Title: Rockefeller family Content: The Rockefeller family  is the Cleveland family of John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) and his brother William Rockefeller (1841–1922). It is an American industrial, banking, and political family that originally came from Germany. It made one of the world's largest private fortunes in the oil business during the late 19th and early 20th century. This was mainly through the Standard Oil Company.World's largest private fortune - see Ron Chernow, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., London: Warner Books, 1998. (p.370) The family is also known for its long association with and financial interest in the Chase Manhattan Bank, now JP Morgan Chase. People see them as one of the most powerful groups inside the United States and are well connected to the banking industry. Their ancestor, Johann Peter Rockefeller, moved to North America in 1723 from what is today Westerwald, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. ==Construction and Restoration of Buildings== The family was heavily involved in many real estate construction projects in the U.S. during the 20th century. Chief among them: * Rockefeller Center, a multi-building complex built at the start of the Depression in Midtown Manhattan, financed solely by the family * International House of New York, New York City, 1924 (Junior) . * Rockefeller Park, a scenic park featuring gardens dedicated to several world nations along Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. between University Circle and Lake Erie in Cleveland. * The Winthrop Rockefeller Institute of the University of Arkansas System was established in 2005 with a grant from the Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust. The educational center with conference and lodging facilities is located on Petit Jean Mountain near Morrilton, Arkansas, on the original grounds of Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller’s model cattle farm. * The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University. * The Rockefeller Quad at the Loomis Chaffee School John D Junior, through his son Nelson, purchased and then donated the land upon which sits the UN headquarters, in New York, in 1946. Earlier, in the 1920s, he had also donated a substantial amount towards the restoration and rehabilitation of major buildings in France after World War I, such as the Rheims Cathedral, the Fontainebleau Palace and the Palace of Versailles, for which he was later (1936) awarded France's highest decoration, the Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur (subsequently also awarded decades later to his son, David Rockefeller). He also funded the notable excavations at Luxor in Egypt, as well as establishing a Classical Studies School in Athens. In addition, he provided the funding for the construction of the Palestine Archaeological Museum in East Jerusalem - the Rockefeller Museum.Restorations and constructions in France, Egypt, Greece and Jerusalem - see Memoirs, (pp.44-48). The family, with its far reaching philanthropy, as well as its oil, real estate, banking, and international institutions, remains a benchmark for extreme wealth ("as rich as Rockefeller"), as "Senior" is still regarded as the wealthiest man who has ever lived, worth over $300 billion in today's figures, easily surpassing Bill Gates, in terms adjusted by inflation indexing.List of most wealthy historical figures ==Generational philanthropy== The members of the Rockefeller family are noted for their philanthropy; a Rockefeller Archive Center study in 2004 documents an incomplete list of 72 major institutions that the family has created and/or endowed up to the present day. Historically, the major focus of their benefactions have been in the educational, health and conservation areas. Family leaders in both philanthropy and business have included John D. Sr., John D. Jr. ("Junior"), John D. III, Laurance Rockefeller and David Rockefeller, who is the family's current patriarch. Several family members have held high public office, including Vice President of the United States (Nelson Rockefeller), United States Senator (Jay Rockefeller), state governor (Nelson, Jay, and Winthrop