Laura Spelman Rockefeller
American philanthropist, schoolteacher (1839-1915)
Laura Celestia "Cettie" Spelman Rockefeller (September 9, 1839 – March 12, 1915) was an American abolitionist, philanthropist, school teacher, and prominent member of the Rockefeller family. Her husband was Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. Spelman College in Atlanta and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial were named for her.
Early life
Laura Celestia Spelman was born in Wadsworth, Ohio to Puritan descendant Harvey Buel Spelman (1811–1881) and Lucy Henry (1818–1897), Yankees who had moved to Ohio from Massachusetts. Laura's maternal step-grandmother, as well as her two aunts, were members of the Yale family, relatives of inventor Caroline Ardelia Yale.
Laura's father Harvey was an abolitionist who was active in the Congregationalist Church, the Underground Railroad, and in politics. The Spelmans eventually moved to Cleveland. Laura had an elder adopted sister, Lucy Maria "Lute" Spelman (c. 1837–1920). Laura was the valedictorian of her graduating class at Central High School in Cleveland at the age of 14.
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This entry incorporates text from “Laura Spelman Rockefeller” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.