The secret of Rockefeller's life: how a modest clerk became the richest man in the world (3 photos)

The biography of John Rockefeller, the billionaire founder of a powerful dynasty influencing the world economy and politics, can be instructive for many.





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John Rockefeller was born in 1839 and spent his childhood in Cleveland. John's father did not hesitate to resort to deception and fraud to make money, selling medicines of dubious quality; his mother was a pious woman who maintained prosperity and order in the family. John took on the best qualities of his parents: bold enterprise from his father and responsibility for his actions from his mother. Both parents taught their children to keep strict records of income and expenses; John's father taught him to bargain, his mother taught him how to manage the family budget.

Rockefeller biographers write that as a child, John bought sweets and then resold them to family and friends. At the insistence of his mother, John donated part of the proceeds to the Baptist Church - charity will become a part of his life until the end of his days.



John did not receive a good education: his father believed that accounting skills would be enough for a prosperous life. At the age of 16, the young man entered an accounting course, where he studied, in addition to basic disciplines, commercial law and the history of entrepreneurship. After the course, John received the position of assistant accountant.

Work was not a burden to him: he loved the world of numbers and the strict order of calculations; he skillfully kept records, double-checking each figure. At the age of 19, with $800 saved up and $1,000 borrowed from his father, John Rockefeller and a partner founded the Clark and Rockefeller grocery trading company. The American Civil War contributed to an increase in the firm's income. Sensing the approaching oil boom in the country, Rockefeller bought the oil division of the company from his partners at auction and at the age of 26 became the owner of the oil business. Thus began the unprecedented rise of John Rockefeller - from an office clerk to a multimillionaire.

Rockefeller Empire

The oil business at that time was a dangerous business: the market was created chaotically, in places where raw materials were discovered, oil rigs were erected almost in the courtyards of houses, the cost of a barrel of oil fluctuated greatly. Rockefeller acted carefully, thinking through and calculating every step, saving money on everything that could be reduced, reduced, removed. His marriage at age 25 to Celestia Spelman, a schoolteacher as religious as his mother, strengthened his life and moral foundations.

In 1870, Rockefeller, together with his partners, founded the Standard Oil company, which took a new approach to running the oil business, combining the entire cycle - from oil production to its sale - into a single production. The company became international, and Rockefeller became a billionaire.



In business, everything is not always smooth: at the beginning of the 20th century, the US government launched an attack on monopolies, forcing Standard Oil to be divided into 34 companies; Journalists launched an attack on Rockefeller's company, accusing him of bribery and undermining the "moral foundations of society." This had little effect on the company's financial condition, and John Rockefeller's good name was restored with the help of charity.

John Rockefeller died at the age of 97, leaving his business in the capable hands of his children.

Two hundred descendants of John Rockefeller continue to run businesses and invest in cultural and scientific institutions known throughout the world. Among them: Rockefeller University, which has graduated 36 Nobel laureates, the Rockefeller Foundation, which helps scientists around the world, and many others.