Rockefeller), and lieutenant governor (Winthrop Paul Rockefeller). Another noted family member was Michael Rockefeller, son of Nelson Rockefeller, an anthropologist who came to media attention after he was presumed killed in New Guinea in 1961. The corporate, financial and personal affairs of the family - numbering around 150 blood relatives of John D. Rockefeller - are run from the family office, Room 5600, known officially as "Rockefeller Family and Associates". It comprises three floors of the GE Building in Rockefeller Center. All private family legal matters are handled by the family-associated New York law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. Room 5600 is also the base of the current family historian, Peter J. Johnson, who assisted with David Rockefeller's Memoirs, published in 2002. To distinguish the generations and facilitate communication, the fourth generation is generically known as "The Cousins" (24 in all, with 21 still living) and the younger family members are known as the "Fifth/Sixth" generation. Many if not all of these family members are involved in institutionalized philanthropic pursuits. Family links are solidified through the practice of ritualized family meetings - which started with the regular "brothers' meetings" held in Room 5600 or in their respective private residences, beginning in 1945. Family get-togethers are held today at the "Playhouse", in the Westchester County family estate of Pocantico, in June (the "cousins weekend") and December of each year (see Kykuit). ==Members of the Rockefeller family== ===Ancestors=== * Goddard Rockenfeller (1590–1684) (m.1622) Magdalena (1592–1656) ** Johannes Rockenfeller (1634–1684) (m.1678) Elizabeth Margaretha Remagen (1634) *** Johann Peter Rockefeller (1681, Prussia–1763, Rocktown, NJ) (Arrived in America 1708) **** Peter Rockefeller (1711–1787) (m.1740) Mary Bellis (1723–1772) (Had nine children in all) ***** Godfrey Rockefeller (1745–1818) ***** Margaret Rockefeller (1750–1797) (m.late 18th century) George Trumbo (1750–1830) ***** William Rockefeller (1750–1793) (m.18th century) Christina Rockefeller (1754–1800) (Distant relative) (Had seven children in all) ****** Simon William Rockefeller (1775–1839) ****** Godfrey Lewis Rockefeller (1783/1784–1857) (m.1806) Lucy Avery (1786–1867) (Had ten children in all) ******* William Avery Rockefeller (1810–1906) (m.1837) Eliza Davison (1813–1889) ******** Lucy Rockefeller (1838–1878) (m.1856) Pierson D. Briggs ******** John Davison Rockefeller (1839–1937) (m.1864) Laura Celestia Spelman (1839–1915) ******** William Rockefeller (1841–1922) (m.1864) Almira Geraldine Goodsell ******** Mary Ann Rockefeller (1843–1925) (m.1872) William Cullen Rudd ******** Franklin Rockefeller (1845–1917) (m.1870) Helen Elizabeth Scofield ******** Francis Rockefeller (1845–1847) ****** William W. Rockefeller (1788–1851) (m.early 19th century) Eleanor Kisselbrack (1784–1859) ===Descendants of John Davison Rockefeller=== To the sixth-generation, with 21 still living in the fourth (the Cousins). The total number of blood relative descendants as of 2006 is about 150. * Elizabeth "Bessie" Rockefeller Strong (1866–1906) (m.1889) Charles Augustus Strong (1862–1940) ** Margaret Strong (1897–1985) (m.1st.1927) George de Cuevas (1885–1961); (m.2nd.1977) Raimundo de Larrain * Alice Rockefeller (1869–1870) * Alta Rockefeller Prentice (1871–1962) (m.1901) Ezra Parmelee Prentice (1863–1955) ** John Rockefeller Prentice (1902–1972) (m.1941) Abra Cantrill (1912–1972) *** Abra Prentice Wilkin (born 1942) ** Mary Adeline Prentice Gilbert (1907–1981) (m.1937) Benjamin Davis Gilbert (1907–1992) ** Spelman Prentice (1911–2000) (m.3rd.1972) Mimi Walters *** Pamela Prentice (born 1938)(m.1st. 1960) Frans H. ten Bos **** Helena ten Bos (born 1962)(m. 1987) Count Frederic de Belloy de Saint-Lienard **** Joanna ten Bos (born 1964)(m. 1989) Christopher Booth *** Peter Spelman Prentice (born 1940) **** Alexandra Sartell Prentice (born 1962) ***** Peter Parmalee Bens (born 1987) ***** Erik Carl Bens (born 1996) ***** Sarah Prentice Bens (born 1997) **** Michael Andrew Prentice (born 1964) *** Alta Rockefeller Prentice (born 1942) *** Michael Sartell Prentice (born 1944) * Edith