Rockefeller

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

John Davison, an American millionaire. He was born at Richford, New York , July 8, 1839. He was educated in the public schools of Cleveland. He began life as a clerk and worked his way along as a bookkeeper and cashier. In 1858 he became a member of a firm dealing in oil. In 1865 he built the Standard Oil works at Cleveland, and in 1870 the Standard Oil Company was incorporated with Rockefeller as President. Mr. Rockefeller is enormously wealthy. He owns a half interest in the Standard Oil Company which controls practically the world's supply of petroleum. He has large holdings of railroad stock and other securities. His income from oil is $20,000,000; his income from other sources is believed to be even greater, bringing the total up to not less than $53,000,000 a year. Mr. Rockefeller has given what seem large sums to various causes and institutions. The total, January 1, 1910, was placed at $132,760,000. The following is a statement of his principal gifts, an amount equivalent in all approximately to over two years' income: General education board $53,000,000 University of Chicago 25,309,000 Rush Medical College 6,000,000 Churches (known) 3,100,000 Missions (known) 2,300,000 Baptist foreign mission fund 2,000,000 Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research 4,600,000 Barnard College 1,375,000 Southern education fund 1,125,000 Union Theological Seminary 1,100,000 Harvard University 1,000,000 Baptist Educational Society 1,000,000 Yale University 1,000,000 Juvenile reformatories 1,000,000 Cleveland city parks 1,000,000 "Hookworm" fund 1,000,000 Nine Y. M. C. Associations 845,000 Teachers' College 500,000 Johns Hopkins 500,000 Vassar College 400,000 Brown University 325,000 Seven small colleges 320,000 McMasters College 275,000 Rochester Theological Seminary 250,000 Cornell University 250,000 Bryn Mawr College 250,000 Case School of Science, Cleveland 200,000 Oberlin College 200,000 Spelman Seminary, Atlanta 180,000 Newton Theological Seminary 150,000 Adelphi College 125,000 University of Wooster, Ohio 125,000 Children's Seaside Home 125,000 Presbyterian work in Egypt and the Soudan 100,000 Cleveland Social Settlement 100,000 Syracuse University 100,000 Smith College 100,000 Wellesley College 100,000 Columbia University 100,000 Dennison College 100,000 Curry memorial 100,000 Furman University 100,000 Lincoln memorial fund 100,000 University of Virginia 100,000 Cleveland Y. W. C. A 100,000 University of Nebraska 100,000 Arcadia University 100,000 Indiana University 50,000 Mount Holyoke College 50,000 Shurtleff College 35,000 School of Applied Design for Women 25,000 Bucknell University 25,000 William Jewell Institute 25,000 Howard College 25,000 Miscellaneous gifts prior to 1892 7,000,000 See Petroleum ; Standard Oil Company 2026 Editor's Note: Rockefeller's Standard Oil had one year left intact: the Supreme Court broke it up in 1911 — into pieces (Exxon, Mobil, Chevron) that grew larger than the whole. See Standard Oil . (Ed: BR 2026-07-06)