John Davidson Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York in July 8,

1839. His fathers name was William Avery Rockefeller and his mothers
name was Eliza Davison. He was second of the
six children in the Rockefeller family. Some of
his ancestors can be traced back to France. His
father owned farm property and traded in many
goods, including lumber and patent medicines.
His mother was quite the opposite of his father's
fun-loving ways. She brought up her large family
very strictly. She was religious and later,
following his mothers footsteps, John became
religious too.
When he was a boy, his family moved to Owego in 1851, where he
attended Owego Academy. In 1853, his family moved again. Then in
Strongsville, Rockefeller attended Cleveland's Central High School and took
a ten week business course at Folsom's Commercial College. There he
studied about bookkeeping. He got his first job as an assistant bookkeeper
in September 1855. He was really good at
calculating transportation costs, which helped
him later in his career.
In 1859, at age nineteen, he started his
first company, Clark and Rockefeller. With the
building of a railroad to Cleveland, they
branched out into oil refining with Samuel
Andrews, who was smart about the machines and technical stuff. Within
two years Rockefeller became the senior partner and Clark was bought out.
Thats how Rockefeller and Andrews became Cleveland's largest refinery.
Rockefeller survived the bitter competition in the oil industry with financial
help from S. V. Harkness and from a new partner, H. M. Flagler.
The Standard Oil of Ohio was formed by Rockefeller, his brother
William, Flagler, Harkness, and Andrews in
1870.To make his company become better
and succeed, Rockefeller started buying the
competing refiners, making his company
better and stronger. He made many secret
deals, and bought many of the oil company
owners out who competed against him. In
less than four months in 1872, Standard Oil
had owned 22 of 26 Cleveland competitors.
If the owners would refuse his offer of
selling their company, he would scare them
and force them to do what he wants them
to do. The company quickly expanded and grew stronger. By the end of the
1870s, Standard was refining over 90% of the oil in the U.S!
Standard Oil Trust received the stock of forty businesses and gave the
various shareholders trust certificates in return. It was the world's largest
and richest industrial organization because the trust had a worth of about
$70,000,000. Some say that the real amount was about $200,000,000.
Standard also entered the markets in Europe, Asia, and Latin America!
From 1885 a management committee was developed to control Standard
Oil's this huge empire!
Rockefeller always tithed ten percent of
his earnings to his church. As Rockefeller's
wealth grew, so did his giving. He was advised
by Frederick Taylor Gates and also by his son.
After 1897 he devoted himself completely to
philanthropy. He would give money to any educational and public health
causes. He made possible the founding of the University of Chicago in 1892.
Rockefeller died of arteriosclerosis on May 23, 1937. He was buried in Lake
View Cemetery in Cleveland.