<Li> William Avery Rockefeller </Li> <Tr> <Th> Relatives </Th> <Td> Rockefeller family </Td> </Tr> <P> John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839--May 23, 1937) was an American oil industry business magnate, industrialist, and philanthropist . He is widely considered the wealthiest American of all time, and the richest person in modern history . </P> <P> Rockefeller was born into a large family in upstate New York and was shaped by his con man father and religious mother . His family moved several times before eventually settling in Cleveland, Ohio . Rockefeller became an assistant bookkeeper at the age of 16, and went into a business partnership with Maurice B. Clark and his brothers at 20 . After buying them out, he and his brother William founded Rockefeller & Andrews with Samuel Andrews . Instead of drilling for oil, he concentrated on refining . In 1867, Henry Flagler entered the partnership . The Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler company grew by incorporating local refineries . Rockefeller formally founded his most famous company, the Standard Oil Company, Inc., in 1870 as an Ohio partnership with William, Flagler, Andrews Jabez A. Bostwick, and a silent partner, Stephen V. Harkness . He ran it until 1897 . </P>

Who became the tycoon of the oil industry