Laura Spelman Rockefeller

This article or section needs to be revised. Details should be given on the talk page. Please help to improve it , and then remove this flag.

Laura Celestia Spelman Rockefeller (born September 9, 1839 in Wadsworth , Ohio , † March 12, 1915 in Pocantico Hills , Tarrytown , New York ) was the wife of John Davison Rockefeller .

Laura Spelman Rockefeller as a young woman

John D. Rockefeller in his younger years

Forest Hill in Cleveland

Cleveland Baptist Church 1909

youth

Laura Celestia, called "Cettie" in the family, was the younger of two daughters. Her parents, Harvey Buel Spelman and Lucy Henry Spelman, had come to Ohio from Massachusetts and ran a dry goods store in Cleveland . Her father helped found a free church, was a member of the community council and helped former slaves escape to Canada ( abolitionist movement). The mother was active in the anti-alcoholic movement and in the church, where her daughters soon helped her. After attending Central High School, the two girls were sent to the Oread Collegiate Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts for training in April 1858 because both wanted to be teachers. After her return in 1859, Cettie wanted to open a music school, but it was unsuccessful. Her sister Lucy had found employment in a public school, and Cettie helped out with substitutions there until she got a permanent job at Hudson Street School in 1860. She loved her job and was a very good teacher, so when she was only 22 she became an assistant to the school administration. In her spare time she worked in the parish and played the piano. That same year, John Davison Rockefeller began courting her. As can be seen from his cash book, he gave her bouquets of flowers and novels and in April 1864 the engagement ring. Cettie became a member of the Baptist Church.

Wife and mother

The four Rockefeller Children 1885 - A photo of Alice, who died at the age of 13 months, can be seen in the top right

John and Laura were married on September 8, 1864, the day before their 25th birthday. Her honeymoon took her to Niagara Falls, Canada and New England. Back in Cleveland, they bought a simple house next to that of John's parents, who had recently moved to town. Their first child, Elizabeth, was born on August 23, 1866. The young Rockefeller family were happy, healthy, and got rich very quickly. John founded his first company in 1867 with Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler. On January 10, 1870, this company became the Standard Oil Company .

The family grew, a second daughter, Alice, was born on July 14, 1869, but died after 13 months. Two more daughters followed, Alta in 1871 and Edith in 1872, and finally the family owner on January 29, 1874, whom they named John Davison Jr.

As the family grew, the Rockefellers bought a house in 1868 on Euclid Avenue, later known as "Millionaire's Mile". Five years later, John bought a larger property overlooking Lake Erie. He wanted to convert the huge white building into a sanatorium or hotel, but both plans were unsuccessful. In 1880 the sanatorium was first used as a private club, a year later it was converted into a summer house for the family, which they called Homestead or "Forest Hill". The family used the house from June to mid-September each year (including when they moved to New York in 1884) until Laura's death in 1915. In 1917, the house burned to the ground.

Family and church

The day started at 7:30 am with a prayer and during breakfast the Bible was read aloud. The food was simple and healthy. Their life was simple, almost spartan. In addition to their schoolwork, the children also had to practice on the piano. They were expected to help with the work, and each child had their own bed in the vegetable garden. When the children were older, their father suggested that everyone buy a bicycle. The mother refused and instead suggested buying just one bike so that the children would learn to share. Their social life was the parish of the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church, and the children had to donate some of the money they had earned. They joined the Temperenzler Movement, which their mother supported, and as teenagers they signed a pledge of total abstinence. Laura continued to teach Sunday School, her family ties remained close, and her sister Lucy had given up teaching to live with Laura on Euclid Avenue. When her father died in 1881, her mother moved in with the young family until she too died in 1897.

Euclid Avenue Baptist Church, built in 1871, was also named “Mr. Rockefeller's Church ”because he was baptized into the congregation there in 1854 - at that time still Erie Street Baptist Church - it had supported it at a young age by appealing for donations and continued to support it generously. He was trustee in 1883 and from 1872 to 1905 director of the Erie St. Church Sunday School, in which Laura also taught.

