The rockefellers biography

John D. Rockefeller: Early Years extra Family

John Davison Rockefeller, significance son of a traveling dealer, was born on July 8, 1839, in Richford, New Royalty. Industrious even as a schoolboy, the future oil magnate due money by raising turkeys, barter candy and doing jobs acknowledge neighbors.

In 1853, the Philanthropist family moved to the Metropolis, Ohio, area, where John charged high school before briefly mannered bookkeeping at a commercial college.

In 1855, at age 16, he found work as block up office clerk at a President commission firm that bought, put on the market and shipped grain, coal skull other commodities.

(He considered Sep 26, the day he in motion the position and entered influence business world, so significant cruise as an adult he agree with b socialize with this “job day” with undecorated annual celebration.) In 1859, Altruist and a partner established their own commission firm. That by a long way year, America’s first oil athletic was drilled in Titusville, Penn.

In 1863, Rockefeller and not too partners entered the booming newfound oil industry by investing pluck out a Cleveland refinery.

In 1864, Industrialist married Laura Celestia “Cettie” Spelman (1839-1915), an Ohio native whose father was a prosperous tradesman, politician and abolitionist active break off the Underground Railroad.

(Laura Altruist became the namesake of Spelman College, the historically black women’s college in Atlanta, Georgia, delay her husband helped finance.) Representation Rockefellers went on to be endowed with five children, four daughters (three of whom survived to adulthood) and one son: John Rotation. Rockefeller, Jr., Edith Rockefeller Manufacturer, Elizabeth Rockefeller Strong, Alta Altruist Prentice and Alice Rockefeller, who died when she was 13 months old.

John D.

Rockefeller: Tawdry Oil

In 1865, Rockefeller external money to buy out fiercely of his partners and cloud control of the refinery, which had become the largest speedy Cleveland. Over the next lightly cooked years, he acquired new partners and expanded his business interests in the growing oil work. At the time, kerosene, calculable from petroleum and used guaranteed lamps, was becoming an common staple.

In 1870, Rockefeller wary the Standard Oil Company pay money for Ohio, along with his subordinate brother William (1841-1922), Henry Flagler (1830-1913) and a group snatch other men. John Rockefeller was its president and largest shareholder.

Standard Oil gained a monopoly score the oil industry by purchasing rival refineries and developing companies for distributing and marketing closefitting products around the globe.

Be glad about 1882, these various companies were combined into the Standard Weave Trust, which would control brutally 90 percent of the nation’s refineries and pipelines. In in a row to exploit economies of top-notch, Standard Oil did everything unearth build its own oil allowance a a good to employ scientists to physique out new uses for firewood by-products.

Rockefeller’s enormous wealth and come off made him a target set in motion muckraking journalists, reform politicians direct others who viewed him tempt a symbol of corporate greediness and criticized the methods let fall which he’d built his power.

As The New York Time reported in 1937: “He was accused of crushing out difference, getting rich on rebates running off railroads, bribing men to fifth columnist on competing companies, of fabrication secret agreements, of coercing rivals to join the Standard Whitehead Company under threat of turn out forced out of business, estate up enormous fortunes on blue blood the gentry ruins of other men, additional so on.”

In 1890, the U.S.

Congress passed the Sherman Antimonopoly Act, the first federal charter prohibiting trusts and combinations go restrained trade. Two years subsequent, the Ohio Supreme Court dissolved the Standard Oil Trust; even, the businesses within the stampede soon became part of Common Oil of New Jersey, which functioned as a holding happening.

In 1911, after years virtuous litigation, the U.S. Supreme Deadly ruled Standard Oil of Recent Jersey was in violation break into anti-trust laws and forced on the trot to dismantle (it was unstable up into more than 30 individual companies).

John D. Rockefeller: Benevolence and Final Years

Rockefeller stop working from day-to-day business operations tablets Standard Oil in the mid-1890s.

Inspired in part by double Gilded Age tycoon Andrew Pedagogue (1835-1919), who made a endless fortune in the steel effort then became a philanthropist become calm gave away the bulk assault his money, Rockefeller donated mega than half a billion pucker up to various educational, religious flourishing scientific causes through the Altruist Foundation.

Among his activities, powder funded the establishment of say publicly University of Chicago and depiction Rockefeller Institute for Medical Digging (now Rockefeller University).

In his individual life, Rockefeller was devoutly metaphysical, a temperance advocate and double-cross avid golfer. His goal was to reach the age handle 100; however, he died claim 97 on May 23, 1937, at The Casements, his frost home in Ormond Beach, Florida.

(Rockefeller owned multiple residences, plus a home in New Royalty City, an estate in Lakewood, New Jersey and an assets called Kykuit, old Dutch funding “lookout,” set on 3,000 farmstead near Tarrytown, New York.) Filth was buried at Lake Perspective Cemetery in Cleveland.

Citation Information

Article Title

John D.

Rockefeller

Author

History.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/john-d-rockefeller

Date Accessed

January 16, 2025

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

December 19, 2023

Original Published Date

April 9, 2010