BFHA-RC-000047
Identifying the Father of William Bartholomew Ball (1767 – 1841/46) By Susan Sloan, MEd. October 2011
Introduction
The Ball Genealogy, 1 originally published in 1968 and revised several times, presents a lineage indicating that William Bartholomew Ball, born 2 December 1767, is the son of Edward Ball, a soldier of the Revolution from Liberty County, Georgia. Other researchers have supported this position. However, recent extensive research, which is presented below, explains why that lineage can no longer be accepted. Based on credible documentation, the correct father of William Bartholomew Ball is identified.
In a 1991 article, “Unraveling Balls of Yarn: Lessons in the Use of a Skeptical Eye,” Elizabeth Shown Mills presents evidence that The Ball Genealogy is incorrect in its conclusion that William Bartholomew Ball was the son of Edward Ball, Revolutionary Soldier (R.S.). 2 In her article she sets out to prove that William Bartholomew Ball of Georgia and Mississippi was not the son of Edward Ball, R.S. Rather William, the son of Edward, R.S., was actually one William F. Ball, Esq. of Baldwin Co., Georgia, born on 31 May 1777.
3 While Mills does present the case for the correct son of Edward Ball, R.S., she does not attempt to identify the parents of our William Bartholomew Ball. In his will, signed on 13 March 1777, Edward Ball, R.S., names his father, Bartholomew Ball, and two brothers, William and Sampson. 4 Edward, R.S., was Bartholomew Ball’s son by his first wife, Elizabeth Henlen. 5 1 In 1968 Thomas I. Ball donated his typescript “The Bartholomew Ball Family” to the Ball Family Association Reunion. In 1980, George R. Watson, Sr., the Association’s historian, published an updated version titled Ball Families of the South (Hattiesburg, Mississippi: privately published, 1980). It is referred to in this document generically as The Ball Genealogy.
2 Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, FASG, Unraveling Balls of Yarn: Lessons in the Use of a Skeptical Eye (as taught by William Bartholomew Ball and William F. Ball, Esq.), Genealogical Journal, Volume 19, Numbers 1 & 2, 1991, pp. 5-21. 3 William F. Ball Family Bible, from files of Jeff Ball. 4 Liberty County, Georgia, Old Court, Will Book A, 1791-1822, p. 38-9, Georgia Archives microfilm, Drawer 29, Box 22, accessed 7 October 2011. 5 The National Society of the Colonial Dames in America, The Register Book for the Parish Prince Frederick Winyaw, ANN: DOM: 1713, (Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins Company, 1916), 6 and 21.179
While no direct evidence has been located that identifies the parents of William Bartholomew Ball, much indirect evidence has been found that reveals their identities. The evidence comes together to tell the story of a second marriage of Bartholomew Ball, to a widow, Sarah Brown, and the subsequent birth of their son William Bartholomew Ball. William Bartholomew Ball William Bartholomew Ball was born 2 December 1767. 6 On 1 January 1796, he posted bond in Richmond County, Georgia to marry Charlotte Lee.
7 A family Bible record indicates that he and Charlotte had ten children, the first on 16 November 1796. 8 He settled on land in Mississippi, granted to him in 1811. 9 He appears on the 1820 census in Jackson County, Mississippi and the 1830 and 1840 censuses in Greene County, Mississippi. On each census his age category indicates a birth date range of 1760-1770, completely consistent with the birth date provided in his family Bible. 10 He was last taxed on his land in 1841 and then in 1846 his estate was taxed for the land.
11 This indicates his date of death as sometime between 1841 and 1846. The book lists two children born to Bartholomew Ball and Elizabeth his wife: Bartholomew Ball born June 11, 1736; Edward born February 1744/5. However, from a petition for land dated 21 October 1755 we know that Bartholomew Ball was guardian to six of his own children: Elizabeth, Ann, Edward, Mary, Sampson, and Sarah. 6 William Bartholomew Ball Family Bible, Letter dated 30 June 1954 from Paul Z. Ball of Greene County, Mississippi to Mrs. Horace B. Slimp, certified as a true copy of the original on 19 May 1986 in Harris County, Texas, by R. C. Ball and notarized by Alton R. Slater, Notary Public.
