Our story began in 1870 when John D. Rockefeller and his associates formed the Standard Oil Company (Ohio). In 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court divided Standard Oil into 33 different companies, including Standard Oil of New Jersey (Jersey Standard), Socony Oil, Vacuum Oil and some companies that retained the name Standard Oil. In many states, Jersey Standard marketed its products under the brand ‘Esso’, which is the phonetic pronunciation of the initials ‘S’ and ‘O’ in Standard Oil. However in other states, the other Standard Oil companies objected. In those states, Jersey Standard marketed under the brands Enco (Energy Company) and Humble (an oil company they acquired). Jersey Standard became Exxon Corporation in 1972 and in 1999 joined with Mobil Oil Corporation, formerly Socony-Vacuum Oil, to form Exxon Mobil Corporation.