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119-910: He married Almira Geraldine Goodsell in 1864, and they had six children. Rockefeller died in 1922, leaving a gross estate of $ 102 million, significantly reduced by debts and taxes. He was a prominent member of the Rockefeller family , contributing to its reputation as a leading American business dynasty. William Avery Rockefeller Jr. was born in Richford, New York . He was the middle son of con artist William Avery Rockefeller Sr. and Eliza Davison. In addition to elder brother John , William Jr.'s siblings were Lucy, Mary, and twins Franklin (Frank) and Frances (who died young). He also had two elder half-sisters, Clorinda (who died young) and Cornelia, through his father's affairs with mistress and housekeeper Nancy Brown. In 1853 his family moved to Strongsville, Ohio . As

238-643: A $ 5 billion endowment, the Rockefeller Foundation was "the largest US foundation to embrace the rapidly growing divestment movement." CNN writer Matt Egan noted, "This divestment is especially symbolic because the Rockefeller Foundation was founded by oil money." In May 2021 Rockefeller descendants Rebecca Rockefeller Lambert and Peter Gill Case announced a ten-year funding initiative, the Equation Campaign, to fight new fossil fuel development. The Rockefeller family archives are held at

357-608: A central figure in the city's business community. He bought a residence in 1884 on 54th Street near the mansions of other magnates such as William Henry Vanderbilt . Despite personal threats and constant pleas for charity, Rockefeller took the new elevated train to his downtown office daily. In 1887, Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission which was tasked with enforcing equal rates for all railroad freight, but by then Standard depended more on pipeline transport. More threatening to Standard's power

476-459: A collision with steel magnate Andrew Carnegie , and their competition became a major subject of the newspapers and cartoonists. He went on a massive buying spree acquiring leases for crude oil production in Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia, as the original Pennsylvania oil fields began to play out. Amid the frenetic expansion, Rockefeller began to think of retirement. The daily management of the trust

595-460: A conservationist. Great-grandson John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV served from 1985 until 2015 as a Democratic Senator from West Virginia after serving as governor of West Virginia, and another Winthrop served as lieutenant governor of Arkansas for a decade. John D. Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York , then part of the Burned-over district , a New York state region that became

714-402: A decent offer. If they refused his offer, he told them he would run them into bankruptcy and then cheaply buy up their assets at auction. However, he did not intend to eliminate competition entirely. In fact, his partner Pratt said of that accusation "Competitors we must have ... If we absorb them, it surely will bring up another." Instead of wanting to eliminate them, Rockefeller saw himself as

833-528: A definite time (National City Bank was run by Rockefeller's friends). Rogers and Rockefeller then set up a paper organization, known as the Amalgamated Copper Mining Company, with their own clerks as dummy directors, saying the company was worth $ 75 million. They had Amalgamated Copper Company buy Anaconda from them for $ 75 million in capital stock, which was conveniently printed for the purpose. Then, they borrowed $ 39 million from

952-409: A firestorm of protest from independent oil well owners, including boycotts and vandalism, which led to the discovery of Standard Oil's part in the deal. A major New York refiner, Charles Pratt and Company , headed by Charles Pratt and Henry H. Rogers , led the opposition to this plan, and railroads soon backed off. Pennsylvania revoked the cartel's charter, and non-preferential rates were restored for

1071-578: A fortune worth nearly 2% of the national economy. His personal wealth was estimated in 1913 at $ 900 million, which was almost 3% of the US gross domestic product (GDP) of $ 39.1 billion that year. Rockefeller spent much of the last 40 years of his life in retirement at Kykuit , his estate in Westchester County, New York, defining the structure of modern philanthropy, along with other key industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie . His fortune

1190-406: A huge backlash against the company, Tarbell stated she was surprised at its magnitude. "I never had an animus against their size and wealth, never objected to their corporate form. I was willing that they should combine and grow as big and wealthy as they could, but only by legitimate means. But they had never played fair, and that ruined their greatness for me." Tarbell's father had been driven out of

1309-400: A large business is merely a survival of the fittest." Rockefeller was the second of six children born in Richford, New York , to con artist William A. Rockefeller Sr. and Eliza Davison. Rockefeller had an elder sister named Lucy and four younger siblings: William Jr. , Mary, and fraternal twins Franklin (Frank) and Frances. His father was of English and German descent, while his mother

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1428-584: A million dollars in business) and $ 17,000 worth of profit, respectively, and their profits soared with the outbreak of the American Civil War when the Union Army called for massive amounts of food and supplies. During the second year of the American Civil War , Gardner withdrew from the business, and the firm became Clark & Rockefeller. When the Civil War was nearing a close and with

1547-463: A month. His final year provided him $ 58 a month. As a youth, Rockefeller reportedly said that his two great ambitions were to make $ 100,000 (equivalent to $ 3.27 million in 2023 dollars) and to live 100 years. In 1859, Rockefeller went into the produce commission business with two partners, Maurice B. Clark and George W. Gardner , under Clark, Gardner & Company, and they raised $ 4,000 ($ 135,644 in 2023 dollars) in capital. Clark initiated

1666-459: A partner, and the firm of Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler was established. By 1868, with Rockefeller continuing practices of borrowing and reinvesting profits, controlling costs, and using refineries' waste, the company owned two Cleveland refineries and a marketing subsidiary in New York ; it was the largest oil refinery in the world. Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler was the predecessor of

1785-759: A possible career. In September 1855, when Rockefeller was sixteen, he got his first job as an assistant bookkeeper working for a small produce commission firm in Cleveland called Hewitt & Tuttle. He worked long hours and delighted, as he later recalled, in "all the methods and systems of the office." He was particularly adept at calculating transportation costs, which served him well later in his career. Much of Rockefeller's duties involved negotiating with barge canal owners, ship captains, and freight agents. In these negotiations, he learned that posted transportation rates that were believed to be fixed could be altered depending on conditions and timing of freight and through

