The Rockefeller family: a legend from generation to generation

The Rockefeller family is one of the most prominent families in the United States. David's grandfather, John Davison Rockefeler, founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870 and accumulated huge wealth through the oil business. "You can only get rich in three generations" seems to be an iron law. However, the Rockefeller family has been prosperous for six generations.

After becoming the first billionaire in the United States, the American Rockefeller family set a new record. Last Friday, American banker and Rockefeller family patriarch David Rockefeller (David Rockefeler) ) celebrates his 100th birthday and becomes the world’s oldest billionaire.

For most of the 20th century, Rockefeller was synonymous with American wealth and power. "You can only get rich in three generations" seems to be an iron law, but the Rockefeller family has been prosperous for six generations.

The founder started working at the age of 16

Being a bookkeeper learned to respect numbers

The headquarters of the Rockefeller family is in Westchester County, New York State. Located on the upper reaches of the Hudson River, one hour's drive from Manhattan Island, New York, it covers an area of ??3,400 acres and is comparable in size to a small town. The main part of this manor was built by John Davidson Rockefeller, the founder of the family, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. It is surrounded by gardens, fountains, racecourses and art sculptures, and the scenery is pleasant.

Rockefeller’s ancestors immigrated to the United States from Germany in the 18th century. In 1839, John was born. His father, Bill, was a dissolute counterfeit drug dealer who moved frequently and lived a homeless life.

In 1855, 16-year-old John began to look for work to support himself. In Cleveland, a city with a population of about thirty thousand, he traveled for six weeks, but no one wanted to hire a child. John was stubborn and unyielding, so he walked into a company engaged in the transportation agency of agricultural products. The company happened to need someone to keep accounts. The big boss, Hewitt, owned a large number of real estate and iron ore mining companies. He read the child's writing carefully, and then said: "Stay and try." ?Since then, John has celebrated September 26th as "Employment Day" throughout his life, taking it more seriously than his birthday.

From working as a bookkeeper, John learned to respect numbers and facts, no matter how small. Later, John also collected rent for his boss. The young man was not only patient and polite, but also showed an indomitable spirit like a bulldog. Until the debtor handed over the money, it was logical for him to be promoted and raised his salary.

In 1858, with a little savings, John and his friend Maurice Clark established a partnership to sell agricultural products. The business was doing well, and Clark's friend Andrews often came to visit. Andrews, an expert on lighting oils, believed kerosene would produce brighter light than other sources and have a larger market, so refining would have a better future. Clark had doubts about this, and John became more and more moved as he heard about it, so he mobilized Clark to jointly provide $4,000 as half of the working capital for the new Andrews-Clark Refinery.

Switching from agricultural products to oil refining

To sell kerosene, send oil lamps first

John had a very good eye for site selection. He chose the refinery on a road called Kings. Bury on the creek, not far from the railway. Due to the simultaneous use of water and land, the refinery has gained the advantage of low freight costs. Soon a string of refineries appeared along the river.

John was very fond of accounting books, which made Clark, who was nearly ten years older than him, look down on him and thought he was rigid and like a clerk. In February 1865, because John planned to borrow money to expand the refining business, which completely angered the conservative Clark, the two parted ways. The 26-year-old John bought Clark's shares for $72,500.

At this time, John owned the largest refinery in Cleveland, which could refine 500 barrels of crude oil per day, twice the output of the second-largest local refinery. The reason why he dared to spend all his wealth to buy the refinery was because he believed that this industry had long-term prospects. However, most developers were impetuous and no one could tell whether oil was a short-lived miracle.

In December of that year, John opened a second refinery. In 1870, the two factories were named the Standard Oil Company in the form of a joint stock, registered in Ohio, and John was president. After that, John acquired several refineries in succession, got involved in the pipeline transportation industry, and established his own railway network. In August 1878, John believed that shareholder dividends should be put into production, but another shareholder, Andrews, believed that shareholders should get more money. The two had a falling out, and John bought the other party's shares for US$1 million. From then on, he took charge of the company alone and began to Standard Oil's global monopoly.

In order to sell kerosene to more areas, John’s method is: In many countries, we have to produce oil lamps first and then teach local people how to use kerosene. ?To expand demand for kerosene, the company sold thousands of kerosene lamps and wicks at low prices, sometimes giving them away for free to first-time customers.

By 1890, Standard Oil had 100,000 employees and was the largest and richest company in the world, and Rockefeller was called the "first billionaire in American history." But because of its virtual monopoly, John was criticized.

In 1895, the 56-year-old John began to gradually retire and handed over the business to his son John D. Rockefeller Jr.

