Born in London, England, to American parents on January 9, 1837, Chesebrough was raised in New York City.

As he was strolling around the oil field, he found out about something called rod wax, also known as petroleum jelly, a jellylike substance that was cleaned off of the pumping equipment often.

Chesebrough was still unable to sell any to drug stores until he traveled around New York demonstrating his miracle product.

The word is believed to come from German Wasser (water) + Ancient Greek: έλαιον (élaion, oil).

[5] Chesebrough lived to be 96 years old and was such a believer in Vaseline that he claimed to have eaten a spoonful of it every day.