EPUB paragraph 50 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
By avoiding talk of money as unbecoming, Rockefeller concealed from his children the magnitude of his fortune. When Bessie enrolled at Vassar in the mid-1880s—she was the only daughter to attend college—she went on a shopping expedition with some classmates to purchase a Christmas present for a favorite teacher. At a Manhattan store, they found the perfect gift: a $100 desk. Since Bessie and her companions had only $75, they asked the merchant if he could wait a few days for the remaining $25. He agreed to do so if a New York businessman would vouch for them. “My father is in business,” Bessie offered meekly. “He will vouch for us.” Who is your father? asked the man. “His name is Mr. Rockefeller,” she said. “John D. Rockefeller; he is in the oil business.” The merchant gasped. “John D. Rockefeller your father!” When he agreed to ship the furniture, Bessie imagined he had merely changed his mind to please them.
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Sr. · Elizabeth Rockefeller Strong · Vassar College · New York · Manhattan
EPUB paragraph 51 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
When it came time for Junior to dispense with private tutors, he went to the New York School of Languages, followed by a school run by C. N. Douglass, and then the tony Cutler School, whose student body included Albert Milbank, Cornelius N. Bliss, and Cornelius Vanderbilt. Junior trudged the pavement to school each morning while he watched poorer classmates rolling by in fine carriages. Though he belittled his own intelligence, this bright, dutiful boy always scored high grades and led a purposeful life that allowed small time for leisure. When not doing homework, he often practiced his violin, and for eight years he took lessons from Richard Arnold, first violinist of the Philharmonic Orchestra. Though never spanked or punished, Junior had to put up with unremitting religious indoctrination from Cettie. By comparison, Father was almost playful. Eager to please his parents and other adult authority figures, Junior took things too seriously and was petrified of making a mistake.
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Jr. · Laura Spelman Rockefeller · Cornelius Vanderbilt · Richard Arnold · Cornelius N. Bliss · C. N. Douglass · Albert Milbank · New York School of Languages · Cutler School · Philharmonic Orchestra
EPUB paragraph 52 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
It is a small miracle that, with so much duty so regularly dinned into their heads, the Rockefeller children didn’t go batty. They did, however, erupt in a mass of psychosomatic symptoms. During his first year at Cutler, at age thirteen, Junior racked up a 98.1 grade average only to succumb to some sort of nervous collapse from overwork. Too much expectation had been heaped on this frail vessel, and he buckled beneath the weight. His father ordered the staple Victorian cure of hard outdoors work. In late 1887, Junior and his mother wintered at Forest Hill, where he furiously chopped wood (fifteen cents a cord), broke stones, burned brush, and raked leaves, working the nervous tension from his system. Junior enjoyed this fleeting monopoly on his mother’s affections and the respite from his regimented New York life. His letters to his father evoke the melancholy beauty of a snowbound winter, with moonlit sleigh rides and afternoons skating on the frozen lake as he pushed Cettie before him in a wooden chair.
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Sr. · John D. Rockefeller, Jr. · Laura Spelman Rockefeller · New York · Forest Hill · Cutler
EPUB paragraph 53 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
Reinvigorated by his stay, Junior completed a second year at Cutler before being transferred to a school custom-made for him. John and William Rockefeller conferred with a talented instructor, John A. Browning, who created the tiny Browning School with just two classes: one built around Junior, the other around William’s son Percy. A Rockefeller operation from the outset, it was set up in a family-owned brownstone on West Fifty-fifth Street, with John and William paying Browning’s salary and reserving the right to screen applicants. From the beginning, the school emphasized manual crafts as well as classical studies and was animated by an egalitarian spirit. Nettie Fowler McCormick of the Chicago reaper clan sent her two sons, Harold and Stanley, and the student body of twenty-five also included two sons of William’s estate superintendent in Greenwich, Connecticut. The Browning School was yet another attempt by John D. to prevent his children from putting on airs or slipping into idle dissipation.
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Sr. · John D. Rockefeller, Jr. · William Rockefeller · Harold McCormick · Chicago · John A. Browning · Nettie Fowler McCormick · Connecticut · West · Browning School · Percy · Cutler · Stanley · Greenwich · Uncle William · John
EPUB paragraph 54 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
The letters Junior sent his father from Forest Hill during the winter of 1887–1888 make clear that his mother was also recuperating from a bout of ill health. He told a friend, “Although it would be pleasant to be with the rest of the family, when we think how much good it is doing mother—and she really is getting much better, she sleeps so well and feels so much better—we are perfectly happy to be separated.” Always weak, Cettie was beginning to betray signs of the frailty that would convert her into an invalid. She enjoyed driving with her husband and shared his love of skating but took these activities only in small doses. “She was not strong … and could not endure much exercise,” said her son.
