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 sources 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.
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, primary data available on-line, and secondary sources.
NAVIGATING THE WEBSITE
All of the people on the website are listed in alphabetical order by surname, then given name, and then by birth date. Go to the Master Index and scan down for the range of names that likely includes the person you are searching for; click on that line and then find the group containing the target given name. Click on that name group to go to the details page and continue to scan down to find a match for your search. If you reach the end of the page, go back to the top and click on the tab "next page" to continue.
Click on an underlined name and jump to that person. Click on an underlined place and go to a list of all people that reference that place. Click on any photo in the Photo Gallery tab to go to that person's page.
OTHER NEWS
The DNA tab now displays actual test results. We need more Ball-surname candidates for testing; see details on the DNA tab.
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, click on the Compiler's name listed at the bottom of any page and request a report 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".
Is your Ball line missing data here? We would welcome information on your branch of the family and their photos. Click the "Add & Correct" tab for instructions.
BIBLE RECORDS AND BIBLE 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 that I can email to anyone interested. The Bible will soon be forwarded to a great-great-granddaughter of William and Mary Ball.
Are you a relation of Myra E. Ball and Ammon Lee of Michigan (who had no children)? I have their family Bible waiting for a relative to claim and high quality scans of the family pages that I can email to anyone else interested.