Earl Weston Prescott, thought to have been born near San Antonio Texas in 1924, is possibly one of the most obscure and eccentric entrepreneurs in America. As a baby, he was found in a barn owned by William Earl Prescott & Thelma Martha Prescott. Apparently left by the natural mother who couldn't care for him. "Rolling the dice" for the yet unnamed young Earl.

William & Thelma Prescott were childless and readily adopted him as their own. He appeared to be half Indian. It is thought that this may have also had something to do with his abandonment. Years later his adoptive mother asked what date he wished to pick for his birthday.Young Earl decided on July 4th, his favorite holiday.

When Earl was around 12 years old, his father who worked on oil rigs started his own oil company in Southwest Texas. Earl spent his time helping his mother run the farm and learning the oil business. At the age of 17 he left his family and childhood sweetheart to go away to school, but soon lost interest in his studies. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941 Earl enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces, along with his 3 best friends. Earl and his friends had spent hours watching the airplanes from Kelley Air Field fly across the Texas plains and all had dreams of becoming pilots, which they became. After almost four years, Earl returned home alone, his three friends all killed in action. To add to his grief, he found that the girl he thought he was engaged to had married someone else. Also, shortly after his return home, Earl's father was killed in an oil-rig accident. He was devastated and buried himself in the work of running the oil company and the farm.

Because of his youth, the fact that he had inherited his father's company, and his visibly obvious 'half-breed' bloodline, he had to work twice as hard to gain the respect of his colleges. He became known as a maverick and earned himself the nickname 'The Bull' because of his shrewd business decisions and sheer determination. He was a millionaire before the age of forty.

He met his first wife Francis Pearl Ferris while she was visiting a neighboring farm, to nurse her aunt who had suffered a stroke. She left her home in Oklahoma and they were married in the spring of 1947. Before her death in 1954 the couple had three children Jeremiah Earl Prescott, Dixie Louise Prescott and William Ferris Prescott (who died at the age of 3 from polio).

At the age of 35 he married his second wife Nadeen Murray who died giving birth to their only child Alba Ann Prescott (who died at age 16 from a drug overdose).

At 44 he married Martha Ruth Benson from northern California, 24 years his junior. She and Earl had three children together: Jonathan James Prescott (J. J.), Sara Jubilee Prescott (born on her father's 50th birthday) and Benson Leroy Prescott. Earl and Martha had been married for 33 years when she died of cancer in 2001.

Earl's oil business continued to prosper along with his real estate empire and several other corporations, which he owns throughout Texas and Northern California. Up until the 1973 kidnapping of J. Paul Getty's grandson, Earl lived a lavish lifestyle equal to the wealth he had obtained. After reading the details of the kidnapping, he became almost irrationally terrified something similar would happen to him and his family. Earl basically withdrew from society and became very secretive about his wealth and business dealings. He was overly protective of his family which ironically wound up alienating them. This alienation was further prepetuated by his insistance that children all work and not be 'free-loaders' and constantly badgering them to work longer and harder. He often used the phrase, 'Get off the damn couch' to display his disappointment in their attitudes and work ethics. He expected them to be successful on their own. It may be further construed that this was also to hide the fact that he was wealthy enough to support them. Not one of his children has lived up to his expectations and none of them have any contact with him to this day.

All aspects of his life have become so confidential and private, that he is now almost unknown, and most people who do know him actually believe he is poor. Now living in Northern California, Earl sold his oil business and the farm he grew up on. Although he's not mentioned on any 'Wealthiest Lists', some say he is one of the top 10 wealthiest men in America.