most influential pharmaceutical corporations in the world, and the largest corporation in Indiana. Using the wealth generated by the company, his son, J. K., and grandsons, Eli Jr. and Josiah Jr. (Joe), established the Lilly Endowment in 1937; it remains as one of the largest charitable benefactors in the world and continues the Lilly legacy of philanthropy. Early life Family and background Eli Lilly, the son of Gustavus and Esther (Kirby) Lilly, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 8, 1838. His family was of part Swedish descent and had moved to the low country of France before his great-grandparents immigrated to Maryland in 1789. When Eli, the first of eleven children, was still an infant, the family moved to Kentucky, where they eventually settled on a farm near Warsaw in Gallatin County. In 1852 the family settled at Greencastle, Indiana, where Lilly's parents enrolled him at Indiana Asbury University (later known as DePauw University). Eli attended classes from 1852 to 1854. He also assisted at a local printing press as a printer's devil. Lilly grew up in a Methodist household, and his family was prohibitionist and anti-slavery; their beliefs served as part of their motivation for moving to Indiana. Lilly and his family were members of the Democratic Party during his early life, but they became Republicans during the years leading up to the Civil War. Lilly became interested in chemicals as a teen. In 1854, while on a trip to visit his aunt and uncle in Lafayette, Indiana, the sixteen-year-old Lilly visited Henry Lawrence's Good Samaritan Drug Store, a local apothecary shop, where he watched Lawrence prepare pharmaceutical drugs. Lilly completed a four-year apprenticeship with Lawrence to become a chemist and pharmacist. In addition to learning to mix chemicals, Lawrence taught Lilly how to manage funds and operate a business. In 1858, after earning a certificate of proficiency from his apprenticeship, Lilly left the Good Samaritan to work for Israel Spencer and Sons, a wholesale and retail druggist in Lafayette, before moving to Indianapolis to take a position at the Perkins and Coons Pharmacy. Lilly returned to Greencastle in 1860 to work in Jerome Allen's drugstore. He opened his own drugstore in the city in January 1861, and married Emily Lemon, the daughter of a Greencastle merchant, on January 31, 1861. During the early years of their marriage the couple resided in Greenfield. The couple's son, Josiah Kirby,