All My Ancestors

24 January 2007

William Green Ball, MD

Filed under: Ball Family, Cemeteries, Green Family, How to, Indiana, Iowa, New York City — allmyanc @ 2:00 pm

This is my 4th great-grandfather, William Green Ball.

William G. Ball

Remember, he’s the one whose mother I finally found not too long ago. We’d always suspected his middle name came from his mother’s maiden name but didn’t know for sure. After all, he had brothers named Jacob Weaver Ball and James Robinson Ball, and those were perfectly good maiden names as well.

He died in Iowa in 1881, and I wish I knew more about when and where this photo was taken. I’ve never seen the original, but there seem to be some other family photos that were taken at the same time. On the 1880 census, he and Elizabeth, his wife, are living down in Benton County, Arkansas. He was born in New York City in 1808, went to Clark County, Indiana after the death of his father about 1818, and then on to Warren County, Iowa by 1848. I suspect he spent some time in Missouri before he went to Iowa but I haven’t dug that part out yet. I do have some indication that he was in Montgomery County, Kansas in between Iowa and Arkansas. He became a part of the community wherever he was, but he also didn’t seem hesitant to move on if he thought there were more opportunities elsewhere.

In Iowa he was a “country doctor,” but he was also one of the founding members of the agricultural society. On occasions he ran for a county office, and his home was sometimes the voting site for the precinct where he lived west of Indianola. His father had been a shipbuilder and both of his brothers remained in New York City. Two of his sons died “crossing the plains,” and he raised one of their daughters, Martha Jane, who was my grandmother’s grandmother. I feel fortunate to have a photo of him. It took me a long time to find it, and sure enough, it proved my theory that you have to track the daughters of the daughters of the daughters–she’s the one who had them. Thanks so much, Kel.

And here’s Grandmother Elizabeth Charlton Ball.
Elizabeth Charlton Ball

She was born in Tennessee, married in Indiana, and died in Iowa in October, just weeks after her husband. In fact, his obituary of September, 1881, says “he returned to Warren County about 4 weeks ago, with his aged wife, who it is expected will soon follow him to the long sleep.” Sure enough, they both “sleep” in Linn Grove Cemetery in Warren County, Iowa.

Linn Grove Cemetery

That tall marker just to the right of the flag pole is theirs. Her name is on one side and his is on the other.

19 January 2007

Ahead of myself

Filed under: Uncategorized — allmyanc @ 1:31 pm

It almost never happens, and I can’t explain it this time–that I get something done early, that is.  Yesterday’s post should have been posted today!!  On the 19th.  I’m pretty sure this isn’t an indication of my age, even though it’s all about birthdays.  Happy birthday to all.

18 January 2007

Two Grandmothers, a Father-in-Law, and Robert E. Lee

Filed under: Anderton Family, Grandmother O, Oklahoma, Osborne Family, Spindle Family, Texas — allmyanc @ 8:16 pm

Today is the birth date of both of my grandmothers and my father-in-law.

As a kid, I always thought it was kind of neat that my grandmothers had the same birthday. They were not born the same year–Grandmother Osborne, my paternal grandmother, was born in 1894 near Cleburne, in Johnson County, Texas. Granny Unruh, my maternal grandmother, was born in 1906 in Oklahoma Territory in Beckham County, 1 year before Oklahoma became a state. January 19 is also the birth date of Robert E. Lee, and with a couple of grandfathers who were Confederate soldiers, her middle name was declared to be Lee in his honor. (Today was his 200th, and Gran always called him “Bobby Lee.”) Both of Grandmother Osborne’s grandfathers were Confederate soldiers as well. Her paternal grandfather and 3 of his brothers all died in the Civil War–it’s a heartbreaking story. I hoped to name a daughter Rachel after her but alas, 2 boys.

And, as it happens, the man who is my father-in-law, though I never got to meet him, was born the same day as my maternal grandmother–January 19, 1906. He was born in Texas on the same day Granny Unruh was born in Oklahoma Territory. My mother-in-law, who is now 90, used to refer to my grandparents as the “old folks.” His name was Thomas Jeptha, though he always went by T.J., and when he had to give a full name, he used Thomas Jefferson. Pick a name, any name. I think he was a bit of a character.

Guess it’s all relative.

14 January 2007

Another DNA Match . . . sort of

Filed under: DNA, Osborne Family — allmyanc @ 12:29 pm

I got notification of another DNA match.

Remember the guy I said I matched on 36 out of 37 markers? The one whose last name — Hamilton — was not any where near “Osborne” but whose ancestors did live in Wake County, North Carolina, in the same neighborhood during the same time period as my ancestor Christopher Osborne? The one whose ancestor had 3 sons out of wedlock? Well, this match is another one of that family, and their surname matches his — Hamilton — and we match 25 markers out of 25. Supposedly, this means that we have about an 85% chance of sharing a common ancestor within 8 generations. Christopher Osborne, my earliest known ancestor, is my 4th great-grandfather, which I think means he is 7 generations from me. I don’t know if he fathered those children, or one of his brothers or other relatives did–but I sure would like to know.

As I said in my original DNA post, my hope was that DNA testing would answer some of these long standing questions, but it has instead generated more. There are some other matches with differing surnames, and I may be off the track by believing that this Hamilton match merits more attention because of the geographical proximity. But I had the opportunity to ask geneatology guru Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak when she was here last year and she said it was worth pursuing if the haplotypes matched and we matched at the 37 marker level. My guess is she would say we should go ahead and pursue the now-available 67 marker test available. It’s only money. (She wouldn’t say that last part–she’s much too nice.)

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