Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/152

 ROCHESTER

ROCKEFELLER

ment on the fieia of Ciettysbur-. June 2. 1892; re- ceived the hononiry degree of LL.D. from the University of Nutre D;iine, Imlianii, in 1892, and is the author of: Songs and Satires (1886); Life of John Boyle OReiUy (1891); The Story of the Filibtistcrs (1891); Ballads of the Blue M'ater (!89.">); Her Majesty the King (1898), and By-Ways of War (ISStU).

ROCHESTER, Nathaniel, pioneer, was born in Cople parisli. Westmoreland cuunty, Va., Feb. 21, 1752; a descendant of Nicholas Rocliester, who emigrated from Kent. England, in 1689 and set- tled in Westmoreland county. Va. He removed to Granville county. N.C., with his mother and step-father. Thomas Critcher. in 1763, and in 1768 obtained employment as a clerk in a mercantile house in Hillsboro, N.C., becoming a partner in 1773. He was a member of the committee of s;ifety of Orange county in 1775; a member of the first provincial convention of North Carolina; app<iinted paymaster, with the rank of major, of the North Carolina line, and deputy commissary- general of the Continental army. May 10, 1776, but failing health caused his early resignation. He was a delegate to the house of commons; a commissioner to superintend the manufacture of arms at Hillsboro, and in 1778 engaged in busi- ness with Col. Thomas Hart. In 1783 they began the manufacture of flour, rope and nails at Hagers- town, Md. He was a representative in the ilary- land assembly; postmaster of Hagerstown, and judge of the county court. In 1808 he was presi- dential elector, voting for James Madison; was first president of the Hagerstown bank, and was engaged in important mercantile transactions in Kentucky and Maryland. He made large pur- chases of land in New York state, and removing to Dansvillp, N. Y., in May, 1810, established a paper mill there. In 1815 he removed to Bloom- field, N.Y., and in 1818 settled at the falls of the Gene.<*ee river, and there founded the city of Rochester. He was secretary of the convention to tirge the construction of the Erie canal; the first clerk of Monroe county; member of the state assembly. 1821 and 1822, and one of the organizers of the Bank of Rochester, and its first president. He died in Rocliester. N.Y.. May 17. 1831.

ROCHESTER, William Beatty, soldier, was born in Angt-lica. N.Y., Feb. 15, 1826; son of William Beatty Rochester (a lawyer and judge of the 8th circuit of New York) and Amanda (Hop- kins) Rochester; grandson of Natlianiel Roclies- ter. founder of the city that boars his name; great-grandson of Col. William Beatty of Fred- erick. Maryland, a soldier of the Revolution; and a descendant of Nicholas Roche.ster. who emigrated from Kent, England, in 1689, and settled in Westmoreland county, Va. He re- moved to California in 1851, where he resided

until 1859. He entered the U. S. army as ad- ditional paymaster, June 1, 1861, and was brevet- ted lii'Utenant-colont'l of volunteers, March 13, 1865, for faitiiful and meritorious services during the war. He was married June 19, 1862. to Anna L., daughter of Henry H. and Annie Town- send Martin of Albaiij', N.Y. He was transferred to the regular army as paymaster with the rank of major, April 1, 1807; was promoted paymaster- general with the rank of brigadier-general, Feb. 17, 1882, and was retired, Feb. 15, 1890, on reach- ing the age limit.

ROCKEFELLER, John Davidson, capitalist, was born in Richford. N. Y.. July 8, 1839; son of William A. and Eliza (Davidson) Rockefeller. His father was a farmer in Tioga county in very straitened circumstances, and John worked on the farm and attended the district schools and the Oswego academy. He was a student at a commercial school in Cleveland, Ohio; obtained employment as clerk in the office of Hewitt and Tuttle, subsequently acting as bookkeeper and cashier, and in 1858 became a member of the firm of Clark and Rockefeller. In 1860, Samuel Adams, a porter for the firm, devised a new plan for re- fining petroleum, which intei'ested Rockefeller, and resulted in the formation of a new partner- ship under the name of Andrews, Clark and Co. A small refinery was built and operated, which was soon after combined with one owned by his brother, William Rockefeller; a warehouse was opened in New York city for the sale of the manufactured product, and in 1805, Henry M. Flagler was admitted into the firm, which then became William Rockefeller & Co. The Standard Oil company was formed in 1870 with a capital stock of .$1,000,000, and with John D. Rockefeller as its president. Rival refineries were bought out and the company soon obtained a practical monopoly of the refining business, forcing the railroads to reduce the rates for carrying oil to half the amount charged other refineries, and establishing pipe lines throughout the L'liited States. In 1881 the Standard Oil trust was formed, and after its dissolution in 1892. the Rocke- fellers devoted themselves to the control of their various separate companies, John D. Rockefeller's annual income being estimated at $35,000,000. He was married in 1867 to Laura C. SpiU- man, and they had four children, three of wh.om wei'e daughters. The son, John Davidson Rocke- feller, Jr., born in 1877, married in 1901 Abby Green Aldrich. He was elected a trustee of the General Education board, chartered by congress in 1902, on the organization of the board of trus- tees in Wa.shington, Jan. 29, 1903, and announced his contribution of $100,000 per year for a term of ten 3'ears to promote effective work under the charter. John D. Rockefeller, Sr., devoted large