Resting place Oakland Cemetery Relatives See Rockefeller family Name William Sr. | Occupation lumberman, salesman Children John D. Rockefeller Partner(s) Nancy Brown | |
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Full Name William Avery Rockefeller Born November 13, 1810 ( 1810-11-13 ) Granger, New York, U.S. Spouse(s) Eliza Davison
(m. 1837—1889; her death, separated c. 1855)
Margaret Allen
(m. 1856—1906; his death) Died May 11, 1906, Freeport, Illinois, United States Grandchildren John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Great grandchildren David Rockefeller, Nelson Rockefeller Parents Godfrey Lewis Rockefeller, Lucy Avery Similar People John D Rockefeller, William Rockefeller, Alta Rockefeller Prentice, Frank Rockefeller, John D Rockefeller - Jr | ||
Other names Dr. William Levingston | ||
William Avery "Bill" Rockefeller Sr. (November 13, 1810 – May 11, 1906) was an American businessman, lumberman, and salesman who went by the alias of Dr. William Levingston. He worked as a lumberman and then a traveling salesman who identified himself as a "botanic physician" and sold elixirs. Two of his sons were Standard Oil co-founders John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) and William Avery Rockefeller Jr. (May 31, 1841 – June 24, 1922).
Contents
Family
William Avery Rockefeller was born in Granger, New York. He was the eldest son of businessman/farmer Godfrey Lewis Rockefeller (September 24, 1783, Albany, New York – September 28, 1857, Richford, New York) and Lucy Avery (February 11, 1786, Great Barrington, Massachusetts – April 6, 1867). Godfrey and Lucy had married on September 20, 1806, in Amwell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Bill had two elder sisters—Melinda and Olympia—as well as seven younger siblings; Norman, Sally, Jacob, Mary, Miles, Mary Miranda, and Egbert.
Ancestry
The Rockefellers trace their patrilineal line to Goddard Rockefeller (born Gotthard Rockenfeller) (1590) of Fahr, today part of Neuwied, Germany. The first Rockefeller to settle in America (1723) was Johann Peter Rockenfeller (1710, Segendorf, Neuwied; 1787, Amwell Township, New Jersey), who changed his name to Rockefeller. Godfrey Lewis Rockefeller was a son of distant cousins William Rockefeller (1750–1793) and Christina Rockefeller (1754–1800).
Lucy Avery was born to Miles Avery and Melinda Pixley, New England Yankees of mostly English descent. She was descended by her father from Edmund of Langley's first marriage (through 5th Baron Audley's second marriage) and from Mary Boleyn's first marriage (through the 2nd Barons de la Warr).
Marriage and children
Rockefeller married his first wife, Eliza Davison (September 12, 1813 – March 28, 1889), a daughter of farmer John Davison and Cynthia Selover, on February 18, 1837 in Niles, Cayuga Co., NY. John highly opposed the union. Since Cynthia had died when Eliza was twelve, Eliza had been raised by her elder sister, Mary Ann Davison, and father John. Bill and Eliza were the parents of three sons and three daughters:
Bill once bragged, "I cheat my boys every chance I get. I want to make 'em sharp." Although Bill abandoned the family while Lucy, John, and William Jr. were teenagers, he remained legally married to Eliza until her death. In 1856, having assumed the name Dr. William Levingston, he married Margaret Allen (1834–1910) in Norwich, Ontario, Canada. Bill and Margaret had no children together. Before leaving his first wife, he also had two daughters with his mistress and housekeeper Nancy Brown:
Before marrying Eliza, Bill had been in love with Nancy. However, he ended up marrying Eliza since her father was to give her $500 when she married, and Nancy was poor.
Scandal
On July 26, 1849, in the city of Auburn, New York, William was incited in court for a rape which had occurred at gunpoint. His victim had worked in the Rockefeller household; her name was Ann Vanderbeak. In the 1905 book Memoirs of an American Citizen, Robert Herrick says an improper relationship was rumoured to exist before the trial.
The court document reads, "That William A. Rockefeller late of the Town of Moravia in the County of Cayuga, on the first day of May in the year of the Lord Thousand Eight hundred and forty eight, with force and arms at the Town of Moravia in said County, in and upon one Ann Vanderbeak in the Peace of God with the People of the State of New York then and there being, violently did make and assault on her, the said Ann Venderbeak, then and there make violently and against her will feloniously did ravish and carnally know […]". William Cooper, the Rockefeller family Doctor, also indicated with the assault and battery with the intention of raping Ann Vanderbeak.
Due to these allegations, William sold the Moravia home and moved to Oswego, New York, presumably to avoid trial, under the pretence of providing better opportunities for the boys. Four days later, Eliza's father sued Bill in the Supreme Court of Cayuga for failure to pay $1,175 debt. His plea states Bill had asked him for help with his bail for the rape charges but had not seen him since. Eliza also informed authorities her husband had "absconded and cannot now be found within the state." William assumed the title Doctor Bill Lenvingston and worked as a travelling Snake oil Specialist. Although nothing became of the charges William left the family penniless.
After hearing rumours that John D. Rockefeller, then the richest man in the world, then at the height of his fame as a businessman, had a shameful family secret, the press went into a frenzy. Joseph Pulitzer offered a reward of $8000 for information about "Doc Rockefeller," who was known to be alive and living under a false name, but whose whereabouts were a family secret. Despite slender clues picked up from interviews with family members and an 18-month search, the journalists failed to track him down before he died, and the full story was not exposed until two years later.
Death
Rockefeller had spent some time in Park River, North Dakota under the Levingston alias. He died on May 11, 1906, at the age of 95 in Freeport, Illinois and was buried there in Oakland Cemetery. John D. never publicly acknowledged the truth about his father's life as a bigamist, and Bill's grave marker was paid for out of his second wife's estate.