Titan

The Titan Emerges

The future “richest man in the world,” John D. Rockefeller (often referred to as JDR) was born in Richford, New York, on July 8, l839. Tales of his early life were cloaked in myth. People said the family was dirt poor. They said his father was a wandering peddler, a rapist (never convicted) and bigamist (well, yes) who deserted the family.

Still, the facts reveal a kinder William “Big Bill” Avery Rockefeller. He was an itinerant peddler of “popular” good-for-everything medicines. He loved his six children and often brought home pocketsful of money intended to last them until his next appearance. He was strong, handsome, articulate and entertaining. He was never publicly accused of bigamy or jailed for it, but he did have two wives and at least two identities. He called himself “Rockafellow” or “Dr. William Levingston.” He was a Baptist, an abolitionist and a nondrinker, and so were most of his kinfolk. When Big Bill was home, he instilled the love of money and the need for business cunning in his son. He often flashed a big roll of bills. He loved people and worked among the poor as a “natural doctor,” selling folk medicines, pulling bad teeth, and...