Oliver Burr Jennings
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Oliver Burr Jennings (June 3, 1825 – February 12, 1893) was an American businessman and one of the original stockholders in Standard Oil.
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[edit] Early life and family
Jennings was born in 1825 in Fairfield, Connecticut to Abraham Gold Jennings and Anna Burr.[1] At a young age he came to New York to learn the dry goods business.[2] In 1849 he headed West to seek his fortune in the California Gold Rush. He set up a general mercantile store in San Francisco with Benjamin Brewster and amassed a considerable fortune by outfitting prospecting camps along the coast and around Sacramento.[3]
On December 13, 1854, he married Esther Judson Goodsell (1828-1908) in Fairfield. Her sister, Almira Geraldine Goodsell, married William Rockefeller in 1864.[4] They had five children:[1]
- Annie Burr Jennings
- Walter Jennings (director of Standard Oil Company of New Jersey; president of the Jekyll Island Club, 1927-1933)
- Helen Goodsell Jennings (married Dr. Walter James, president of the Jekyll Island Club, 1919-1927)
- Emma Brewster Jennings (married Hugh Dudley Auchincloss; mother of Hugh D. Auchincloss, Jr.)
- Oliver Gould Jennings (married Mary Brewster Jennings, daughter of Benjamin Brewster; father of Brewster Jennings)
[edit] Standard Oil
In 1862 he returned to New York with the intention of retiring from all business activities. However, as a consequence of his relation by marriage to William Rockefeller, he became interested in the affairs of the Standard Oil Company.[2] In 1871, when Standard Oil was incorporated in Ohio, Jennings was one of the original stockholders. Of the initial 10,000 shares, John D. Rockefeller received 2,667; William Rockefeller, Henry Flagler, and Samuel Andrews received 1,333 each; Stephen V. Harkness received 1,334; Jennings received 1,000; and the firm of Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler received 1,000.[5]
Jennings served as a director of Standard Oil of Ohio and then as a trustee of the Standard Oil Trust that resulted from the company's reorganization in 1882.[4]
[edit] Death
Jennings died in 1893 at his residence in New York City.[2] His estate amounted to $10 million, which he left entirely to his family.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Ward, George Kemp (1910). Andrew Warde and His Descendants, 1597-1910. A.T. De La Mare. pp. 117, 189. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZG9ZAAAAMAAJ.
- ^ a b c "Oliver Burr Jennings". The New York Times: p. 4. 1893-02-13. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A06E6DB1731E033A25750C1A9649C94629ED7CF. Retrieved on 2008-12-10.
- ^ Men of Progress. New England Magazine. 1898. pp. 402-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=NlwoAAAAYAAJ.
- ^ a b McCash, June Hall (1998). The Jekyll Island Cottage Colony. University of Georgia Press. p. 220. ISBN 9780820319285. http://books.google.com/books?id=GumIp_e6jWQC.
- ^ Dies, Edward (1969). Behind the Wall Street Curtain. Ayer. p. 76. http://books.google.com/books?id=DVA2Hdri9XsC.
- ^ "All in the Family; Provisions of the Will of Oliver Burr Jennings of this City". The New York Times: p. 4. 1893-02-26. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=950DE1DE1031E033A25755C2A9649C94629ED7CF. Retrieved on 2008-12-10.
