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== Biography ==
== Biography ==
===Early life==
===Early life===
===Family===
John was born at Richford, New York, the son of William Avery Rockefeller and and Eliza (Davison) Rockefeller. His father, a travelling salesman of dubious medical cures, was supporting a bigamous second family and was seldom home. John was of [[Scots]], [[Yankee]] and [[German Americans|German]] ancestry. His mother was a devoutly religious Baptist, strait-laced, and austere. John was the second of six children and the oldest of three sons. The family moved around a great deal and he attended public schools haphazardly in several towns until he received a good education in Owego, New York and then attended the the excellent Cleveland High School in 1853-55; he now studied hard, and did well in mathematics. He never attended college, but three months at a local business school gave him the basics of bookkeeping and commercial and banking practice.
==Business career==
===First business===
His first job, starting at $3.50 a week, was clerking for commission merchants who had a diversified business with railroads, steamship lines, producers, and merchants. Three years later the young man was well known, and trusted in the Clevalnd business community. He formed a partnership with a young Englishman, Maurice B. Clark, for handling grain, hay, meats, and other goods. On a combined capital of only $4,000 they had sales the first year, 1859-60, of $450,000 and made a profit of $4,400. Clark & Rockefeller boomed during the Civil War, shipping the army many products of the city and region.
Deeply religious, John not only joined the Erie Street Baptist Church in 1854 but soon became its leading lay figure. He helped with maintenance of the building, served as recording clerk, taught Sunday School, and became one of the five trustees. Starting with his first pay packet he always gave to charities about 10% of what he received. He was opposed to slavery and helped a Cincinnati Negro to buy his slave wife. By 1860 he was head of the family as his father was largely gone. His family responsibilities and his business role in supplying the army preculded him from volunteering for the army.
In 1865 he married Laura Celestia Spelman, daughter of a Cleveland business man of Yankee origins.
===Oil===
Rockefeller's entreneurial interests turned to the frenzied development of the "Oil Regions" in northwestern Pennsylvania. Oil was used to make kerosene for lighting; it was much superior and cheaper than candles or ehale oil. The industry grew explosively, with wells being drilled, refinereies opened, an export market created, and the opening of the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad linking Cleveland to the oil fields. Many small refineries were built in Cleveland.
Boom and bust was the story of oil, as too many wells were drilled amd too many refineries opened. Rockefeller realized that Cleveland's closeness to the oil fields and its superb transportation system by rail and steamboats on the Great Lakes gave it a competitive advantage over other cities. In 1863 he, three Clark brothers, and chemist Samuel Andrews, an expert in refining methods, built the Excelsior refinery. In February 1865, he paid $72,500 to buy out the Clarks and partner only with Andrews. That marked his full-time entry into the oil business and, he wrote later, "was the day that determined my career."
By November his refinery was the largest of the 30 in Cleveland. Its sales in 1865 reached $1,200,000; its capacity of 500 barrels a day was double that of the nearest competitor. Rockefeller built a second refinery, the Standard Works, and send his brother William, now a partner too, to New York to organize the export and eastern trade. The leading Cleveland bankers funded the firm. "I was always a great borrower in those days," he recalled. Unlike most oilmen he was methodical, systematic and thorough in his planning, avoiding the speculation, waste, and guesswork that characterized most of his get-rich-quick competitors. Oil prioces were high in 1865-66 and now there were fifty rival refineries in Cleveland and 80 in Pittsburgh. Overproduction resulted, dending prices down in 1867-68. Bankruptcy engulfed both well-owners and small refineries that had over-expanded on borrowed money they could not repay. The strength, efficiency, and foresight of the Rockefeller firm kept it profitable.
Predeceased by his wife Laura Spelman Rockefeller, the Rockefellers had four daughters and one son ([[John D. Rockefeller, Jr.]]). "Junior" was largely entrusted with supervision of the foundations.
Predeceased by his wife Laura Spelman Rockefeller, the Rockefellers had four daughters and one son ([[John D. Rockefeller, Jr.]]). "Junior" was largely entrusted with supervision of the foundations.