William Rockefeller Sr.

William Rockefeller Sr.
Born William Avery Rockefeller
November 13, 1810
Granger, New York, U.S.
Died May 11, 1906 (aged 95)
Freeport, Illinois, U.S.
Resting place
 Oakland Cemetery
Other names Dr. William Levingston
Occupation lumberman, salesman
Spouse(s) Eliza Davison
(m. 1837—1889; her death, separated c. 1855)
Margaret Allen
(m. 1856—1906; his death)
Partner(s) Nancy Brown
Children
Parent(s) Godfrey Lewis Rockefeller
Lucy Avery
Relatives

William Avery "Bill" Rockefeller Sr. (November 13, 1810 – May 11, 1906) was an American con artist who went by the alias of Dr. William Levingston. He worked as a lumberman and then a traveling salesman who identified himself as a "botanic physician" and sold elixirs.[1] Two of his sons were Standard Oil co-founders John Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) and William Avery Rockefeller Jr. (May 31, 1841 – June 24, 1922).

Family

Bill Rockefeller was born in Granger, New York. He was the eldest son of businessman/farmer Godfrey Lewis Rockefeller (September 24, 1783, Albany, New York – September 28, 1857, Richford, New York) and Lucy Avery (February 11, 1786, Great Barrington, Massachusetts – April 6, 1867). Godfrey and Lucy had married on September 20, 1806 in Amwell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Bill was the third of ten children:

Ancestry

The Rockefellers trace their patrilineal line to Goddard Rockefeller (born Gotthard Rockenfeller) (1590) of Fahr, today part of Neuwied, Germany. The first Rockefeller to settle in America (1723) was Johann Peter Rockenfeller (1710, Segendorf, Neuwied; 1787, Amwell Township, New Jersey), who changed his name to Rockefeller. Godfrey Lewis Rockefeller was a son of distant cousins William Rockefeller (1750—1793) and Christina Rockefeller (1754—1800).

Lucy Avery was born to Miles Avery and Melinda Pixley, New England Yankees of mostly English descent. She was descended by her father from Edmund of Langley's first marriage (through 5th Baron Audley's second marriage)[2] and from Mary Boleyn's first marriage (through the 2nd Barons de la Warr).[3]

Marriage and children

Rockefeller married his first wife, Eliza Davison (September 12, 1813 – March 28, 1889), a daughter of farmer John Davison and Cynthia Selover,[4] on February 18, 1837 in Niles, Cayuga Co., NY. John highly opposed the union. Since Cynthia had died when Eliza was twelve, Eliza had been raised by her elder sister, Mary Ann Davison, and father John. Bill and Eliza were the parents of three sons and three daughters:

Bill once bragged, "I cheat my boys every chance I get. I want to make 'em sharp."[5] Although Bill abandoned the family while Lucy, John, and William Jr. were teenagers, he remained legally married to Eliza until her death. In 1856, having assumed the name Dr. William Levingston, he married Margaret Allen (1834—1910) in Norwich, Ontario, Canada. Bill and Margaret had no children together. Before leaving his first wife, he also had two daughters with his mistress and housekeeper Nancy Brown:

Before marrying Eliza, Bill had been in love with Nancy. However, he ended up marrying Eliza since her father was to give her $500 when she married, and Nancy was poor.[6]

Scandal

After hearing rumors that the richest man in the world — then at the height of his notoriety as a monopolist — had a shameful family secret, the press went into a frenzy. Joseph Pulitzer offered a reward of eight thousand dollars for information about "Doc Rockefeller" who was known to be alive and living under a false name, but whose whereabouts were a family secret. Despite slender clues picked up from interviews with family members and an 18-month search, the journalists failed to track him down before he died, and the full story was not exposed until two years later.

Death

Rockefeller had spent some time in Park River, North Dakota under the Levingston alias. He died on May 11, 1906, at the age of 95 in Freeport, Illinois and was buried there in Oakland Cemetery. John D. Rockefeller never publicly acknowledged the truth about his father's life as a bigamist, and Bill's grave marker was paid for out of his second wife's estate.

References

  1. ↑ Chernow 1998, p. 11.
  2. ↑ GeneAll.net
  3. ↑ GeneAll.net
  4. ↑ Herrin, Donna. "RootsWeb: DAVIDSON-L Re: [DAVIDSON-L] John Davison Rockefeller's parents". rootsweb. Retrieved 24 January 1999. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  5. ↑ Segall 2001, pp. 15–16.
  6. ↑ Chernow, Ron (1998). "The Flimflam Man". New York Times.

Sources

  • Chernow, Ron (May 5, 1998). Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller Sr. Random House. ISBN 978-0-679-43808-3.

External links