John D. Archbold

John Dustin Archbold (July 26, 1848 in Leesburg, Ohio – December 6, 1916 in Tarrytown, New York) was an American capitalist and one of the United States' earliest oil refiners. His small oil company was bought out by John D Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company. Archbold rose rapidly at Standard Oil, handling many of the complex secret negotiations over the years. By 1882 he was Rockefeller's closest associate, and typically acted as the company's primary spokesman. Rockefeller after 1896 left business matters to Archbold while he pursued his philanthropy; as vice president Archbold effectively ran Standard Oil until his death in 1916. Inspired by Rockefeller's policies, Archbold's main goals were stabilization, efficiency, and minimizing waste in refining and distributing petroleum products. The company was broken up by the Supreme Court in 1911 into three dozen smaller operations, Archbold became president of the largest one, Standard Oil of New Jersey.

Archbold was born to Methodist minister Reverend Israel Archbold and Frances Foster Dana (Archbold) in Leesburg, Ohio. After being educated in public schools, he moved to Pennsylvania by 1864.

On February 20, 1870 Archbold married Annie Eliza Mills, "daughter of Samuel Myers Mills of Titusville and Lavinia Jenkins." The couple had four children:

In 1885, Archbold purchased a large mansion in Tarrytown, New York. The estate, called Cedar Cliff, was located at 279 S. Broadway just across from the Carmelite Transfiguration Church.

In 1864 Archbold went to the north-west Pennsylvania oil fields and spent 11 years in the oil industry there. When John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company began buying up refiners in this oil-rich region, many independent refiners felt squeezed out, and Archbold was among Standard's harshest and loudest critics. In 1885 after becoming skeptical of reports of oil discoveries in Oklahoma, he sold-out at a loss, saying “I’ll drink every gallon produced west of the Mississippi!”

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