Rockefeller McCormick (1872–1932) (m.1895) Harold Fowler McCormick ** John Rockefeller McCormick (1897–1901) ** Editha McCormick (1903–1904) ** Harold Fowler McCormick, Jr. (1898–1973) (m.1931) Anne "Fifi" Potter Stillman (1879–1969) ** Muriel McCormick (1902–1959) (m.1931) Elisha Dyer Hubbard (1906–) ** Mathilde McCormick (1905–1947) (m.1923) Max Oser (1877–1942) *** Anita Oser Pauling (d. 2009 in Paris, France) Peter Max Oser (d. 1970 in Geneva, Switzerland) * John Davison Rockefeller, Jr. (1874–1960) (m.1901) Abigail "Abby" Greene Aldrich ** Abby Rockefeller Mauzé (1903–1976) *** Abby Rockefeller Milton O'Neill (born 1928) *** Marilyn Ellen Milton Simpson (1931–1980) **** Laura Knickerbacker Simpson (born 1954) **** Abby Rockefeller Simpson (born 1958) ** John D. Rockefeller III (1906–1978) (m.1932) Blanchette Ferry Hooker *** John Davison ("Jay") Rockefeller IV (born 1937) *** Sandra Rockefeller Ferry (born 1943) *** Hope Aldrich Rockefeller (born 1946) *** Alida Rockefeller Messinger (born 1949) ** Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (1908–1979) (m.1st.1930) Mary Todhunter Clark (m.2nd.1963) Margaretta Fitler Murphy *** Rodman Rockefeller (1932–2000) *** Ann Clark Rockefeller Roberts (born 1934) *** Steven Clark Rockefeller (born 1936) *** Michael Rockefeller (1938–1961) *** Mary Clark Rockefeller (born 1938) *** Nelson Rockefeller, Jr. (born 1964) *** Mark Rockefeller (born 1967) ** Laurance Spelman Rockefeller (1910–2004) (m.1934) Mary French *** Laura Spelman Rockefeller Chasin (born 1936) *** Marion French Rockefeller (born 1938) *** Dr. Lucy Rockefeller Waletzky (born 1941) *** Laurance Rockefeller, Jr. (born 1944) (m. 1982) Wendy Gordon ** Winthrop Rockefeller (1912–1973) (m.1st.1948) Barbara "Bobo" Sears (m.2nd.1956) Jeannette Edris *** Winthrop Paul Rockefeller (1948–2006) **** James E. Rockefeller Noronha (born 1989)(m. 2011) Ashley Gibbs ** David Rockefeller (1915–2017) (m.1940) Margaret McGrath *** David Rockefeller, Jr. (born 1941) *** Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (born 1943) *** Neva Rockefeller Goodwin (born 1944) *** Peggy Dulany (born 1947) *** Richard Gilder Rockefeller (born 1949) *** Eileen Rockefeller Growald (born 1952) ===Descendants of William Rockefeller=== An article in the New York Times in 1937 stated that William Rockefeller had, at that time, exactly 28 great-grandchildren. * Lewis Edward Rockefeller (1865–1866) * Emma Rockefeller McAlpin (1868–1934) * William Goodsell Rockefeller (1870–1922) ** William Avery Rockefeller (1896–1973) *** William Rockefeller *** Frederick Lincoln Rockefeller *** Elsie Rockefeller ** Godfrey Stillman Rockefeller (1899–1983) *** Godfrey A. Rockefeller (1924–2010) *** Marion Rockefeller *** Audrey Rockefeller *** Lucy Ann Rockefeller *** Anderson Rockefeller *** Peter Rockefeller *** Benjamin Rockefeller ** James Stillman Rockefeller (1902–2004) *** James Stillman Rockefeller, Jr. (born 1926) **** Liv Merlin Rockefeller Hessler (born 1957) **** Ola Stillman Rockefeller (born 1959) *** Nancy Sherlock Carnegie Rockefeller (born 1927) *** Andrew Carnegie Rockefeller (born 1929) *** Georgia Stillman Rockefeller (born 1933) (Married J Harden Rose) **** James Stillman Rose (born 1958) **** Andrew Carnegie Rose (born 1960) **** Georgia Rockefeller Rose (born 1961) ** John Sterling Rockefeller (1904–1988) *** Christina Rockefeller ** Almira Geraldine Rockefeller (1907–1997) (The wife of MacRoy Jackson, Samuel Weston Scott, and later Hardie Scott.) *** Macroy Jackson * John Davison Rockefeller (1872–1877) * Percy Avery Rockefeller (1878–1934) ** Isabel Rockefeller Lincoln (1902–1980) m. Frederic Walker Lincoln, Jr. ** Avery Rockefeller (1903–1986) ** Winifred Rockefeller Emeny (1904–1951) ** Faith Rockefeller Model (1909–1960) *** Robert Model (born 1942) ** Gladys Rockefeller Underhill (born 1910) * Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge (1882–1973) ** Marcellus Hartley Dodge, Jr. (1908–1930) ** Monica Rockefeller (born 1993) ===Spouses=== * Laura Celestia Spelman "Cettie" (1839–1915) - John D. Rockefeller. * Abby Greene Aldrich (1874–1948) - John D. Rockefeller, Jr. * Martha Baird Allen (1895–1971) - John D. Rockefeller, Jr. * Mary Todhunter Clark "Tod" (1907–1999) - Nelson Rockefeller. * Margaretta Fitler Murphy "Happy" (born 1926) - Nelson Rockefeller. ** Anne Marie Rasmussen - Steven C. Rockefeller. * Blanchette Ferry Hooker (1909–1992) - John D. Rockefeller 3rd. ** Sharon Percy - John D. "Jay" Rockefeller, IV. * Mary French (1910–1997) - Laurance Rockefeller. ** Wendy Gordon - Laurance "Larry" Rockefeller. * Barbara "Bobo" Sears (1916– 2008) - Winthrop Rockefeller. * Jeannette Edris (1918–1997) - Winthrop Rockefeller. ** Lisenne Dudderar - Winthrop Paul Rockefeller. * Margaret "Peggy" McGrath (1915–1996) - David Rockefeller. ** Diana Newell Rowan - David Rockefeller, Jr. ** Nancy King - Richard Gilder Rockefeller. * Elizabeth "Bessie" Rockefeller (1866–1906). * Alta Rockefeller (1871–1962). * Edith Rockefeller (1872–1932). * Elsie Stillman Rockefeller (1872–1935). * Isabel Stillman Rockefeller (1876–1935). ==Select bibliography== * Abels, Jules. The Rockefeller Billions: The Story of the World's Most Stupendous Fortune. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1965. * Aldrich, Nelson W. Jr. Old Money: The Mythology of America's Upper Class. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988. * Allen, Gary. The Rockefeller File. Seal Beach, California: 1976 Press, 1976. * Boorstin, Daniel J. The Americans: The Democratic Experience. New York: Vintage Books, 1974. * Brown, E. Richard. Rockefeller Medicine Men: Medicine and Capitalism in America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979. * Caro, Robert A. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York. New York: Vintage, 1975. * Chernow, Ron. Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. London: Warner Books, 1998. * Collier, Peter, and David Horowitz. The Rockefellers: An American Dynasty. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1976. * Elmer, Isabel Lincoln. Cinderella Rockefeller: A Life of Wealth Beyond All Knowing. New York: Freundlich Books, 1987. * Ernst, Joseph W., editor. "Dear Father"/"Dear Son:" Correspondence of John D. Rockefeller and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. New York: Fordham University Press, with the Rockefeller Archive Center, 1994. * Flynn, John T. God's Gold: The Story of Rockefeller and His Times. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1932. * Fosdick, Raymond B. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.: A Portrait. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1956. * Fosdick, Raymond B. The Story of the Rockefeller Foundation. New York: Transaction Publishers, Reprint, 1989. * Gates, Frederick Taylor. Chapters in My Life. New York: The Free Press, 1977. * Gitelman, Howard M. Legacy of the Ludlow Massacre: A Chapter in American Industrial Relations. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1988. * Gonzales, Donald J., Chronicled by. The Rockefellers at Williamsburg: Backstage with the Founders, Restorers and World-Renowned Guests. McLean, Virginia: EPM Publications, Inc., 1991. * Hanson, Elizabeth. The Rockefeller University Achievements: A Century of Science for the Benefit of Humankind, 1901-2001. New York: The Rockefeller University Press, 2000. * Harr, John Ensor, and Peter J. Johnson. The Rockefeller Century: Three Generations of America's Greatest Family. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988. * Harr, John Ensor, and Peter J. Johnson. The Rockefeller Conscience: An American Family in Public and in Private. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1991. * Hawke, David Freeman. John D.: The Founding Father of the Rockefellers. New York: Harper & Row, 1980. * Hidy, Ralph W. and Muriel E. Hidy. Pioneering in Big Business: History of Standard Oil Company (New Jersey), 1882-1911. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955. * Jonas, Gerald. The Circuit Riders: Rockefeller Money and the Rise of Modern Science. New York: W.W.Norton and Co., 1989. * Josephson, Emanuel M. The Federal Reserve Conspiracy and the Rockefellers: Their Gold Corner. New York: Chedney Press, 1968. * Josephson, Matthew. The Robber Barons. London: Harcourt, 1962. * Kert, Bernice. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller: The Woman in the Family. New York: Random House, 2003. * Klein, Henry H. Dynastic America and Those Who Own It. New York: Kessinger Publishing, [1921] Reprint, 2003. * Kutz, Myer. Rockefeller Power: America's Chosen Family. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974. * Lundberg, Ferdinand. America's Sixty Families. New York: Vanguard Press, 1937. * Lundberg, Ferdinand. The Rich and the Super-Rich: A Study in the Power of Money Today. New York: Lyle Stuart, 1968. * Lundberg, Ferdinand. The Rockefeller Syndrome. Secaucus, New Jersey: Lyle Stuart, Inc., 1975. * Manchester, William R. A Rockefeller Family Portrait: From John D. to Nelson. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1959. * Moscow, Alvin. The Rockefeller Inheritance. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1977. * Nevins, Allan. John D. Rockefeller: The Heroic Age of American Enterprise. 2 vols. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940. * Nevins, Allan. Study In Power: John D. Rockefeller, Industrialist and Philanthropist. 2 vols. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1953. * Okrent, Daniel. Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center. New York: Viking Press, 2003. * Reich, Cary. The Life of Nelson A. Rockefeller: Worlds to Conquer 1908-1958. New York: Doubleday, 1996. * Roberts, Ann Rockefeller. The Rockefeller Family Home: Kykuit. New York: Abbeville Publishing Group, 1998. * Rockefeller, David. Memoirs. New York: Random House, 2002. * Rockefeller, Henry Oscar, ed. Rockefeller Genealogy. 4 vols. 1910 - ca.1950. * Rockefeller, John D. Random Reminiscences of Men and Events. New York: Doubleday, 1908; London: W. Heinemann. 1909; Sleepy Hollow Press and Rockefeller Archive Center, (Reprint) 1984. * Roussel, Christine. The Art of Rockefeller Center. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2006. * Scheiffarth, Engelbert. Der New Yorker Gouverneur Nelson A. Rockefeller und die Rockenfeller im Neuwieder Raum Genealogisches Jahrbuch, Vol 9, 1969, p16-41. * Sealander, Judith. Private Wealth and Public Life: Foundation Philanthropy and the Reshaping of American Social Policy, from the Progressive Era to the New Deal. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. * Siegmund-Schultze, Reinhard. Rockefeller and the Internationalization of Mathematics Between the Two World Wars: Documents and Studies for the Social History of Mathematics in the 20th Century. Boston: Birkhauser Verlag, 2001. * Stasz, Clarice. The Rockefeller Women: Dynasty of Piety, Privacy, and Service. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995. * Tarbell, Ida M. The History of the Standard Oil Company. New York: Phillips & Company, 1904. * Winks, Robin W. Laurance S. Rockefeller: Catalyst for Conservation, Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1997. * Yergin, Daniel. The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. * Young, Edgar B. Lincoln Center: The Building of an Institution. New York: New York University Press, 1980. ==Related pages== * AIG * Asia Society * Bilderberg Group * Brookings Institution * Carnegie Corporation * Chase Manhattan Bank * Citibank * Colonial Williamsburg * Council of the Americas * Council on Foreign Relations * ExxonMobil * Ford family * GE * General Education Board * Grand Teton National Park * Institute for Pacific Relations * Kykuit * Lincoln Center * List of museums and cultural institutions in New York City * Ludlow massacre * MacArthur Foundation * Montgomery Burns * Museum of Modern Art * Population Council * Rainbow Room * RCA * Rockefeller Brothers Fund * Rockefeller Center * Rockefeller Foundation * Rockefeller University * Rothschild family * Spelman College * Standard Oil * Trilateral Commission * United Nations Association * University of Chicago * Venrock Associates * Gianni Agnelli * William Adams Delano (Delano & Aldrich) * J. Richardson Dilworth * Allen Dulles * John Foster Dulles * Henry Morrison Flagler * Frederick Taylor Gates * Wallace Harrison * Richard Holbrooke * Henry Kissinger * Ivy Lee * William Lyon Mackenzie King * John J. McCloy * Richard Parsons * Charles Pratt * Henry H. Rogers * George Shultz * Jerry Speyer * Ida Tarbell * Paul Volcker * John C. Whitehead * James Wolfensohn * Owen D. Young * William Zeckendorf