1Letter from Sophia Ball dated 25 FEb 1900., Dated 25 Feb 1900. "Page 1
Letter from Sophia Ball concerning Edward Ball born Nov 17, 1754 and Wife Fear Young Ball
Letter was dated 25 Feb 1900
Copy of letter from Sophia Ball wife of Bernard Ball of Batavia, Kane Co. Illinois. Dated Feb. 25, 1900.
Dear Friend and Cousin,
I received your kind notes, and was greatly pleased to think you were all satisfied with my endeavor's for one benefit. I expect to hear before long again from Block Island. I think from my prompt payment at, and for, first returns we shall hear further news, as I assured the gentleman all work done should be promptly paid with in reason. Now the thing to do is first to get the marriage certificate ifwe possibly can of Miss Fear Young, and Edward Ball born Nov 17ta 1754 and who died in 1790, and I think this week I will endeavor to persue that ,or !et Mr. Champlin do it for us, as he is living right on the spot as you may say. As you see by the records there is no accounts of Edward Ball Jr. being a taxpayer until 1778 on Block Island.
But when I was in Chicago last I went to the Public Library and in looking over the History of Block Island I came across this Anthony Young was given leave to remove some limestone from the rocks to make lime with. That was in 1710 and possible your great grandmother might have been one of his grand children. Of course we have to get all proof of decendants and we only !ack that certificate to prove that, then our next move will be who lays claim to said land, and who gave them liberty unless they have held the !and on paying taxes. I do not know the law of Block Island, but I shall not !et up until I have thoroughly worked the case. I hope to hear from New York City before very long, and am safe to act on any instruction I may receive from there, and expect to put in my share to help us along. You ask me what it will cost. I can only tell you the costs to me so far has been $11.50 in money to say nothing of stationary, but that and the work is free as water as far as I am concerned, and I do not want you to feel that I am only anxious for money. I am obliged to pay whatever I have to and no more, but I am anxious to find out who lays claim to this Land of Edwards Bali Jr. and on what basis they lay their claim, as said !and has never been bought, sold, or transferred except, and insofar as the deed of James Ball is described and I am inclined to think from description the land sold by him, it was a portion of his grandfathers estate, which on accounts of his fathers death when he was so young was not settled up before the year spoken of as far as James was concerned. I can only get a town Plot of New Shoreham, and its original owners. I don't know how much that will cost. I know that one of Edward Ball Jr. great great grandsons has a Summer hotel there on B. I. It has 379 rooms, Theater, Dancing Hall, Banquet Hall, Chapel all in the one building and it only costs during the summer from $4 to $7.00 a day to stay there as I have a little book showing some of the views of it. To get a plot or to go down there and examine for myself on the quiet which I am greatly tempted to do although I could only ask the heirs for help or so giving in my own share too, It must all be done very quiet until we can be assured how we stand. As a matter of expense you must use your own good will as I have tried to do and also the rests of us here. Yes I would see those Balls of ( ) if you can, and if you can gain any clue as to our connections with them I will be so much the better for us. Now I will explain why. You know that when the Balls first came to this country from England they came
Page 2 continued letter from Sophia Ball Dated 25 Feb 1900
from a place called Berkshire, they were four brothers they came about from 1640 to 1650 one of them was the Grandfather of Mary Ball who was the mother of George Washington, her uncle William had 8 sons five of whom married and had sons also, and what more likely than that they should have moved with their families with the New Haven Colonies which at that time extended from NY to Michigan before the Revolution when it was divided into States. The Reverend E!iaphlet Ball was our cousin to Mary Ball Washington is fully proved in History which I have copied from the Newberry Library in Chicago and which I have. Of course to be on the safe side and get our battle fought for us to joined the Ball Estates Association by paying $10.00.
We have heard nothing since but if we are in it but I am afraid we are not. o we shall be out $10.oo dollars which you folks there will have as each head of family of children under age had to pay that much and those reaching the age of majority had to pay 10 also. I am in hopes to hear something before long, and if we are in it you folks must be also. But I think we shall realize more from our present quests if as I said before we can secure the marriage certificate of the above mentioned Edward Ball. I am suffering at present from an attack of grippe which does not make me feel very comfortable.
Now will you write me again and tell me what you think about my sending for the Plot of New Shoreham if I can get it. I shall send any how. As soon as I hear from you again to see if I can secure the copy certificates of parties married. Can you suggest anything better, if so do by all means.
With our kind regards and best wishes
/s/ Sophia E. Ball
138 South Streets
Batavia, Kane Co. Ill.
Please don't get out of patience at my writing so much, but I feel as if I must explain everything thoroughly as you will understand it."2ClaireCallahan letter of 1898, ClaireCallahan letter of 1898 conerning Edward Ball and Fear Young Ball Family. "Claire Callahan letter written 1898 Concerning Edward Ball of RI and Wife Fear Young Ball and 4 Sons.
Received from Claire Callahan;P.O.Box 302; Peapack New Jersey 07997
Marlboro Payne Ball
Marlboro Payne Ball, b Jan. 6, 1779, Block Island, R.I.; d. Oct. 30, 1850 in Hartman Hill, Luzer/ne. Marlboro Payne Ball married Rachel Varney may 27, 1800 (where?).
