Laura Spelman Rockefeller


Laura Celestia "Cettie" Spelman Rockefeller was an American abolitionist, philanthropist, school teacher, and prominent member of the Rockefeller family. Her husband was Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial were named for her.

Early life

Laura Celestia Spelman was born in Wadsworth, Ohio to Puritan descendant Harvey Buell Spelman and Lucy Henry, Yankees who had moved to Ohio from Massachusetts. Harvey was an abolitionist who was active in the Congregationalist Church, the Underground Railroad, and in politics. The Spelmans eventually moved to Cleveland, Ohio. Spelman had an elder adopted sister, Lucy Maria "Lute" Spelman.

Personal life and career

In Cleveland, Lute and Spelman met John Davison Rockefeller while attending accounting classes together. He was the eldest son of William Avery "Bill" Rockefeller and Eliza Davison.
She later returned to New England to attend Oread Institute, with plans to become a schoolteacher. After returning to Ohio to teach, she married John in 1864. Following her wedding, Spelman remained active in the church and with her family. Once the family business, Standard Oil, began to take off, she further devoted her time to philanthropy and her children.
Together, they were the parents of five children;
Throughout their lives, the Rockefeller family continued to donate ten percent of their income to charity, including substantial donations to Spelman College, founded to educate black women. Laura Spelman Rockefeller died on March 12, 1915 at age 75 of a heart attack, at the family estate Kykuit in Pocantico Hills, New York.