The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1908-02-12
SENSATIONAL STORY.

x.
William Le,ingston," Who Lived
as Bigamist Thirty-fOur Years.
Proved to be tic Same.
New York, Feb. 5.-The World is
authority FOR the following sensa.
tional story:
The body Of DR.. William Avery
nocKereller, father of the "Oil
King" John D. Rockefeller lies in
an unmarked grave in Oakland
Cemetery, Freeporr III. He died
IN that city May II, 1896, aged
ninety-six years, Give months and
twenty-eight days
For fifty. years he led double life.
Under the assumed name of DR.. Will
lam Levinggston. He farmed and sold
medicine OF his own decocton in
Illinois and North Dakota Duriiis:
those same years he occasionally ap-
peared at the homes Of his sons and
among his old acquaintances IN the
cast as DR.. William A. Rockefeller.
lected by World reporter whose
investigation has just been com.
pleted.
During thirty-four years Of the
fifty he had two wives. One was
Mrs Eliza Dawson Rockefeller The
mother Of John D. Rockefeller. The
other was Mrs. Margaret L. Allen
Levingston. The frst wife, Mrs.
l Rockefeller, mother Of the richest
man in the world, he married in
: New York state in 1897. She died
in New York in 1899 at the age of
seventy-flve.
The second wife, Mrs. Livingston,
nc married in Ontario, O. This
second wife is now living in Frecport,
ILL.,, charming, white-haire<l," Chris
fian woman of 20 years.
RI. Rockefeller was As years old
when he deserted his wife and family
in Cleveland and went to Canada.
and, under the assumed name OF
William Levingston, married Miss
Margaret L. Allen, pretty girl o1
twenty For so years she has lived
| With him As his wife never knowing
untn Just before he died that her hus
hand was bigamist. Until a few
years before his death she did no
kncvv that he was William A. Rocke
T feller or that he hs,d been indicted IL
: New York State. Even now sb. will
not say that he WIS William A. Pock
efcIler.
'Wo lived happily together eol
80 years and Shall be a true woman
to the end" she says.
During the last 25 years OF his lil.
Dr. Rockcfollers whereaborts anc
1ahe existence OF the other wife wer,
1 known to his sons, JOHN D., William
and Frankk Rockefeller, aud to hi
! son-Sn-law, Pierpont D. Briggs. g
1 AsClevelan4. Bst no Ohe else in all ths
= 1wCrid knew.
l. The first Mrs. Rockefeller ;liyet
334 years after he deserted her ane
died without knowing tha1 her hus
band had taken a girl of twenty ir
hex stead. And all the members OF
= the RsckefeHer family except .thns,
fnur rn>n. lanAw nothing of 1t. The,
> did hot know where the old man Nv
ed. Ihe thme sons kept hin, wei
supplied with money. but they guard.
ed we'll the secret of his life and
: whereabouts.
He was first hidden on a farm
In Macon ;Gounty. H.. about hall
way between Decatur and Clinton.
AS the country settled Mp around him
he moved TO Freeport, Ill, and in
1es1 he movea again to the extreme
frontitr in North Dakota. on a farm
20 miles from a railroad On this
farm he spent each summer :sr Is
years. known tS his neighbors As vii :.
liam Levingston- Part Of the time he
owned the fam In his own name OF
William A Rockefeller. but that se-
cret was buried in the records of the
county registrar OF deeds. Is mile.
away, and his neighbors never xnew
Of it,
For two years the newspapers and
magazines Of this country have
searched for the father Of John D.
Rockefeller. Ida NJ. Tarbell began
The hunt, and the results Of her quest
were published in McCure's Maya.
zine In 1905. She traced the ole
man to Cleveland, to which city he
moved with his family in 1885. She
lost him there.
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