John Davison Rockefeller was born on July 8, 1839 in Richford, New York. He was the second of six children of William Avery and Eliza Davison Rockefeller. From the beginning, his mother raised him in religion. Eliza was a devout Baptist and taught him to work and save, and what he saved, to give to charity (“Entrepreneurs and American Economic Growth”). On the other hand, his father was not a good role model. William, or “Wild Bill” (“John D. Rockefeller: Lover of Money or Enterprise”), as many call him, was a bigamist and a liar. For years, William would go away for weeks and return with large sums of money from the fake cancer drugs he sold ("Biography: John D. Rockefeller, Senior"). In 1849, after William was accused of rape, the family moved to Owego, New York, closer to the Pennsylvania border (Timeline: The Rockefellers). A few years later, William moved his family to Cleveland, via his sister and brother-in-law, for unknown reasons. In 1853, now in Cleveland, Rockefeller began attending Cleveland Central High School. He excelled at mental arithmetic and debate, which would prove useful later in his business career. At age 16, John dropped out of high school and attended Folsom Commercial College for 10 weeks. During this time, he studied a wide variety of courses, such as accounting, calligraphy, banking and many others. After graduation, Rockefeller began looking for a job. At the time, it was difficult to find work in Cleveland. But John persisted, sometimes visiting the companies multiple times. On September 26, 1855, he finally got a job as an assistant bookkeeper at Hewitt & Tuttle, which was a company of produce shippers and commission merchants. Rockefeller ce...... middle of paper ......gh Rockefeller took no part in this case, his name is often associated with it due to his relationship with Standard Oil. John D. Rockefeller's legacy is often not considered good. People rarely take into account all the great things he has done. Rockefeller donated more money than anyone else in American history, totaling more than $550,000,000, the equivalent of about $663.4 billion in today's money. One of his many contributions was the creation of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, which has since been where the cure for meningitis, the identification of DNA and core genetic matter, and various other causes and cures were discovered for diseases. Additionally, in 1903 he founded the General Education Board. He helped establish high schools throughout the South by providing advice to improve education and instruction..