Charity in Cleveland

Rockefeller Park in Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland had grown from 43,400 inhabitants in 1860 to 381,000 in 1900, not only due to the petroleum boom, but also due to iron and steel works, electricity and machine industries. Immigrants from Europe were drawn to the city. In many places this was a hardship, and the Rockefellers supported many of the charities in addition to the Church:

• Westerm Reserve Historical Society
• Early Settlers Assn. of the Western Reserve
• Young Men's Christian Association
• The Ragged School (later Industrial School and CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY),
• Bethel Union
• Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Non-Partisan, of Cleveland
• Visiting Nurse Assn. of Cleveland (VNA) At first only a visiting service, later training as a nurse
• DORCAS Invalids' Home with Dorcas Society founded by 14 ladies of the society in 1867

Spelman College in Atlanta

Two former teachers of Laura Spelman from Oread College, Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles, founded the "Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary" for black women in the basement of the Friendship Baptist Church in 1881. When Packard and Giles met the Rockefellers at a Baptist church conference in Cleveland, they gave them the money to buy nine acres of former Union Civil War barracks. In 1884, the name "Spelman Seminary" was recorded in thanks and in honor of Mrs. Laura Spelman Rockefeller and her parents. It is one of the oldest Historic Afro-American Colleges (HBCU).

In 1886 the "Rockefeller Hall" was inaugurated. In 1888, Henry L. Morehouse, a pastor and confidante of John D. Rockefeller, became the first president of the Board of Trustees. In 1917 the "Bessie Strong Hall" named after Rockefeller's daughter was inaugurated, and in 1918 the "Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Building" for the training of home economics teachers followed. In 1924 the name was changed to " Spelman College ". It is now part of the Atlanta University Center consortium.

In New York

Mrs. JD Rockefeller

John now also worked a lot in New York. Laura and the children drove to New York over the winter months and lived in a hotel. In 1884 they were able to move into their own house at 4 West 54th Street. The family lived in New York from mid-October to late May, then moved back to Cleveland and stayed in their home on Euclid Avenue for a few weeks before moving up to Forest Hill for the summer. Before returning to New York, they again lived on Euclid Avenue for two weeks.

During these years the family traveled to America and Europe. Everywhere they went to a small church for their Sunday service. They also had their church in New York, Park Avenue Baptist Church (now Central Presbyterian Church), whose pastor GO King John's advisor on charity issues.

The houses in Lakewood and Pocantico Hills

After the Rockefellers vacationed with daughter Bessie and her husband Charles A. Strong in Lakewood, Ocean County, New Jersey in 1898, John began buying land through a local company around 1901 so that his name would not be associated with it. In 1903 he owned 330 acres (1.3 km²), including 98 acres (400,000 m²) of land from the Ocean County Hunt and Country club, which was the heart of the Rockefeller-Lakewood manor, and which was a golf club. As one of their sons reported, both John and Laura had the golf bug. Here both could pursue their favorite activities, playing golf and gardening. They hired an administrator to look after the property. By the spring of 1910, Rockefeller had expanded his estate to nearly 603 acres. A lake, Lake Shenandoah, was also part of it. The seclusion made them feel protected from the public.

In Lakewood they had built a farm with sheep and cows whose milk they sold.

In 1886 John's brother William Bartlett's Castle had bought, demolished it and completely rebuilt his Rockwood Hall. John also enjoyed the hilly area overlooking the Hudson River, and in 1893 he too had bought land in the Pocantino Hills, just a few miles from Manhattan. There was already a house on it that they set up for themselves. It burned down on September 17, 1902, and they moved into another existing house. It was not until 1904 that John allowed his son to hire architects to build a country house that seemed appropriate to his father's wealth. The landscape architect William Welles Bosworth was commissioned to design the gardens.

Laura loved being there, and they called it "Kykuit" (Dutch: Kiekut). The site was so vast that John Junior built Abeyton Lodge for his family a quarter of a mile away.

John and Laura get off a train in 1911

Last visit to Cleveland

Laura fell ill in October 1913 while she was in Forest Hill and did not recover until late February 1914. Rockefeller was also there on February 1, Ohio Tax List Day. The Cuyahoga County Tax Commission took the opportunity to raise the tax and tried to collect taxes on all Rockefellers' real estate, wherever it was, even if the latter was already paying tax on it in New York. This contentious claim was later resolved by attorneys. Laura never saw Forest Hill again, however. In 1917 the house was completely destroyed by a fire.

Laura now had health problems and was half-disabled. On September 8, 1914, the day before Laura's 75th birthday, they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in Pocantino. All the children, with the exception of Bessie, who had died in France in 1906, turned up with the grandchildren for the festive dinner. "I've only ever had one sweetheart," said John, "and I'm grateful that I still have her."

Laura died of a heart attack on March 12, 1915 in Pocantino. The news reached John in Florida, where he was staying with his son and daughter-in-law. The funeral service took place three days later with family and close friends. She was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Cleveland, where John Davison Rockefeller found his final resting place 22 years later.

In memoriam Laura Spelman Rockefeller

Rockefeller family grave in Cleveland 1937 with obelisk

Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund

In October 1918, John established a foundation in memory of his wife Laura. The foundation's capital was $ 2.5 million. The foundation set itself the task of “promoting the well-being of women and children worldwide”. In the 1920s, she became one of the great American supporters of applied social science research at five selected universities with an emphasis on early childhood development.

