James was the eldest child of John Ball I and his first wife Sinah. James had three younger sisters--Mary, Sinah, and Martha. When his mother died (1708/1709), his father remarried to a young catholic Welsh heiress named Winifred Williams (daughter of William ap Williams and Ann Harrison) on 9 Mar 1710. James' father and his new step mother, Winifred, had four more children (Ann, John II, Moses, George), making them James' half siblings. James moved with his family to Great Hunting Creek in Stafford County between 1715 and 1717 on land his father had purchased from Robert Bret, executor of Nicholas Brent, in 1715.
James became a Lieutenant of the Continental Line, in the American Revolution. Evidence of this is found in "Virginia Soldiers of 1776" by Louis A. Burgess:
"LIEUT. JAMES BALL, Executive Dept., Apr. 116, 1833. The heirs of James Ball are allowed Land Bounty for his services as a Lieutenant in the continental Line for 3 yrs., If not heretofore drawn. (Signed) John Floyd, Governor." AND "FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA, "December Court, Mar. 14, 1885. It was ordered to be certified that James Ball, who is said to have been an officer in the Revolutionary War, died about the year 1783; that Moses Ball, of Fairfax County, was his elder brother and heir; that Moses Ball died in 1792, testate, intestate as to the estate of his brother James Ball.....Copy teste, F. W. Richardson, Clerk."
Source: "The Ball Family of Southwest Virginia" by Palmer R. Ball (1933) pg 4
This was a time of great discrimination against Catholics in Maryland and Virginia, and oppressed Catholics tended to rely on each other. James may have chosen to live in the Potomack Hundred in Maryland (present-day area of Georgetown in Washington, D.C.) prior to 1733 because there were priests and numerous Catholic families there, i.e., a Catholic community that flourished clandestinely until after the Revolution. Holy Trinity Catholic Church records in Georgetown, Washington County, District of Columbia from 1832 - 1838 show clearly that descendants of James Ball were Catholics who were baptized and married there.
James married a lady named Catherine. They had two sons
John
James Jr.
In his father's will, John Ball I left two Items to James as stated,
"Item: I give and bequeath to my well beloved son James Ball that plantation where he now dwells and as much of that tract of land joining at both ends of the said plantation as shall make the quantity of one hundred acres to him and his heirs lawfully begotten for ever, but in default of such heirs then to fall to the next male heir of the kin for ever." ,
"Item: I give and bequeath to my son James Ball one case of Pistols & Holsters it being all that I design that he shall have of my estate with the land before mentioned to cutting him off from all ye rest."
Sources:
"The Ball Family of Southwest Virginia" by Palmer R. Ball (1933)
"The Ball Family of the Potomac (1654-2004)" by Doris LeClerc Ball, PH.D. and George L. Ball, M.S.
"Ball Family History" by Joan Huseman Ball (1980)
James became a Lieutenant of the Continental Line, in the American Revolution. Evidence of this is found in "Virginia Soldiers of 1776" by Louis A. Burgess:
"LIEUT. JAMES BALL, Executive Dept., Apr. 116, 1833. The heirs of James Ball are allowed Land Bounty for his services as a Lieutenant in the continental Line for 3 yrs., If not heretofore drawn. (Signed) John Floyd, Governor." AND "FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA, "December Court, Mar. 14, 1885. It was ordered to be certified that James Ball, who is said to have been an officer in the Revolutionary War, died about the year 1783; that Moses Ball, of Fairfax County, was his elder brother and heir; that Moses Ball died in 1792, testate, intestate as to the estate of his brother James Ball.....Copy teste, F. W. Richardson, Clerk."
Source: "The Ball Family of Southwest Virginia" by Palmer R. Ball (1933) pg 4
This was a time of great discrimination against Catholics in Maryland and Virginia, and oppressed Catholics tended to rely on each other. James may have chosen to live in the Potomack Hundred in Maryland (present-day area of Georgetown in Washington, D.C.) prior to 1733 because there were priests and numerous Catholic families there, i.e., a Catholic community that flourished clandestinely until after the Revolution. Holy Trinity Catholic Church records in Georgetown, Washington County, District of Columbia from 1832 - 1838 show clearly that descendants of James Ball were Catholics who were baptized and married there.
James married a lady named Catherine. They had two sons
John
James Jr.
In his father's will, John Ball I left two Items to James as stated,
"Item: I give and bequeath to my well beloved son James Ball that plantation where he now dwells and as much of that tract of land joining at both ends of the said plantation as shall make the quantity of one hundred acres to him and his heirs lawfully begotten for ever, but in default of such heirs then to fall to the next male heir of the kin for ever." ,
"Item: I give and bequeath to my son James Ball one case of Pistols & Holsters it being all that I design that he shall have of my estate with the land before mentioned to cutting him off from all ye rest."
Sources:
"The Ball Family of Southwest Virginia" by Palmer R. Ball (1933)
"The Ball Family of the Potomac (1654-2004)" by Doris LeClerc Ball, PH.D. and George L. Ball, M.S.