Children:
Elvin born 1803 married Eliza Murray. Died 1870 in Luzerne, New York William born 1801 married Adeline Died 1877
Anna born, 1804 Luzerne m. Braddock Andrews c 1830.
George born, 1818 married Eliza Randall , d.
There is no record of Marlboro Ball's birth on Block Island nor of his brothers' births nor of their Parents Marriage. Records were not always complete this far back but this is an exception for Block Island. They have many early statistics and many Ball family records even/previous to this time. However, this was all about the time of the Revolution and a very bleak period especially on Block Island. This may be the reason. Family letters and papers in Salt Lake City indicate that M.P. Ball was from the Ball Family of Block Island. Also the names of his brothers and himself suggest Block Island ties. Marlboro Payne, Gideon Olin, James Rose were all contemporaries of M.P. Ball's father on Block Island.
Family letters written in the 1890's to Franklin Ball( M.P. Ball's grandson) from his cousin Bernard Ball in Illinois(son of M.P. Ball's brother Edward) differ on M.P.Ball's father's given name. Bernard thinks it Edward and Franklin thinks it John. Perry Ball, a Methodist minister and brother of Franklin(both sons of Elvin), was interested in the Ball family genealogy but so far, there is nothing to indicate that he knew the name of his Ball great grandfather. Block Island data suggests that the given name we are looking for is Edward. Block Island records are fairly good considering time. There was an Edward ~,11 b. 1754 to Edward and Mary Dodge Ball. He is not buried on the Island with the rest the Balls and records give him only one known son. We know that they all left the Island after the Revolution possibly in 1793. There was a migration of Island people after the war. We know that Marlboro Payne's brother Joshua was in Warren county area in 1798.
Another part of the Ball family went to Otsego County some time after that and settled there but records are kept of that branch and there is no mention of our ancestors in those records.
The only other candidate for being M. PM. Ball's Father would be a descendant of the branch of the family going back to Edward Ball, one of the three sons of the first Edward Ball on Block Island. There is very little info about him that I have discovered. The other two sons remained on the Island and we have most of their descendants documented.
These same family letters state that M.P.Ball's mother was Fear Young/s Ball.
Fear Ball was left a widow we feel after they left the Island. The letters state that her husband died. The first, Fear Ball appears in New York records is in the 1800 Census of Queensbury, living with one female. She resided in what was called Sanfords Ridge, near what is now Glens Falls airport. John Austin approximates she lived near the - corner of #9L and Hicks Road.
There is no deed listed for her or her husband nor wills that I have found. Sometime after 1800, she Married Daniel Rankins, a Revolutionary War veteran, by trade a Weaver. His pension records her birth as being calculated at 1744. He or they are in the 1820 Luzerne census, thay resided in Queensbury in 1818. He died in 1837 as stated in his pension records but there is no record of her death, New York state records being as they are.
Block Island records show no Young/s family other than some property transfers on the Island , with the prncipals being from Long Island (Southold) , that were witnessed by, a Thomas Young/s . So possibly, Fear is from a Long Island family. The name suggests a Quaker background which would fit with their living in a Quaker area (Glens Falls) later.
Children of Edward(John) and Fear Young/s Ball:
Edward b. 1775 m. (1) Mary Odell of Queensbury in Kingsbury in 1796.
(2) Lydia Foote
d. in Iowa City, Iowa in 1859.
Marlorough Payne
James R(ose) Born 1780 m. (1)
(2) Elizabeth lived in Vermont during 1st marriage then moved to Illinois d.1857in Batavia Illinois.
Gideon Olin b. 1784 Lived in Mendon, New York.
There is no evidence that any of the brothers were Quakers. M.P. Ball became a
a Quaker in 1813. His children Elvin and George are mentioned in Quaker records in Queensbury but not William or Anna.
Marlboro P.Ball is first mentioned in New York records in 1805 on the Queensbury tax list of that year. He is mentioned in Luzerne records in 1814. His earliest deed is dated 1815 in Luzerne. There was apparently a sheriff's sale in 1832 and his son Elvin satisfied the debt. He lived with his son Elvin until his death in 1850. This accounts for the family letters being in possession of Elvin's descendants. There was no will on file or death records since New York did not require records until the late 1880's. Rachel and ~rlboro Ball are buried in the Hartman Hill Cemetery.
Questions to be answered:
1. Whoever erected the stone monument in the Hartman Hill Cemetery must have known some family history. The monument is not all that old, yet no family members know anything about it even Bev Gallup who lives on the Ball property.
2. How does Rachel Varney fit into the Varney family?
Ball?
3. Was M.P.Ball's father the Edward Ball b. 1754 to Edward and Mary Dodge
4. Did M.P.Ball's parents come to Queensbury directly from R.I.?
5. When did the father die? Where? .
6. who was the female living with Fear Ball in 1800 Queensbury Census Was there a daughter or was it Rachel perhaps? Marlboro was the only
son to remain the area.
7. Who owned the property where Fear Ball lived in the 1800 Census?
8. Who were Fear Ball's parents? Were they from Southold, Shelter Island area on LOng Island? Were they Quakers? This was a Quaker area on Long Island. Long Island, especially the above araa, was not very far from Block island by boat.
9. When did Fear Ball Rankins die? Where?."