John Davison Rockefeller

John D. Rockefeller is born on July 8, 1839 to William Avery and Eliza Rockefeller. He is born in their small house in Richford, New York. His family moves to Moravia when he is three years old, and then to Owego. He is educated in the local schools and attends the Owego Academy where he is an average student. After the move to Ohio and his father's marriage to Margaret Allen, he wants to end his dependence on his father. He quits school, attends a commercial college and begins work as an assistant bookkeeper. Promoted to chief bookkeeper at the age of nineteen, he soon leaves to open his own commodity commission house and becomes wealthy during the Civil War. He soon become partners with a kerosene producer and opens a refinery in 1863. This is his entry into the oil business.

John and wife Cettie have five children...