Alfred Van Santvoord
"Commodore" Alfred Van Santvoord (1819–1901) was a wealthy United States businessman who made his fortune running steamboat lines.
Biography
Alfred Van Santvoord was born in Utica, New York in January 1819. His father, Abram Van Santvoord, had provided munitions during the War of 1812 to the troops of Captain Thomas Macdonough on Lake Champlain, and thus played a major role in the American victory at the Battle of Plattsburgh. After the war, Abram Van Santvoord became one of the first boatmen on the Erie Canal. Abram Van Santvoord moved his family to Rochester, New York in 1821, and later to Albany, New York, then to Jersey City, New Jersey.
Following a common school education in Albany, Alfred Van Santvoord became a clerk for his father, and later obtained an interest in his father's business. Together, the Van Santvoords ran boats on the Erie Canal and the Hudson River. His father also had a joint interest with Daniel Drew and Isaac Newton in the People's Line, which ran passenger boat service on the Hudson River. After his father's death, Van Santvoord purchased a number of steamboats and launched the Albany Day Line, which also offered transportation to passengers. Van Santvoord also came to own several freight-towing boats.
During the American Civil War, Van Santvoord chartered several of his boats to the Union. One of Van Santvoord's boats, the River Queen served as Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler's headquarters. The River Queen served as the site of the Hampton Roads Conference in 1865. President of the United States Abraham Lincoln traveled on the River Queen often during the Civil War.
Although he never sought political office, after the Civil War, Van Santvoord was influential with Thurlow Weed. He was well known in business circles, and was a friend of William Henry Vanderbilt. Van Santvoord was one of the organizers of the Lincoln National Bank and the Lincoln Safe Deposit Company. He was a director of the Delaware and Hudson Railway, the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad, the Catskill Mountain Railroad, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, and the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company.
Van Santvoord was married to the former Anna Townsend of Albany. They had several children: Charles Townsend Van Santvoord, Mrs. Eben E. Olcott, Mrs. Wilton Merle Smith (mother of Van Santvoord Merle-Smith), and Anna Van Santvoord.
Van Santvoord died on his yacht on July 20, 1901.
References
- "Alfred Van Santvoord", New York Times, July 2, 1899
- "Alfred Van Santvoord Dies On His Yacht", New York Times, July 21, 1901