His father was a con artist

One of the interesting facts about John Davison Rockefeller is that his father was a con artist. Rockefeller was the second child of con artist William Avery "Bill" Rockefeller and Eliza Davison in Richford, New York. He had four younger siblings: William Jr., Mary, and twins Franklin (Frank) and Frances, as well as an older sister named Lucy. His father was of English and German ancestry, and his mother was of Ulster Scot descent. He maintained a nomadic existence, unencumbered by conventional morality, and only seldom returned to his family. Bill was infamous for carrying out schemes throughout his life.

William Avery "Devil Bill" Rockefeller Sr. (November 13, 1810 - May 11, 1906) was an American merchant, lumberman, herbalist, salesperson, and scam artist known as Dr. William Levingston. He worked as a lumberjack and then as a traveling salesman, posing as a "botanic physician" and selling elixirs. He was known to buy and sell horses, and he was also reported to have purchased a barge load of salt in Syracuse at one point. Land speculation was another form of business for him, and selling elixirs kept him in cash and helped him find land opportunities. He gave money to farmers at 12% interest, but he wanted to lend to farmers who couldn't pay so that he could foreclose and take over the farms.

William Avery "Devil Bill" Rockefeller had previously used the alias Levingston in Park River, North Dakota. He died on May 11, 1906, at the age of 95, in Freeport, Illinois. He was laid to rest in the Oakland Cemetery. John D. Rockefeller never publicly acknowledged his father's existence as a bigamist, and the expense of Bill's grave plaque was paid for by the estate of his second wife.