John Davison Rockefeller

John Davison Rockefeller (July 8th 1839 - May 23rd 1937) is an American industrialist , founder of the Famille Rockefeller, which made fortune in the industry of the Pétrole.

It in particular created the Standard Oil which will become Esso then Exxon Mobil .

Brother of William Rockefeller.

He married Laura Celestia Spelman (1839 - 1915) and had five children: Bessy (1866 - 1906), Alice (1869 - 1870), Alta (1871 - 1962), Edith (August 31st 1872 - August 25th 1932) and John Davison Rockefeller Junior (January 29th 1874 - May 11th 1960).

Biography

His/her father was a merchant of " drugs-miracles" and traversed the country. fundamentalist Baptist, his mother taught him very young person that the duty of any Christian was to make gifts with the Church. As of its childhood John D.Rockefeller had been given for goal to become a great man of business, it was attracted more by the factories, the railroads and the organization of the banks that by art, the literature or the policy.

In 1860, it launched out in the businesses with a associate. They created a brokerage house in grains, meats and other food products. The business went very well and they made benefit quickly. John D. Rockefeller was a very rigorous man in his business and each one relied on him. One day, he heard of Drake (this former employee of railroad engaged by a handle of businessmen to find oil in Pennsylvania) and oil fields. The idea rained to him immediately and it to the site went to examine this more closely. Persuaded of the possibilities offered, it decided to invest in this new field and proposed with its associate to follow it. This one remaining hesitant, John D.Rockefeller repurchased his shares of the company to him for: 72500 $ and took a new associate, a specialist in the problems of oil.

Always also rigorous, it assembled item by item its business until being able to fix all the tankers of the United States, thus it did not fear more the overproduction and it could control the prices.

The goal then of Rockefeller was to be able to control all the oil refineries of the United States, it launched for that the " South Improvement Cy" but the project was declared immoral, undemocratic since thus it would have crushed all its competitors radically. It had to beat a retreat.

Not discouraged, as from 1870 it decided to proceed differently and to make pressure on the refineries to repurchase them against money or actions in the company, this thus contributing to the rise of the company. It went thus to Pittsburg, Philadelphia, New York, having soon all the refineries of the State. But an obstacle came through its road: the legislation of the United States prohibited the business men from carrying on their activity apart from the State where their residence was. Rockefeller thus put the business in hands of judges who solved the problem with the trusts.

In 1882, the shareholders of the Standard Oil gave their business to the hands of 9 " men of confiances" Rockefeller formed obviously part. The seat was installed in New York.

After oil it was the car, then the plane. The fortune of Rockefeller did not cease multiplying. It took its retirement in 1896 while being the richest man of the United States and one of most powerful in the world. His/her son took again the company. He is regarded as the richest man of all time with a fortune estimated at his death to 200 billion dollars current.

At the end of the Années 1920 John Davison Rockefeller decided to build a complex of buildings in New York in Midtown, its district. At that time, it resided indeed on the 54e Rue and wished to instigate the district by developing new economic activities. Rockefeller decided to invest part of its fortune in real estate projects, as it had already done by financing the construction of the Riverside Church with Morningside Heights. In addition, its interests met those of the Metropolitan Opera Company which then sought to leave the Garment District since the beginning of the years 1920: it was decided that Rockefeller Center would include/understand a opera and its appendices. John Davison Rockefeller did not see the completion of work which was prolonged after its death in 1937. It is consequently his/her son and successor, John Davison Rockefeller Junior (1874 - 1960) which developed the project between 1929 and 1940.

Having the memory of the council which his mother had given him, Rockefeller gave nearly 600 million dollars. This money was amongst other things used to found the Université of Chicago, the Institut Rockefeller for the medical research and the Fondation Rockefeller (1913), intended to promote scientific progress in all the countries of the world. This one allows the development of the black schools in the south of the the United States. Founded division “Humanités” in 1928 encourages the safeguarding of the Archives

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