Page:Famous Living Americans, with Portraits.djvu/437

 414 FAMOUS LIVING AMERICANS me the greatest happiness was to win Cettie Spelman* I have had but one sweetheart and I am thankful to say that I still have her." Mr. Rockefeller's devotion to his invalid wife, who was his schoolmate and boyhood sweetheart, has ever been constant and unswerving. She has always come first in his every consideration. He married Laura Celestia Spelman in 1864, just at the time when he was beginning to plunge in oil. Harvey A. Spelman, her father, was at that time prominent in Cleveland and well- to-do. He contributed somewhat at that time to his son-in- law 's financial necessities. To this union were bom four chil- dren, Elizabeth, 1866 ; Alta, 1871 ; Edith, 1872 ; and John D., Jr., 1874. All have married and Mr. Rockefeller now has nine or ten grandchildren. His predominant characteristics are those he has most strongly emphasized in his talks to the youth of his Sunday school. Thrift and unceasing industry, coupled with a bull- dog tenacity of purpose, made it possible for him in the favor- able early days to get control of the oil business. Unfiagging vigilance and activity have permitted him to retain it. An ex- ceptional capacity for organization and a rare ability to read men aright enabled him to surround himself with a brilliant corps of lieutenants who have carried out the interminable de- tail work with clock-like precision and have made the Standard a success beyond even the most fantastic Rockefeller dreams. In his philanthropies the innate modesty of the man would seem absolutely to preclude the thought that he has any but the most laudable and sincere motives. Gradually a pro- nounced change is becoming noticeable in the popular opinion of him. A few years ago one of his friends remarked to him, half in earnest, half jokingly: **Why, John, they will be building monuments to you when you have been dead twenty years. * * Mr. Rockefeller smiled, but it was the wan smile of a man with a sorely wounded heart. Yet stranger things have happened. ^