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Saturday, November 17, 2012

Surname Saturday ~ Ball of Watertown, Massachusetts


BALL

John Ball went to Nashaway Plantation, later called Lancaster, Massachusetts.  He was one of three men sent to occupy the land.  He was a tailor, and his first wife, Elizabeth Pierce, went insane about 1660.  The court gave guardianship of three children to her parents, and gave his in-laws guardianship of his wife. She died and he remarried to Elizabeth Fox.  They removed to Lancaster where in 1675 he, his wife, and infant son Joseph were slain during an Indian massacre and two other children (Esther and Abigail) were taken captive. The surviving children were probably living with his Pierce in-laws in Watertown.

His son, also called John Ball, administered to his father’s estate after the massacre. He was a weaver, and learned his trade from his grandfather Peirce.

Some sources for researching the descendants of John Ball include the History of Watertown by Henry Boston, 1860, Stone-Gregg Genealogy by Alicia Crane Williams, 1987, and Divided We Stand: Watertown, Massachusetts 1630 – 1680, by Roger Thompson, 2001, pages 1008 – 109.  There is a book The Descendants of John Ball, Watertown, Massachusetts, by Frank Densmore Warren and Mrs. George H. Ball, 1932 available to read online at Archive.org.  There is a fairly accurate family tree at the website www.newenglandballproject.com

One famous descendant of John Ball is the actress Lucille Ball (1911 – 1989).

My Ball family lineage:

Generation 1.  John Ball, born 1620, died on 10 September 1675  at Lancaster, Massachusetts; married Elizabeth Pierce, daughter of John Pierce and Elizabeth Hart, who died about 3 October 1665 in Lancaster. Five children, including Mary Ball who was the second wife of my 7x great grandfather William Munroe.  John Ball married second on 3 August 1665 to Elizabeth Fox and had three more children.

Generation 2. John Ball, son of John Ball and Elizabeth Pierce, born 1644 in Watertown, Massachusetts, died 8 May 1722; married on 17 August 1665 to Sarah Bullard, daughter of George Bullard and Beatrice Hall. Nine children.

Generation 3. Daniel Ball, born 2 August 1683 in Watertown, died 9 March 1718 in Watertown, married on 10 November 1708 to Mary Earl, daughter of John Earl and Mary Lawrence, born 9 January 1690 in Watertown. Two children.

Generation 4. Mary Ball, born 27 December 1709 in Watertown, married on 4 May 1726 in Watertown to Joseph Mixer, son of Joseph Mixer and Anna Jones, born 14 December 1705 in Watertown. Eight children.

Generation 5. Lucy Mixer m. Andrew Munroe
Generation 6. Andrew Munroe m. Ruth Simonds
Generation 7. Luther Simonds Munroe m. Olive Flint
Generation 8. Phebe Cross Munroe m. Robert Wilson Wilkinson
Generation 9. Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill
Generation 10. Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

3 comments:

  1. Wow. Now I'm fixated on the two children taken captive by the Indians. Do you know anything else about what happened to them?

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    1. No, I don´t know about these two children. I do know the fates of some other ancestors who were taken captive. Some decided to stay in Quebec, and others were redeemed (returned). They may have died on the march to Canada since they were very young. Sad.

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  2. Heather, thanks for this. Making a journey out this way later in the year, the sources for researching were very helpful.

    Matt Ball

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