Founder of Standard Oil Company Jabez Abel Bostwick

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabez_A._Bostwick

Jabez Abel Bostwick (September 23, 1830 - August 16, 1892) was an American businessman who was a founding partner of Standard Oil Company.

Biography

Born in Delhi, New York, while still a boy his family moved to a farm in Ohio. As a young man, Jabez Bostwick first worked in a hardware store then opened his own. He next ventured into the cotton brokerage business in Cincinnati but soon moved to New York City where he became involved in the production side of the oil business through his firm, Tilford & Bostwick. He bought out Tilford and went into successful partnership with Henry Flagler and the Rockefeller brothers, John and William. Jabez Bostwick served as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Standard Oil Trust.

Jabez Bostwick was also a major shareholder and President of the New York and New England Railroad, a substantial shareholder in the Housatonic Railroad, a member of the New York Cotton Exchange, and who sat on numerous other corporate boards. In spite of the enormous wealth he obtained, Bostwick was known as a modest man of exemplary character who was a devout member of the Baptist Church. He donated money to his church and to educational institututions such as Wake Forest College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Richmond College in Richmond, Virginia.

Jabez Bostwick died in a freak stable fire at Friedheim, his summer residence at Mamaroneck on Long Island. His widow, Helen C. Bostwick, upon her death on April 27, 1920 left an estate per public record that was valued at $29,264,181.00, including nearly $20 million of Standard Oil stock.