"Ball Family History" by Joan Huseman Ball (1980)
James was the eldest child of John Ball I and his first wife Sinah. James had three younger sisters--Mary, Sinah, and Martha. When his mother died (1708/1709), his father remarried to a young catholic Welsh heiress named Winifred Williams (daughter of William ap Williams and Ann Harrison) on 9 Mar 1710. James' father and his new step mother, Winifred, had four more children (Ann, John II, Moses, George), making them James' half siblings. James moved with his family to Great Hunting Creek in Stafford County between 1715 and 1717 on land his father had purchased from Robert Bret, executor of Nicholas Brent, in 1715.
James became a Lieutenant of the Continental Line, in the American Revolution. Evidence of this is found in "Virginia Soldiers of 1776" by Louis A. Burgess:
"LIEUT. JAMES BALL, Executive Dept., Apr. 116, 1833. The heirs of James Ball are allowed Land Bounty for his services as a Lieutenant in the continental Line for 3 yrs., If not heretofore drawn. (Signed) John Floyd, Governor." AND "FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA, "December Court, Mar. 14, 1885. It was ordered to be certified that James Ball, who is said to have been an officer in the Revolutionary War, died about the year 1783; that Moses Ball, of Fairfax County, was his elder brother and heir; that Moses Ball died in 1792, testate, intestate as to the estate of his brother James Ball.....Copy teste, F. W. Richardson, Clerk."
Source: "The Ball Family of Southwest Virginia" by Palmer R. Ball (1933) pg 4
This was a time of great discrimination against Catholics in Maryland and Virginia, and oppressed Catholics tended to rely on each other. James may have chosen to live in the Potomack Hundred in Maryland (present-day area of Georgetown in Washington, D.C.) prior to 1733 because there were priests and numerous Catholic families there, i.e., a Catholic community that flourished clandestinely until after the Revolution. Holy Trinity Catholic Church records in Georgetown, Washington County, District of Columbia from 1832 - 1838 show clearly that descendants of James Ball were Catholics who were baptized and married there.
James married a lady named Catherine. They had two sons
John
James Jr.
In his father's will, John Ball I left two Items to James as stated,
"Item: I give and bequeath to my well beloved son James Ball that plantation where he now dwells and as much of that tract of land joining at both ends of the said plantation as shall make the quantity of one hundred acres to him and his heirs lawfully begotten for ever, but in default of such heirs then to fall to the next male heir of the kin for ever." ,
"Item: I give and bequeath to my son James Ball one case of Pistols & Holsters it being all that I design that he shall have of my estate with the land before mentioned to cutting him off from all ye rest."
Sources:
"The Ball Family of Southwest Virginia" by Palmer R. Ball (1933)
"The Ball Family of the Potomac (1654-2004)" by Doris LeClerc Ball, PH.D. and George L. Ball, M.S.
"Ball Family History" by Joan Huseman Ball (1980)
James became a Lieutenant of the Continental Line, in the American Revolution. Evidence of this is found in "Virginia Soldiers of 1776" by Louis A. Burgess:
"LIEUT. JAMES BALL, Executive Dept., Apr. 116, 1833. The heirs of James Ball are allowed Land Bounty for his services as a Lieutenant in the continental Line for 3 yrs., If not heretofore drawn. (Signed) John Floyd, Governor." AND "FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA, "December Court, Mar. 14, 1885. It was ordered to be certified that James Ball, who is said to have been an officer in the Revolutionary War, died about the year 1783; that Moses Ball, of Fairfax County, was his elder brother and heir; that Moses Ball died in 1792, testate, intestate as to the estate of his brother James Ball.....Copy teste, F. W. Richardson, Clerk."
Source: "The Ball Family of Southwest Virginia" by Palmer R. Ball (1933) pg 4
This was a time of great discrimination against Catholics in Maryland and Virginia, and oppressed Catholics tended to rely on each other. James may have chosen to live in the Potomack Hundred in Maryland (present-day area of Georgetown in Washington, D.C.) prior to 1733 because there were priests and numerous Catholic families there, i.e., a Catholic community that flourished clandestinely until after the Revolution. Holy Trinity Catholic Church records in Georgetown, Washington County, District of Columbia from 1832 - 1838 show clearly that descendants of James Ball were Catholics who were baptized and married there.
James married a lady named Catherine. They had two sons
John
James Jr.
In his father's will, John Ball I left two Items to James as stated,
"Item: I give and bequeath to my well beloved son James Ball that plantation where he now dwells and as much of that tract of land joining at both ends of the said plantation as shall make the quantity of one hundred acres to him and his heirs lawfully begotten for ever, but in default of such heirs then to fall to the next male heir of the kin for ever." ,
"Item: I give and bequeath to my son James Ball one case of Pistols & Holsters it being all that I design that he shall have of my estate with the land before mentioned to cutting him off from all ye rest."
Sources:
"The Ball Family of Southwest Virginia" by Palmer R. Ball (1933)
"The Ball Family of the Potomac (1654-2004)" by Doris LeClerc Ball, PH.D. and George L. Ball, M.S.
"Ball Family History" by Joan Huseman Ball (1980)
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