J.D. ROCKEFELLER’S ROYAL BLOOD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3383, 25 November 1911, Page 3

J.D. ROCKEFELLER’S ROYAL BLOOD.

PEDIGREE EXPERT DECLARES THAT HE DESCENDS FROM A PLANTAGENET.

FLAW IX 'THE CHAIN

Mr J. D. Roeekefeller is descended from kings, says the President of the American Genealogical Society. Not only has he achieved greatness, he n»»s been born to greatness, and lias had that greatness thrust upon him. He did not seek to be credited with royal blood, but Mr Muray Poole, a former president of the National Historical Society of America, and a noted authority on'pedigrees, has willy nilly given to the world’s richest man. .Mr Poole is al«o president of the American Genealogical Society. 'i he pedigree starts with George Plantagenot. Duke of Clarence, and his daughter Margaret. Countess of Salisbury who married 'Sir Richard Pole, K.G. ’ Then he continues with names and dates through ten generations, until he comes to Miles Avery, horn in 1760 in Connecticut. Miles was a soldier in the American revolutionary war. He married Malinda Pixley. and they had a daughter. Lucy Avery, who married Godfrey Rockefeller. They had a son. 'William Avery Rockefeller, the father of John Davidson Rockefeller, born in 1839, tne Standard Oil magnate. Mr Poole says: “If you cannot question names and dates, you cannot question the perigree of Mr. Rockefeller.” He adds: I have received a letter from General Sir Reginald Pole-Carew, M.P., in which he says: “It appears from your pedigree that Mr Rockefeller is a kinsman of mine.” Simultaneously with the publication for the first time of the Rockefeller pedigree, there is printed a s]X?eeli delivered bv Father Lennon Mr. Rockefeller’s facorite golfing partner, who says: I know nothing of Mr Rockefeller's past, or descent, or his business; but I do know him as a playmate and comrade ; and I want to assure you all that I have never met a man in my life, except Cardinal Satolli, who seemed to me so innately great. If Mr Rockefeller had been a writer, or a philosopher, or a preacher, lie would still have reached a commanding position among men. He is a religious man, but not a sectarian. He has a beautiful mind, a gentle and considerate heart, and his sense of beauty is exquisite. Meanwhile Mr Rockefeller goes on playing golf daily and superintending the improvements in his country home. He appears to he unconcerned by what the world says of him. whether it he of good or ill. But the imposing pedigree story, according to a cable recently, has been considerably “blown upon” by sharp critics who have been examining the pedigree. American genealogists say that the pedigree which carries Mr. Rockefeller back to the Prince drowned in the butt of malmsey wins runs smoothly enough down to Susan, the daughter of the third Earl of Clinton, but then the family had to he transported to American soil, and, in the opinion of Mr. "Wharton Dickinson, a well-known genealogical qjvthority, here cornea a hitch. No one really knows who married Lady Susan Clinton, as the English records simply state that she took as her husband one Humphreys, of Kent. Mr. Rockefeller’s genealogist identified this gentleman with Colonel John Humphreys of the Boston'Colony, and in so doing, in Mr. Dickinson's opinion. exhibited considerable boldness; for. if the Massachusetts worthy was the husband of Lady Susan, she must have been married at the age of ten at the oldest, and had a son when she was eleven.