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Jr. · Laura Spelman Rockefeller · Forest Hill
EPUB paragraph 55 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
For the biographer of John D. Rockefeller, the most exasperating lacuna in his story is Cettie’s transformation from a bright, witty girl into a rather humorless woman, prone to a nunlike religiosity. One wonders what happened to the high-spirited, vivacious young woman who was the high-school valedictorian and literary editor at Oread Collegiate Institute. By the 1880s, when she was in her forties, her letters were suffocated by a treacly piety and endless platitudes as she grew righteous and slightly unreal. As one magazine noted, “It would be hard to find anyone who has anything to say against Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, for the reason that Mrs. Rockefeller’s life is almost wholly devoted to religious and benevolent work.” She uttered only noble and uplifting thoughts, constantly thanked the Lord, and never stooped to gossip or flip remarks.
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Sr. · Laura Spelman Rockefeller · Oread Collegiate Institute
EPUB paragraph 56 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
Was this the case of another smart Victorian woman who felt trapped by the few options open to her and took to bed and religion from boredom or self-defense? The social conventions of her day clearly approved of her decision to confine herself to church and home. But one also wonders whether her cloistered religiosity wasn’t a reaction to the mounting controversy surrounding Standard Oil. This gentle, brown-eyed woman adored her husband and believed implicitly in his goodness, but she was bothered by the charges hurled against him. We know from two of Rockefeller’s colleagues that Cettie sometimes wanted him to respond to attacks that he preferred to slough off and ignore. In the 1860s and early 1870s, Rockefeller wrote her confidential, highly informative letters about his business dealings, including the SIC. Starting in the 1880s, however, his letters suddenly became bland and empty, full of banalities about the weather and barren of business news.
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Sr. · Laura Spelman Rockefeller · Standard Oil · South Improvement Company
EPUB paragraph 57 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
In general, Rockefeller kept his family apart from Standard Oil matters, with one curious exception. At the breakfast table, he sometimes read aloud samples from the reams of abusive crank mail that swamped his office. Perhaps he did this to make light of the threats or take the sting from controversy. Aside from this, he steered clear of anything even faintly controversial. Did Cettie’s religion become her impenetrable shield against the venomous criticism of her husband? And did John become more self-righteous about temperance and other social issues to assert his own virtue and assuage his conscience? These are intriguing questions, but ones avoided so sedulously by Rockefeller and his family that they left no comments that might shed any light on them. Certain aspects of Rockefeller’s married life—those critical things whispered about Standard Oil in the privacy of the bedroom at night—will likely remain a mystery forever.
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Sr. · Laura Spelman Rockefeller · Standard Oil · John
EPUB paragraph 58 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
Rockefeller always took umbrage at the accusation that he was a narrow workaholic, yet he didn’t begin to travel abroad until after he had moved to New York and was well into his forties. A stubborn provincial, he didn’t hanker after the exotic, and he shunned Asia, Africa, Latin America, and other distant outposts serviced by Standard Oil. For him, the aim of travel wasn’t to submit to the charms of an alien place but to transport his culture there intact. He never traveled without a clergyman (typically Edward Judson or Augustus Strong) and a doctor (usually Hamilton Biggar) in tow to cater to his spiritual and physical needs. Although Rockefeller never owned a private railroad car, the railroads hooked one up for him, as needed, to a transcontinental train for domestic trips. These plush carriages were divided into six compartments, including a kitchen, pantry, observatory room, private room, and staterooms. Streaking across the Great Plains, the family exuberantly sang hymns, or the children practiced their musical instruments. For an hour each morning, the clergyman led a Bible session, expounding another beatitude. In mapping his itinerary, Rockefeller ensured access to a Baptist church each Sunday, and he especially liked to drop in on black churches, often leaving a substantial donation in his wake. Most of all, he rejoiced to find a good, rousing tent meeting on the road—that was a real vacation treat for a man who always found religion an uplifting experience.
