Abigail Greene Aldrich

Abigail Greene Aldrich was born in Providence, Rhode Island, as the fourth child of Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich and Abigail Pearce Truman Chapman. The majority of her childhood was divided between Providence and Warwick Neck (in Rhode Island), and Washington, D.C.

Owing to her father's prominence as a congressman, Rockefeller was introduced at an early age to elevated political circles. The figures that her parents entertained included Senator Eugene Hale, Senator William P. Frye, General Ambrose Burnside, and Elizabeth Bacon Custer.

Her early education came at the hands of Quaker governesses. From 1891 to 1893, she was enrolled at Miss Abbott's School for Young Ladies in Providence, Rhode Island. There she studied English composition and literature, French, German, art history, ancient history, gymnastics, and dancing. In November 1893 she made her social debut at her coming-out party, which sparked her lifelong love of social events.

On June 30, 1894, on a trip fostered by her father, Rockefeller sailed to Liverpool, beginning a lifetime of extensive European and later Asian travel. Her initial four-month sojourn included stops in England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and France. This and future trips featured visits to numerous art galleries, informing her future discernment as an art collector.

In late 1894, she met John Davison Rockefeller Jr., the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John Davison Rockefeller Sr. and schoolteacher Laura Celestia "Cettie" Spelman, at a friend's house in Providence. Their long courtship is documented in her engagement books, which were used to formally detail her meetings with potential suitors. In early 1895, they began to share walks together on Sunday afternoons. These meetings progressed further until late August 1901, when they became engaged. They married on October 9, 1901, in the major society wedding of the Gilded Age, in front of around a thousand of the elite personages of the time, at her father's summer home, "Indian Oaks", in Warwick Neck, Kent County, Rhode Island.

The couple settled in at 13 West 54th Street in Manhattan from 1901 until 1913, when her husband finished constructing a nine-story mansion at 10 West 54th Street, the largest in New York City at the time. They resided at "Number 10" until 1938 when they moved to a 40-room triplex apartment at 740 Park Avenue. Both of them also owned properties in Pocantico Hills, New York, Seal Harbor, Maine, and Williamsburg, Virginia. They became the parents of six children: Abby Rockefeller Mauzé, John D. Rockefeller III, Nelson Rockefeller, Laurance Rockefeller, Winthrop Rockefeller, and David Rockefeller.

Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA)

John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s wedding gift to Abby was a sum of money, which she promptly donated to the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of Providence in Rhode Island. Later, she was active in the YWCA of New York.

From 1918 to 1936 she held active service in the YWCA, though upon her retirement from leadership roles, she was considered an honorary member. She was a member of the YWCA's National Board, and served as the vice-president and chairman of numerous committees. Notably, in 1918 she was elected as chairman of the Housing Committee of the War Work Council. The committee was organized during World War I with the objective of providing improved living conditions for working women. For example, she recruited the architect Duncan Candler to design a house in Charleston, South Carolina to house women who worked at a naval uniform factory.

Rockefeller was director of the YWCA operated and owned Grace Dodge Hotel in Washington D.C., which was constructed in October 1921. Rockefeller monitored financial reports and oversaw advertisements for the hotel, with the primary goal of serving female workers. She objected to racial discrimination in the wages, status, and living arrangements of the staff at the Grace Dodge Hotel.