Brief History of the Vanderhey and Ingalls Families

The Vanderhey Family traces its proud origin to 15th century Belgium (modern day Netherlands) and the Baronship of Heyden, an ancient and historic city.  

From its strong historical ownership of lands in and around its original base of power, several of the family forged their own paths – immigrating, settling and starting businesses in many corners of the then New World including North America, South Africa, Southeast Asia (modern day Philippines), Central America and Central Europe.

Over the centuries, the family grew – its touches on the business worlds – in its activity in banking, international trade, real estate, and agriculture can be felt strongly in modern day Switzerland, Monaco, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Brussels and other centres of financial trade.

The Ingalls family investment empire began with the founding of Ingalls Ironworks, a shipbuilding behemoth built in Birmingham, Alabama and growing internationally to become the second largest shipbuilder in the United States until being acquired, through acquisition of Litton Corporation, by Northrop Grumman (a large American defense conglomerate).

The Ingalls family philanthropy and investment footprint expanded from Alabama to Aspen and internationally to Switzerland and Monaco (where members of the family relocated in the later 20th century).

Current and past members of our Family Investment Committee have included the following individuals representing their individual branches of the family.

Alexander Vanderhey

William Green

W. “Bill” Vanderheye III

Julius Vanderheye

Regina Ingalls-Vanderheye

Elisabeth Ingalls

Johannes VanDerHayden

Adriana Venderheye