A Short History of William Avery Rockefeller, Celebrated Bigamist and Successful Snake-Oil Salesman
I will begin my first blog with a bit of scandal because hearsayand societal defamation tends to be the cause of all sorts of absorbingpublic distraction. And I have decided to commence with William AveryRockefeller because he was not only the father of the notoriousindustrialist, John D. Rockefeller (who will be spoken about at length in the future), but just so happens to be one of the most effectivesnake-oil salesmen and bigamists of the era….
In the mid 19th century, William Avery Rockefeller, would have been
considered a man of many talents and after a bit of research I might
say he was not lacking a legitimate amount of inventiveness. These
talents included such desirable traits such as bigamy, deceit,
duplicity, arson and he was also an excellent purveyor of a mixture
of snake-oil that supposedly was the “cure to all ails”. And -to
top it off- along with this resume of impressive traits he also just
so happens to be the man who procreated, with one Eliza Davidson, the
infamous and allusive John D. Rockefeller. Below is a picture of “Big Bill” and his first wife Eliza (John D.’s mother), who supposedly was a beautyin her youth (But if you ask me she looks a bit cross-eyed in the photo)
As a child, William lived the the life of any normal early pioneer of
this era, but for some reason he did not seem to attain any of the covetable traits so associated with the lifestyle; such as, long days of calloused labor or strong pioneer work ethic. William instead decided totravel the lackadaisical road of a successful charlatan. One of my favorite stories about William is when he decided to pose as a deaf-mute peddler and sell cheap novelties. To gain poor credulous souls
unsuspecting confidence the elder Rockefeller would carry around a
kaleidoscope and invite people to look into it. Because obviously anyone who carries around and can appreciate the wonders of a good kaleidoscope would not be a creep.
“Big Bill”, as they would come to call him, would travel the countryside
selling a humble jumble of ingredients that he claimed would cure
a variety of ailments. It seems that one of these ingredients was said to be
petroleum. Which is very ironic, because this would be the exact
ingredient that would turn his son into one of the richest men in
the history of the United States. It is also very funny because Eliza
(his first legitimate wife’s) mother actually died instantaneously after she
swallowed one of these “cure all” pills that she had bought from a traveling salesman (of course this was way before Bill came into the picture and this factis likely more tragic than funny). Nonetheless, ”Big Bill” was a very effective salesman and could be seen all over town with wads of cash trying his best to woo whatever ladies he happened to come across. Supposedly he marketed
himself as ‘William Rockefeller, the Celebrated CancerSpecialist’, and
sold bottles of these things at $25 dollars, which happened to be two
months salary at this time.
But William, like I said before, was a man of many talents and not only washe just a shrewd businessman but he was also a celebrated bigamist! One article sites “Big Bill” as being a successful bigamist for over 34 years. Which means he was basically one step lower than a polygamist, yet I am sure his first wife and mother of John D. was not very content withthis seperation of resources. Sources say that Eliza, his O.G. wife, was essentially the exact opposite of him and probably instilled in Little John D. a hatred for such unacceptable lascivious behaviour. Yet some critics of John D. would say that John likelyinherited his fare share of ruth from his Father.
Anyway, William’s dubious remedies and bigamist ways eventually led
him away from his original family and after a supposed rape he moved
on and changed his name like any good con-artist would do. He
changed his name to Livingston, lived to a ripe old age, and
allegedly never reaped the benefits of having a billionaire son. But
for some reason I have a feeling that maybe John D. probably slipped
in a bribe here or there? I mean what sane con-artist would not
black-mail his billionaire son? (But don’t quote me on that)
Interestingly enough, “Big Bill” stayed a secret from the anticipatorymuckrakers of New York for the rest of his life. Though purportedly at
one point, Joseph Pulitzer, did offer an eight thousand dollar reward for the
reporter that could find the “whereabouts of the infamous Dr.
Livingston”.
Nevertheless, I bet William Avery Rockefeller wasn’t such a bad
fellow. I am sure he liked to relate a joke or two inbetween all those
moments that he was cheating wide eyed young housewives into buying
his product and running around bigamizing (if that is not a word it
definitely should become one) all over town. And I am sure he was just
as industrious as any other gentleman at his specified field. So lets raisea toast to all successful and aspiring snake-oil salesmen and spill somefor the now ever deceased William Avery Rockefeller (who I am partialto, if only because I imagine him wearing top hats, grasping wooden canesvivaciously, and holding little bottles with triple x on them as exuberantlyas the man pictured below)
