John was the second oldest and there were six kids. He was born in Richford, New York on July 8, 1839. John had to do the normal chores of anybody. He earned money by selling things like potatoes and candy. John’s father was gone a lot, but that didn’t hurt him to much. He was a very well-behaved good-mannered boy. He was a very good debater and he really loved music. He thought about going into the music industry.
In his earlier years he showed great love for accounting and numbers. When he was young he and his family moved to Moravia, New York. Shortly after that they moved to Owego, New York. There he went to Owego Academy.John got his very first job as a bookkeeper at age 16. He got paid 50 cents a day. He donated 6% of his paycheck to charity. When he was twenty he turned the 6% into 10%.
Later in life he started his own business with Maurice Clark. He was very happy that he worked for himself. His company always did very well from then on. They never had 1 bad year. They stared out by selling food but then switched to oil. The name of the oil company was Clark and Company. Maurice, John, M.B. Andrews and his two brothers owned the company. John later out-bought Clark and named the company Rockefeller and Andrews. Rockefeller said, "it was the day that determined my career."He married Laura Celestia Spelman. They had one daughter and four sons. He was a republican and he liked Lincoln. He went to church and he even taught Sunday School. His oil refinery was the largest in the world.I think he had a lot of good values and he was very smart on how he spent his money. He was very smart and he lived a very good life.
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