Page 101 - Cousins - Celebrities, Saints & Sinners

first billionaire, with a fortune worth nearly 2% of the national economy. His peak net worth was
estimated at US$418 billion (in 2019 dollars; inflation-adjusted) in 1913.
Rockefeller spent much of the last 40 years of his life in retirement at his estate in Westchester County,
New York, defining the structure of modern philanthropy, along with other key industrialists such as
steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. His fortune was mainly used to create the modern systematic approach
of targeted philanthropy through the creation of foundations that had a major effect on medicine,
education, and scientific research. His foundations pioneered the development of medical research and
were instrumental in the near-eradication of hookworm and yellow fever in the United States.
Rockefeller was also 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 with whom he
had five children. 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 a large business is merely a survival of the fittest"
In 1859, Rockefeller went into the produce commission business with a partner, Maurice B. Clark, and
they raised $4,000 ($113,822 in 2019 dollars) in capital. Clark initiated 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 & Rockefeller netted $4,400 (on nearly half a million dollars in business) and $17,000 worth of
profit, respectively, and their profits soared with the outbreak of the Civil War when the Union Army
called for massive amounts of food and supplies. When the Civil War was nearing a close and with 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.
th
Rockefeller was an abolitionist who voted for President Abraham Lincoln (8 cousin, 4 times removed)
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."
References:
1. Relative Finder, associated with FamilySearch, and the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS)
2. Wikipedia.org
3. Learn more - How Rockefeller Built His Trillion Dollar Oil Empire
4. LDS Family Tree attached

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