I was born on July 8th 1839 on a farm at Richford, in Tioga County, New York, the second of the six children of William A. and Eliza (Davison) Rockefeller. As a boy, my family moved to Moravia, then to Owego, New York, before going west to Ohio in 1853. We bought a house in Strongsville, near Cleveland, and I attended Central High School in Cleveland. While I was a student, rented a room in the city and joined the Erie Street Baptist Church, which later became the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church. Active in its affairs, I became a trustee of the church at the age of 21.
I left high school in 1855 to take a business course at Folsom Mercantile College. After college, I was employed as assistant bookkeeper for Hewitt & Tuttle, a small firm of commission merchants and produce shippers. I didn't get paid for three months. Finally, my boss gave me a raise to $25 a week. A few months later I became the cashier and bookkeeper.
In 1859, the first oil well was drilled at Titusville in western Pennsylvania, giving rise to the petroleum industry. Cleveland soon became a major refining center of the booming new industry, and in 1863, My business partner Maurice B. Clark and I entered the oil business as refiners. Together with a new partner, Samuel Andrews, who had some refining experience, we built and operated an oil refinery under the company name of Andrews, Clark & Co. The firm also continued in the commission business but in 1865 our partners, now five in number, disagreed about the management of our business affairs and decided to sell the refinery to whoever amongst them bid the highest. I bought it for $72,500, sold out his other interests and, with Andrews, formed Rockefeller & Andrews.
By 1870, I organized the Standard Oil Company along with my brother William Rockefeller, Samuel Andrews, Henry Flagler, S.V. Harkness and many others. The capital was $1 million.
Moreover, by 1872, Standard Oil had purchased and thus controlled nearly all the refining firms in Cleveland, plus two refineries in the New York City area. Before long the company was refining 29,000 barrels of crude oil a day and had its own cooper shop manufacturing wooden barrels. The company also had storage tanks with a capacity of several hundred thousand barrels of oil, warehouses for refined oil, and plants for the manufacture of paints and glue.
Standard prospered and, in 1882, all its properties were merged in the Standard Oil Trust, which was in effect one great company. It had an initial capital of $70 million. There were originally forty-two certificate holders, or owners, in the trust.
At the time, the primary product of Standard Oil was lamp oil - fuel that used to light up street-posts, wall lanterns, stoves, ovens as well as many other smaller purposes. Vehicles with instant combustible engine system, which refined oil is to be heavily relied, was not even invented yet as it was more than 30 years away. Middle Eastern oil industry was a distant future. The Standard Oil Trust dominated the world's oil industry like a true, unopposed monopoly for nearly 30 years. At its peak, no other company could ever match the capital, the ruthless competitive drive and the vast business scale of the Standard Oil Trust in a way that was virtually unchallenged. Not even Microsoft, that future technology company, could come close to the unprecedented monopolistic powers which the Standard Oil Trust enjoyed at its zenith.
I retired in 1896 from active leadership of the company, thought I retained as President of the trust until 1911 when the trust was broken up by anti-trust laws by the U.S. Supreme Court. However, since 1896, I've engaged in the business of philanthropy in all affairs of life outside my company, contributing largely to academic, medicinal, social and religious institutions. Until my death, I was, financial-wise, the country's, perhaps the world's, biggest philanthropist. University of Chicago, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Rockefeller University, Spelman College, Colonial Williamsburg Restoration projects, the arts, public health and hygienic matters, many things, I did for all, of course with the helps of my partners, supporters and my family.
Speaking of my family, I married Laura C. Spelman (1839-1915), a teacher, on September 8, 1864, in Cleveland, Ohio. We had five chidlren, they were: John D., Jr. (1874-1960), who inherited much of the family fortune and continued my philanthropic work; Bessie (1866-1906), Alice (1869-1870) who died in infancy, Alta (1871-1962) and Edith (1872-1932). I have many grandchildren from among them. My namesake is still passed down to my great grandson, Senator John ("Jay") Rockefeller IV of West Virginia. I also have a grandson still living today, David Rockefeller, who is quite an institution in person, of which I'm most proud of.
In my time, I was considered the most powerful and wealthiest man in the world, though I had many critics and enemies. Being considered the first modern billionaire in the world, I was always a target of ridicule and bias by journalists, politicians, and rivals alike, thought I remained steadfast and sure in the face of persistent adversity. Of all my strong enemies, Ida Mae Tarbell was my most formidable and dangerous opponent, I admit. *chuckling* Oh, how she bought down my entire company with her muckraking stories! *sigh*
I alternated between Lakewood, New Jersey and Ormond Beach, Florida in my final years. I passed away on May 23rd, 1937 at my Ormond Beach family home at the age of 97. My body is buried at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.
My Family Tree.
Profile Edited by Zobster MySpace Editor
