Micek, Monique
Demeo, Bree
Period 5
12/1/14
1. The Rockefellers
I. Intro
A. They were an american industrial, political, and banking family
B. made one of the world's largest fortunes in the oil business during the late 19th and early
20th centuries
C. one of the most powerful families in the history of the United States.
II.Family background
A. One of the founding members was William Rockefeller, Sr. a con artist
B. He had six children with his 1st wife Eliza Davison, the most prominent of which were oil tycoons John D. Rockefeller and William Rockefeller, co-founders of Standard Oil.
III.Real estate and institutions
A. Heavily involved in a large number of real estate construction projects in the U.S. in the early 20th century
B. Rockefeller Foundation tradition of financially supporting Ivy League and other major colleges and universities over the generations (75)
IV.Conservation
A. Beginning with John Sr., the family has made a huge impact in land conservation
B. They've created more than 20 national parks and open spaces
C. The family was honored for in November 2005, by the National Audubon Society
V. Family wealth
A. The families total assets and investments plus the individual wealth of each of them has never been precisely know.
B.

The records of the family archives relating to the family and individuals is closed to the public C. Most of the familie's wealth has been locked up in the family trust of 1934 and the trust of
1952, which are both administered by the Chase Manhattan Bank

2. The Vanderbilts
I.

Intro
A. The Vanderbilts were an American family of Dutch origin that was prominent during parts of the 19th and 20th century
B. The success started with the shipping and railroad empires of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the family expanded into numerous other areas of industry
C. Cornelius Vanderbilt's descendants went on to build grand mansions on Fifth Avenue in
New York City, and several luxurious cottages

II.

Current Financial Status
A. the Vanderbilts' uprising lasted until the mid-20th century, when the family's ten great
Fifth Avenue mansions were torn down and other Vanderbilt houses were sold or turned into museums
B. The family's downturn has been referred to as the 'Fall of the House of Vanderbilt'.
C. Even though the family's had a current reduction in fortune, they were one of the wealthiest American families in history.

III.

Family History
A. The prominence of the family began with Cornelius Vanderbilt
B. He left school at age 11 and went on to build a shipping and railroad empire that, during the 19th century, made him one of the wealthiest men in the world.
C. He grew in power and size until he was competing with Robert Fulton to dominate the
New York waterways
D. The Vanderbilt family lived on Staten Island until the mid 1800s, when the Commodore built a house on Washington Place
E. The Commodore left his giant fortune to his oldest son, William Henry Vanderbilt
F. William increased the profitability of his father's holdings, increased the reach of the New
York Central and doubled the Vanderbilt wealth

3. The Mellon family
A. family from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
B. The family fortune originated with Mellon Bank, founded 1869
C. principal investors and majority owners of Gulf Oil that became Chevron-Texaco in 1985
D. The family also founded the National Gallery, claims one of the longest serving U.S.
Treasury Secretaries, and is a patron to the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon
University, Yale University, the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer, and the University of Virginia.
E. Carnegie Mellon University, and its Mellon College of Science, is named in honor of the family I.