James Ball, Sr.

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 was to inherit 100 acres of old plantation of his father.

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. This was a time of great discrimination against Catholics in Maryland and Virginia, and oppressed Catholics tended to rely on each other.

James inherited the following, per his father's Will: "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." "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.

Links

• http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:James_Ball_%284%29
• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=40686061
• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=89197051
• Find A Grave Memorial # 89197051

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 married a lady named Catherine and to this union two sons were born:

• 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)
• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Sep 1 2017, 13:06:29 UTC