7 Richmond County Marriage Bonds (1785-1849), A-Cupper, unpaginated, alphabetized, Georgia Archives, Morrow, Georgia, microfilm. 8 William Bartholomew Ball Family Bible, ibid. (Children listed in the Bible were Edward M. /16 Nov 1796; James S. /22 Sep 1799; Sarah Ann/31 Dec 1800; Eliza/6 July 1801; William S. /1804; Susan/11 Feb 1803; Margaret/3 Jan 1816; Hariet/22 July 1818; Henry Augustus/10 Jan 1821.) 9 Mississippi Private Land Claim 74, William Ball; Record Group 49, Records of the Bureau of Land Management, NARA, Washington, DC (from Mills, see footnote 2) 10 Ancestry.com United States Federal Census [database online]: 1820 US Census, Jackson Co., MS, p. 45; 1830 US Census, Greene Co., MS, p. 175; 1840 US Census, Greene Co., MS, p. 149-150. (from Mills, see footnote 2) 11 1841 and 1846 Land Tax Rolls, Greene County, MS, vol.
433, Record Group 29, Department of Archives and History, Jackson, MS, (from Mills, see footnote 2)180
Research Findings
There are four major elements of information that provide the foundation for the conclusion that Bartholomew Ball and the widow Sarah Brown were the parents of William Bartholomew Ball. 1755-Bartholomew Ball named guardian of his minor children on 6 October 1755 12 Bartholomew Ball married Elizabeth Henlen on 4 April 1733. 13 Church and court records reveal that they had six children by 1755. 14 It is here that the first foundational fact comes into play. In 1755, “Elizabeth, Ann, Edward, Sampson, Sarah & Ball, infant children of Bartholomew Ball” made choice of their father, Bartholomew Ball, as guardian, to take charge of their estates real and personal.
15 Land grant petitions by Bartholomew Ball indicate the missing name is “Mary.” 16 On 2 February 1756, Bartholomew Ball made petition for 100 acres indicating he “had a wife” for whom he had not been granted land. 17 This indicates that Bartholomew’s wife, Elizabeth, had died prior to 1755, most likely leaving property to her children. If this property was not hers directly, it had to come from her side of the family, because if it was from the children’s father, he would have owned it himself and no guardianship would have been required.
18 This first foundational fact, that Bartholomew’s first wife was deceased by 1755, is necessary for the rest of the facts to take place. 12 Brent H. Holcomb, C.A.L.S., Probate Records of South Carolina, Volume 3, Journal of the Court of Ordinary 1764-1771, (Greenville, SC: Southern Historical Press, 2007), p. 31. 13 South Carolina Marriages 1641-1965, South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, Vol 10, #3, accessed on Ancestry.com, 19 Oct 2011.
14 The Register Book for the Parish Prince Frederick Winyaw, ibid. And Holcomb, Client report of 20 June 2009, p. 4, (The petitions were published in a book, Petitions for Land From the South Carolina Journals: Volume IV, 1754-1756, (Columbia, SC: South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research), 1998. Holcomb extracted this from his computer files used to publish the book.) 14 Report of Brent Holcomb, ibid., p. 6, (from Miscellaneous Records, Volume KK, page 225) 15 Brent Holcomb, Miscellaneous Records, Volume KK, page 225. The original is torn where the last name should be. Also a Petition for grant on 21 October 1755 names all six children.
16 Report of Brent Holcomb dated 20 June 2009, Land petition in Court dated 21 October 1755, p. 392, from his computer files from a series of books titled Petitions for Land from the South Carolina Council Journals. 17 Research Report of Brent Holcomb, op. cit. 18 Research Report of Brent Holcomb, op. cit.181 1766-Bartholomew Ball, of St. Mark ’s Parish, Cr aven Co., SC issued cit at ion t o administer the estate of John Brown, deceased, being nearest of kin 19 On 4 November 1766 Bartholomew Ball of St. Mark’s Parish, was granted a citation to administer on the estate of “Jno. Brown, late of said Parish Planter Decd. as nearest of kin...”
