George Bissell was an American entrepreneur and industrialist widely regarded as the father of the American oil industry. He founded the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company, which became the first petroleum company established in America. His subsequent business interests spanned additional oil companies, banks, railroads and substantial real estate holdings in New York, building him into one of the wealthiest men in the United States by the time of his death in 1884, when his fortune passed to his son Pelham.
Connections
Associated With
Founded the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company, organizing the drilling that launched the American oil industry.
Milestones Credited
Bissell founded the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company and organized the well that Edwin Drake drilled, launching the American oil industry, 1859.
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