When John D. Rockefeller was a young boy, he said that his two
greatest ambitions were to make $100,000 and to live to be 100 years
old. He died on May 23, 1937, just 26 months shy of his 100th
birthday and with a net worth of $1.4 billion.
Over a forty-year career that was mired in controversy, Rockefeller
made a name for himself in America's budding oil industry. He built
Standard Oil into the largest company in the world and eventually
also became the richest man in the world. Adjusting for inflation,
some experts suggest that Rockefeller was the richest human being
ever to have lived.
Born November 13, 1810 in Richford, New York, John Davison
Rockefeller was the second of six children to parents William and
Eliza. William was a traveling salesman in the business of selling
such suspect things as cancer cures. While he was away, it was left
to Eliza to take care of the home. The family moved around, first to
Moravia and later, Owego, where Rockefeller attended Owego Academy.
In 1853, the family moved to Strongsville, Ohio, where Rockefeller
went to Central High School. At 19, he became a deacon at the Euclid
Avenue Baptist Church and a trustee at 21. In 1855, Rockefeller
dropped out of high school to take a business course at Folsom
Mercantile College. A six-month course, Rockefeller had completed it
in just three.
After searching for six weeks, Rockefeller found his first job as an
apprentice bookkeeper at Hewitt & Tuttle, a commission merchant and
produce shipping company. He started off earning 50 cents per day, a
salary that would gradually increase over the next two years due to
his increasing responsibilities and improving performance. In 1859,
Rockefeller felt that he was no longer making the amount of money he
deserved and so he left Hewitt & Tuttle. With a partner, Maurice
Clark, Rockefeller decided to create his own produce commission
company.
That year, Cleveland-based Clark & Rockefeller was launched and it
became an instant success. It wasn't long before their new company
had accumulated enough capital to be able to invest in other
businesses. Along with chemist Samuel Andrews, Clark & Rockefeller
invested in an oil refinery. Rockefeller was confident in the bright
future of the oil business and over the next five years delved
wholeheartedly into making his company a success.
So confident was Rockefeller in the oil business that in 1865, he
decided to sell his share of Clark & Rockefeller to his partner. Far
from giving up, Rockefeller wanted to branch out on his own. He used
the proceeds from the sale of his shares to invest in another
refinery, which soon became Rockefeller & Andrews. Two years later,
they bought out the refinery that had been started by Rockefeller' s
brother, William. They also joined with Henry Flagler in creating
Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler.
By 1868, this new partnership had become the largest petroleum
refiner in the world. Recognizing their potential, the Rockefeller
brothers, Andrews, Flagler and another silent partner began
absorbing their competition. Together, in 1870, the five businessmen
launched Standard Oil. With Rockefeller as its new president, the
company would soon find itself at the forefront of a booming
industry, achieving unprecedented success.
Pretty interesting uhhh...??