20 It was common at this time in South Carolina for new husbands of widows to take over as administrator of the estate of their wife’s deceased husband. 21 1767-William Bartholomew Ball family Bible provides his birth date 22 According to the family Bible of the William Bartholomew Ball family, William Bartholomew Ball was born on 2 December 1767. Therefore, it is imperative to prove that Bartholomew Ball was still alive after the 4 November 1766 citation of administration.
1777- Edward Ball names his father, Bartholomew Ball, and his brothers William and Sampson in his will written 13 March 1777 23 The will of Bartholomew Ball’s son, Edward, signed by Edward on 13 March 1777, provides proof that Bartholomew Ball was alive in December 1767 when William Bartholomew Ball was born. In this will Edward mentions, not only his father, Bartholomew, but also his brothers William and Sampson. There are only two sons mentioned in the guardianship document in1755, Edward and Sampson. Edward mentions two brothers, William and Sampson, providing proof that his father, Bartholomew, had another son, William, sometime after 1755. William Bartholomew, born in 1767, fits this description.
Additional Supporting Information
Additional information supports the conclusion that William Bartholomew Ball, born 1767, was the son of Bartholomew Ball and the widow Sarah Brown. Land records provide locality information, and census records and DNA results support that conclusion. 19 Holcomb, op.cit. 20 Brent Holcomb, Probate Records of South Carolina, Volume 3, p. 31. 21 Holcomb’s research report, op. cit. 22 William Bartholomew Ball Family Bible, ibid. 23 Liberty County, Georgia Will Book A, Ibid.182
Locality Analysis
Land plats and petitions indicate that Bartholomew Ball owned land bordering the land of Elizabeth Henlen in 1735 and John Brown in 1749. This plat of Elizabeth Henlen most likely belonged to Bartholomew Ball’s mother-in-law Elizabeth and not his wife, Elizabeth. In 1735, his wife Elizabeth would have been known as Elizabeth Ball. 24 On a plat dated 8 November 1749, Bartholomew Ball is shown as an adjacent landowner to John Brown’s plat for 450 acres in Craven County, SC.
25 This close proximity to the land of his first wife, Elizabeth Henlen’s, family and his second wife, Sarah, the widow of John Brown, shows their geographic relationship to Bartholomew Ball. In both cases he married women whose families shared land boundaries with him. William Bartholomew Ball and Charlotte Lee married in 1796 and lived in Richmond County, Georgia. William Brown, son of John Brown (first husband of Sarah Brown Ball) lived in the same area, having adjacent property to William Lee. Several items in the Augusta Chronicle, the newspaper of record for that area, reference William Ball, Mrs.
Charlotte Ball and William Brown in the 1796 to 1808 timeframe, 26 providing additional evidence of a close relationship between the two men.
Census Analysis
William Bartholomew Ball was enumerated on the 1820 Jackson County, Mississippi and the 1830 and 1840 Greene County, Mississippi censuses. Each enumeration places his birth date between 1760 and 1770, completely consistent with the 1767 date of birth listed in his family Bible. He has not been located on the 1810 census. However, a William Ball obtained a passport to travel through the Creek Nation in Georgia on 2 October 1809. Therefore, he may have been traveling to Mississippi Territory at that time.
27 24 Marriage bond dated 4 April 1733. Also unrecorded Plat dated 26 May 1735 for land not granted for Elizabeth Hendlen (sic) held in the South Carolina Archives, Series S213197, box 2, item 00573. 25 South Carolina Colonial Plats, Vol. 5, page 49, South Carolina Department of Archives and History. 26 Alice O. Walker, Personal Name Index to the Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Georgia), Volume I, 1786-1799, published 1987, pages 18 and 47, and Volume II, 1800-1810, published 1988, pages 18 and 57 (Augusta, Georgia: Augusta-Richmond County Public Library). The original newspapers were accessed on Georgia Archives microfilm 90/52, 90/53, 79/5 and 286/33.
