Business

John D. Rockefeller

Son of a traveling con man; celebrated the day he was hired as a bookkeeper for the rest of his life.

Born: 1839 · Richford, New York, US
Roots: White American; English and German descent
Family: Working class; His father was a bigamist patent-medicine salesman known as 'Devil Bill,' who boasted of cheating his sons to sharpen them; his devout Baptist mother held the household together.
Education: Cleveland's Central High School; a ten-week commercial course
Started with: Job Day; Hired as an assistant bookkeeper at 16 after weeks of door-knocking; he celebrated September 26 as 'Job Day' every year of his life.
Affiliations & societies: None documented.; Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

1855 · age 16
The bookkeeper$0.50/day
Hewitt & Tuttle pays fifty cents a day; he tithes from the first envelope.
1863 · age 24
First refinery
Enters oil in Cleveland during the Civil War boom.
1870 · age 30
Standard Oil
Ruthless consolidation brings roughly 90% of US refining under one trust within two decades.
1911 · age 71
The breakup
The Supreme Court splits Standard Oil into 34 companies — whose shares promptly make him richer.
1913 · age 73
The Rockefeller Foundation$500M given
With the University of Chicago and medical research, his giving tops $500M.
1937 · age 97
Dies
Routinely estimated the richest American in history, adjusted for the size of the economy.

Sources

Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.