John D. Rockefeller
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| 1917 painting by John Singer Sargent |
John Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 - May 23, 1937), an American capitalist and philanthropist. He was born in Richford, New York to William Avery Rockefeller (November 13, 1810 - May 11, 1906) and his wife Eliza Davison(September 12, 1813 - March 28, 1889). In 1853 his family moved to Strongville, Ohio.
After 1857 he lived in Cleveland, Ohio, where he had begun to work as a bookkeeper in 1855. In 1858 he went into the produce commission business. His firm, Clark & Rockefeller, invested in an oil refinery in 1862, and in 1865 Rockefeller sold out his share to his partner Clark, paid $72,500 for a larger share in another refinery, and formed the partnership of Rockefeller & Andrews.
John D. Rockefeller and Laura C. Spelman (1839-1915), a teacher, were married on September 8, 1864, in Cleveland. The Rockefellers had five children -- four daughters and a son, John D., Jr. (1874-1960). Their eldest daughter, Bessie (1866-1906), married Charles Strong. Their second daughter, Alice (1869-1870), died in infancy. Alta (1871-1962) married E. Parmalee Prentice, and the youngest daughter, Edith (1872-1932), married Harold Fowler McCormick.
At about the same time Rockefeller's brother, William, started another refinery. In 1867 Rockefeller & Andrews absorbed this business, and Henry Morrison Flagler joined the partnership. In 1870 the two Rockefellers, Flagler, Andrews and a refiner named Stephen V. Harkness formed the Standard Oil Company, with John D. Rockefeller as president.
Standard Oil gradually gained virtual control of oil production in America. Its business methods, which brought immense wealth to the ownership, were widely and severely criticized. Its growth increased further in 1882, when separate companies were organized in each state; and in later years, as the first great American trust, the Standard Oil Company was hotly attacked during the anti-trust movement, especially after the publication of the 1904 book The History of the Standard Oil Company, by Ida Tarbell. Standard Oil's economies of scale lowered the cost of oil based products so that almost everyone could afford them.
Rockefeller himself retired from active business in 1895. At one time he had large iron interests, including mines and ore-carrying ships, on Lake Superior. He sold those to U.S. Steel. By 1901, he was worth about $900 million and is believed to have been the world's richest man at the time. His net worth when adjusted for inflation is many times that of all modern day billionaires.
In private life, Rockefeller was a member of the Baptist church, and late in life became a philanthropist. He was one of the United States' first major philanthropists, creating several important foundations and donating a total of $540 million to charitable purposes. He founded the University of Chicago in 1892, the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (now Rockefeller University) in New York City in 1901, the General Education Board in 1902, the Rockefeller Foundation in 1913, and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial in 1918.
On March 3, 1910 Rockefeller announced his retirement from managing his businesses so that he could devote full time to being a philanthropist.
Rockefeller died on the morning of May 23, 1937, at "The Casements," his home in Ormond Beach, Florida. He was buried in Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland.
His grandson, Nelson Rockefeller, was Vice President of the United States under Gerald Ford and another grandson Winthrop Rockefeller served as Governor of Arkansas. His great-grandson Jay Rockefeller is currently a member of the U.S. Senate.
John D. Rockerduck, a Walt Disney character who is popular in Europe, is named after him.
See also
- The History of the Standard Oil Company, by Ida Tarbell, full text, HTML
- Timeline of the Rockefeller family history since his birth
- A genealogy of his family
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "John D. Rockefeller" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller January 1, 2004
