Frank Rockefeller

Franklin Rockefeller around 1906

Franklin Rockefeller (born August 8, 1845 in Moravia , New York , † April 15, 1917 in Ohio ) was an American businessman and rancher .

After his much better known brothers John Davison Rockefeller (1839-1937) and William Rockefeller (1841-1922), their mother Eliza Davison Rockefeller gave birth to twins Franklin and Francis on August 8, 1845. The sister died at the age of two. His nickname was "Frank". The father, William Avery Rockefeller, was an unusually inventive, active, aggressive all-round businessman in Cayuga County, near Moravia on Owasco Lake. In the forests of Tioga he felled pines and sold the trunks at the best possible price. He arranged for a district school to be set up in Moravia for his children to attend. All the children of that time helped with the work in the house and yard. The sons could milk cows, raise chicks and poultry, put harnesses on the horses, drive them, feed them and groom them. The mother collected herbs in the woods and fields and made medicines from them. She was a very religious woman. In 1853 the family moved to Strongsville, Ohio, about 15 miles southwest of Cleveland, and a year later to Parma. In 1857 they moved to town, where the father, with the help of his sons, built a house at 33, Cheshire Street. At the time, Franklin was 12 years old.

Civil War Years

When the Civil War broke out, Frank volunteered with the 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment and reported his age at 18, even though he was only 16. On April 30, 1861, his regiment went to war. The 7th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the Fighting Roosters, took part in the battles of Winchester, Antietam, Chancellorsville, where Frank suffered a head injury and was released home. He had served in the volunteer regiment for three years.

In the meantime, his brothers had bought their way out of military service for $ 400 and John and his company Clark & ​​Rockefeller laid the foundation for his later crude oil refining business by selling grain and meat to the army.

Businessman

Harness racing at Glenville Racecourse in Cleveland about 1900

After his marriage in 1870, Frank joined his father-in-law, William C. Scofield's Pioneer Oil Works, which was soon to be sold to his brother John, who had also founded his Standard Oil Company in 1870.

In 1870, Frank Rockefeller, Sylvester Everett, Warren H. Corning, and Howard M. Hanna founded The Northern Ohio Fair Assn., With the aim of promoting agricultural, horticultural shows and harness racing. In Glenville, 90 acres of land were purchased and buildings erected, including a 12,000-seat amphitheater. The first exhibition took place from October 4th to 7th, 1870 and was visited by 85,000 people. However, in 1881 it was closed and the buildings were sold. The subsidiary Cleveland Driving Park Co. built the Glennville Racecourse across the street in 1870.

In 1884 James Corrigan invested in the iron ore mines of the Messabi Range Belt and bought Franklin Mines, in which Frank Rockefeller participated and which initially operated successfully. When they ran out of money, they borrowed $ 124,000 from John Davison Rockefeller plus short-term capital for running costs.

In the great banking crisis of 1893, the two failed to meet their obligations and when John was unwilling to extend the loan, he bought Corrigan's 2,500 shares of Standard Oil, which he held from a previous deal, for $ 168 each back. Within a month it rose to $ 185, and Corrigan later sued Rockefeller in Ohio's highest court for withholding the facts. The lawsuit, however, was unsuccessful. This experience with his brother is said to have alienated Frank and John.

In March 1895 Frank was elected director of the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Railway, whose shares he also purchased.

Frank then worked at the Standard Oil Company in Cleveland, where he enthusiastically championed the tactics he had pursued as a former competitor. But he soon got into a guerrilla war with Col. William P. Thompson, which ended with Thompson moving to Standard's New York office in 1887. Feargus Squire, former mayor of Wickliffe, also pushed Frank aside.

