The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-14
FAIL ID LOCATE O|L MANS FATHER Iowa CIew Proves to Be Only
 a Myth MYSTERY IS DEEPENING All Efforts to Find RockefeIer's Father Prove unavaIing-Find
 Jolly Old M of the
 Same
MYSTERY IS DEEPENING

l New York, $S 12-(SpeeiaL)-In connection vii c 2 deep mystery as to the whereabs SS q William A. Rocke- feller, faths = g ,ohn D., William and Frank Roc 0 2. /, there have been vague rumors f. O. years past that the old man wa somewhere in Iowa. Frank Rockeg aarges his brother, John D., ] with sta. g these rumors in order to deepen the mystery and to conceal the actual habitation of their father
 The World ran down the report con corning Iowa during it's eighteen months search for the father of the oil mag mates, and the results were curious. Its information, purporting to come from a man who had actually seen John D. s father in his place of eoncealment only one year before, located him in Cedar Vahey, Iowa.
 It described the aged man as a physi- cal and mental wreck. unable to leave l his bed and mumbling curses day and night. His home was said to be iso- lated farmhouse and his sole attendant a man who summed his neighbors and guarded his secret closely.
 Long Search Is Made.
 On this clue a World reporter visited Cedar Valley, a wide tract of farming country, thinly populated and virtually snowbound through the long winters.
 The farmers of Cedar Valley are tacti- tun and suspicious. They live on iso- ] lated farms and each minds his own 1 business. During the long weeks of searching the World reporter did not come upon a single merrymaking-not a l country dance or even a neighborly gath erng.
 1 Almost every farmer questioned told of an old man by the name of Rockefeller who lived somewhere in the county. Some i described him as a tall stout man of l great age-a description that seemed to h the vanished father of John D.-while others insisted that he was short and spare and not more than 80 years old
 Not until every corner of Cedar county has been ransacked did tbe reporter find a real clew. Then the discovery was made that II. H. Rockefeller, small farmer near Springdale in the heart of the big county, had sold oIt and moved away only short time betore He had i an old father who lived with him and 1 was something oe a mystery 10 tlle neigh l bors.
 Old Man d Mystery.
 This aged man had no friends CT even acquaintanees Farmers passing in their wagons could see him occasionally at the months would pass during W hich llc would remain invisible. But no special interest had been felt in the matter. l At last, however, the World reported refnitely established that fact that II. H. Rockefeller had lived in Springdale, had sold out and migrated his agel father | going with nm. The search for II. II. Re k, teller that Ihen bega~ Wss long and difficult. As the sequal proved the man had bought a new home within fifty miles of his old one. By study of rural mail routes Fl. II Rolkereler Was located neer the town of West Liberty, in Musca- | tine county.
 The reporters interview with this man was brief. He was middle-aged man 1 whose life had been passed upon Iowa l farms. All that I know" he said, lis l that whole lot of people have been asking questions about father and that l he has gone to pay my brother a visit"
 But he would not divuge the where abouts of his brother, and another long search begun. It ended at last on a i little island in the Mississippi river south of the little city of Muscatine where the other Rockefeller owned small ism. 1 The father was ultimately discovered in 1 the city of Muscatine at 1107 Lucas street He was not the Rockefeller sought. Instead of the tall, heavy man of l great age, such as John D.s father is said to be this Rockefeller proved to round heelled, cheery little man with merry eyes and smiling lips. This Rock efeller also has a wife as whole looking and as merry himself.
 Not John D.'s Father.
 No, indeed" chuckled the old man when the situation was explained Pm nos John DIS father, and I'm sorry for it. My name is Samuel Rockefeller and my birthplace Is old Philadelphia
 "N ow I want to tell you that I am 1 largely responsible for your long chase. l was visiting my son, Howard, over in Cedar Valley, and got wind of the fact l that a woman-I. guess she was this Miss Tarbell-was searching high and low for an old fellow of my name. l Then that magazine story was pub 1 fish ed and the Chicago reporters start ed for Cedar Valley. and l. thinking to have a little sport. just moved out and | came right here. And here I have stayed, enjoying a quiet life" continued the aged joker exchanging broad grins with his jolly wife.
 T have heard all about the search | for me and John D.'s father over in Cedar Valley" he added. "and I want to say that you are the second man to | find me.
 Says Daughter Sought Him.
 "The first one said that he represent ed John DIS daughter in secret search for her grandfather. He gave me a beautifully written letter which | he said she had written. The writer expressed the hope that I was really her grandfather, and then begged me l If didn't happen to be the real article. l to aid her in the search. l promised to do all I could. but I am making no progress"
 John D.s daughter, the wife of Harold | F. Mccormick. emphatcaly denies the genuiness of the letter described by old | samuel Rockefeller.
 A man from Strongvile, O., where 1 William A Rockefeller lived years ago, | while railroading cattle over the Chicago and Northwestern road through Iowa, had seen what was described to him as old Doc" Rockefeller's home. The train ha 1 reached a point somewhere between | the towns of Clinton and Cedar Rapids.
 The cattle man sleepy and hardly l glanced at the little house half mile from the tracks. However, the clue was | investigated
 Every farmhouse from Clinton on the | Mississippi river westward along the 1 Northwestern tracks so far west of Cedar | Rapids visited and the inmates ques- toned. None had heard of the elder | of