1904-535: A principal stockholder of the Denver and Rio Grande, for a loan. Gould, via Frederick Taylor Gates , Rockefeller's financial adviser, brought John D. Rockefeller in to help finance the loan. Analysis of the company's operations by John D. Rockefeller Jr. showed a need for substantially more funds which were provided in exchange for acquisition of CF&I's subsidiaries such as the Colorado and Wyoming Railway Company,

2023-539: A result, Rockefeller and his associates owned dozens of separate corporations, each of which operated in just one state; the management of the whole enterprise was rather unwieldy. In 1882, Rockefeller's lawyers created an innovative form of corporation to centralize their holdings, giving birth to the Standard Oil Trust. The " trust " was a corporation of corporations, and the entity's size and wealth drew much attention. Nine trustees, including Rockefeller, ran

2142-513: A son together. He was a faithful congregant of the Erie Street Baptist Mission Church, taught Sunday school, and served as a trustee, clerk, and occasional janitor. Religion was a guiding force throughout his life, and he believed it to be the source of his success. Rockefeller was also considered a supporter of capitalism based on a perspective of social Darwinism , and he was quoted often as saying, "The growth of

2261-413: A ten-week business course at Folsom's Commercial College , where he studied bookkeeping. Rockefeller was a well-behaved, serious, and studious boy despite his father's absences and frequent family moves. His contemporaries described him as reserved, earnest, religious, methodical, and discreet. He was an excellent debater and expressed himself precisely. He also had a deep love of music and dreamed of it as

2380-614: A trust that Rockefeller set up for his born and yet-to-be born great-grandchildren, stated that he "left a gross estate of $ 102,000,000 which was reduced to $ 50,000,000 principally by $ 30,000,000 of debts and $ 18,600,000 of inheritance and estate taxes ." Rockefeller was a regular attendee of the Saint Mary's Episcopal Church in Scarborough in the last few years of his life. Rockefeller and Almira's second son, William Goodsell Rockefeller , married Sarah Elizabeth "Elsie" Stillman,

2499-529: A young pupil in public school, he was inspired and motivated by his teacher-mentor, Rufus Osgood Mason , whom Rockefeller later named "A Rockefeller Patron." At the age of sixteen, he began work as a clerk for a miller in Cleveland, Ohio . About two years later, he joined his older brother's produce commission business, Clark and Rockefeller, which later supplied provisions to the Union Army. Rockefeller

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2618-491: Is David Rockefeller Jr. In 1992, it had five main arms: The family was heavily involved in numerous real estate construction projects in the U.S. during the 20th century. Chief among them: Over the generations, the family members have resided in some historic homes. A total of 81 Rockefeller residences are on the National Register of Historic Places . Not including all homes owned by the five brothers, some of

2737-521: Is an American industrial , political , and banking family that owns one of the world's largest fortunes. The fortune was made in the American petroleum industry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries by brothers John D. Rockefeller and William A. Rockefeller Jr. , primarily through Standard Oil (the predecessor of ExxonMobil and Chevron Corporation ). The family had a long association with, and control of, Chase Manhattan Bank . By 1987,

2856-536: Is what we now, many years later, call ' vertical integration ' I do not know whether Mr. Rockefeller ever used the word 'integration'. I only know he conceived the idea. In 1877, Standard clashed with Thomas A. Scott , the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad , Standard's chief hauler. Rockefeller envisioned pipelines as an alternative transport system for oil and began a campaign to build and acquire them. The railroad, seeing Standard's incursion into

2975-496: The Amalgamated Copper Mining Company , a holding company that intended to control the copper industry. With Daly as company president and Rogers as Vice-President, Rockefeller and Rogers devised a scheme which earned them a profit of $ 36 million. First, they purchased Anaconda Properties from Daly for $ 39 million, with the understanding that the check was to be deposited in the bank and remain there for

3094-644: The Blackstone Group ), and Paul Volcker . In 1991, the family was presented with the Honor Award from the National Building Museum for four generations worth of preserving and creating some of the U.S.'s most important buildings and places. David accepted the award on the family's behalf. The ceremony coincided with an exhibition on the family's contributions to the built environment, including John Sr.'s preservation efforts for

3213-642: The Du Ponts and the Mellons . A primary reason has been the lifelong efforts of "Junior" to not only cleanse the name from the disgrace stemming from the ruthless practices of Standard Oil but his tireless efforts to forge family unity even as he allowed his five sons to operate independently. This was partly achieved by regular brothers and family meetings, but it was also because of the high value placed on family unity by first Nelson and John III, and later especially with David. Regarding achievements, in 1972, on

3332-527: The Hudson River from General Lloyd Aspinwall. He renovated or rebuilt the mansion Rockwood Hall . The Rockefeller Cottage is a house on Jekyll Island, Georgia . It is also called Indian Mound and is next to the Jekyll Island Club . The house was built by Gordon McKay in 1892. McKay died in 1903 and the house was bought by William Rockefeller in 1905, who used it as a winter home. It

3451-699: The Hudson River Palisades , the restoration of Williamsburg, Virginia , construction of Rockefeller Center , and Governor Nelson's efforts to construct low- and middle-income housing in New York state. The Rockefeller name is imprinted in numerous places throughout the United States, including within New York City , but also in Cleveland , where the family originates: John Jr., through his son Nelson , purchased and then donated

3570-574: The Iranian Revolution and was in poor health, for medical treatment in the United States. In 1998, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton for his work on International Executive Service Corps . A trademark of the dynasty over its 140-plus years has been the remarkable unity it has maintained, despite major divisions that developed in the late 1970s, and unlike other wealthy families such as