In 1892 Frank became aware of the ailing ironworks Buckeye Malleable Iron and Coupler (later Buckeye Automatic Coupler), which built automatic couplings for the railways. Together with Thomas Goodwillie from the Standard Oil Company in Baltimore, they invested capital and thus secured a collaboration with Standard. Many of Frank's friends invested in the Buckeye Steel Castings, of which Frank became president in 1905. In 1908 he handed over management of the company to Samuel Prescott Bush , who had joined the company in 1901 from the Pennsylvania Railroad.

On August 1, 1939, a certificate was issued to Frank A. Quail, the trustee of Helen E. Rockefeller, wife of Frank Rockefeller, for the purchase of 44 preferred shares of the Buckeye Company valued at $ 100.00 each.

Cattle farmer in Kansas

Rockefellers Ranch at Belvidere, Kiowa County, Kansas

Frank Rockefeller's famous Hereford bull "Columbus"

In 1895 Frank got out of the oil business and bought land in Kansas that his father had seen and recommended during his travels. In the Soldier Creek Valley, southwest of Croft near Belvidere, in western Kansas, he built his Kiowa County ranch to raise cattle. In 1904 he owned 14,000 acres of pasture land and on 5,000 acres he grew lucerne (alfalfa) as fodder for his 10,000 Herford cattle and around 1,000 horses. He employed 40 cattle experts for rearing and was soon considered the best breeder of Hereford and short horn cattle in the world. It also said that he planned to plant 91,000 acres of pasture land with alfalfa, the largest ever cultivated area. Two of his horses, "Fannie Foley" and "Extractor", competed in Cleveland races.

In addition to the Kiowa Ranch, Frank owned other ranches in Rawlins County and 8,000-acre in Cheyenne County in northwest Kansas. Percy E. Walden ran the Rockefeller Ranch, Townships 4 and 5, Ranges 36 and 37, in Rawlins County. It consisted of 13,500 acres, partly owned, partly leased, and forty miles of barbed wire fence. This led to a quarrel with his neighbor, Chauncey Dewey, who had fences cut and his cattle moved to Rockefeller's pastures. These arguments continued throughout 1902 until January 1903 when Dewey dispatched five employees, armed with Winchester rifles and pistols, to cut fences. Dewey was eventually charged and convicted. In 1905 Frank sold these two ranches and only managed Kiowa.

Siegel-Sanders Live Stock Commission Company

Rockefeller was a shareholder and director in the Kansas City, Missouri, Commission Company whose business was the buying and selling of breeding, farm and slaughter cattle on commission; H. the commission agent delivers the goods that he is supposed to buy himself or he takes over the goods to be sold as the buyer himself. An advance payment or credit was secured by a lien on the cattle. This was endorsed and submitted to the bank. Rockefeller had nothing to do with running the business. These were carried out by the President Frank Siegel and Reuben D. Swain, the Secretary and Treasurer and the Directors Wm. Askew, EE Matchette. Because the company did not have sufficient capital to conduct business of the desired size, it tried to borrow money from the banks. In return, the banks demanded a personal guarantee from the owners and managing directors, assumption of debt, including from Rockefeller. On record is a lawsuit from 1902 Frank Rockefeller, Complainant, Vs. the National Bank of Commerce of Kansas City, Missouri, in which the latter claims to have settled the bank's claim of $ 36,229.05. The bank appealed this ruling.

Gobbler Mining & Smelting Co.

In January 1901, Frank bought the Gobbler lead and zinc ore mines in Wentworth. He founded Gobbler Mining & Smelting Co. with capital of $ 350,000. Frank held 2,450 shares of $ 100 each while the other shares were shared among Utley Wedge of Bayonne, NY, Frank Siegel and RD Swain of Kansas City, and Robert K. Pitkin of Joplin.

