A Brief Biography of John D. Rockefeller

1425 Words3 Pages

William Avery Rockefeller was a common pitchman “doctor” that sold cancer treatment tonics for $25 town to town and city to city. His wife, Eliza Davison Rockefeller, was a deeply religions and very disciplined woman (Poole). John D. Rockefeller was born into a humble existence but was taught many valuable life lessons from his parents. He learned the basics of business paperwork along with the sacredness of a business contract from his father and the importance of giving money to church and charities at every opportunity from his mother. This less than iconic background brought forth an extremely successful business man and eventual oil mogul, that set the world standard for philanthropy. John D. Rockefeller’s name lives on in American history as the wealthiest man of his time and has altered the outcome and lives of every American.
On July 8, 1839 John D. Rockefeller was born in the small town of Richford, New York. At the age of 12 Rockefeller had already saved up $50 for himself and with encouragement from his mother he loaned it to a farmer at 7% interest. Rockefeller was already learning the lessons of money at this young age. The farmer did pay him back and with interest. Years later he would fondly remember this first business deal and state, “The impression was growing on me that it was a good thing to let money be my servant and not make myself a slave to the money”. (Poole) Rockefeller stayed faithful throughout his life to the lessons of his mother and no matter how meager an amount of money he was making, when money came in he always donated to the church and local charities.
Due to his family moving from New York to Ohio, John D. attended two different highs schools and while an average student he was incredibly gif...

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...Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks (Rockefeller Foundation). His actions left a positive impact on society. The Rockefeller Foundation that he created is still innovating and transforming how society lives today the impacts of his philanthropy are endless.

Works Cited

Folsom, Burton W.. Entrepreneurs vs. the State. Reston, Va.: Young America's Foundation, 1987. 115-138,Print.

Olien, Roger M., Diana Davids Hinton, and Inc NetLibrary. Oil and Ideology: The Cultural Creation of the American Petroleum Industry. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000. Web. 8 April 2014.

Poole, Keith, “ Rockefeller Biography.” PBS, Entrepreneurs and American Economic Growth, The University of Georgia, n.d. Web. 8 April 2014 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/rockefellers-john/ Legacy
http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/our-work

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