3689-780: The Legion d'Honneur (subsequently also awarded decades later to his son, David Rockefeller ). He also funded the excavations at Luxor in Egypt, as well as establishing a Classical Studies School in Athens . In addition, he provided the funding for the construction of the Palestine Archaeological Museum in East Jerusalem - the Rockefeller Museum . Beginning with John D. Rockefeller Sr. ,

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3808-497: The South Improvement Company offering special deals to bulk customers like Standard Oil, outside the main oil centers. The cartel offered preferential treatment as a high-volume shipper, which included not just steep discounts/rebates of up to 50% for their product but rebates for the shipment of competing products. Part of this scheme was the announcement of sharply increased freight charges. This touched off

3927-572: The Standard Oil Company in 1870. He ran it until 1897 and remained its largest shareholder . In his retirement, he focused his energy and wealth on philanthropy, especially regarding education, medicine, higher education, and modernizing the Southern United States . Rockefeller's wealth soared as kerosene and gasoline grew in importance, and he became the richest person in the country, controlling 90% of all oil in

4046-1079: The Supreme Court of the United States found Standard Oil Company of New Jersey in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act . By then the trust still had a 70% market share of the refined oil market but only 14% of the U.S. crude oil supply. The court ruled that the trust originated in illegal monopoly practices and ordered it to be broken up into 34 new companies. These included, among many others, Continental Oil, which became Conoco , now part of ConocoPhillips ; Standard of Indiana, which became Amoco , now part of BP ; Standard of California, which became Chevron ; Standard of New Jersey, which became Esso (and later, Exxon ), now part of ExxonMobil ; Standard of New York, which became Mobil , now part of ExxonMobil; and Standard of Ohio, which became Sohio , now part of BP. Pennzoil and Chevron have remained separate companies. Rockefeller, who had rarely sold shares, held over 25% of Standard's stock at

4165-502: The district of Neuwied . In 1864, Rockefeller married Laura Celestia "Cettie" Spelman (1839–1915), daughter of Harvey Buell Spelman and Lucy Henry. They had four daughters and one son together. He said later, "Her judgment was always better than mine. Without her keen advice, I would be a poor man." The Rockefeller wealth, distributed as it was through a system of foundations and trusts, continued to fund family philanthropic, commercial, and, eventually, political aspirations throughout

4284-540: The 100th anniversary of the founding of Andrew Carnegie 's philanthropy, the Carnegie Corporation , which has had a long association with the family and its institutions, released a public statement on the influence of the family on not just philanthropy but encompassing a much wider field. Summing up a predominant view among the international philanthropic world, albeit one poorly grasped by the public, one sentence of this statement read: "The contributions of

4403-455: The 1880s Standard Oil had passed its peak of power over the world oil market. Rockefeller finally gave up his dream of controlling all the world's oil refining; he admitted later, "We realized that public sentiment would be against us if we actually refined all the oil." Over time, foreign competition and new finds abroad eroded his dominance. In the early 1880s, Rockefeller created one of his most important innovations. Rather than try to influence

4522-550: The 20th century. John Jr.'s youngest son David Rockefeller was a leading New York banker, serving for over 20 years as CEO of Chase Manhattan (now part of JPMorgan Chase ). Second son Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was Republican governor of New York and the 41st Vice President of the United States . Fourth son Winthrop Aldrich Rockefeller served as Republican Governor of Arkansas . Grandchildren Abigail Aldrich "Abby" Rockefeller and John Davison Rockefeller III became philanthropists. Grandson Laurance Spelman Rockefeller became

4641-417: The 41 companies in the trust. The public and the press were immediately suspicious of this new legal entity, and other businesses seized upon the idea and emulated it, further inflaming public sentiment. Standard Oil had gained an aura of invincibility, always prevailing against competitors, critics, and political enemies. It had become the richest, biggest, most feared business in the world, seemingly immune to

4760-419: The Civil War, military consumption of oil drove the price up from $ .35 a barrel in 1862 to as high as $ 13.75. This created an oil-drilling glut, with thousands of speculators attempting to make their fortunes. Most failed, but those who struck oil did not even need to be efficient. They would blow holes in the ground and gather up the oil as they could, often leading to creeks and rivers flowing with wasted oil in

4879-553: The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania indicted Rockefeller in 1879 on charges of monopolizing the oil trade, starting an avalanche of similar court proceedings in other states and making a national issue of Standard Oil's business practices. Rockefeller was under great strain during the 1870s and 1880s when he was carrying out his plan of consolidation and integration and being attacked by the press. He complained that he could not stay asleep most nights. Rockefeller later commented: All

William Rockefeller Jr. - Misplaced Pages Continue

4998-676: The Crystal River Railroad Company, and possibly the Rocky Mountain Coal and Iron Company. Control was passed from the Iowa Group to Gould and Rockefeller interests in 1903 with Gould in control and Rockefeller and Gates representing a minority interests. Osgood left the company in 1904 and devoted his efforts to operating competing coal and coke operations. The strike, called in September 1913 by

5117-583: The Euclid Avenue Baptist Church)—an independent Baptist church that eventually associated with the Northern Baptist Convention (1907–1950; now part of the modern American Baptist Churches USA ). His mother was deeply religious and disciplined, and had a major influence on him in religious matters. During church service, his mother would urge him to contribute his few pennies to the congregation. Rockefeller associated

5236-594: The German origin of Rockefeller and traced them to the early 17th century. Johann Peter Rockenfeller (baptized September 27, 1682, in the Protestant church of Rengsdorf ) immigrated in 1723 from Altwied (today a district of Neuwied , Rhineland-Palatinate ) with three children to North America. He settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania . The name Rockenfeller refers to the now-abandoned village of Rockenfeld in

