose eight surviving children were born between 1768 and 1784 on an island that had only just passed from Genoese to French rule. The second son, Napoleon, became First Consul in 1799 and Emperor of the French in 1804, and the whole family rose with him. ## Origins in Corsica The Buonaparte were a patrician family of Ajaccio with roots traced to Tuscany, holding local office and a modest estate rather than great wealth. Carlo Buonaparte studied law at Pisa, served in the Corsican assembly and secured French recognition of the family's noble status, which opened the military academies of Brienne and Paris to his sons. After his death in 1785 Letizia Ramolino held the household together, later presiding over the imperial court as Madame Mere and outliving the Empire itself. ## Notable members Napoleon I is the figure the family is remembered for: general of the Italian and Egyptian campaigns, author of the Civil Code, and Emperor until his abdication in 1815 and exile on Saint Helena. His siblings became sovereigns in their own right, Joseph in Naples and Spain, Louis in Holland, Elisa in Tuscany, Caroline in Naples with her husband Joachim Murat, and Jerome in Westphalia. Napoleon's only legitimate son, Napoleon II, was titled King of Rome. The dynasty returned to power through Louis and Hortense de Beauharnais's son, who ruled as Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870 alongside Empress Eugenie. Later generations produced the ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte and the celebrated Paris salon hostess Princess Mathilde. ## Significance No other modern European family moved so far so quickly, and few left as deep a mark. The Napoleonic Code still underpins the civil law of much of continental Europe and Latin America, while the Second Empire rebuilt Paris into the city of boulevards visitors see today. Two empires, two exiles and a princely line that continues in the present make the Bonapartes the most consequential of the newer European houses. | Fact | Details | | --- | --- | | Family name | Bonaparte, originally Buonaparte | | Place of origin | Ajaccio, Corsica, with earlier roots in Tuscany | | Founding couple | Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino | | Best known member | Napoleon I, Emperor of the French | | Thrones held | France, Italy, Spain, Holland, Naples, Westphalia | | Imperial periods | First Empire 1804 to 1815, Second Empire 1852 to 1870 | | Current head of the house | Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoleon, born 1986 | | Generations in this tree | Five, from Carlo Buonaparte to Jean-Christophe |
The House of Medici was a Florentine banking family and political dynasty that rose from mercantile wealth in the late fourteenth century to dominate the Republic of Florence, produced two popes and two queens of France, and ruled as hereditary Grand Dukes of Tuscany for nearly two centuries before the direct male line died out in 1737. ## Origins The family's fortune began with Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, who founded the Medici Bank around 1397 and built it into one of the most trusted financial institutions in Europe through close ties to the papacy. His son Cosimo de' Medici turned that wealth into political dominance of Florence without ever holding a formal princely title, ruling through alliance, patronage, and public opinion for three decades. Cosimo's descendants, especially his grandson Lorenzo de' Medici, known as Lorenzo the Magnificent, consolidated the family's grip on the city while becoming the era's foremost patrons of Renaissance art and humanist scholarship. ## Notable Members Lorenzo the Magnificent's sons included Giovanni, who became Pope Leo X, the first Medici pope, and whose cousin Giulio later reigned as Pope Clement VII. Lorenzo's granddaughter Catherine de' Medici became queen of France and, as regent, steered the country through the Wars of Religion; a later Medici, Marie de' Medici, likewise became queen of France as the second wife of Henry IV. When the senior line failed with the assassination of Alessandro de' Medici in 1537, the family's junior branch, descended from Cosimo the Elder's brother, provided Cosimo I de' Medici, who was crowned the first Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1569. His descendants, including the scientific patrons Cosimo II and Ferdinando II, ruled Tuscany until Gian Gastone de' Medici, the last Grand Duke, died without an heir in 1737. His sister, Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, outlived him as the family's final member. ## Significance Beyond their political rule, the Medici reshaped European culture through unmatched patronage: they backed Brunelleschi, Donatello, Botticelli, Michelangelo, and Galileo Galilei, and financed the buildings, art, and institutions that still define Florence today. Anna Maria Luisa's 1737 Patto di Famiglia bequeathed the family's entire art collection to the Tuscan state on the condition it never leave Florence, directly founding the holdings of the Uffizi Gallery and Pitti Palace. | Fact | Details | |---|---| | Founded | c. 1397, Florence (Medici Bank) | | Founder | Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici | | Seat | Florence; later the Grand Duchy of Tuscany | | Peak title | Grand Duke of Tuscany (from 1569) | | Popes produced | Leo X (1513-1521), Clement VII (1523-1534) | | Queens of France | Catherine de' Medici, Marie de' Medici | | Dynasty ended | 1737 (Gian Gastone); 1743 (Anna Maria Luisa) | | Lasting legacy | Uffizi Gallery and Pitti Palace collections |
