Logan B. 12/10/14
– 12/16/14
John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller was born on July 8th,
1839, and died on May 23rd, 1937. His first personal goals
were to own over $100,000 dollars, and to live up to 100. He met
his first goal, but was 2 years, 2 weeks short of his second. (7). He was the first American with
more than 1 billion dollars, and owned 1.5% of the national
economy. Although his father, William “Big Bill” Avery Rockefeller tried
to find ways to avoid having a steady job, but his son John worked as hard as
he could, when he could, to earn money.
He didn’t just own a lot of money, but he also gave over half a billion
dollars to the poor, and was known as the greatest philanthropist in his time.
When John D. Rockefeller was a kid,
he made money by selling candy, raising chickens, and doing jobs for his neighbors. His dad, “Big Bill” was always thinking of
plans and pranks to try to stay out of work, while his son John, was trying to do work to get money. When John was 14, his family moved to
Cleveland, Ohio, were John attended High School, and studied bookkeeping at a
commercial college. (1). When the
Rockefeller’s friends came over, they would see stacks of money at his house. Ones, twos, threes (There were three dollar
bills back then), fives, tens, twenties, and even fifties were all wrapped
together like a bundle of wood. The
guests would see this, because “Big Bill” never used a bank, because he did not
trust banks. Sometimes “Big Bill” would leave for a long
time, and come back with these rolls of money.
Big Bill would always waste money, and did not care about saving it. However, John’s mom, Eliza Rockefeller was
very thrifty, and frugal, and taught John not to waste money. (4).
When
John D. Rockefeller was 16, he got his first job as an assistant
bookkeeper. He worked for long hours,
but was happy with his job. He was very
good at calculating
transportation costs. He made $50 every
3 months (which was a lot in 1855), and donated 6% to charity. Later on, he donated 10% of his
earnings. Rockefeller chose to establish a commission
business with a partner named Maurice B. Clark. Rockefeller was making good money, and he and
Maurice B. Clark decided to open an oil refinery in 1863, calling the company, “Andrews,
Clark & Company.” (2).
John D.
Rockefeller made billions of dollars from his oil company called
The Standard Oil Company. He was the first American with over
$1,000,000,000 (1 billion) dollars, and owned more than 1.5% of the national economy! In his life time, he gave more than $500
million dollars to charity! He gave his
money to various charities, but he gave the most money to the church. (3).
John Rockefeller was always donating.
He always had the verse from 1 Peter “Charity shall cover a multitude of
sins” on his mind. In 1882, John was
giving $65,000 a year, and a decade later he was giving $1.5 million dollars
away to charity each year. (4).
John D.
Rockefeller had several buildings named after him or founded by him. One of the most famous is in NYC, called
Rockefeller Center. The Rockefeller Center is so popular, Lego
even made a Lego set about it! (5). John D. Rockefeller founded something called
The Rockefeller University. The
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (The Rockefeller University) was the first institution in the United States devoted to only using
biomedical research to understand the basic causes of disease. The Rockefeller’s continued their legacy of
giving with the next Rockefeller generations, by buying large parcels of land
to be preserved as National Parks for recreation. In
1972, Congress dedicated a 24,000-acre piece of land to John D. Rockefeller,
Jr., to make a Memorial Parkway, to show case the Rockefeller family’s
generosity. One of the largest land
conservation efforts made by the Rockefeller family was Acadia National Park,
but they also conserved land in
Grand
Teton, Acadia, Great Smoky Mountains, and the Virgin Islands. (6).
In conclusion, John D.
Rockefeller Sr. was one of the greatest philanthropists that lived. John D. Rockefeller had donated 500 million
dollars in the years 1839 – 1937! If
John D. Rockefeller were alive today, and he had donated 500 million dollars of
1839 money, he would have donated about 9.5 billion dollars! Despite not having a dad with a steady job,
he was impacted by his mother, and his
legacy of generosity has been passed on to the next generation of Rockefellers. If John D. Rockefeller did not donate so
much, the world might be a different place today.
Work Cited
(1) "John D.
Rockefeller." History.com.
A&E Television Networks. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.history.com/topics/john-d-rockefeller>.
(2) "John D. Rockefeller
Biography." - John D.
Rockefeller Childhood, Life & Timeline. n.p. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/john-d-rockefeller-172.php>.
(3) "The Rockefeller
Archive Center - Charity Index Cards." The
Rockefeller Archive Center - Charity Index Cards. n.p. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.rockarch.org/collections/family/jdrsr/cc/>.
(4) Collier,
Peter, and David Horowitz. The
Rockefellers an American Dynasty. Ashland, OR: Blackstone, 1993. Print.
(5) "Rockefeller
Center." Lego.com.
n.p. Web. 15 Dec. 2014. <http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Rockefeller-Center-21007>.
(6) United
States. National Park Service. "John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial
Parkway." National Parks
Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, 13 Dec. 2014. Web. 15 Dec. 2014. <http://www.nps.gov/grte/jodr.htm>.
(7) "John D. Rockefeller." Wikipedia. Wikimedia
Foundation. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller>.