Six generations of inheritance have never competed for property

Family trust avoids internal friction

In 1911, Standard Oil was split up according to the Sherman Antitrust Act, but Rockefeller The family is still the richest family in the United States, and has never caused any disputes over the property for six generations.

John, the founder of the family, knows that wealth can build or destroy people. He always instills the value of diligence and thrift in his children. Before his children grew up, he never took them to the office or refinery. In case the children know that they are in a wealthy family. After retirement, John was keen on giving away his wealth, and he and steel magnate Carnegie set a precedent for wealthy Americans to donate their property to charity.

After John's death, his son John Jr. inherited a large amount of wealth and was under tremendous pressure. In 1913, a fierce labor conflict caused the Rockefeller family's New York mansion to be attacked, which completely changed the Rockefeller family's attitude towards inheriting property: on the one hand, John Jr. chose to pass the wealth to future generations in the form of a trust; On the one hand, he used his family wealth to engage in philanthropy. He donated US$500 million in his lifetime, which is more than half of his net worth, dispelling the impression that his family wealth is original sin in the eyes of the public. David Rockefeller, the third-generation patriarch who just celebrated his 100th birthday, is estimated to be worth $3.2 billion. He also promised to donate more than half of his wealth to charity.

It is reported that the trust principal of the Rockefeller family is automatically passed on to the children of the beneficiary. After the trustor injects assets into the trust, he legally completely loses ownership and control of the assets. The beneficiary can only receive dividend income before the age of 30 and cannot use the principal. After the age of 30, the beneficiary can use the principal, but the trust committee must agree.

This mechanism keeps the inheritance as a whole. The family business will neither become smaller or terminate due to division, nor will it be gradually divided into several parts due to passing from generation to generation, allowing it to expand its scale. advantages and obtain better economic benefits.

In addition, John also broke the shortcoming of "son inheriting the father's business" in family businesses. When he retired, he did not let his son take over, but let Archibald, who was a grassroots employee, take over.

From then on, only capable descendants of the Rockefeller family can participate in business management and hold certain positions based on their own strength. This is why in the third generation, the Rockefeller family is still able to produce numerous talents. They have become the Vice President of the United States, great philanthropists, founders of the venture capital industry, and chairman of JPMorgan Chase Bank.

Donate at any cost to build Peking Union Medical College

The most famous connection point between the Rockefeller family and China is Peking Union Medical College. This is also the Rockefeller Foundation’s overseas charitable aid project with the largest single allocation and the longest duration.

The Rockefeller Foundation was established in 1913 with an initial donation of US$100 million. The second generation successor, John Jr., is the chairman of the foundation. Old John had always wanted to set up a university in China to cultivate comprehensive talents. To this end, he sent personnel to China for inspection three times in 1908, 1914 and 1915.

The inspection team saw the urgency of developing medical education in China. Therefore, in 1915, the foundation spent US$200,000 to purchase the Beijing Union Medical College as the site of the medical school to meet the high standards. ? scale, and purchased another Prince Yu Mansion near the Medical Hall for US$125,000.

At first, the construction budget was US$1 million. By the end of 1919, the cost of building the school had reached US$7.5 million. The excess budget can be attributed to Little John's saying "no matter the cost".

In 1921, the school was completed and opened. Little John took a ship from the United States and sailed at sea for more than a month before rushing to China to attend the opening ceremony.

Since then, Union Medical College has trained a number of top-notch doctors such as Lin Qiaozhi, Wu Jieping, and Zhu Futang, and established a system for cultivating modern medical talents in China. Each of these modern Chinese medical elites can often open one or even multiple hospitals or schools, laying the foundation for the future development of modern Chinese medicine.

When the Union Medical College was founded, no comprehensive university in China could reach the level of pre-med departments expected by Union Medical College. To this end, the Rockefeller Foundation donated funds to 13 comprehensive universities to improve their teaching standards, a process that lasted eight years. Among them, the largest funding target was China's world-class university at that time? Yenching University.

Since then, the Rockefeller Foundation has once again expanded its investment areas in China, extending from medical-related biology, chemistry, physics and other disciplines to archaeology, genetics, agriculture, economics and other disciplines. He once assisted Tsinghua University in establishing the Department of Biology, and donated half of the cost of US$41,250 for the construction of the Tsinghua University Biological Museum; the famous Zhoukoudian? Peking Man? excavation and research project was completed with his funding. At the end of 1929, Chinese and foreign scholars collaborated in the Department of Anatomy of the Union Medical College to identify the world-famous skull of Peking Man. ;