## Lord Krishna and His Close Family: A Complete Family Biography Lord Krishna is one of the most revered deities in Hinduism and the eighth incarnation (avatar) of Lord Vishnu. His life, described in the **Mahabharata**, **Bhagavata Purana**, **Harivamsa**, and other sacred texts, is filled with stories of divine love, wisdom, courage, and dharma. Beyond his role as a spiritual guide and warrior, Krishna belonged to the illustrious **Yadava dynasty**, and his family played a central role in many events of Indian mythology. ### Parents: Vasudeva and Devaki Krishna was born in **Mathura** to **Vasudeva** and **Devaki**, members of the royal Yadava family. Devaki was the sister of King Kamsa, whose prophecy foretold that her eighth son would end his reign. To protect the newborn Krishna, Vasudeva carried him across the Yamuna River on the night of his birth and entrusted him to foster parents in Gokul. Devaki and Vasudeva remained symbols of sacrifice and unwavering faith throughout Krishna's life. ### Foster Parents: Nanda and Yashoda Krishna was lovingly raised by **Nanda Maharaja** and **Yashoda** in the village of **Gokul** and later **Vrindavan**. Nanda was the respected chief of the cowherd community, while Yashoda became one of Hinduism's most celebrated maternal figures. Her affectionate relationship with Krishna, including stories of butter theft and childhood miracles, represents unconditional love and devotion. ### Brother and Sister Krishna's elder brother, **Balarama**, is considered an incarnation of **Shesha**, the divine serpent associated with Lord Vishnu. Balarama was Krishna's closest companion, protector, and guide throughout his youth and adulthood. Krishna's younger sister **Subhadra** became an important figure in the Mahabharata after marrying **Arjuna**, making Krishna both Arjuna's cousin and brother-in-law. Subhadra was also the mother of the heroic warrior **Abhimanyu**. ### Wives of Lord Krishna Krishna is traditionally said to have **eight principal queens**, known as the **Ashtabharya**. The most prominent among them was **Rukmini**, regarded as the goddess Lakshmi's incarnation and Krishna's chief queen in Dwarka. Other principal queens include **Satyabhama**, known for her courage and determination; **Jambavati**, daughter of the bear king Jambavan; **Kalindi**, **Mitravinda**, **Nagnajiti (Satya)**, **Bhadra**, and **Lakshmana**. According to the Bhagavata Purana, Krishna also married **16,100 women** whom he rescued from captivity, restoring their dignity and status. ### Sons and Daughters Ancient texts describe Krishna as having many children through his queens. His most famous son was **Pradyumna**, born to Rukmini and considered an incarnation of Kamadeva, the god of love. Pradyumna became a renowned Yadava prince and warrior. Another well-known son was **Samba**, born to Jambavati. Although brave, Samba's mischievous actions eventually contributed to the downfall of the Yadava dynasty through a famous curse narrative. Other sons included **Charudeshna**, **Aniruddha's father Pradyumna**, **Bhanu**, **Gada**, and several others born to Krishna's different queens. The Puranas also mention daughters, though they receive less detailed attention than his sons. ### Grandchildren and Legacy Krishna's grandson **Aniruddha**, son of Pradyumna and Rukmavati, became one of the most important heirs of the Yadava dynasty. His marriage to **Usha**, daughter of the powerful king Bana, is celebrated in Hindu mythology. Aniruddha's son **Vajra** survived the destruction of the Yadavas after the Mausala Parva. Following Krishna's departure from the earthly world, Vajra became the ruler of **Indraprastha** and later regions associated with Mathura, preserving Krishna's royal lineage. ### The Yadava Family Legacy Krishna's family represents devotion, duty, sacrifice, and divine purpose. From Devaki's courage and Yashoda's unconditional love to Balarama's loyalty, Rukmini's devotion, Subhadra's connection to the Pandavas, and Vajra's continuation of the dynasty, each family member contributed to the enduring legacy of the Yadava lineage. Together, they form one of the most influential and beloved family trees in Hindu mythology, connecting the stories of the Mahabharata, Bhagavata Purana, and the spiritual traditions followed by millions around the world.
Hamilton McKown Twombly married Florence Adele Vanderbilt Twombly.
Hamilton McKown Twombly is recorded as Businessman and railroad director in the Vanderbilt family tree.
Hamilton McKown Twombly's recorded native place is Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Hamilton McKown Twombly is recorded as Cornelius Vanderbilt's Grandson's husband.
Hamilton McKown Twombly is recorded in the Vanderbilt family tree on My rOoOts, alongside 59 other people.
Trace Hamilton McKown Twombly's connections across the Vanderbilttree, or begin preserving your own family's history today.
Free. Private by default. GEDCOM export any time.