John Davison Rockefeller Quotes

John Davison Rockefeller Sr. was born in Richford, New York, USA. He was an American industrialist and philanthropist, founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. He studied at Central High School, Cleveland, Ohio. He established his first enterprise, a commission business dealing in hay, grain, meats, and other goods. Sensing the commercial potential of the expanding oil production in western Pennsylvania in the early 1860s, he built his first oil refinery, near Cleveland in 1863. Within two years it was the largest refinery in the area, and thereafter Rockefeller devoted himself exclusively to the oil business. In 1870 Rockefeller and a few associates, a group that included American financier Henry M. Flagler, incorporated the Standard Oil Company. He was also the founder of both the University of Chicago and Rockefeller University and funded the establishment of Central Philippine University in the Philippines. He married Laura Celestia Spelman in 1864. They had four daughters and one son together.