Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), also known by the sobriquet Commodore, was an American entrepreneur who built his wealth in shipping and railroads and was the patriarch of the Vanderbilt family.

Cornelius Vanderbilt's great-great-great-grandfather, Jan Aertson, was a Dutch farmer from the village of De Bilt in Utrecht, the Netherlands, who immigrated to New York as an indentured servant in 1650. The Dutch van der ("of the") was eventually added to Aertson's village name to create "van der bilt," which was eventually condensed to Vanderbilt.

Born on Staten Island, Vanderbilt began working on his father's ferry in New York harbor as a young boy, quitting school no later than age 11. By age 16 he was operating his own boat—after having borrowed money from his mother to purchase it—ferrying freight and passengers between Staten Island and Manhattan. On December 19, 1813, Cornelius Vanderbilt married his cousin and neighbor, Sophia Johnson (1795-1868), daughter of his aunt Elizabeth Hand Johnson. They moved into a boarding house on Broad Street in New York. He and his wife eventually had 13 children, 1 of whom died in childhood.