Notes
Ref#21:
Was a Methodist Minister in Forest City, Iowa according to Clifford
Lackore.
Walter Lansing said he was a pioneer Methodist circuit rider, tall and
gaunt, b. N.Y.
The following family history was written in 1948 by Howard Ball, a
grandson of John and Nancy Ball. Please note that many of the "facts"
contained in this records still need to be verified. Some have been
proven incorrect.
Sometime about the year 1880, Grandfather bought a large Bible Analysis.
In it there were extra pages for a family record. Being something new and
out of the ordinary, my father wrote down very briefly the only written
record of Grandfather's family that is known to exist. It would have been
so easy to have written down the record as far back as Washington, at
least. However, all records previous to the time of John Ball are
legendary.
Nathaniel Ball is supposed to have been the father of John Ball (note
from Joanne: I wonder where this story came from?! John's father WAS Amzi
Lewis Ball). He, according to tradition, was an atheist, and was referred
to as "That Wicked One." He is supposed to have been the mayor of
Rochester, New York, sometime in the beginning of the last century. I
believe there was a Nathaniel Ball who was mayor of Newark, New Jersey.
He was probably a brother of John. Father once visited a first cousin,
John Ball, in Newark. At two different times, I remember Grandfather
making mention of eleven brothers, but he did not mention a sister. I
never heard the name of John's mother. she was known, however, as one of
God's saints. Her influence and prayers have been of untold value down
through the years. The Bible considered as God's word has been highly
regarded. I never met a Ball who used liquor of any kind, and with one
exception, one who used tobacco. About seventy-five years ago there was a
divorce.
John Ball was six feet two in height, large boned and muscular. He grew
two inches after he was forty-five. He was County judge of Floyd County,
Iowa, one term, and township justice many terms. He was local preacher of
the Methodist Church and later of the Free Methodist Church. Some of the
neighbors called him "Judge;" others called him Elder".
He had an extreme kindliness with optimism and generosity. He was always
in debt, never took care of farm machinery, but left it out in the
climate. However, the stock were well fed and well cared for. The house
had a good coat of white paint, and the barn a coat of red.
He moved his family from Indiana out to Floyd County, Iowa, sometime
before 1855, and bought 400 acres of land from the government at a price
of about $2.25 per acre. The nearest neighbor was forty miles away, and
it was seventy miles to the mill to get the wheat ground. I believe the
trip took two or three weeks. John was a great reader. After the evening
meal and the usual chores, he found time for this.
When the Civil War came along, Grandfather volunteered as a carpenter.
Either during the war, or sometime after, his leg was broken, and due to
faulty setting, he walked with a slight limp.
John and Nancy had the idea that as the children were married it would be
delightful if they would settle around the old home. And so, eighty acres
of land was given to the first three or four new families. But the
children had so much pioneer blood in their make up that they could not
be satisfied until their farms were sold, and they were out on a
homestead and liking it. Two of them went out to the heavy fir timber ten
miles from Portland, Oregon. An uncle told me that it took three weeks to
dig out a fir stump and burn it. When I was fourteen, John and Nancy sold
the old farm and went to Oregon to be near the children. I saw
Grandfather the last time when I was twelve.
In closing this brief account of John and Nancy, it is important to
mention the devotional life of the old home. After morning and evening
meals the large family Bible was taken from the shelf and Grandfather
would read a chapter. He then selected a hymn and led in the singing in
which all joined in the best they could. Then they all kneeled by their
chairs, while he offered up his petition to the Heavenly Father for
blessings on children and grandchildren.
They always went to public worship whenever the services were within
driving distance with a farm team and heavy wagon.
The previous pages have been written to give a brief account of those
early pioneers. There is very much more that might be of interest, but of
no particular value except possibly to gratify family pride. It seems
quite natural to claim relationship to G. Washington, Col. Glover, or
some other noted personage and to forget that the only merit lies in the
knowledge that one's name is recorded in God's "Who's Who."
Another family history was sent to Joanne Rabun by Iva Hubbard Cook in
1994. This account was recorded in Lake County, Indiana:
At the age of fourteen, John moved with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Amzi
Ball, to New Jersey, near Newark. Here he went to a carpenter's school to
learn the grade. At the age of 16, his father sent him to Newark to work.
In August 1835, in the company of his father, he moved to Michigan City,
Indiana. John remained here for one year. During this time he met and
married Nancy Glover. Nancy was born in Putnam City, Indiana Jan . 4,
1816. After their marriage on May 10, 1836, they moved to Winfield
Township, Lake County, Indiana where seven of their eight children were
born. They remained engaged in farming principally until 1853 when they
immigrated to Ulster Township, Floyd County, Iowa being the first
settlers of that township. They homesteaded a 400-acre farm.
The following history was found in the History of Floyd Co., Iowa:
Ulster Township was organized in the year 1858. The name Ulster was the
name of a county in New York State from which many of the first settlers
of this township emigrated. Mr. John Ball was the first settler in this
township, coming from Lake County, Indiana in December, 1853. Next to
follow Mr. Ball were two brothers by the name of Daniel and Peter Beaver.
They came in about January, 1854. In the spring of 1854, the first log
cabins were constructed within the limits of what is now known as Ulster
Township. These gentlemen were the first to leave the endearments of home
in other lands, and penetrate into the wilds of what we now know as
beautiful Flood Creek. The original occupants and owners had just
vacated. Vestiges of their camping grounds were plainly visible, and
their trails easily followed. The wild deer roamed at will unmolested by
the chase of the white man, and the grandeur of nature was untouched by
the hand of art.