5355-637: The New York Stock Exchange. When the newly formed Mutual Alliance Trust Company opened for business in New York on the Tuesday after June 29, 1902, there were 13 directors, including Emanuel Lehman and Rockefeller. Rockefeller married Almira Geraldine Goodsell (March 19, 1844 – January 17, 1920) on May 25, 1864, in Fairfield, Connecticut . There were many connections among this and other elite families. Her sister Esther Judson Goodsell

5474-616: The Rockefeller Archive Center in Pocantico Hills, North Tarrytown, New York. At present, the archives of John D. Rockefeller Sr. William Rockefeller, John D. Rockefeller Jr., Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Abby Rockefeller Mauzé, John D. Rockefeller III, Blanchette Rockefeller, and Nelson Rockefeller are processed and open by appointment to readers in the Archive Center's reading room. Processed portions of

5593-470: The Rockefeller family are staggering in their extraordinary range and in the scope of their contribution to humankind." John D. Rockefeller gave away US$ 540 million over his lifetime (in dollar terms of that time), and became the greatest lay benefactor of medicine in history. His son, Junior, also gave away over $ 537 million over his lifetime, bringing the total philanthropy of just two generations of

5712-657: The Rockefeller family. John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest Americans of all time and one of the richest people in modern history. Rockefeller was born into a large family in Upstate New York who moved several times before eventually settling in Cleveland , Ohio. He became an assistant bookkeeper at age 16 and went into several business partnerships beginning at age 20, concentrating his business on oil refining . Rockefeller founded

5831-473: The Rockefellers and the coal industry. The United States Commission on Industrial Relations conducted extensive hearings, singling out John D. Rockefeller Jr. and the Rockefellers' relationship with Bowers for special attention. Bowers was relieved of duty and Wellborn restored to control in 1915, then industrial relations improved. Rockefeller denied any responsibility and minimized the seriousness of

5950-691: The Rockefellers were considered one of the most powerful families in American history . The Rockefellers originated in Rhineland in Germany and family members moved to the Americas in the early 18th century, while through Eliza Davison, with family roots in Middlesex County , New Jersey , John D. Rockefeller and William A. Rockefeller Jr. and their descendants are also of Scots-Irish ancestry. The Rockefeller family traces their origin to

6069-525: The Standard Oil Company. By the end of the American Civil War , Cleveland was one of the five main refining centers in the U.S. (besides Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , New York , and the region in northwestern Pennsylvania where most of the oil originated). By 1869 there was triple the kerosene refining capacity than needed to supply the market, and the capacity remained in excess for many years. On January 10, 1870, Rockefeller abolished

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6188-600: The United Mine Workers over the issue of union representation , was against coal mine operators in Huerfano and Las Animas counties of southern Colorado, where the majority of CF&I's coal and coke production was located. The strike was fought vigorously by the coal mine operators association and its steering committee, which included Welborn, president of CF&I, a spokesman for the coal operators. Rockefeller's operative, Lamont Montgomery Bowers, remained in

6307-508: The United States at his peak in 1900. Oil was used in lamps, and as a fuel for ships and automobiles. Standard Oil was the greatest business trust in the United States. Through use of the company's monopoly power , Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and, through corporate and technological innovations, was instrumental in both widely disseminating and drastically reducing the production cost of oil. Rockefeller's company and business practices came under criticism, particularly in

6426-436: The background. Few miners belonged to the union or participated in the strike call, but the majority honored it. Strikebreakers (called "scabs") were threatened and sometimes attacked. Both sides purchased substantial arms and ammunition. Striking miners were forced to abandon their homes in company towns and lived in tent cities erected by the union, such as the tent city at Ludlow, a railway stop north of Trinidad . Under

6545-536: The bank using Amalgamated Copper as collateral. They paid back Daly for Anaconda and sold $ 75 million worth of stock in Amalgamated Copper to the public. They paid back the bank's $ 39 million and had a profit of $ 36 million in cash. After Daly died in November 1900, banker John Dennis Ryan rose to head Amalgamated's Montana operations. Amalgamated acquired two large competitors, and soon controlled all

6664-464: The beginning, I was trained to work, to save, and to give." When he was a boy, his family moved to Moravia, New York , and to Owego, New York , in 1851, where he attended Owego Academy. In 1853, his family moved to Strongsville, Ohio , and he attended Cleveland's Central High School , the first high school in Cleveland and the first free public high school west of the Alleghenies. Then he took

6783-428: The boom and bust of the business cycle, consistently making profits year after year. The company's vast American empire included 20,000 domestic wells, 4,000 miles of pipeline, 5,000 tank cars, and over 100,000 employees. Its share of world oil refining topped out above 90% but slowly dropped to about 80% for the rest of the century. Despite the formation of the trust and its perceived immunity from all competition, by

6902-471: The company's board of directors. In full retirement at age 63, Rockefeller earned over $ 58 million (~$ 1.65 billion in 2023) in investments in 1902. One of the most effective attacks on Rockefeller and his firm was the 1904 publication of The History of the Standard Oil Company , by Ida Tarbell , a leading muckraker . She documented the company's espionage, price wars, heavy-handed marketing tactics, and courtroom evasions. Although her work prompted

7021-438: The elder daughter of James Jewett Stillman and Sarah Elizabeth Stillman; her father was National City Bank president. The new couple's family included James Stillman Rockefeller . He became a member of the Jekyll Island Club (aka The millionaires Club) on Jekyll Island, Georgia , along with J. P. Morgan , Joseph Pulitzer , and other business moguls of the day. In 1886, Rockefeller bought property in Westchester County along

7140-447: The end of the 1870s, Standard was refining over 90% of the oil in the U.S. Rockefeller had already become a millionaire ($ 1 million is equivalent to $ 32 million in 2023 dollars). He instinctively realized that orderliness would only proceed from centralized control of large aggregations of plant and capital, with the one aim of an orderly flow of products from the producer to the consumer. That orderly, economic, efficient flow

