Edward H. Ball

NJGenWeb ~ Morris County, New Jersey

Edward H. Ball

Source: History Morris County New Jersey, Volume II, Lewis Publishing Co., 1914

The original settler of the family in the State was Edward BALL, who with his wife Abigail (BLATCHLY) BALL, of Branford, Connecticut, removed to Newark, New Jersey, in 1767, where he was an important man of affairs, holding many positions of trust and honor; in 1683 he was appointed on a committee to settle certain differences between the settlers and the lord proprietors, and was continued on this very important committee while all his associates were changed; in 1793 he received the appointment of high sheriff of the county. The first map of Newark shows his home lot (said to have been six acres) situate between Broad and Washington streets. About 1740 Deacon John BALL, son of Caleb BALL, and grandson of Edward BALL, removed from Newark to Hanover, Morris county, (but at that date all being in Hunterdon county); the farm was purchased from the Indians, and when sold by James H. BALL, a great-grandson of Deacon John BALL, about the year 1870, the first deed was drawn for the property. Deacon John BALL was one of the founders and strong supporters of the Hanover church and his son, Captain Samuel BALL, was also deacon for many years in the church his father helped to build. Captain Samuel BALL served in the first company of minute-men organized in this township and the soldiers stationed at Morristown during the scourge of smallpox were some of them carried to Captain Samuel BALL's barn, where the children would steal away to peer through the crack as they were forbidden to enter. There were twelve children in this family, Amzi Lewis, the youngest son, whose commission as lieutenant of the One Hundred and Fortieth Regiment of Infantry of the State of New York, dated May 1, 1815, is now with other old and valued papers in the possession of his grandson, Edward Halsey BALL, whose name heads this sketch. Anthony D. BALL, father of E. Halsey BALL, was a carpenter and contractor, and died in Montclair, New Jersey, while still a young man. He married Sarah D. BALDWIN, a descendant of Revolutionary stock, and whose father, Captain John J. BALDWIN, was stationed at Sandy Hook and was a member of the legislature; she died in Montclair at the age of seventy years. They had four children, of whom three died in early youth.

E. Halsey BALL was born in Montclair, New Jersey, in 1855. He there attended the public schools and the high school. After holding positions of varied responsibility, he filled the office of paymaster for the New York & Ohio Coal Company at Cleveland, Ohio, for about five years, but was obliged to resign by reason of impaired health. He then came to his present location in 1885, purchasing a farm of seventy acres, and has since that time been identified with farming interests. Mr. BALL married Annette C., a daughter of the late Monroe HOWELL, and the house in which they live at the present time was built in 1788 by a great-great-grandfather of Mrs. BALL, Ebenezer FARRAND. It has never been out of the possession of some member of the family since its erection, and Mr. BALL's daughter is the sixth generation in a direct line to live in it. Mrs. BALL is historian of the local chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution. They have one child, Helen, who married William O. FARRAND, and they live on an adjoining farm; they have one daughter, Annette Elizabeth. Mr. BALL is a staunch Republican, and is now serving as collector of the township. Since living here, he has also conducted a store, and has been paymaster for an ice company. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and has been an elder in this institution for the past twenty-five years. He has been superintendent of the Sunday school connected with it for many years. This was stared in 1814. The present church building was erected in 1828.