The last name Rockefeller has long been synonymous with wealth. It was a representative of this dynasty who became the first dollar billionaire in history. Where did the Rockefellers come from?
Lumberjack's son
John Davison Rockefeller was born in 1838 in Richford near New York and was the second of six children of William Avery Rockefeller and Eliza Davison. The head of the family first worked as a lumberjack, then began selling herbal medicines.
From the age of seven, John had to earn a living. He dug up potatoes from neighbors and raised turkeys for sale. Having barely learned to read and write, the boy started a notebook in which he recorded all his income and expenses.
At 16, Johnny went to college in Cleveland with a major in Business Fundamentals. But he soon dropped out and took a three-month accounting course. After graduation, he was hired as an assistant accountant at Hewitt & Tuttle, a real estate and shipping company. John quickly rose to the position of managing a $ 600 firm. But one day the young man found out that the company was paying $ 2,000 to his predecessor. He immediately left the company and promised himself never to be employed again.
How to become a billionaire
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In 1857, John became a junior partner at John Morris Clark and Rochester. To do this, he had to borrow money from his own father at 10% per annum. The company traded in grain, meat and other food products. With the outbreak of the Civil War, she took up the supply of the army and flourished.
When the first kerosene lamps appeared, John realized that the oil from which kerosene was made would quickly rise in price. He invested money in the extraction and processing of black gold and was right. Together with chemist Samuel Andrews, who agreed to take over the technical side of the business, they formed Andrews & Clark, which was building the Flats refinery in Cleveland. In 1870 it became the famous Standard Oil Company.
Rockefeller paid his employees not in money, but in shares of the enterprise, thus motivating them to work successfully, which very soon had a positive effect on income. He also began to buy up small firms one at a time in order to concentrate the entire oil business in his hands over time.
By 1880, Rockefeller's company owned 95% of all US oil production. However, in 1911, in connection with the Sherman antitrust law, Standard Oil had to be split into 34 small companies. But for the owners, it made little difference. John still owned a controlling stake in all firms, and capital even began to grow faster.
The Rockefellers were not only engaged in oil - they owned 16 railroad and 6 steel companies, 9 real estate agencies, 6 shipping companies, 9 banks and 3 orange groves. Although the family tried not to display their wealth, the public was constantly discussing the size of the land they owned and the luxurious villas.
John Davison Rockefeller dreamed of living to be 100 years old. But he did not succeed - he died of a heart attack in May 1937. At that time, his fortune was $ 1.4 billion.
Rockefeller heirs
Unfortunately, John had only one son, the full namesake of his father, who continued his business. John Davison Rockefeller Jr received $ 460 million under his paternal will. He spent most of the inheritance on charity. In particular, he built a complex of buildings for the future UN headquarters in New York - it cost him $ 9 million. John's six children inherited $ 240 million from him.
Rockefeller Jr.'s daughter Abby and son John became major philanthropists who founded many foundations and organizations, including the Institute of Pacific Relations. Nelson Rockefeller served as vice president of the United States from 1974-1977, and his brother Winthrop was at one time governor of Arkansas.
Until recently, the oldest member of the Rockefeller clan was David Rockefeller, the last son of John Davison Rockefeller Jr., who was born in New York in 1915 and died on March 20, 2017. He formerly chaired the Council on Foreign Relations and was president of The Chase Manhattan Bank until 1981.
Today, the Rockefellers' fortune is estimated, according to unverified data, at $ 300 billion.
This family is considered one of the most influential in the world.