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AMOS ENTHEUS BALL,
well known as a farmer and stock raiser in Delaware township, traces
his descent to Caleb Ball, his great-grandfather, who came to Mercer
county from Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1794, and located on a
farm in Worth township. He was a soldier in both the Revolutionary war
and the war of 1812, and he died suddenly April 9, 1814, in the town of
Mercer. Caleb Ball married Phoebe Walton, and her father, George
Walton, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. They
became the parents of eight children: Amos, who was a soldier in the
war of 1812; Caleb, Jonathan, Henry, Sarah, Mercy, Asena and William.
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Amos Ball, a son of this brave
patriot, was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1793. He moved
to Worth township in Mercer county in 1794, and to Delaware township in
1824. He died on his farm there on the 17th of May, 1861, and his
remains now lie at rest in the graveyard on the old homestead by the
side of those of his wife, who died April 1, 1881. They were members of
the Methodist church, and he in politics was a Democrat. He was a local
minister of the Methodist denomination, and was a justice of the peace
of Pymatuning, Hempfield, Otter Creek and Delaware townships for thirty
or forty years, having been appointed by the different governors of the
state of Pennsylvania. He married in 1819 Elizabeth, a daughter of
Daniel Harper, a farmer in Cool Spring township. To Amos Hall and wife
were born seven children, namely: Phoebe, Caleb. Elizabeth, Amos
Walton, Francis Asbury, Lucinda and William Fletcher.
Amos
Walton Ball, their son, born in August, 1824, in Cool Spring township,
went to the state of Illinois when a young man and was county surveyor
of Jasper county there for twelve years, He surveyed the borough of
Fredonia, Mercer county, and a map of this which he made is on file in
the prothonotary's office in Mercer. For this he received $55.
Amos Walton Ball married Eliza Jane Earley, born in 1832 in Delaware
township, a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Matox) Earley, farmers of
this township. Mrs. Ball was for many years and until her marriage a
teacher in the schools of Newton, Illinois, and she now [1909] makes
her home with her daughter Florence, Mrs. Thomas Jennings, of Whatcom,
Washington. To Amos Walton Ball and his wife were born eight children,
as follows: Elizabeth, widow of Willis Donaldson and a resident of New
Hamburg; Amos Entheus, who is mentioned below; Judson, a dentist in
Mount Pleasant, Iowa, married Catharine Allen; Florence, wife of Thomas
Jennings, who was born in Allegheny county; Norman Elsworth, deceased,
married Eva Lynch, of Mercer, and they had one child, Norman Elsworth,
Jr.; Hiram Kingsley, of Seattle, Washington, spent four years in mining
in the Klondike gold fields; Robert, a physician in Tacoma, Washington;
Charles Frederick, a graduate from Volant College in Lawrence county,
Pennsylvania. He was afterward the principal of that institution for
ten years, resigning to take up the study of law. He married Martha, a
daughter of ex-Sheriff Ayers, of Lawrence county. Amos Walton and Eliza
Jane Ball were members of the Methodist church and to this faith the
widow still clings, lie was in politics a Democrat, and served as a
director of the school board of Delaware township for many years.
Amos
Entheus Ball was born on the 15th of October, 1858, in Jasper county,
Illinois, and he attended in his youth the common schools of Delaware
township and the State Normal at Edinboro. From that time on he was
engaged in farming until 1899, when with his brother Hiram Kingsley he
went to the Klondike and mined for three years with good success. While
there he was the means of saving from drowning the life of William
Evans, a Scotchman, and he was also the means of rescuing from freezing
a man who had already lost his fingers, ears and feet from the cold.
And again he assisted in rescuing three men, Wolf, Aberg and Conley,
from suffocation from gas in the mines, but Conley died after being
taken out. For these many acts of heroism and bravery Mr. Ball was
presented with a gold medal from Captain Rutledge, of Dawson. Returning
to his farm of one hundred and thirty-five acres in Delaware township,
he on the 8th of June, 1904, married Mrs. Rena (Reigles) Shellheimer,
the widow of Willard Shellheimer, who was accidentally killed while
employed on the Bessemer Railroad. Mr. and Mrs. Shellheimer had two
children, Herbert and Hazel. Mrs. Ball is a daughter of William and
Lucy (Simmons) Reigles, of Fredonia. The father served in Company J,
Third Indiana Cavalry Regiment, in the Civil war, and was confined in
Libby prison for a short time. Mr. and Mrs. Ball have one child, Amos
Walton, born October 29, 1905. Mrs. Ball is a member of the Christian
Science church. Mr. Ball has membership relations with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows in Fredonia. In politics he is a Prohibitionist.
The
homestead farm of Amos Ball is an historic one, made doubly so from the
old burying ground located thereon. And it is known to a certainty that
in this historic spot lie the remains of a soldier of the Revolution, a
soldier of the Mexican war, three soldiers from the war of 1812 and
three Indians. It is a valuable old place, rich in the
reminiscences of the olden days.
Twentieth Century History of Mercer County, 1909, pages 837-839 |
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