7259-439: The established laws of high-class dealing" seemed to be at odds with his true business methods. Rockefeller and his son continued to consolidate their oil interests as best they could until New Jersey, in 1909, changed its incorporation laws to effectively allow a re-creation of the trust in the form of a single holding company . Rockefeller retained his nominal title as president until 1911 and he kept his stock. At last in 1911,

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7378-624: The event. When testifying on the Ludlow Massacre , and asked what action he would have taken as Director, John D. Rockefeller Jr. stated, "I would have taken no action. I would have deplored the necessity which compelled the officers of the company to resort to such measures to supplement the State forces to maintain law and order." He admitted that he had made no attempt to bring the militiamen to justice. Against long-circulating speculations that his family has French roots, genealogists proved

7497-477: The family and individual members' net worth are closed to researchers. From the outset, the family's wealth has been under the complete control of the male members of the dynasty, through the family office. Despite strong-willed wives who had influence over their husbands' decisions—such as the pivotal female figure Abby Aldrich Rockefeller , wife of John D. Rockefeller Jr.—in all cases they received allowances only and were never given even partial responsibility for

7616-412: The family fortune. Much of the wealth has been locked up in the family trust of 1934 (which holds the bulk of the fortune and matures on the death of the fourth generation) and the trust of 1952, both administered by Chase Bank , the corporate successor to Chase Manhattan Bank. These trusts have consisted of shares in the successor companies to Standard Oil and other diversified investments, as well as

7735-780: The family has been a major force in land conservation. Over the generations, it has created more than 20 national parks and open spaces, including the Cloisters , Acadia National Park , Forest Hill Park , the Nature Conservancy , the Rockefeller Forest in California's Humboldt Redwoods State Park (the largest stand of old-growth redwoods), and Grand Teton National Park , among many others. John Jr. , and his son Laurance (and his son Laurance Jr. aka Larry) were particularly prominent in this area. The family

7854-712: The family to over $ 1 billion from 1860 to 1960. Added to this, The New York Times declared in a report in November 2006 that David Rockefeller 's total charitable benefactions amount to about $ 900 million over his lifetime. The combined personal and social connections of the various family members are vast, both in the United States and throughout the world, including the most powerful politicians, royalty, public figures, and chief businessmen. Figures through Standard Oil alone have included Henry Flagler and Henry H. Rogers . Contemporary figures include Henry Kissinger , Richard Parsons (chairman and CEO of Time Warner ), C. Fred Bergsten , Peter G. Peterson (Senior Chairman of

7973-410: The family's considerable real estate holdings. They are administered by a trust committee that oversees the fortune. Management of this fortune today also rests with professional money managers who oversee the principal holding company, Rockefeller Financial Services, which controls all the family's investments. The Rockefeller Center is no longer owned by the family. Its present chairman and patriarch

8092-476: The fortune that I have made has not served to compensate me for the anxiety of that period. Although it always had hundreds of competitors, Standard Oil gradually gained dominance of oil refining and sales as market share in the United States through horizontal integration , ending up with about 90% of the US market. In the kerosene industry, the company replaced the old distribution system with its own vertical system. It supplied kerosene by tank cars that brought

8211-559: The fray providing financing. Additional fields were discovered in Burma and Java. Even more critical, the invention of the light bulb gradually began to erode the dominance of kerosene for illumination. Standard Oil adapted by developing a European presence, expanding into natural gas production in the U.S., and then producing gasoline for automobiles, which until then had been considered a waste product. Standard Oil moved its headquarters to New York City at 26 Broadway, and Rockefeller became

8330-531: The fuel to local markets, and tank wagons then delivered to retail customers, thus bypassing the existing network of wholesale jobbers. Despite improving the quality and availability of kerosene products while greatly reducing their cost to the public (the price of kerosene dropped by nearly 80% over the life of the company), Standard Oil's business practices created intense controversy. Standard's most potent weapons against competitors were underselling, differential pricing, and secret transportation rebates. The firm

8449-564: The futility of continuing to compete against Standard Oil; in 1874, they made a secret agreement with Rockefeller to be acquired. Pratt and Rogers became Rockefeller's partners. Rogers, in particular, became one of Rockefeller's key men in the formation of the Standard Oil Trust . Pratt's son, Charles Millard Pratt , became secretary of Standard Oil. For many of his competitors, Rockefeller had merely to show them his books so they could see what they were up against and then make them

8568-405: The great expansion westward fostered by the growth of railroads and an oil -fueled economy. He borrowed heavily, reinvested profits, adapted rapidly to changing markets, and fielded observers to track the quickly expanding industry. In 1866, William Rockefeller Jr., John's brother, built another refinery in Cleveland and brought John into the partnership. In 1867, Henry Morrison Flagler became

8687-403: The idea of the partnership and offered $ 2,000 towards the goal. Rockefeller had only $ 800 saved up at the time and so borrowed $ 1,000 from his father, "Big Bill" Rockefeller, at 10 percent interest. Rockefeller went steadily ahead in business from there, making money each year of his career. In their first and second years of business, Clark, Gardner & Rockefeller netted $ 4,400 (on nearly half

8806-530: The industry's savior, "an angel of mercy" absorbing the weak and making the industry as a whole stronger, more efficient, and more competitive. Standard was growing horizontally and vertically . It added its own pipelines, tank cars, and home delivery network. It kept oil prices low to stave off competitors, made its products affordable to the average household, and, to increase market penetration, sometimes sold below cost. It developed over 300 oil-based products from tar to paint to petroleum jelly to chewing gum. By

