Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-08
A FINE OLD FAMILY.
The Original American R0ckefellers
We're German Brothers.
MANY MEMBERS WERE FAMOUS
A Descendant of the Pennsylvania Branch
Died in Pittsburg.
STORIES OF TIE STANDARD Oil KING
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH!

WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH!
The Standard oil king, John d. Rookie
feller, may feel proud of his ancestry. As
genealogies run in this country the Rookie
fellers are an old family. The original
Rockefellers were four brothers, who came
from the Rhine provinces about the middle
of the last century and settled in New
Jersey. They formed quite a settlement in
the vicinity of Plainfeld, but toward the
close of the eighteenth century they began
to separate. One branch of sons and grand
sons went to New England. Another went
10 New York State, while the third came to
Pennsylvania. John D. Rockefeller and
his brothers come of the New England
branch. Very little is known OF the New
York Rockefellers. As for those who re-
maincd in New Jersey, they grew and multi
piled. One great-grandson Of one of the
four brothers is still living at Plainfeld, n.
j., at an advanced age.
The leader in the Pennsylvania migration
was Godfried Rockefeller, who, with his
brothers and sisters, travelled by wagon to
northumberland county and located in the
vicinity of Shamokin. Coal in abundance
was found in great quantities under the old
Rockefeller homestead, but Godfried died in
1918 in ignorance of the black buried treas
ures.
Eastern Pennsylvania Members.
Scores of Rockefellers are now living in
the eastern part of Pennsylvania whose
lineage can be traced back to the original
brothers of the Ehine provinces. A curious
thing is the mutation which the family
name has undergone; the queer ways of
spelling and the pronunciation. In Phila-
delphia alone half dozon or more families
of Rocke:ellers live, and the name is spelled
in nearly as many different ways, such as
Rockfellow, Rockafellow and Rockefeller.
The male descendants of the original four
brothers in this country have variously
figured as painters, preachers, lawyers,
miners, liquor dealers, g1ocers, physicians,
saddlers, farmers. steamboat deck hands,
engineers, editors, contractors and capital
lists. With but few exceptions the sturdy
qualities, pluck and energy of the old
lsockefeller fnrefathers has come down to
later generations.
1John d. Rockefeller and his brother are
not the only ones of distinction of the name.
A widely known member of the Pennsyl-
vania family is buried at Hollidaysburg-
the Rev. John Patton Rockefeller. He was
a Baptist minister, and was better known as
tine DoY preacher 0U years ago. tie was
also descendant, on his mothers side, of
the celebrated lockwood family, which
traces its history in this country back to
1852.
A Wonderful Young Preacher.
Rev. John P. Rockefeller entered the
ministry when he was a little more than 20
years old. He earned the money at the
saddlers' bench which enabled him to obtain
an education. He toiled at his trade by day,
and under the direction of loving mother
studied by candle light at night. His first
circuit was through Westmoreland county,
His meetings at the Penns-
vile Baptist Church attracted the attention
Of an intidel. who boasted that he intended
to floor that beardless preacher, for the youth
and eioquence of the young minister had
been heralded all through the mountains of
that region.
At the close of one of the evening services
the skeptic arose and, in defiant manner,
several, in those days, knolty
questions on the subject of baptism. The
was in futter of excitement,
for these good people felt their leader was
being tried in the balance and they trembled |