The renowned John D. Rockefeller was the first of the great American Philanthropists. Born July 8, 1839, in the state of New York, he had always delighted in business and riches. His methodical nature combined with his genius powers of organization gave him the ability to become one of the world’s wealthiest person in all of history. His fortune was not in gold but in oil, that dark mass of runny grease which, before Rockefeller’s era, no one knew what to do with. Rockefeller entered the trade right at its take off. Refined oil, free of impurities was in high demand as a source of fuel for Kerosene lamps. Prospectors dotted the oil fields of Ohio, Texas, and North Dakota, drilling holes, setting up pumps, and hoping to strike it rich on oil just they had hoped to on gold. Indeed, oil was nicknamed “black gold.”
But unlike the gold strikes, America was further along the path of industrialization. There were …show more content…
His Scottish mother, Eliza, had raised him to be “orderly, hardworking, and exact.” As she was Baptist, she raised all five of her children to be models of Puritanical moralness. But off all of them, John D. remained the most true to her teachings, never drinking, playing cards, dancing, or smoking. On the opposite end of the spectrum and often absent was his father, the self-styled Dr. William Rockefeller, a traveling businessman, who marketed such items as elixirs and cancer cures. Ironically, most of Dr. Rockefeller’s cures were concocted mostly out of oil. Double dealing, con-artist that he was, William, nevertheless, was a sharp trader and taught Rockefeller many tactics that would form his habits later on. As a child, Rockefeller never realized the nature of his father’s work and admired him greatly. But it was his mother’s influence that instilled him the strict piety and generous conduct that would characterize him throughout his
But unlike the gold strikes, America was further along the path of industrialization. There were …show more content…
His Scottish mother, Eliza, had raised him to be “orderly, hardworking, and exact.” As she was Baptist, she raised all five of her children to be models of Puritanical moralness. But off all of them, John D. remained the most true to her teachings, never drinking, playing cards, dancing, or smoking. On the opposite end of the spectrum and often absent was his father, the self-styled Dr. William Rockefeller, a traveling businessman, who marketed such items as elixirs and cancer cures. Ironically, most of Dr. Rockefeller’s cures were concocted mostly out of oil. Double dealing, con-artist that he was, William, nevertheless, was a sharp trader and taught Rockefeller many tactics that would form his habits later on. As a child, Rockefeller never realized the nature of his father’s work and admired him greatly. But it was his mother’s influence that instilled him the strict piety and generous conduct that would characterize him throughout his