8925-781: The land upon which sits the United Nations headquarters , in New York, in 1946. Earlier, in the 1920s, he had also donated a substantial amount towards the restoration and rehabilitation of major buildings in France after World War I , such as the Rheims Cathedral , the Fontainebleau Palace and the Palace of Versailles , for which he was later (1936) awarded France's highest decoration, the Grand Croix of

9044-461: The least efficient competing refiners, improving the efficiency of his operations, pressing for discounts on oil shipments, undercutting his competition, making secret deals, raising investment pools, and buying rivals out. In less than four months in 1872, in what was later known as "The Cleveland Conquest" or "The Cleveland Massacre", Standard Oil absorbed 22 of its 26 Cleveland competitors. Eventually, even his former antagonists, Pratt and Rogers, saw

9163-480: The mines of Butte, Montana . The company returned to the name Anaconda in 1915, and by the late 1920s Anaconda Copper Company was the fourth-largest company in the world. From 1912 to 1913, the Pujo Committee investigated Rockefeller and others for allegedly earning $ 30 million in profit through cornering the copper market and "synchronizing with artificially enforced activity" in Amalgamated Copper stock in

9282-582: The more prominent of these residences are: Prominent banker David Rockefeller Sr. was the family patriarch until his death in 2017. In 1960, when his brother Nelson Rockefeller was governor of New York, David Sr. successfully pressed for a repeal of a New York state law that restricted Chase Manhattan Bank from operating outside the city. David Sr. was twice offered the post of Treasury secretary by President Richard M. Nixon , but declined on both occasions. In 1979, he used his high-level contacts to bring Mohammad Reza Shah of Iran , who had been overthrown in

9401-590: The now abandoned German village Rockenfeld in the early 17th century. The American family branch is descended from Johann Peter Rockefeller (1681-1763), who migrated from the Rhineland to Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania around 1723. In the US, he became a plantation owner and landholder in Somerville , and Amwell, New Jersey . One of the first members of the Rockefeller family in New York

9520-770: The oil business during the " South Improvement Company " affair. Rockefeller called her "Miss Tarbarrel" in private but held back in public saying only, "not a word about that misguided woman." He began a publicity campaign to put his company and himself in a better light. Though he had long maintained a policy of active silence with the press, he decided to make himself more accessible and responded with conciliatory comments such as "capital and labor are both wild forces which require intelligent legislation to hold them in restriction." He wrote and published his memoirs beginning in 1908. Critics found his writing to be sanitized and disingenuous and thought that statements such as "the underlying, essential element of success in business are to follow

9639-429: The other 40% in rivers and massive sludge piles, Rockefeller used the gasoline to fuel the refinery, and sold the rest as lubricating oil, petroleum jelly and paraffin wax, and other by-products. Tar was used for paving, naphtha shipped to gas plants. Likewise, Rockefeller's refineries hired their own plumbers, cutting the cost of pipe-laying in half. Barrels that cost $ 2.50 each ended up only $ 0.96 when Rockefeller bought

9758-694: The papers of Laurance Rockefeller are also open. In addition, the Archive Center has a microfilm copy of the Winthrop Rockefeller papers, the originals of which are held at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. The papers of the family office, known as the Office of the Messrs. Rockefeller, are also open for research, although those portions that relate to living family members are closed. The total number of blood relative descendants as of 2006

9877-425: The partnership of Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler, co-founding Standard Oil of Ohio. Continuing to apply his work ethic and efficiency, Rockefeller quickly expanded the company to be the most profitable refiner in Ohio. Likewise, it became one of the largest shippers of oil and kerosene in the country. The railroads competed fiercely for traffic and, in an attempt to create a cartel to control freight rates, formed

9996-427: The place of water. A market existed for the refined oil in the form of kerosene. Coal had previously been used to extract kerosene, but its tedious extraction process and high price prevented broad use. Even with the high costs of freight transportation and a government levy during the Civil War (the government levied a tax of twenty cents a gallon on refined oil), profits on the refined product were large. The price of

10115-517: The price of crude oil directly, Standard Oil had been exercising indirect control by altering oil storage charges to suit market conditions. Rockefeller then ordered the issuance of certificates against oil stored in its pipelines. These certificates became traded by speculators, thus creating the first oil-futures market which effectively set spot market prices from then on. The National Petroleum Exchange opened in Manhattan in late 1882 to facilitate

10234-470: The prospect of those war-time profits ending, Clark & Rockefeller looked toward the refining of crude oil. While his brother Frank fought in the Civil War, Rockefeller tended his business and hired substitute soldiers . He gave money to the Union cause, as did many rich Northerners who avoided combat. "I wanted to go in the army and do my part," Rockefeller said. "But it was simply out of the question. There

10353-464: The protection of the National Guard, some miners returned to work and some strikebreakers, imported from the eastern coalfields, joined them as Guard troops protected their movements. In February 1914, a substantial portion of the troops were withdrawn, but a large contingent remained at Ludlow. On April 20, 1914, a general fire-fight occurred between strikers and troops, which was antagonized by

10472-427: The refined oil in 1863 was around $ 13 a barrel, with a profit margin of around $ 5 to $ 8 a barrel. The capital expenditures for a refinery at that time were small – around $ 1,000 to $ 1,500 and requiring only a few men to operate. In this environment of a wasteful boom, the partners switched from foodstuffs to oil, building an oil refinery in 1863 in " The Flats ", then Cleveland's burgeoning industrial area. The refinery

10591-582: The regular household chores and earned extra money raising turkeys, selling potatoes and candy, and eventually lending small sums of money to neighbors. He followed his father's advice to "trade dishes for platters" and always get the better part of any deal. Bill once bragged, "I cheat my boys every chance I get. I want to make 'em sharp." However, his mother was more influential in John's upbringing and beyond, while he distanced himself further and further from his father as his life progressed. He later stated, "From

