The New England Ball Project is a modified "one-name" study that attempts to identify as many "Ball" surname persons resident in New England at some time between circa 1630 and the present, to link them in families, ideally headed by "Ball" immigrant ancestors to North America. The intent is to document the source(s) for all names, relationships, dates, places, and events that that make up the database in the Project and to publish the families in a way that all have access to the results without cost.
In particular it is intended to record New England events for Ball surname people through a review of primary records (e.g., vital records, church records, probate records, land records, census, etc.) and assignment of as many individual records as possible to specific individuals in the various Ball families developed.
While there is no prohibition on tracking Ball descendants of other surnames, the focus of the Project will be on the Ball surname and additions to the trees beyond the Ball surname will be done on an ad-hoc basis (generally because someone else has donated the material). Similarly, the Project includes tracking Ball surname descendants that migrate outside of New England, but the level of primary record detail for those cases will likely be less than for New England events and typically only be supported by census records, on-line data, and secondary sources.
WHAT IS NEW?
The main focus for the next month will be to upgrade the website to the latest version of "Second Site". Look toward sometime in July for a new presentation for the DNA page that will display actual test results and hopefully some enhanced navigation capability throughout the website.
If you are working on a family branch contained on this website and are willing to share data, but find following the links from person to person cumbersome, email to the address at the bottom of this page and a report can be crafted to suit your needs for an easier way to compare data.
More photos of non-living people on the website are needed. Photos are alphabetized by last name, then first name. There are several famous people in the "photo gallery", including a US President and a British Prime Minister and the star of "I Love Lucy". Click on any photo to get to that person's page.
Are your Ball line descendants posted? We would welcome information on your branch of the family and their photos. Click the "Add & Correct" tab for instructions.
BIBLE RECORD AVAILABLE
Are you a descendant of William Henry Ball and Mary Fremoyle Sweetser of New Hampshire, perhaps through their daughter Mary that married Andrew Quero? I have high quality scans of the family pages from the family Bible given to them by their son Albert H. Ball that I will share.