Ulysses Simpson Connelly

It was told to the family that Ulysses's dad, Joel Jackson Jr., was riding to his father-in-law's (Moses P. Ball) house, when he took ill, fell from his horse and died, March 10, 1870; Ulysses was 2 days short of 7 months old. Ulysses's mother, Emily Ball Connelly remarried to William Marcus Dixon and they had their first child John in 1874 in Montague County, Tx.

Ulysses told his children that his step father, William Dixon, was a very mean man. He (Dixon) once cut the udder off a cow with a knife because she kicked as he was trying to milk her. Ulysses ran away from home at a very young age because of him. He went to live with his grandparents the Balls (Moses and Lavina, mother Emily's parents).