Rockefeller

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Rockefeller family coat of arms

The Rockefeller family was best known through entrepreneur John D. Rockefeller and his brother William Rockefeller . These two brothers were the sons of William Avery Rockefeller (1810-1906), a peddler and quack , and his wife, Eliza Davison Rockefeller (1813-1889).

Origin and family history

The first recorded ancestor of the Rockefellers is Goddard (or Gotthart) Rockenfeller (* 1590 in Fahr, today Neuwied ). The name is a designation of origin that is derived from the name of the settlement Rockenfeld (first mentioned in 1280 as Rukenvelt , due to its location on the first ridge between the Rhine and Westerwald ). Today Rockenfeld belongs to the Neuwied district of Feldkirchen (Rhineland-Palatinate); the place was abandoned and in 1995 the last house was demolished. The family name Rockenfeller can be found relatively often in Neuwied to this day.

Goddard's grandson Johann Peter (1682–1763) and his great grandson Johann Thiell (1695–1769) emigrated with their families to New Jersey and New York . There they called themselves Rockefeller .

Johann Peter Rockefeller's great-grandson Godfrey Lewis Rockefeller (1783 / 1784-1857) married in Livingston, New York, in 1806, Lucy Avery from the 7th generation of the Groton Avery clan in Connecticut . Lucy Avery's great-great-grandmother was Susannah Palmes, wife of Samuel Avery of New London, Connecticut, of royal descent. She was the granddaughter of John Humfrey, who married Lady Susan in England, the daughter of the 3rd Earl of Lincoln, a descendant of Edmund II "Ironside" , King of England, who in turn was descended from some kings of Scotland, France and Spain .

Godfrey Lewis Rockefeller and Lucy Avery's eldest son, William Avery Rockefeller (1810-1906), married Eliza Davison, and John Davison Rockefeller was their eldest son, the second child of a total of six. Eliza, the mother of John Davison, was the daughter of John Davison, a wealthy farmer in Niles Township, Cayuga County, New York. The Davisons were an ancient New Jersey family of English and Scottish ancestry.

capital

The combined wealth of the family, i.e. the total assets of the investments as well as the individual wealth of the individual members, has never been determined with accuracy. The family archives are closed to the public with regard to property.

Most of the assets are in the 1934 and 1952 Family Foundations, and both organizations were managed by Chase Manhattan Bank . These organizations hold shares in Standard Oil's successor companies , various other investments, and the family's substantial real estate holdings.

Wealth management is handled by professional asset managers who also oversee the holding company Rockefeller Financial Services. The 2015 executive chairman was David Rockefeller Jr.

family

Godfrey Rockefeller ⚭ 1806 Lucy Avery in Livingston. Their son

Eliza Davison and William Avery Rockefeller

William Avery Rockefeller (1810–1906) ⚭ February 18, 1837 Eliza Davison (1813–1889)

Organizations of that name

Members of the Rockefeller family set up charitable organizations or foundations bearing their names.

Building:

Research institutions were also named after the Rockefeller family.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John D. Rockefeller in: Bertie Charles Forbes: Men who are making America. B. C. Forbes Publishing Co., New York 1917, pp. 303-304 (origin)
  2. ^ Elroy McKendree Avery: A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut (Volume 2 Biography) Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago and New York 1918
  3. ^ A b Nelson Rockefeller , in Notable Names Database