10710-615: The site of an evangelical revival known as the Second Great Awakening . It drew masses to various Protestant churches—especially Baptist ones—and urged believers to follow such ideals as hard work, prayer, and good deeds to build "the Kingdom of God on Earth." Early in his life, he regularly went with his siblings and mother Eliza to the local Baptist church—the Erie Street Baptist Church (later

10829-667: The source of the family wealth is fossil fuels, we feel an enormous moral responsibility for our children, for everyone -- to move forward." The Rockefeller Brothers Fund announced it was divesting from fossil fuels in September 2014, the Rockefeller Family Fund announced plans to divest in March 2016, and the Rockefeller Foundation pledged to dump their fossil fuel holdings in December 2020. With

10948-505: The successors to his company Standard Oil , for their record on climate change. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Rockefeller Family Fund both backed reports suggesting that ExxonMobil knew more about the threat of global warming than it had disclosed. David Kaiser , grandson of David Rockefeller Sr. and president of the Rockefeller Family Fund, said that the "...company seems to be morally bankrupt." Valerie Rockefeller Wayne, daughter of former Senator Jay Rockefeller , said, "Because

11067-456: The time being. While competitors may have been unhappy, Rockefeller's efforts did bring American consumers cheaper kerosene and other oil by-products. Before 1870, oil light was only for the wealthy, provided by expensive whale oil. During the next decade, kerosene became commonly available to the working and middle classes. Undeterred, though vilified for the first time by the press, Rockefeller continued with his self-reinforcing cycle of buying

11186-485: The time of the breakup. He and all of the other stockholders received proportionate shares in each of the 34 companies. In the aftermath, Rockefeller's control over the oil industry was somewhat reduced, but over the next 10 years the breakup proved immensely profitable for him. The companies' combined net worth rose fivefold and Rockefeller's personal wealth jumped to $ 900 million. In 1902, facing cash flow problems, John Cleveland Osgood turned to George Jay Gould ,

11305-462: The trading of oil futures. Although 85% of world crude production was still coming from Pennsylvania in the 1880s, oil from wells drilled in Russia and Asia began to reach the world market. Robert Nobel had established his own refining enterprise in the abundant and cheaper Russian oil fields, including the region's first pipeline and the world's first oil tanker. The Paris Rothschilds jumped into

11424-405: The transportation and pipeline fields, struck back and formed a subsidiary to buy and build oil refineries and pipelines. Standard countered, held back its shipments, and, with the help of other railroads, started a price war that dramatically reduced freight payments and caused labor unrest. Rockefeller prevailed and the railroad sold its oil interests to Standard. In the aftermath of that battle,

11543-420: The troops and mine guards. The camp was burned, resulting in 15 women and children, who hid in tents at the camp, being burned to death. Costs to both mine operators and the union were high. This incident brought unwanted national attention to Colorado. Due to reduced demand for coal, resulting from an economic downturn, many of CF&I's coal mines never reopened and many men were thrown out of work. The union

11662-403: The use of rebates to preferred shippers. Rockefeller was also given the duties of collecting debts when Hewitt instructed him to do so. Instead of using his father's method of presence to collect debts, Rockefeller relied on a persistent pestering approach. Rockefeller received $ 16 a month for his three-month apprenticeship. During his first year, he received $ 31 a month, which was increased to $ 50

11781-504: The wood and had them built for himself. In February 1865, in what was later described by oil industry historian Daniel Yergin as a "critical" action, Rockefeller bought out the Clark brothers for $ 72,500 (equivalent to $ 1 million in 2023 dollars) at auction and established the firm of Rockefeller & Andrews. Rockefeller said, "It was the day that determined my career." He was well-positioned to take advantage of postwar prosperity and

11900-783: The work of Abraham Flexner , who in his essay "Medical Education in America" emphatically endowed empiricism as the basis for the US medical system of the 20th century. Rockefeller was the founder of the University of Chicago and Rockefeller University , and funded the establishment of Central Philippine University in the Philippines. He was a devout Northern Baptist and supported many church-based institutions. He adhered to total abstinence from alcohol and tobacco throughout his life. For advice, he relied closely on his wife, Laura Spelman Rockefeller : they had four daughters and

12019-425: The writings of author Ida Tarbell . The Supreme Court ruled in 1911 that Standard Oil must be dismantled for violation of federal antitrust laws . It was broken up into 34 separate entities, which included companies that became ExxonMobil , Chevron Corporation , and others—some of which remain among the largest companies by revenue worldwide . Consequently, Rockefeller became the country's first billionaire, with

12138-405: Was a devout Northern Baptist , and he supported many church-based institutions. While the Rockefeller family are mostly Baptists , some of the Rockefellers were Episcopalians . The combined wealth of the family—their total assets and investments plus the individual wealth of its members—has never been known with any precision. The records of the family archives relating to both

12257-459: Was a homemaker and a devout Baptist who struggled to maintain a semblance of stability at home, as Bill was frequently gone for extended periods. She also put up with his philandering and his double life, which included bigamy. He permanently abandoned his family around 1855 and lived with second wife, Margaret L. Allen. Eliza was thrifty by nature and by necessity, and she taught her son that "willful waste makes woeful want". John did his share of

12376-571: Was about 150. An article in The New York Times in 1937 stated that William Rockefeller had, at that time, 28 great-grandchildren. The following is a list of figures closely aligned with or subordinate to the Rockefeller family. The following is a list of businesses in which the Rockefeller family have held a controlling or otherwise significant interest. The following is a list of philanthropies and other non-profit institutions which were made by or have otherwise been closely tied to

12495-496: Was attacked by journalists and politicians throughout its existence, in part for these monopolistic methods, giving momentum to the antitrust movement. In 1879, the New York State Legislature 's Hepburn Committee investigations into "alleged abuses" committed by the railroads uncovered the fact that Standard Oil was receiving substantial freight rebates on all of the oil it was transporting by railroad—and

