Laura Celestia "Cettie" Spelman Rockefeller (September 9, 1839 – March 12, 1915) was an American

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

, school teacher, and prominent member of the

Rockefeller family The Rockefeller family ( ) is an American Industrial sector, industrial, political, and List of banking families, banking family that owns one of the world's largest fortunes. The fortune was made in the History of the petroleum industry in th ...

. Her husband was

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...

co-founder

John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was one of the List of richest Americans in history, wealthiest Americans of all time and one of the richest people in modern hist ...

Spelman College Spelman College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

and the

Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller ("Seni ...

were named for her.

Early life

Laura Celestia Spelman was born in

Wadsworth, Ohio Wadsworth is a city in Medina County, Ohio, United States. Founded on March 1, 1814, the city was named after General Elijah Wadsworth, a American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War hero and War of 1812 officer who owned the largest share of the ...

to Puritan descendant Harvey Buell Spelman (1811–1881) and Lucy Henry (1818–1897),

Yankee The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Their various meanings depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, the Northeastern United Stat ...

s who had moved to

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

from

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. Laura's maternal step-grandmother, as well as her two aunts, were members of the

Yale family Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges char ...

, relatives of inventor

Caroline Ardelia Yale Caroline Ardelia Yale (September 29, 1848 – July 2, 1933) was an American inventor and educator who revolutionized the teaching of hearing-impaired students. A collaborator of Alexander Graham Bell, her phonetic system became the most widely u ...

. Laura's father Harvey was an

who was active in the

Congregationalist Church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...

, the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

, and in politics. The Spelmans eventually moved to

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

. Laura had an elder adopted sister, Lucy Maria "Lute" Spelman (c. 1837–1920). Laura was the valedictorian of her graduating class at Central High School in Cleveland at the age of 14.

Personal life and career

In Cleveland, Lute and Laura Spelman met John Davison Rockefeller while attending accounting classes together. He was the eldest son of William Avery "Bill" Rockefeller (1810–1906) and Eliza Davison (1813–1889). Laura Spelman later attended

Oread Institute The Oread Institute was a women's college founded in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1849 by Eli Thayer. Before its closing in 1934, it was one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States. According to the ''Worceste ...

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...

and planned to become a schoolteacher. After moving to Ohio to teach, she married John Rockefeller in 1864. After the wedding, Spelman remained active in the church (she joined Rockefeller's congregation, the Northern Baptists) and with her family. As the family business, Standard Oil, began to thrive, she further devoted her time to philanthropy and her children. They were the parents of five children: * Elizabeth ("Bessie") (August 23, 1866 – November 14, 1906), * Alice (July 14, 1869 – August 20, 1870), *

Alta Alta or ALTA may refer to: Acronyms * Alt-A, short for Alternative A-paper, is a type of US mortgage * American Land Title Association, a national trade association representing the land title industry * American Literary Translators Association, ...

(April 12, 1871 – June 21, 1962), *

Edith Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning ''wiktionary:strife, strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English language, Englis ...

(August 31, 1872 – August 25, 1932), and * John Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960). Throughout their lives, the Rockefeller family continued to donate ten percent of their income to charity, including substantial donations to

, founded to educate

Black women Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

. Laura Spelman Rockefeller died on March 12, 1915, at 75 of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

, at the family estate

Kykuit Kykuit ( ), known also as the John D. Rockefeller Estate, is a 40-room historic house museum in Pocantico Hills, a hamlet in the town of Mount Pleasant, New York north of New York City. The house was built for oil tycoon and Rockefeller fa ...

Pocantico Hills, New York Pocantico Hills is a hamlet in the Westchester County town of Mount Pleasant, New York, United States. The Rockefeller family estate, anchored by Kykuit, the family seat built by John D. Rockefeller Sr., is located in Pocantico Hills, as is the ...

near the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

Legacy

John D. Rockefeller established the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund. He donated large amounts to the fund and charitable organizations then shifted his focus to giving to social sciences. Spelman College was named after Laura Spelman Rockefeller due to her significant financial contribution to the institution. Throughout her life, she was dedicated to social and educational causes, particularly for women and African Americans.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rockefeller, Laura Spelman 1839 births 1915 deaths Rockefeller family Yale family American abolitionists American philanthropists Educators from Cleveland History of Cleveland People from Wadsworth, Ohio 19th-century American educators Schoolteachers from Ohio Baptists from New York (state) 19th-century American women educators

Early life

Personal life and career

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading

External links