| Notes |
- Source for the family of Edward and Keziah Ball is principally the IGI of the LDS Family History Department, Salt Lake City, which in turn obtained the data from various sources, which are available upon request.The christening records and marriage records of Christ Church, Middlesex, Virginia are the principal sources of these submitters. Additional information obtained from the records of the National Society of the Colonial Dames under the Ball Family of Middlesex County. Edward Ball and later his wife, Keziah, were both Sextons of the Middlesex church.
This family was apparently very poor, as recited in the book A Place in Time wherein it was said that the sextonships of the churches was a form of poor relief, and the specific example was set forth in the case of the Edward Ball family, consisting of eleven children. Edward was named Sexton of the Middle Church in 1714 and served until his death in 1726, when the sextonship was awarded to his widow, Keziah, who held it until she in turn died ten years later. In that year, two sextonships were open, one at the Middle Church and the other at the Lower Church. Widow Elizabeth Long was awarded the vacancy at the Middle Church; the Lower Church position went to Keziah's son in law, Joseph Smith. When Smith died in 1740, Keziah's daughter, Elizabeth, was named to replace him. Elizabeth had one grown son, Edward, but he could give little help to his mother, for what he had was expended on the family of his indigent father-in-law, Phillip Brooks, five of whose orphans were in Edward's care at vestry expense in 1745.
Found on the website of Jim Ball (http://web.raex.com/~jdball/notes.htm), he states "Nothing is known of the early life of Edward Ball other than he was a poor freeman at the time of his marriage. It is doubtful he was native born and there is no known record of importation or indenture. There are three other contemporary individuals of the Ball surname who meet these same conditions, namely Elizabeth, Ann and Henry. It cannot at this time be proved they are siblings, but there is circumstantial evidence to support this conclusion.
"While speculative, these four would seem to be the children of a William and Elizabeth Ball who were imported by Oswald Cary, a wealthy young merchant who became a parish vestryman. William appears to have died shortly upon arrival, or possibly even at sea. Elizabeth served a relatively short stormy indenture and then married John Tidbury. There seems no further record of them. It is possible that William and Elizabeth partially paid their own transportation, and fully paid for that of their children.
"Edward and Keziah had three sons survive to adulthood. It is likely the futures of Edward Jr., Daniel, and Benjamin would have been as tenant farmers or sharecroppers had they remained in Middlesex. The dramatic increase in slave population forced them and others to move on. While Edward Jr. and Benjamin moved northward, Daniel went south into the Carolinas. Advances are underway in unraveling this NC line.
"Meanwhile, there are published genealogies which give Benjamin, son of Daniel Ball, as the Benjamin who married Ann McIntosh and moved into Kentucky and fathered a sizable family. No evidence to support this has been located.
"Quite contrary to the above, the Benjamin who married Ann McIntosh was, without question, the son of Edward, Jr. "Ann" appears to be Peggy McEntosh of Stafford County. Benjamin went into Kentucky with his cousin James, son of Benjamin, and was later joined by members of his immediate family.
"The families which descended from Benjamin and Edward appear to have remained close for several generations. The various lines which moved into Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana seem to have remained in contact with their roots in Fauquier, Virginia. No evidence of contact has been found between the Fauquier Balls and their cousins out of Middlesex following the move north of Edward and Benjamin. The single exception to this may be members of the Owen family who may have settled in Prince William."
Keziah OSBORNE and Edward BALL Sr. were married about 1695 in Christ Church Parish, Middlesex County, Virginia
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~keholmes/Johnson/b62.htm#P404
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Abt 1676 - 1726 (~ 50 years)
