John D. Rockefeller: The Man Of Few Passions
Early Years and Early Ventures
John D. Rockefeller was born on July 8th , 1839, in Richford, New York, the second of six children. His father was “a pitch man”, who traded patent medicines that, he claimed could cure cancer. His mother was the complete opposite of his father’s fun-loving ways. She was very strict and religious woman. She taught her children very early to work, to save money and to give to charities.
In 1853 the Rockefeller’s family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where John successfully graduated from high school as one of the top math students.
In spring of 1855 Rockefeller spent 3 months at Folsom’s Commercial College where he learned bookkeeping, mercantile customs, banking and exchange.
Around this time a local minister challenged him to make as much money as he possibly could and then give away as much money as he could. “It was at this moment” – as Rockefeller later recalled – “that a financial plan of my life was formed”. He stopped his education to find a job. He was only 16 years old…
Only a month later young Rockefeller got a job as an assistant bookkeeper with Hewitt & Tuttle, commission merchants and produce shippers, where he surprised his employers with his seriousness, diligence and determination. Even though his salary was very low, he always gave some of his earnings to the Church and local charities.
In 1858, after working at Hewitt & Tuttle for three years Rockefeller began to engage in trading ventures on his own account.
Several months before his 20th birthday he put forward $2000 to start his first company with his neighbor Maurice Clark. In their first year of trading grain, hay, and meats, Clark & Rockefeller grossed $450,000, making a profit of $4400. In spite of the flourishing business, Rockefeller realized that the future of the commission merchant business in Cleveland was going to be limited. He started to look for other business opportunities and soon Fortune smiled at him.
Big Opportunity and Even Bigger Risks
In 1859 the something “big” that he was looking for surfaced in Pennsylvania with the discovery of oil and the building of railroad to Cleveland. Overnight wildcat companies stripped away whole forests to put up thousands of oil derrick, hoping to strike black gold. John Rockefeller knew that drilling for oil was a very risky business. He decided it was better to invest in refining, not drilling. So he opened a new business with Samuel Andrews, who had technical knowledge in the field.
