Parents: William Ball b: 2 JUN 1611 in London, England and Hannah Atherold b: 2 FEB 1617/18 in England.

The Ball family line connects to George Washington through his maternal lineage. Joseph Ball was the father to George Washington's Mother, Mary Ball Washington.

Joseph Ball (1649-1711) was born in England and came to Virginia sometime before his father's death, making his home at a plantation called Epping Forest. (This was also the estate where Mary Ball Washington, mother of the first President of the United States, was born). Joseph served as a justice of the county court, a vestryman for his church parish, as a Member of the House of Burgess (in 1698, 1700, and 1702), and as a lieutenant colonel in the county militia. Possible middle name: Matthaus.

Captain Joseph Ball's will was proven 15 Nov 1721. Abstracts of Lancaster County, Virginia Wills 1653-1800; {Ida J. Lee} BALL, Joseph,. Psh. St. Mary's White Chapel. Will. 25 June 1711. Rec. 11 July 1711. Wife Mary; son Joseph; daus. Hannah Travers; Anne Conway; Esther Chinn; Elizabeth Cornegie; Mary Ball; Eliza Johnson (dau. of his wife), dau. Mary, 400 acres of land in Richmond county; grandson James Cornegie (not 21) acknowledges gift to son Joseph Ball, and daus. Hannah Travers, Anne Conway and Esther Chinn made 11 Feb. 1707; Overseer John Hagan; negroes formerly belonging to Jon. Carnegie, decd. Extr. Joseph Ball. Wits. Geo. Finch, Elizabeth Finch, Margaret Miller, Joseph Taylor. W.B. 10, p. 88.

Col. Joseph Ball signed a will on 25 Jun 1711 in Lancaster Co., VA. in which he named step daughter, Elizabeth Johnson, 100 A. of land for life this is used for proof of marriage in this source. He had an estate probated on 11 Jul 1711 in Lancaster Co., VA.

Marriage 1-Female MNU Ball b: ABT 1653 in London, England Married: ABT 1669 in London, England. This marriage and child are not firmly proven. Children: John Ball b: 1670 in London, England.

From his marriage to Elizabeth Romney, who died by the early 1700's, he had five children listed in his will of 1711. The oldest child, daughter Frances, died in 1699. This wife's name has been seen as Julia or Elizabeth Julia but I have seen no documentation for it.

Marriage 2-Elizabeth Romney b: ABT 1659 in London, England Married: 1675 in London, England. From his marriage to Elizabeth Romney, who died by the early 1700's, he had five children listed in his will of 1711. This wife's name has been seen as Julia or Elizabeth Julia but I have seen no documentation for it.

Children

1. Frances Ball b: 1680 in Lancaster County, Virginia, d: 1699.
2. Hannah Ball b: 1683 in Lancaster County, Virginia
3. Easter Ball b: 1685 in Millenbeck, Lancaster County, Virginia
4. Elizabeth Ball b: 1685 in Lancaster County, Virginia
5. Anne Ball b: 3 OCT 1686 in Christ Church Parish, Lancaster County, Virginia - Probate
6. Joseph Ball b: 11 MAR 1688/89 in Morattico, Lancaster County, Virginia

Marriage 3-Mary Johnson (died 1721), a widow who had two children from her previous marriage. Together they had one child, a daughter named Mary Ball (1708-1789). Joseph passed away, however, soon after when Mary Ball was only three years old. Mary Johnson Ball was remarried the following year to a man named Richard Hewes, who left her a widow for the third time in 1713.

Marriage 3 Mary {Unproven} Bennett b: 1665 in West Chester, England Married: 1708 in Lancaster County, Virginia (conflict in surname of 3rd wife?)

Children

1. Mary Ball b: NOV 1708 in "Epping Forest", Lancaster County, Virginia

Sources

1. Roberts, Gary Boyd. Ancestors of American Presidents. (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009), p. 1. Maternal grandfather of George Washington. Joseph Ball, England. 24 May 1649, Epping Forest, Lancaster Co. between 25 June and 11 July 1711, c. 1707-8 (post 6 Feb. 1707) m. Mrs. Mary (___) Johnson. [Note that "Epping Forest" did not exist by that name until 1843. It was simply known as the "The Forest" or "The Forest Quarter." [1
2. Lancaster Will Book 10, in Lancaster Will Book 10, p. 88-93, 88-93 .
3. Ball Families of Virginia's Northern Neck, 45.
4. Virginia Genealogies, 47, 56, 1885, Questionable quality.

