BFHA-RC-000036
Research record and source registry for Lavina Ball. This archive entry preserves the corresponding publication section for website research review.
Publication excerpt:
LAVINA BALL: William Robert, Sampson, Bartholomew; William, Sr. Lavina Ball was born in 1830 in South Carolina, perhaps in Beaufort County. She grew up in Randolph County, Georgia and Barbour County, Alabama. She was living in the home of her brother, Edward Ball I and his wife, Harriet King, when she married Harriet’s brother, given name unknown, and date of marriage unknown. Lavina and her husband moved to Florida and lived out their lives there. There were no children born to this union. The occupation of Mr. King, Harriet King Ball’s brother, or anything else concerning him is unknown. He must have lived a quiet and unassuming life. His wife, Lavina, died just that also, except for one claim to fame which was, unfortunately, not very glamorous. In 1900 – 1902, she made her bid to trace her heritage and establish a family lineage. She was convinced that her Ball family descended from the Balls of Virginia, and therefore were related to George Washington. Lavina searched valiantly, but to no avail. She wrote and published many articles and statements to the above fact and presented her argument of the family relationship at every opportunity 1. Her argument was that her grandfather, Sampson Ball, was from Virginia and his wife was Miss Shields of Maryland. Sampson was a Colonel in the Revolutionary War and after the war he and his wife and family moved to South Carolina 2. Mrs. John Bishop Johnston, Jr., who furnished the information on Sampson and his family, has expressed her wish that all articles and statements published by Lavina Ball King be recalled lest some poor soul searching for their connection to Sampson erroneously claim the Balls of Virginia as their ancestors. Lavina Ball King died in Archer, Florida, 13 August 1917, at 87 years of age and is buried at Oxford, Alabama. Mrs. Leila Estelle Johnston Garrett, youngest child of Louisa Ball and John W. Johnston, joined the DAR in 1906. She was accepted and joined under Sampson Ball. Information contained in Leila’s DAR application 3 has been the basis for the Revolutionary War records of Sampson Ball used in this history and genealogy. NOTES AND REFRENCES 1. Johnston Family knowledge and Bible records. Mrs. John Bishop Johnston, Jr., Post Office Box 625, Sterlington, Louisiana 71280. 2. The Joseph Habersham Chapter, DAR. Vol. I, page 225. 3. Leila Estelle Johnston Garrett’s DAR application, DAR National Number 56814.127