The first sermons preached in the township were in the house of John Ball
in the spring of 1854. According to a conversation with a well-known
pioneer of that neighborhood: "Well do I know with what pertinacity Elder
Ball clung to the good old Methodist hour, as he called it, of 11 o'clock
for worship and how we used to walk a distance of two miles or more to
meeting in the hot summer time and while we partook of the spiritual food
which he dispensed to us in a sermon of an hour's length, how the natural
man longed for that other food which was so ravenously devoured on
arriving at home."
In 1856 John Ball and others applied for formation of the first school
district in Ulster Township. He was the contractor and builder of the
twenty-two feet square schoolhouse. The house was completed and paid for
Nov. 10, 1858, the cost being $399. It was good work, as the condition of
the house today testifies.John Ball was elected Treasurer of Ulster
Township and Township Trustee in the first elections. In 1857, the first
post office was established in John Ball's house, he was appointed
Postmaster. He resigned his position in 1875, and the office was
abandoned.
John Ball was born in Goshen, Orange County, New York, July 12, 1817. At
the age of fourteen, Mr. Ball moved with is parents to New Jersey, near
Newark. He learned the carpenter's trade with his father and at the age
of sixteen went to Newark to work. In August, 1835, in company with his
father, moved to Michigan City, Indiana, where he remained one year, when
he married Nancy Glover, who was born in Putnam County, Indiana, January
4, 1816. After their marriage they moved to Lake County, Indiana. Here
they remained engaged in farming principally till the year 1853, when
they emigrated to Iowa and located in Ulster Township, Floyd County,
being the first settlers of the township. Here they still reside, alone
as they started, having raised a family of six children, who have grown
up and are now out in the world tasting of its bitter and sweet, as they
did forty years ago.
In the year 1855, Mr. Ball was elected County Judge and has many years
filled its office of Justice of the Peace. Mr. Ball was elected on the
first Board of Supervisors in 1860. Mr. and Mrs. Ball are both members of
the Free Methodist Church. Mr. Ball has held the license of local
preacher ever since coming into the state. In the years 1861-62 under the
presiding eldership of John Gould, Mr. Ball traveled as a supply on the
Forest City Circuit. Their family consisting of three sons and three
daughters, are all enjoying the religion of the gospel. Mr. Ball has
certainly been a marked character and a moving power upon the frontier.
During the war, though well up in years, he was determined to enlist and
help Uncle Sam do his threshing, but was refused the job on account of
his age. In spite of this rebuff, he joined the Quartermaster's
Department and remained for a time, when failing health caused him to
return. Besides being a man of daring spirit, he is one of public spirit,
and encourages ever enterprise tending to the good of humanity, and has
furnished as valuable assistance in compiling this work. Mr. Ball settled
on the northeast quarter of Section 10 consisting of 113 acres at
present, formerly owned 480.
A sidenote: The 5 Ball Bros. of the Ball Masonry Jar Co. are 4C1R of John
Ball.
Death date verified Damascus Pioneer Cemetery records and tombstone.
Marriage License
Floyd Co., Iowa Land Sales
Photo of tombstone
12 Jul 1817 - John Ball was born in Goshen, Orange Co., New York
(on 1880 Oregon census, son Emmons shows father being born in New York)
1 Aug 1818 - baptised according to "Early Records of Goshen (New York)
Presbyterian Church 1767-1885" by Coleman
1831 - John moves with his parents to New Jersey, near Newark (he attends
carpenters school)
1833 - sent to work in Newark
Aug 1835 - moved with his father to Michigan City, Indiana.
9 May 1836 - marriage in Michigan City, La Porte Co., Indiana to Nancy
Glover
21 Jul 1842 - daughter Mary Jane born in Lake Co., Indiana
14 Mar 1848 - son Joseph "Emmons" born in Iowa according to 1880 Oregon
census for Clackamas Co. (sister Mary Jane's obituary says she came to
Forest City, Iowa "as a child"). According to Mary Middleton: They first
came to Osage, then to Floyd Co., Iowa. Emmons was actually born in Lake
Co., Indiana according to 1850 census.
1850 - census Winfield Twp., Lake Co., Indiana (John 33 NY Farmer; Nancy
36(?) Indiana; George 10; Mary J. 8; Joseph E. 3; James 1; Jane ? age 30
About 1853 - moved to Ulster Twp., Floyd Co., Iowa and bought 400 acres
on Flood Creek
1858-1866 - John Ball listed as one of the early Methodist ministers of
Forest City, Winnebago Co., Iowa
1876 - According to their great-granddaughter Iva Hubbard Cook in 1994,
John and Nancy Ball sold their farm in Floyd Co., Iowa and moved to
Sunnyside, Clackamas Co., Oregon to be near children (Emily Hubbard and
J. Emmons Ball) who had moved west in 1875. John and Nancy are NOT listed
on the 1880 Oregon census in either Multnomah Co. (Marvin & Emily Hubbard
are) or the Clackamas Co. (Emmons Ball is there). There is no 1890 census
because of loss of census records in a fire.
1887 - According to a paper written by their grandson Howard Ball in
1948, John and Nancy Ball sold their farm in Floyd Co., Iowa and moved to
Sunnyside, Clackamas Co., Oregon to be near two of their children (Emily
Hubbard and J. Emmons Ball).
1888 - Floyd Co. land sale by John & Nancy (signature of Nancy witnessed
by a James Glover in Buchanan Twp., Berrien Co., Michigan and she
relinquished her dowry rights?)
23 Jul 1891 - John Ball died in Sunnyside/Damascus, Clackamas Co., Oregon
(note from Joanne Todd Rabun: he is listed as an early Methodist minister
in Oregon, listed on the Damascus Pioneer Cemetery list. The gravesites
are south of the driveway and Damascas Pioneer Cemetery sign, east of the
green shed, under a "snowball" tree which blooms in May, tombstones are
sometimes covered with ivy.)
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