brothers "found a friend and confidant" in their uncle. After the boys' father died in 1878, Uncle George provided financial support and some measure of stability. Later in life, after the Ball brothers had become wealthy businessmen, they became benefactors to their uncle's college. The family descends from an early colonial immigrant, Edward Ball, and several other founders of Newark, New Jersey. The brothers Lucius L. Ball Lucius Lorenzo Ball (March 29, 1850 – July 22, 1932), the eldest of the brothers was born in Greensburg, Ohio. He grew up in Ohio and moved with the family to upstate New York, where he attended public schools and Canandaigua Academy at Canandaigua, New York. Lucius, whose ambition was to become a doctor, received his medical degree from the University of Buffalo in 1889, at the age of forty, and served as the house physician in Adrian Hospital in Pennsylvania before establishing a medical practice in Buffalo, New York. He moved to Muncie, Indiana, in 1894. In addition to becoming a shareholder and serving on the board of the Ball brothers' manufacturing company, Lucius practiced medicine in the Muncie community. He was a member of the Scottish Rite and the Universalist church. Lucius also retained memberships in national and state medical societies and served as medical adviser to the Western Reserve Life Insurance Company. Lucius married Sarah Rogers in 1893; they relocated from Buffalo to Muncie the following year. The couple had one daughter, Helen. Lucius remained a resident of Muncie for thirty years. In the mid-1990s, following the restoration of Oakhurst, George's home, Lucius's residence was renovated to serve as an orientation center for the Oakhurst mansion and its gardens. William C. Ball William Charles Ball (August 13, 1852 – April 30, 1921) was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, grew up in upstate New York, and attended public school and Canandaigua Academy with his siblings. When two of his brothers, Frank and Edmund, moved to Indiana in the mid-1880s, William remained in Buffalo, New York, to close out business affairs. He moved to Muncie in 1897. William was a Ball company salesman and served as the corporation's secretary. Like his brothers, he was involved in Muncie's political and civic activities. William served on several boards, including the Muncie and Portland Traction Company, Merchants National Bank, and Hillsdale College. He was also a member of the Scottish Rite and the Universalist church.