27 Dorothy Williams Potter, Passports of Southeastern Pioneers 1770-1823 (Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, Inc., 1982), page 245.183
DNA Analysis
DNA analysis of men with the same surname can determine if they share a common male ancestor within a “genealogical timeframe.” In the case of males carrying the surname Ball, three have taken part in the Ball family DNA project. The lineage of one of them is not known, but the lineages of the other two participants provide the needed information to tie them to Bartholomew Ball. Edward Eugene Ball is a proven descendant of Sampson Edward Ball, son of Edward, R.S.
28 Jefferson Martin Ball is a proven descendant of William Bartholomew Ball. A 37-marker Y-DNA test indicates they match 35 of 37 markers. A 35/37 match between two men of the same surname or variant, means they share a common male ancestor. Unless there is documentation proving descent from a named common ancestor, the common ancestor may not be able to be determined with one hundred percent accuracy. In the case of Edward Eugene Ball, his descent from Sampson, son of Edward Ball, R. S., son of Bartholomew Ball, has a documented paper trail. It has been previously proven that William Bartholomew Ball does not descend from Edward Ball, R. S., 29 so he must descend from the brother of Edward, R. S., (Sampson), Bartholomew Ball, or Bartholomew’s father. The children of Sampson Ball are known and do not include William Bartholomew.
30 No other possible candidates for William Bartholomew’s father are indicated in family records.
Discussion of Conflicting Evidence
Evidence supporting the fact that William Bartholomew Ball’s parents were Bartholomew Ball and the widow Sarah Brown is compelling. However, there is one fact that may point to another conclusion. That fact, that Bartholomew Ball and Elizabeth Henlen had a son, Bartholomew, born on 11 June 1736, 31 must be explored. This son of Bartholomew and Elizabeth is of an age that he could have been the father of William Bartholomew, born in 1767. There are several compelling reasons why it is believed that this Bartholomew Ball is not the father of William Bartholomew born in 1767. The first is that he is not listed among the 28 Line of Edward Eugene Ball is Bartholomew/Edward/Sampson Edward/John Warren Ball/John Warren Ball Jr./Eugene Adams/Eugene Otis/Edward Eugene Ball. The line of Jefferson Martin Ball is said to be William/Bartholomew/William Bartholomew/Henry Augustus/Alex Monroe/Lamar O. Ball/Jefferson Martin Ball.
From files of Jeff Ball (Y-DNA 37 marker test shows they match 35/37.) 29 Mills, ibid. 30 Family information indicates Sampson Ball’s (1750-1823) children were Sampson (1771-1775), Margaret, Elijah, Edward, and William Robert. 31Register Book for Prince Frederic Winyaw, ibid184 children who chose Bartholomew as their guardian in 1755. He would have been 19 years of age, below the age of 21 that was the threshold for owning property. He does not appear in any other court documents claiming any inheritance in his own name or for any other reason. Bartholomew Ball does not ask for land grants on his behalf when he petitions for his other children. When Edward, R. S., lists his brothers, he names only Sampson and William. Most likely Bartholomew, Jr. died before the 1755 document naming Bartholomew Ball guardian of the property of his six minor children.
Summary of Conclusions
Evidence presented in this document points convincingly to the fact that William Bartholomew Ball, who was born 2 December 1767, was the son of Bartholomew Ball and the widow Sarah Brown. Church, land, and court records provide evidence of their relationship to each other. Bartholomew Ball’s first wife died before 1755, and the names of his children are revealed in land petitions and other court documents. Only two sons are listed in this 1755 document, Edward and Sampson. Bartholomew’s administration on the estate of John Brown as nearest of kin provides strong indirect evidence of his marriage to John Brown’s widow, Sarah, before 4 November 1766. The family Bible of William Bartholomew Ball provides his birth date some thirteen months later.
The will of Edward Ball, signed 13 March 1777, names his father, Bartholomew, and his brothers, William and Sampson, indicating Bartholomew Ball had a son named William after the 1755 court document. This son is, no doubt, William Bartholomew Ball.185 Above is a land plat with Thomas Powe who verified the service of William Ball of Cheraw inthe militia of South Carolina. He was a neighbor of Bartholomew Ball.186