Mrs. William Ball has been found!!

What was her name? Was she a daughter of Jacob Weaver, her husband’s business partner and the namesake of one of her sons? Where did she die? Did she go west with her children after her husband’s death? Daughter Ann’s account in a Delaware County Ohio history seems to indicate this. But she’s also in the NYC city directory of 1819-1820. Was she in Clark County, Indiana by December 1820 when her daughter Adeline married James Linton? (And who was James Linton, by the way?)

Her name was Ann Pamela Green. You can find more information about how I finally found her on the blog at www.allmyancestors.com/blog and she was probably from Baltimore. She did indeed go west and died in Charlestown, Clark County, Indiana in September 1821. Her death notice from the New York Spectator is posted here with her newly revised entry. And so is her date of marriage to William Ball, which occurred in 1797 in Baltimore, I believe.

Christopher Osborne

Christopher Osborne has been the stopping place for Osborne family researchers for decades. He, or a person with his name that I believe to be him, first appears in Granville District in North Carolina in 1754 in the Granville Co. regiment. He’s on the taxrolls in 1755 and 1756 and receives land in Granville in 1760. In 1772, he’s in Wake County on a jury and is granted land in 1777-78. He’s a juror again in 1783, and by 1786, he’s selling land in Wake County and buying it in Mecklenburg County. He dies, probably at the end of 1788. But where did he come from? Who were his parents? siblings? I’ve even done DNA with no insight so far. (see separate article)

Mrs. Christopher Osborne

Family tradition says she was Sarah Magruder, supposedly daughter of Dr. Archibald Magruder. I have not been able to document this connection. And no marriage record has been found. I can find no Archibald Magruder who is in the right time and place to be Sarah’s father. Was her name McCurdy rather than Magruder? McGregor? I do tend to believe that her father’s name was Archibald, based on the name of one of her sons—Archibald M. Osborne. He was a physician, so perhaps the lines got blurred. Or, maybe not, and I just haven’t found the right one. Let me know if you have ideas on this one.

William Ball

William Ball was a shipwright and in business, at least part of his career, with Jacob Weaver. He is also sometimes identified as a mariner. Some family lore says he was in the military—I haven’t found him in the War of 1812 and I think he was too young to have been in the Revolutionary War, though maybe he was in a militia at some point. Who were his parents? I believe he had a brother named John, but which John in NYC is his brother? the cabinetmaker? the mason? the customs house clerk? and then there’s the oysterman and the comb manufacturer. And some of these guys may be the same person. William’s father was supposedly also named John, and this John, according to some theories, was the son of Bethuel Ball. From Bethuel on back, the information can be found at http://www.altlaw.com/EDBALL/biged1.htm. Again, all theories and information are welcome.