In New York, the foundation supported work in the fields of child rearing, interpersonal relationships, health, religion and social affairs. When the Rockefeller Foundations were reorganized in 1929, the Memorial Fund was incorporated into the Rockefeller Foundation.

Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Riverside Church bell tower

The carillon was installed in the Park Avenue Baptist Church as early as 1925 and was already the largest in the world with 53 bells and a bourdon of 9 tons. John rockefeller jr. gave it to the church in memory of his mother. It was reinstalled and expanded in 1930 when moving to the newly built Riverside Church. Now it consisted of 74 bronze bells, the largest of which, the hour bell (Bourdon), weighed 18 tons and the smallest weighed 4.5 kg. The hour bell was the largest and heaviest bell that was ever cast. The weight of all bells was 91 tons. They were cast by Gillett & Johnston Foundry in England and shipped to the USA. The Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon rises 119 m above the road. It is equipped with an observation platform, both for the carillon and for a 360-degree view of the city and the Hudson Valley.

Laura Spelman Rockefeller Halls at Princeton University

Laura's grandson, Laurance S. Rockefeller , made a substantial contribution of $ 4 million to the construction of 58 apartments for 220 female students after women were first admitted to study at Princeton University in 1969 . The architect Ieoh Ming Pei designed eight interconnected three- and four-storey buildings with 52 apartments with the usual four living-study rooms and six apartments with an additional bedroom. This is the first time that apartments for married students have been planned. On one floor there were two units with 4-bedroom study rooms, each with a gallery, from which the bedrooms, a communal kitchen, the bathroom and the living and dining area were accessible. There were laundry and storage rooms, an entrance hall and lounges. They were built from 1971 to 1973 and called "Laura Spelman Rockefeller Halls". In 1977 this student residence was recognized by the American Institute of Architects.

literature

• Ann Rockefeller Roberts (text), Mary Louise Pierson (photos): The Rockefeller Family Home: Kykuit. 1st edition. Abbeville Press, 1998, ISBN 0-7892-0222-0 .
• Robert F. Dalzell, Lee Baldwin Dalzell: The House the Rockefellers Built: A Tale of Money, Taste, and Power in Twentieth-Century America. 1st edition. Henry Holt & Co., New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-8050-8857-1 .

Web links

Commons : Kykuit  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Historic American Buildings Survey at the Library of Congress Photos Kykuit, John D. Rockefeller, Sr. House, 200 Lake Road, Pocantico Hills, Westchester County, NY
• WILLIAM WELLES BOSWORTH's gardens in Kykuit Photos in the Library of Congress
• March 1928 PARK ROAD BOOSTERS ATTEND A MEETING IN MARCH OF 1928, WHEN A $ 5 MILLION GIFT FOR THE LAURA SPELLMAN ROCKEFELLER MEMORIAL WAS ANNOUNCED. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN

Individual evidence

Source: Laura Spelman , The Rockefeller Archive Center

1. ^ Martha Burt Wright, Anne M. Bancroft (Eds.): History of the Oread Collegiate Institute, Worcester, Mass. (1849-1881): with biographical sketches. Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Co., New Haven, Conn. 1905, p. 126.
2. ^ Cleveland Heights Historical Society
3. ^ Western Reserve Historical Society
4. ^ Early Settlers Association
5. ↑ YMCA
6. ^ Children's Aid Society
7. ^ Bethel Union
8. ^ Woman's Christian Temperance Union
9. ^ Visiting Nurse Association
10. ↑ Dorca's Home
11. ^ Spelman College in: New Georgia Encyclopedia
12. ↑ Facts of Spelman College
13. ↑ ROCKEFELLER CLASS IN NEW HOME TODAY; Park Avenue Baptist Church Will Occupy Edifice of 64th Street for the First Time. In: The New York Times. April 9, 1922.
14. ↑ ROCKEFELLER RAISES WAGES .; Needs More Men to Improve His Lakewood Golf House Estate. In: The New York Times. Special edition, March 27, 1907.
15. ↑ LITTLE-KNOWN ROCKEFELLER ESTATE WHERE JOHN D. REALLY RESTS. In: The New York Times. August 2, 1914.
16. ↑ Photos of the gardens
17. ↑ Forest Hill ( Memento of the original from March 11, 2012 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. - History 
18. ↑ Science, November 12, 1926, Vol. 64 no. 1663, pp. 471-476.
19. ^ Riverside Church carillon
20. ↑ Laura Spelman Rockefeller Halls of Princeton University ( Memento of the original from March 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.