Henry Morgan Tilford

Henry Morgan Tilford (June 14, 1856 – December 3, 1919) was an American oilman. Tilford served as president of the Continental Oil Company from 1893 to 1907, and as president of Standard Oil of California from 1900 to 1911. Early life Tilford was born in Lexington, Kentucky on June 14, 1856. He was the son of Catherine Hunt (née Curd) Tilford (1824–1908) and John Boyle Tilford (1812–1878), a banker and founder of the First National Bank of Lexington. His siblings included Richard Curd Tilford, Mary Jane (née Tilford) Chastain, Wesley Hunt Tilford, Edward Alfred Tilford, and Frank Vincit Tilford. As a child, his family home was next door to the home of Henry Clay and John Hunt Morgan, and Henry obtained his early education in the South and then moved north to New York City with his father and brothers. Career With Jabez A. Bostwick, Tilford founded Bostwick & Tilford, a company that owned barges, lighters and a large refinery on the East River with headquarters at 138 Pearl Street in Manhattan. It was eventually acquired by John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company in 1887. After the merger, Tilford headed up Standard's operations on the West Coast, known as Pacific Coast Oil Company, which later became Standard Oil of California (and today is known as Chevron). Upon his return to the New York, the Tilfords purchased the Henry William Poor mansion at Tuxedo Park designed by T. Henry Randall and he served various Standard Oil companies, including as president of Central Oil Company of Denver, president of the Standard Oil of Ohio, vice president of the Standard Oil Company of New York, and a "director in nearly all of the subsidiaries of the parent organization." By 1907, Tilford owned 6,000 shares.