The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1915-03-25
Interesting Story of Life Of
Mrs. John D. Rockefeller
From Brother Of Mrs.
Frank Wright.

In several of the western daily pa
pers recently appeared an interview
with DR.. Henry Waldo Coe, of Port,
land. Ore, a brother OF Mrs. Frank
Wright, himself resident of Valley
City in the early days. The father OF
DR.. Coe and Mrs. Wright was cousin
Of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, and the
following intimate story of her life
will be of interest to all Valley City
people:
'In the passing of Laura Celestia
Spelman Rockefeller America loses
one of the most remarkable women of
the age" said DR.. Coe yesterday.
"Her fathers name was Harvey
Buel Spelman, not Harry, as is Oft
times stated, and her paternal grand
father was Samuel Buel Spelman.
my own father, DR.. Samuel Buel
Coe, was cousin of Mrs. Rockefeller.
"The Spelmans were people of some
note in England. Sir Henry Spelman
was knighted by James I and was
buried by order of Charles in West
minister Abbey. He was noted his
torian and antiquarian, and I have
seen his tablet in the abbey and also
a painting of him in the Royal Art
Gallery in London.
"In the Spelman genealogy, a book
of some $50 pages, in the preparation
of which for nearly 20 years the late
Mrs. Rockefeller was an active pa
tron, the head of the house is given
as follows: ...
"'sir William spelman, knight, the
first certainly identified ancestor of
this ancient house, was Lord OF
Brokenhurst in Hampshire and OF
Cowsfeld, Whiteshire, in the 18th cen
tury.' He is described in 1923 in The
English Works of Sir Henry Spelman
a copy of which book, for more than
100 years out Of print, is in my Ii.
brary.
Richard Spelman was the first OF
the family to come to America, settling
here in 100. He obtained grant OF
land at Middletown, Conn, in 1904, as
shown by the records there today.
"This, the first American of the
Spelman family, is buried in Farm Hill
cemetery, Middletown. .a
"The Spelmans were Puritans and in
Portage county, Ohio, brought their
Congregationalism and helped estab
lish it firmly in that state. Although
Mrs. Rockefeller was born in Wads
worth, Ohio, and her parents later
went to Kent and then to Akron, the
real Spelman center was at Roots
town, near by. .... .~.
"The fact which stands out most
prominently in the life and history OF
Mrs Rockefeller is the domesticity OF
her career. She was an Old-fashioned
woman and therefore had necessarily
old-fashioned notions of the duties ot
woman. To her the home was the
first place for every woman. Her duty
to her children was paramount to ev
cry other thing. She was liberal in
her support in financial way Of many
modern things, but herself preferred
to be the wife of a great man, rather
than climbing alone to make an in
dividual name for herself. es4..
And yet to her John D. Rockefeller
ST.. times without number, has as
cribed largely the credit for his owl
fortune. Her advice was, he said safe
and sensible. and in abetting his in
terests she became the wife Of tn
richest man in the world. rather thar
a much lesser light as an Independent
luminary. Her life was q deeply re
ligious one, here again following he,
husband, who was a Baptist, into tha
church which he had selected for hi:
own. She died not only full Of years
1,,,l R,,n 80 elorx, n 1s,ocr,or ~ orrook a al