The Spelman College is named after his wife

Laura Celestia "Cettie" Spelman Rockefeller (September 9, 1839 – March 12, 1915) was an abolitionist, philanthropist, and schoolteacher. John D. Rockefeller, the co-founder of Standard Oil, was her spouse. Laura Celestia Spelman was born in Wadsworth, Ohio, to parents Yankees Harvey Buell Spelman (1811-1881) and Lucy Henry (1818-1897). Harvey was an abolitionist involved in politics, the Congregationalist Church, and the Underground Railroad.

While attending accounting seminars in Cleveland, Lute and Spelman met John Davison Rockefeller. He was the eldest son of Eliza Davison and William Avery "Bill" Rockefeller (1810-1906). (1813-1889). She later returned to New England to attend Oread Institute with the intention of becoming a teacher. She married John in 1864 after returning to Ohio to teach. Spelman stayed engaged in the church (she joined Rockefeller's group, the Northern Baptists) and with her family after her marriage. She devoted more time to charities and her children once the family business, Standard Oil, took off.

Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial and Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, are named after her. Spelman College is an Atlanta-based private historically black women's liberal arts college. It is a member of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium. Spelman College was established in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary and obtained its collegiate status in 1924, making it America's oldest private HBCU liberal arts college for women.