Frank Siegel's Fraud and Bankruptcy

After Frank paid a total of $ 251,000 for papers signed by Siegel, a review of the company books revealed that Frank Siegel had been doing illegal business through straw men and double credit, the damage amounting to $ 500,000. Rockefeller wanted Utley Wedge to file a lawsuit against Siegel.

family

On October 12, 1870, Frank married in Cleveland Helen Elizabeth Scofield, born in Cleveland on February 25, 1848. She was one of the five children of William C. Scofield and his wife Ann Barker. His home, Lakeland, in Wickliffe, Lake County, was on 100 acres of land where he enjoyed horse riding. Here he kept dogs, birds and exotic animals such as antelopes and elk, which he later gave to the "Wade Park Zoological Garden". In the big house he is said to have recreated the battles from the civil war.

Frank and Helen had 5 children, all of whom were born in Cleveland, and only 2 daughters reached adulthood and married.

• Alice Maud (born August 10, 1871), was crippled
• Anna Beatrice (born October 12, 1875) ⚭ 1909 William Fowler Nash ;
• William Scofield (born December 26, 1877 - March 17, 1878);
• Helen Effie (born December 16, 1879) ⚭ June 2, 1903 Walter Scott Bowler ;
• Myra (born June 3, 1884 - † August 23, 1886).

The alienation of the brothers

John must have met when Frank married the daughter of his competitor in the oil business, William C. Scofield, in 1870. In the so-called "Cleveland Massacre" of 1872, John bought 22 of the 26 refineries in Cleveland, including Alexander, Scofield and Company.

In the investigation against the South Improvement Company , Frank Rockefeller testified in the public hearing before the Congress Committee on July 7, 1876 that he believed that discounts at the time were pooled and shared between the Standard Oil Company and those in charge of the railroad were. He named four of the latter, and two of them immediately sent denials to the press.

After the bankruptcy of his iron ore mine on Lake Superior with James Corrigan, the relationship between the brothers changed abruptly. After 1895 they only spoke to one another in the presence of a third party (as a witness). Frank made derogatory comments to the press about his brothers, describing John as "deranged" and "obsessed". He kept his children away from the family and left the Rockefellers Church (Euclid Avenue Baptist Church). Despite this behavior, John twice saved him from bankruptcy and left him as a director at Standard Oil so that he received a generous salary and posted him on various boards of directors.

William Avery Rockefeller aka Dr. William Levingston

When the first episodes of Ida Tarbell's History of Standard Oil with a picture of Rockefeller's parents appeared in McClure's Magazine in 1905, reporters went in search of William Avery Rockefeller, whose whereabouts since the death of his mother Eliza in 1889 in the house of her son William was unknown in New York. AB MacDonald, a reporter for St. Louis Post Dispatch, ”spread the news that a Dr. To have found William Levingston in Freeport, Illinois, because his tombstone had the same date of birth and stated May 11, 1906 in Freeport as the date of death. This news was picked up by Ida Tarbell. When Frank was asked to comment by reporters in 1908, he said, "My father is alive and he is being well taken care of." When asked “But where?” He replied that it was none of the public's business and called the story “an unqualified lie” (an unqualified lie).

On his deathbed in Cleveland in 1916, Frank dictated: "Frank Rockefeller has not sent for his brother John and will not send for him, nor will he advise his brother of his illness." (German: Frank Rockefeller did not send for his brother John and will not send for him, nor will he tell his brother his illness.)

Nevertheless, his brothers John and William came to the funeral on April 17th.

literature

• Eugene Murdock: Buckeye Empire: An Illustrated History of Ohio Enterprise . Np: Windsol, 1988.
• Sean Cashman: America in the Gilded Age . Publisher: NYU Press, 3rd Edition, 1993. ISBN 978-0814714959