12614-499: Was businessman William A. Rockefeller Sr. , who was born to a Protestant family in Granger, New York . He had six children with his first wife Eliza Davison, a daughter of a Scots-Irish farmer, the most prominent of which were oil tycoons John D. Rockefeller and William A. Rockefeller Jr. , the co-founders of Standard Oil . John D. Rockefeller (known as "Senior", as opposed to his son John D. Rockefeller Jr. , known as "Junior")

12733-567: Was crushing Standard's competitors thereby. By 1880, according to the New York World , Standard Oil was "the most cruel, impudent, pitiless, and grasping monopoly that ever fastened upon a country". To critics, Rockefeller replied, "In a business so large as ours ... some things are likely to be done which we cannot approve. We correct them as soon as they come to our knowledge." At that time, many legislatures had made it difficult to incorporate in one state and operate in another. As

12852-466: Was described by locals as "Big Bill" and "Devil Bill." Unshackled by conventional morality, he led a vagabond existence and returned to his family infrequently. Throughout his life, Bill was notorious for conducting schemes. In between the births of Lucy and John, Bill and his mistress and housekeeper Nancy Brown had a daughter named Clorinda, who died young. Between John and William Jr.'s births, Bill and Nancy had another daughter, named Cornelia. Eliza

12971-412: Was directly owned by Andrews, Clark & Company, which was composed of Clark & Rockefeller, chemist Samuel Andrews , and M. B. Clark's two brothers. The commercial oil business was then in its infancy. Whale oil had become too expensive for the masses, and a cheaper, general-purpose lighting fuel was needed. While other refineries would keep the 60% of oil product that became kerosene, but dump

13090-681: Was evacuated in 1942, along with the rest of the island. The house remained in the Rockefeller family until 1947, when the Jekyll Island Authority bought the property. It was open as a museum from 1950 until 1968, when it was closed for badly needed repairs. It is now a public museum. Decades later the former "Indian Mound" Cottage was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Rockefeller Cottage . Rockefeller family The Rockefeller family ( / ˈ r ɒ k ə f ɛ l ər / ROCK -ə-fell-ər )

13209-564: Was forced to discontinue strike benefits in February 1915. There was destitution in the coalfields. With the help of funds from the Rockefeller Foundation , relief programs were organized by the Colorado Committee on Unemployment and Relief. A state agency created by Governor Carlson, offered work to unemployed miners building roads and doing other useful projects. The casualties suffered at Ludlow mobilized public opinion against

13328-553: Was honoured for its conservation efforts in November 2005, by the National Audubon Society , one of the United States' largest and oldest conservation organizations, at which over 30 family members attended. At the event, the society's president, John Flicker, stated: "Cumulatively, no other family in America has made the contribution to conservation that the Rockefeller family has made". In 2016 fifth-generation descendants of John Sr. criticized ExxonMobil , one of

13447-608: Was married to Oliver Burr Jennings , who became one of the original stockholders of Standard Oil. Together, William and Almira had: William Rockefeller Jr. died of pneumonia on June 24, 1922, in Rockwood Hall. He had caught a cold during a car trip he took with brother John and nephew John Jr. to visit his childhood home in Richford, New York . He was interred in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery , Sleepy Hollow, New York . The New York Times , in discussing

13566-480: Was no one to take my place. We were in a new business, and if I had not stayed it must have stopped—and with so many dependent on it." Rockefeller was an abolitionist who voted for President Abraham Lincoln and supported the then-new Republican Party . As he said, "God gave me money", and he did not apologize for it. He felt at ease and righteous following Methodist preacher John Wesley 's dictum, "gain all you can, save all you can, and give all you can." During

13685-499: Was of Ulster Scot descent. One source says that some ancestors were Huguenots , the Roquefeuille family, who fled to Germany from France during the reign of Louis XIV and a period of religious persecution. By the time their descendants immigrated to North America, their name had taken German form. William Sr. worked first as a lumberman and then a traveling salesman. He claimed to be a "botanic physician" who sold elixirs, and

13804-489: Was the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, originally used to control unions, but later central to the breakup of the Standard Oil trust. Ohio was especially vigorous in applying its state antitrust laws, and finally forced a separation of Standard Oil of Ohio from the rest of the company in 1892, the first step in the dissolution of the trust. In the 1890s, Rockefeller expanded into iron ore and ore transportation, forcing

13923-791: Was turned over to John Dustin Archbold and Rockefeller bought a new estate, Pocantico Hills , north of New York City, turning more time to leisure activities including the new sports of bicycling and golf. Upon his ascent to the presidency, Theodore Roosevelt initiated dozens of suits under the Sherman Antitrust Act and coaxed reforms out of Congress. In 1901, U.S. Steel , then controlled by J. Pierpont Morgan , having bought Andrew Carnegie's steel assets, offered to buy Standard's iron interests as well. A deal brokered by Henry Clay Frick exchanged Standard's iron interests for U.S. Steel stock and gave Rockefeller and his son membership on

14042-494: Was used chiefly to create the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy through the creation of foundations that supported medicine, education, and scientific research. His foundations pioneered developments in medical research and were instrumental in the near-eradication of hookworm in the American South, and yellow fever in the United States. He and Carnegie gave form and impetus through their charities to

14161-623: Was very adept in business matters. When John D. formed Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler in 1867, he invited William to take charge of the company's export business in New York . In 1867, William Rockefeller and Co. was formed as a subsidiary to Rockefeller and Andrews. In 1870, that company became Standard Oil . In 1911 Standard Oil of New Jersey was split up by the United States Supreme Court . In 1899, Rockefeller joined fellow Standard Oil principal Henry H. Rogers and Anaconda Copper Company founder Marcus Daly in forming

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