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The Rockefeller family ( ROCK-ə-fell-ər) is an American industrial, political, and banking family that owns one of the world's largest fortunes. The fortune was made in the American petroleum industry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries by brothers John D. Rockefeller and William A. Rockefeller Jr., primarily through Standard Oil (the predecessor of ExxonMobil and Chevron Corporation). The family had a long association with, and control of, Chase Manhattan Bank. By 1987, the Rockefellers were considered one of the most powerful families in American history. The Rockefeller family originated in Rhineland in Germany and family members moved to the Americas in the early 18th century, while through Eliza Davison, with family roots in Middlesex County, New Jersey, John D. Rockefeller and William A. Rockefeller Jr. and their descendants are also of Scots-Irish ancestry. Background The Rockefeller family originated in the Rhineland region in Germany and can be traced to the town Neuwied in the early 17th century. The American family branch is descended from Johann Peter Rockefeller (1681-1763), who migrated from the Rhineland to Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania around 1723. In the US, he became a plantation owner and landholder in Somerville, and Amwell, New Jersey. One of the first members of the Rockefeller family in New York was businessman William A. Rockefeller Sr., who was born to a Protestant family in Granger, New York. He had six children with his first wife Eliza Davison, a daughter of a Scots-Irish farmer, the most prominent of which were oil tycoons John D. Rockefeller and William A. Rockefeller Jr., the co-founders of Standard Oil. John D. Rockefeller (known as "Senior", as opposed to his son John D. Rockefeller Jr., known as "Junior") was a devout Northern Baptist, and he supported many church-based institutions. While the Rockefeller family are mostly Baptists, some of the Rockefellers were Episcopalians. Wealth The combined wealth of the family—their total assets and investments plus the individual wealth of its members—has never been known with any precision. The records of the family archives relating to both the family and individual members' net worth are closed to researchers. From the outset, the family's wealth has been under the complete control of the male members of the dynasty, through the family office. Despite strong-willed wives who had influence over their husbands' decisions—such as the pivotal female figure Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, wife of John D. Rockefeller Jr.—in all cases they received allowances only and were never given even partial responsibility for the family fortune. Much of the wealth has been locked up in the family trust of 1934 (which holds the bulk of the fortune and matures on the death of the fourth generation) and the trust of 1952, both administered by Chase Bank, the corporate successor to Chase Manhattan Bank. These trusts have consisted of shares in the successor companies to Standard Oil and other diversified investments, as well as the family's considerable real estate holdings. They are administered by a trust committee that oversees the fortune. Management of this fortune today also rests with professional money managers who oversee the principal holding company, Rockefeller Financial Services, which controls all the family's investments. The Rockefeller Center is no longer owned by the family. Its present chairman and patriarch is David Rockefeller Jr. In 1992, it had five main arms: Rockefeller & Co. (Money management: Universities have invested some of their endowments in this company); Venrock Associates (Venture Capital: an early investment in Apple Computer was one of many it made in Silicon Valley entrepreneurial start-ups); Rockefeller Trust Company (Manages hundreds of family trusts); Rockefeller Insurance Company (Manages liability insurance for family members); Acadia Risk Management (Insurance Broker: Contracts out policies for the family's vast art collections, real estate and private planes.) Real estate and institutions The family was heavily involved in numerous real estate construction projects in the U.S. during the 20th century. Chief among them: Rockefeller Center, a multi-building complex built at the start of the Depression in Midtown Manhattan. The construction of Rockefeller Center was financed solely by the family International House of New York, New York City, 1924 (John Jr.) {Involvement: John III, Abby Aldrich, David & Peggy, David Jr., Abby O'Neill} Wren Building, College of William and Mary, Virginia, from 1927 (Renovation funded by Junior) Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, from 1927 onwards (Junior), Abby Aldrich, John III and Winthrop, historical restoration Museum of Modern Art, New York City, from 1929 (Abby Aldrich, John Jr., Blanchette, Nelson, David, David Jr., Sharon Percy Rockefeller) Riverside Church, New York City, 1930 (John Jr.) The Cloisters, New York City, from 1934 (John Jr.) Rockefeller Apartments, New York City, 1936 (John Jr., Nelson): 333–334  The Interchurch Center, New York City, 1948 (John Jr.) Asia Society (Asia House), New York City, 1956 (John III) One Chase Manhattan Plaza, New York City, 1961 (David) Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York, 1962 (Nelson) Lincoln Center, New York City, 1962 (John III) World Trade Center Twin Towers, New York City, 1973–2001 (David and Nelson) Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, 1974 (David) Council of the Americas/Americas Society, New York City, 1985 (David) In addition to this is Senior and Junior's involvement in seven major housing developments: Forest Hill Estates, Cleveland, Ohio City Housing Corporation's efforts, Sunnyside Gardens, Queens, New York City Thomas Garden Apartments, The Bronx, New York City Paul Laurence Dunbar Housing, Harlem, New York City Lavoisier Apartments, Manhattan, New York City Van Tassel Apartments, Sleepy Hollow, New York (formerly North Tarrytown) A development in Radburn, New Jersey A further project involved David Rockefeller in a major middle-income housing development when he was elected in 1947 as chairman of Morningside Heights, Inc., in Manhattan by fourteen major institutions that were based in the area, including Columbia University. The result, in 1951, was the six-building apartment complex known as Morningside Gardens. Senior's donations led to the formation of the University of Chicago in 1889; the Central Philippine University in the Philippines (The first Baptist university and second American university in Asia); and the Chicago School of Economics. This was one instance of a long family and Rockefeller Foundation tradition of financially supporting Ivy League and other major colleges and universities over the generations—seventy-five in total. These include: Harvard University Dartmouth College Princeton University University of California, Berkeley Stanford University Yale University Massachusetts Institute of Tech.... Discover the David M Stillman popular books. Find the top 100 most popular David M Stillman books.