primary sources: rockefeller family ties “dear father” / “dear son”
correspondence between john d. rockefeller sr. and john d. rockefeller jr.
* * *
home
4 west 54th st.
new york
january 26, 1895
my dear son:
i enclose check to your order for twenty-one dollars, for your twenty first birthday, being one for each year.
it would be very pleasant if we could all spend the day together at home, but i think under the circumstances, it is better for you to remain at college as you have been obliged to be away from your work so much of late.
i cannot tell you how much happiness we all have in you. and how much we are looking forward to, and relying on you for in the future.
we are grateful beyond measure for your promise and for the confidence your life inspires in us, not only, but in all your friends and acquaintances and this is of more value than all earthly possessions.
we all join in the hope that this and all the days to come, may bring only good to you, and we rejoice that you know from experience, that good for you, is inseparably connected with the good you bring to others. but this is not a lecture, only a kind word from an affectionate father to a much loved and only son on the occasion of his 21st birthday.
john d. rockefeller
* * *
4 west 54th street
new york
november 11, 1899
dear father
i want to tell you again of my very deep appreciation of the generous, patient and kindly way in which you have treated me during the anxiety and pressure which has been brought upon you this week largely through me. most fathers would have upbraided and stormed, and that too, justly. because of your forbearance and gentleness you have caused me to feel the more deeply the lesson which this has taught. i would rather have had my right hand cut off than to have caused you this anxiety. my one thought and purpose since i came into the office has been to relieve you in every way possible of the burdens which you have carried so long. to realize now that instead of doing that i have been partially and largely instrumental in adding to your burdens, is bitter and humiliating. my effort has been an honest one although i have failed in its accomplishment. i want fully to acknowledge my mistake and to shoulder the blame which rightfully belongs to me. with your expression of continued confidence which i most truly appreciate, i shall try again in the hope that i can live my appreciation of your magnanimity far better than i can express it in words. this has been a hard lesson but it may help me to avoid harder ones in the future.