Links

• http://www.mountvernon.org/educational-resources/encyclopedia/ball-family
• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mrmarsha&id=I32786
• http://www.afamilytree.net/milesforsite/ball.html
• http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Joseph_Ball_%283%29_

The house at Epping Forest in Lancaster Co., VA was built in 1680 by Col. Joseph Ball. He named it after the Ball family estate in England. He gave the farm property and house to his son Joseph, Jr., and divided his personal property among all five of his children. He reserved the right to live in the manor until his death; shortly thereafter, he married again, to Mary Montague Johnson.

In his will of June 5, 1711, he bequeaths to Mary Ball four hundred acres lying in the freshies of the Rappahannock, part of his patent of sixteen hundred acres. He also mentions his son, Joseph, his daughters, Anne Conway and Esther Chinn, and Eliza Johnson, "the daughter of my beloved wife, " but he does not include Hannah Traverse or Elizabeth Carnegie. True, they might have died without issue, but this, and conflicting statements as to the family record, leaves a doubt as to the authencity of the last two names.

In 1706 Joseph Ball Sr. deeded property, which he had purchased as late as 1698 and upon which he had already begun the plantation house to become known as Morattico Plantation, to his son, Joseph Ball II. Part of this property had been bought from Charles Cale, a relative of whom, Thomas Ives, continued to own land containing Ives Creek (now Ivey Creek), the northern boundary of Joseph Ball's Morattico Plantation.

Mary Sue BALL Wilson's book says 'Educated in England, settled in London married first there. Barrister of Law at the English Bar.' He was married to Elizabeth ROMENY (daughter of William ROMNEY) in 1675 in VA. Elizabeth ROMENY died before 1703 in VA.

Col. Joseph Ball signed a will on 25 Jun 1711 in Lancaster Co., VA. in which he named step daughter, Elizabeth Johnson, 100 A. of land for life this is used for proof of marriage in this source. He had an estate probated on 11 Jul 1711 in Lancaster Co., VA. The will was proven 15 Nov 1721. (Abstracts of Lancaster County, Virginia Wills 1653-1800; {Ida J. Lee} BALL, Joseph,. Psh. St. Mary's White Chapel. Will. 25 June 1711. Rec. 11 July 1711). Wife Mary; son Joseph; daus. Hannah Travers; Anne Conway; Esther Chinn; Elizabeth Cornegie; Mary Ball; Eliza Johnson (dau. of his wife), dau. Mary, 400 acres of land in Richmond county; grandson James Cornegie (not 21) acknowledges gift to son Joseph Ball, and daus. Hannah Travers, Anne Conway and Esther Chinn made 11 Feb. 1707; Overseer John Hagan; negroes formerly belonging to Jon. Carnegie, decd. Extr. Joseph Ball. Wits. Geo. Finch, Elizabeth Finch, Margaret Miller, Joseph Taylor. W.B. 10, p. 88.

Eliza Johnson, Joseph Ball's step daughter, is remembered in the will of Joseph Ball with a 100 acres in 1711. "Col. Ball gave his wife a part of his estate during her natural life, with stock, slaves, etc.; to his daughter Mary, he gave 400 acres in Richmond Co.; to Eliza Johnson, 100 acres in Lancaster Co. The Lancaster Co. records could show what disposition she made of this land. She was probably 15 or 18 years old when Col. Ball died, born say 1695, and of suitable age to have married Thomas Lanier."

His estate has caused a considerable argument among researchers.Horance Edwin Hayden laid out the case against the Lanier family connection to George Washington's aunt in an article in ["William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine," Vol. 3, No. 1. (Jul., 1894), pp. 68-74.]

Record of Miltary Service: 1699 , Virginia - Militia Officers in Virginia, June 1699. Lancaster County - Col. Robert Carter - Commander in Chief and Lt. - Col. Joseph Ball.

Sources: Headlam, Cecil, ed., Calender of State Papers, Colonial Series (Volume 17), America and West Indies, 1699, also Addenda, 1621-1698. Preserved in the Public Record Office (Vaduz: Kraus Reprint Ltd., 1964) First Published London: HMSO, 1908. pp. 267-268.