Late Dr. William Levingston, Father of John D. Rockefeller," read the banner headline in the Feb. 3, 1908, Freeport Evening Standard. Levingston had lived the last years of his life in a two-story brick house on what is now West Clark Street, amid little suspicion by Freeport townspeople that he was the father of one of the richest men of the time. With Levingston - Rockefeller's great-grandson nominated for the U. S. vice presidency, interest in the tale of his forebear has been renewed. Disclosures that Levingston was really William Rockefeller and had left his first wife and children in Ohio, began surfacing in the years just before and after Levingston's death. They were reported in Freeport's newspapers of the time and have been recalled since in the Journal Standard's columns. Now the Syracuse (N.Y. Herald-Journal), in a series on Rockefeller family background, has revived the story. Mrs. Mary Bowers Margeson of Syracuse, formerly of West Lincoln Boulevard here, sent to Judge and Mrs. Marvin Burt a copy of the Livingston-Rockefeller story, which is reprinted below. In Freeport, Ill., a few years ago, I was told the last chapter of one of the most intriguing of the Rockefeller family stories:

What happened to John D. Rockefeller's father, William. Freeport believes William Avery Rockefeller, once of Richford, Owego and Moravia, lived the last 34 years of his life as "William Levingston, physician, in a modest brick house on (what was then called)Clark Avenue. Levingston died in the small northern Illinois city in May 1906 at the age of 96. The story goes that between 1855 and 1889, when Eliza Davison Rockefeller died in New York City, he lived a double life with a second wife. Records indicate that Levingston married Margaret Allen in Ontario, Canada, in 1855. Freeporters began to know Levingston in 1872; when he moved there and started a practice of botanic medicine. This was the period after the Rockefeller family had moved from New York State to Cleveland and, according to his son's biographers, the future billionaire's father was seen less and less in Ohio.

We find descriptions of this roving nature, and its mystery, in Allan Nevins' biography of William's son: "He was still frequently absent from home on his mysterious trips. Evidence exists that for a time he advertised himself as Dr William A. Rockefeller, the celebrated cancer specialist," selling cancer treatments. But for many years, without JOhn D's national prominence, no one really noticed, particularly in Freeport in the town, he was a "noted character," known for his good humor, excellent marksmanship and the large diamond pin he always wore at his throat in place of a tie. In time of course, John D's celebrity reached Freeport and subtle questions began to be asked about the interesting old man on Clark Avenue.

With the help of my guide, Mrs. Frances Woodhouse of the local historical society, I was able to see how the story unfolded, and talk to a few Freeport residents who were there to watch it. This began in July 1905, when McClure's Magazine published the first installment of Ida M. Tarbell's "character sketches" of John D. Rockefeller. The profile followed her sensational "History of Standard Oil," 19 articles published in the magazine in 1892. The Rockefeller sketch of 1905 appeared with an oval photograph of the tycoon's father, William, who was described in the caption as a "good fellow, jolly, generous and kindly." William was said to be over 90 at the time and "living in Iowa." THis information probably would have been lost ont he few readers of McClure's in the river city of Freeport had it not been for the photograph of William Rockefeller, The picture, taken with Ida Tarbell's colorful description made a single point to them; John D's "lost parent was in Freeport.

He was the "doctor" pm Clark Avenue, William Levingston. "It was the same man," druggist George F. Swartz told the Chicago Tribune: "cravatless, diamond in his shirt front, coarse language, boastful, well dressed - the typical quack doctor." The principle himself apparently was beyound public witness by 1905. Age and illness confined him to the house. He was described as deaf and nearly blind, so feeble that even his wife Margaret, couldn't communicate with him. (One recalls, at this point, the anecdotes of how William feigned deafness during his upstate New York years.) Mrs. Levingston said she knew nothing of her husband prior to their marriage. If he had an interesting past and a famous offspring, she said he never spoke of them.

Finally, William Levingston died May 11, 1906 in Freeport and was buried in a city cemetery under a headstone which carried that name. The birth date listed is the same as William Rockefeller's/ (His wife at Freeport died in 1910. When Eliza Davison Rockefeller, whom William married in Richford in 1837, died in 1889, at 76, she was described as the "widow of William Rockefeller and buried in the family plot at Cleveland. Her husband according to ______ , was not present at the funeral.) The Tarbell articles sparked interest outside of Freeport, too, In 1908, A. B. MacDonald, a reporter for the St. Louis Post Dispatch began an investigation which, in time, ended in a long investigative report in the Pulitzer newspapers. After trips through the East and Midwest and apparently exhaustive checks of documents, MacDOnald reported that Dr. William Levingston and WIlliam A. Rockefeller were the same man. In Cleveland, Reaction to the report was disbelief.

After the Tarbell series, in 1906, Frank Rockefeller, John D.'s brother, told inquiring reporters "My father is alive" and "well cared for." But where? "That's none of the public's business," he said. This time in 1908, Frank called the story "an unqualified lie," intimating that William still was alive. During my own Freeport visit, I met and talked with Leslie T. Fargher, then 92, who remembered "Old Doctor LEvingston" very well. As a young man, he worked in a Freeport jewelry store and recalled waiting on Levingston: "He was kind of a big, cantankerous sort of guy," Fargher told me. "He wore one of those old-fashioned shirts with just a neckband, no collar, and with a great big diamond stud in the middle of it." He recalled stories of secret visits John D. made to the house on Clark Avenue - in fact, he supposedly was there the night Levingston died - and of the Standard Oil checks the old man used to cash at local banks. In his own mind, Fargher had not doubts about the Levingston - Rockefeller connection. "There isn't anything about it that could be contradicted by anybody he said firmly. Although he omitted these stories from later versions of his Rockefeller study, Allan Nevins met them head-on in his biography of 1940. He called photographs published in 1908 - comparing a picture of Levingston found in Freeport with the family photograph of William "alleged" and said "there is no clear proof that he and Doctor Levingston were identical." Nevins explained that William's son and grandson, Frank and Percy, issued denials that William was dead in 1908 and when the Pulitzer article appeared, Frank explained he lived in "close retirement" to protect himself from cranks.

The biographer said he had received information in the 1930's from Frank's daughter "indicating the old man died on his Dakota (Walsh County, North Dakota) ranch in the summer of 1909, when he was 100." But, Nevins added, "even this is uncertain and the mystery surrounding his last days is not likely to be pierced." Later, the historian, who died recently, admitted in private correspondence with a Freeport researcher that he had come to believe that Levingston was indeed William Rockefeller. This judgment was described to me recently by a Rockefeller family associate as "the best story going."

Contributed by Karen Fyock dated Dec. 7, 1864 clipping