They're both much richer than we are and so are their kids, grand kids, great-grand kids, great-great-grand kids and the family that's alive right now. But more importantly they both lived around the same time and they were both American financiers and industrialists.
The primary railroad barons in the US were James Hill, Jay and George Gould, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Edward Harriman, Collis P. Huntington, and others. Of these, Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt probably was the most known and most influential. See American Rails.
It came to the point where Cornelius Vanderbilt, the railroad tycoon issued a court order to the Erie directors Jay Gould and Jim Fisk. Vanderbilt discovered that the Erie was unloading watered stock. They stole six million dollars and fled to New Jersey. After some bribery, they returned to New York and were back in business.
Cornelius Vanderbilt was a controlling force in the US railroading business. He amassed a great fortune from this industry within about twenty years after the US Civil War. He had rivals, however, men such as Jay Gould and James Fisk would compete with Vanderbilt for control of the prosperous business of rail transportation.
Cornelius Vanderbilt took advantage of loose regulations to create a railroad empire. Partly from the money he earned in the shipping industry, he was able to make railroading a primary vehicle to add to his fortune. His main competition was from Jay Fisk of New York.
George Jay Gould died in 1923.
Jay Gould was born on May 27, 1836.
Jay Gould was born on May 27, 1836.
Frank Jay Gould was born on 1877-12-04.
Stephen Jay Gould was born on September 10, 1941.
Jay Gould died on December 2, 1892 at the age of 56.
Jay Gould II died on 1935-01-26.
Frank Jay Gould died on 1956-04-01.