Web links

Commons : Hereford cattle  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Frank Rockefeller Dies in Cleveland, The New York Times. Published: April 16, 1917
• More Rockefeller ranches; Standard Oil Man's Kansas Holdings Increase, as Do Also Prices of Grazing Lands. Special to The New York Times. July 22, 1902
• Christina Griffin: Early days on the Frank Rockfeller Ranch in the summer of 1902, Belvidere, Kansas - The cook's memories from the early years have been written down.
• John R. Holibaugh: The lead and zinc mining industry of southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas; The Scientific Publishing Co., New York 1895 - Gobbler's One Shaft Quarterly Report, From December 21, 1894 to March 31st, 1895. page 29.
• Frank Rockefeller's holdings in: Henry H. Klein: Standard oil or the people: the end of corporate control in America. Published by the author HH Klein, New York, 1914, pp. 37-38.
• Find a grave
• Rockefeller business papers on microfiche - Box 64 and 65 Franklin Rockefeller (PDF; 1.9 MB)
• Whaleback steamer Frank Rockefeller built in 1896 for transporting iron ore on the Great Lakes - model shown
• Mansel G. Blockford: Scientific Management and Welfare Work in Early Twentieth Century American Business: The Buckeye Steel Castings Company

Individual evidence

1. ^ Elroy McKendree Avery: A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut (Volume 2 Biography) The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago and New York 1918 - pp. 1-3
2. ^ 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
3. ^ Fairs and Expositions - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
4. ^ Walter Van Brunt editor: Duluth and St. Louis County, Minnesota; their story and people. Published 1921 by American historical society in Chicago - The Franklin Mine, page 580.
5. ↑ Rockefeller Archives
6. ↑ John D. Rockefeller South .; James Corrigan Asserts, in Cleveland, That He Is Not Allowed Full Value for Stock. The New York Times, July 12, 1897
7. ^ William P. Thompson obituary, 1896 . wheeling.weirton.lib.wv.us. Archived from the original on October 13, 2013. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 21, 2012. 
8. ^ Squire's Castle - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
9. ^ The Buckeye Steel Castings Company
10. ↑ Certificate no. 632, dated 1st August 1939, for 44 preference shares of par value $ 100.00 each.
11. ^ Source: Kansas Historical Society, Topics in Kansas History: Agriculture, Ranching
12. ^ Grand Circuit
13. ↑ More Rockefeller Ranches; Standard Oil Man's Kansas Holdings Increase, as Do Also Prices of Grazing Lands. The New York Times. July 22, 1902
14. ↑ Rockefeller Ranches in Kansas. Source: The Annals of Kansas, 1541-1885 by DW Wilder, The Annals of Kansas, 1886-1925.
15. ^ In the Circuit Court of the United States for the Western Division of the Western District of Missouri: Frank Rockefeller, Complainant, Vs. the National Bank of Commerce of Kansas City, Missouri  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Siegel-Sanders Live Stock Commission Company, George Peake, Receiver of the Siegel-Sanders Live Stock Commission Company, Frank Siegel and Reuben D. Swain, Defendants, in Equity, No. 2594: Brief for Complainant  
16. ^ The Federal Reporter (Annotated), Volume 174: Cases Argued and Determined in the Circuit Courts of Appeals and Circuit and District Courts of the United States. January-March, 1910 - National Bank of Commerce v. Rockefeller.
17. ↑ Gobbler Mining & Smelting Co. Monett Times, Barry County, MO, Jan. 1901
18. ^ Frank Siegel Arrested in Kansas City. The New York Times, May 21, 1901
19. ↑ Frank Siegel indicted .; Charged with Embezzling from Frank Rockefeller's Company. The New York Times, June 23, 1901
20. ↑ Lost $ 500,000 in defunct company. The Evening News September 26, 1901
21. ↑ Elroy McKendree-Avery: The Groton Avery Clan, Volume 1
22. ^ Grant Segall: John D. Rockefeller: Anointed with Oil. Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0195121476 , page 44.
23. ↑ The Truth Investigator: "The Great Oil Octopus". T. Fisher Unwin, London 1911. The Secret Rebate, 39.
24. ↑ Dr. William Levingston, Father of John D. Rockefeller ( Memento of the original from January 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
25. ↑ Ron Chernow : Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr, Random House, NY, 1998., page 195. New edition: Vintage Press 2004. ISBN 978-1400077304 .