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Sr. · Augustus H. Strong · Hamilton F. Biggar · Standard Oil · New York · Asia · Africa · Edward Judson · Latin America · Great Plains
EPUB paragraph 59 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
Lucy Avery Rockefeller, the doughty grandmother of John D. Rockefeller. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Sr. · Lucy Avery Rockefeller · Rockefeller Archive Center
EPUB paragraph 60 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
John D. Rockefeller’s humble birthplace in Richford, New York. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Sr. · Rockefeller Archive Center · Richford
EPUB paragraph 61 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
The five children of William and Eliza Rockefeller. Seated, from left: John, twenty, Mary Ann, sixteen, and William, eighteen. Standing: Lucy, twenty-one, and Frank, fourteen. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: Eliza Davison Rockefeller · Frank Rockefeller · Mary Ann Rockefeller Rudd · Rockefeller Archive Center · Lucy · Uncle William · John
EPUB paragraph 62 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
Lucy Henry Spelman, Rockefeller’s mother-in-law, and Harvey Buel Spelman, his father-in-law. The Spelmans were staunch temperance advocates and abolitionists. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Sr. · Rockefeller Archive Center · Harvey Buel Spelman · Lucy Henry Spelman
EPUB paragraph 63 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
The inseparable Spelman sisters: Lucy, also known as “Lute” (left), and Laura. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: Spelman Seminary · Rockefeller Archive Center · Lucy Spelman · Lucy · Laura
EPUB paragraph 64 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
A top-hatted “Colonel” Edwin Drake stands before the landmark well he drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859. (Courtesy of the Drake Well Museum)
Names: Edwin Drake · Titusville · Pennsylvania · Drake Well Museum
EPUB paragraph 65 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
After the Civil War, Rockefeller & Andrews occupied second-floor offices in the Sexton Block in Cleveland. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: Rockefeller Archive Center · Cleveland · Sexton Block · Rockefeller & Andrews · Civil War
EPUB paragraph 66 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
The storied oil boomtown of Pithole, which sprang up miraculously in 1865 and vanished within a decade. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: Rockefeller Archive Center · Pithole
EPUB paragraph 67 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
The stately Rockefeller home at 424 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Sr. · Rockefeller Archive Center · Cleveland · Euclid Avenue
EPUB paragraph 68 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
Rockefeller’s rambling retreat at Forest Hill, which was briefly run by the family as a hotel. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Sr. · Rockefeller Archive Center · Forest Hill
EPUB paragraph 69 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
A studio portrait of a polished John D. Rockefeller in 1884. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Sr. · Rockefeller Archive Center
EPUB paragraph 70 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
A family picnic at Forest Hill, circa 1880. Rockefeller stands at far left. Daughters Bessie, left, and Edith, right, sit directly behind the table, while Alta lounges impishly below. Cettie sits at far left and Grandmother Spelman at far right. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Sr. · Laura Spelman Rockefeller · Elizabeth Rockefeller Strong · Alta Rockefeller Prentice · Edith Rockefeller McCormick · Rockefeller Archive Center · Lucy Henry Spelman · Forest Hill
EPUB paragraph 71 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
Rockefeller dines on sardines al fresco during an 1899 camping trip in the American West. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Sr. · Rockefeller Archive Center · West
EPUB paragraph 72 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
Rockefeller sits erect on the steps of brother William’s estate, Rockwood Hall, flanked to the rear by daughter Alta, left, and William’s daughter Emma; in the foreground, from left, sit William’s children Percy and Ethel and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Sr. · John D. Rockefeller, Jr. · Alta Rockefeller Prentice · Rockefeller Archive Center · Rockwood Hall · Emma · Percy · Ethel · Uncle William
EPUB paragraph 73 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
The first graduating class of Spelman Seminary, 1887, which was founded to educate freed women slaves and their daughters. (Courtesy of the Spelman College Archives)
Names: Spelman Seminary
EPUB paragraph 74 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., sits astride his first pony, which was hand-picked by his father. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Jr. · Rockefeller Archive Center
EPUB paragraph 75 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., circa 1880, with his sole childhood friend, Harry Moore, son of the Forest Hill housekeeper. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Jr. · Rockefeller Archive Center · Forest Hill · Harry Moore
EPUB paragraph 76 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
Alta Rockefeller on the day of her wedding to Ezra Parmalee Prentice. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: Alta Rockefeller Prentice · E. Parmalee Prentice · Rockefeller Archive Center
EPUB paragraph 77 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
Edith Rockefeller McCormick holds aloft John Rockefeller McCormick, whose early death from scarlet fever led to the founding of an institute for infectious diseases in Chicago. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: Edith Rockefeller McCormick · Rockefeller Archive Center · John Rockefeller McCormick · Chicago
EPUB paragraph 78 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
Harold Fowler McCormick, dreamer and businessman. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
EPUB paragraph 79 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
Senior’s massive house at 4 West Fifty-fourth Street, foreground, and Junior’s still grander adjoining house at 10 West Fifty-fourth, on the site now occupied by the Museum of Modern Art. Their carriage house is visible in the foreground. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Jr. · Museum of Modern Art · Rockefeller Archive Center · West Fifty-fourth · West Fifty-fourth Street
EPUB paragraph 80 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
For their bedroom at 4 West Fifty-fourth Street, John and Cettie Rockefeller retained the richly exotic furnishings of their predecessor, Arabella Worsham, the mistress of Collis P. Huntington. Such luxury was not their usual style. (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: John D. Rockefeller, Sr. · Laura Spelman Rockefeller · Rockefeller Archive Center · Arabella Worsham · West Fifty-fourth Street · Collis P. Huntington · John
EPUB paragraph 81 · Text/Cher_9780307429773_epub_c13_r1.htm
Senator Nelson W. Aldrich of Rhode Island, whom Lincoln Steffens dubbed “the political boss of the United States.” (Courtesy of the Rockefeller Archive Center)
Names: Nelson W. Aldrich · Rockefeller Archive Center · United States · Lincoln Steffens · Rhode Island
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