Zopher Ball (1724 - 1803)

Born 1724 in Frederick, Hanover (now Louisa), Virginia [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 6 Jul 1803 at about age 79 in Washington, Pennsylvania, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Bill Stanley [send private message]

Biography

Zopher was born in 1724 and passed away in 1803.

The 1790 census of Washington, Pennsylvania lists a Zopher Ball with three males over the age of 16, three under the age of sixteen, and three females. Beside his wife, we do not know the names of the two daughters which would have been alive at that time. John C. was born after this census.

FindAGrave Index (buried in Ball Cemetery, Delaware Township, Mercer County, PA. Identified as Zopher Ball. He was originally buried in Washington County but his body was moved by Amos Entheus Ball in 1907 to the cemetery on the old Ball farm. His original stone is backed by another stone marked, ENSIGN ZOPHER BALL, PA. MIL. REV. WAR. Bronze DAR marker reads: REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER, ZOPHER BALL, 1775-1783.

Ezekiel Ross, wounded on the Expedition.

Zophar Ball.^[1]

[The following rolls of the Militia who were in service on the Frontiers from 1782 to 1785 were not wholly from the county of Washington. The rolls are neither dated nor designated, simply receipts for pay for service. The duplicating of names may thus be accounted for.]

Doctor Llewellyn. George Myers. Rees Gaddis. Philip Friend. Henry Freindlin. George Hartzell. David Enoch. Nathan Evans. Abner Bluckanstoff. Isaac Ruble. Daniel McFarland. Samuel Hardisty. George Adam Sheidler. ^[2]

Notes

There is a record of a marriage between Zopher Ball and Elizabeth Hunter dated 4/24/1806. This has to be a marriage between the son and Elizabeth. Her birth dates must be mistaken. "Ohio Marriages, 1800-1958," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XDKN-R4B : 10 February 2018), Zopher Ball and Elizabeth Hunter, 24 Apr 1806; citing Butler,Ohio, reference ; FHL microfilm 0355779 V. 1-4.

A Zophar Ball is listed on the War Rolls referencing Col. Thomas Gaddis of the Virginia Militia. ^[3]

Ezra Ball's will as shown on page 27 of Documents relating to the colonial history of the state of New Jersey, vol. 33 from Sept. 18, 1764, which lists surviving partners Isaiah Ball and Zopher Ball.

Page 22 of this book, Memorial record of distinguished men of Indianapolis and Indiana states the following: "Joseph [Ball] ... was born in 1698, and lived in Frederick county, Virginia, where he spent all of his life, dying in 1771. Of his family of four sons and three daughters, Zopher Ball, born in 1724, was Mrs. [Emily E. (Ball)] Roberts' great-grandfather. He was born in Frederick county, and about the beginning of the Revolutionary war moved to Washington county, Pennsylvania. He served in this war, being an ensign in Captain Rosses' company. The third son of Zopher Ball was Caleb, born in 1755." There are many creative ideas in the text of the book cited in this paragraph, and one wonders if this quote has been as creatively created as some other portions of this book. The Caleb Ball mentioned above is supposed to have been a signer of the Declaration of Independence and twice Governor of Georgia. The author confused Caleb with the supposed father of his wife Phoebe Walton, but her father was Amos Walton, and not the signer of the Declaration of Independence, George Walton. As this passage is the source of the birthplace of Zopher, one wonders if the Hanover mentioned in the place of birth is actually Hanover, New Jersey. We have DNA evidence proving that Zopher is related to those of the line of Edward Ball. One wonders if his father is not Joseph Ball. Update 4/19/2020: The more I think about this, the truer it rings. I can however find no record in Virginia nor in New Jersey which reflects the birth of Zopher. The name John Arnold came from Howell's supposition and it bears great weight on the six brothers myth. I for one am ready to add him to the family of Joseph Ball.

Captain Ezekiel Ross was from New Jersey. His Find A Grave: Memorial #23787932 confirms that information, as does this fold3 search: https://www.fold3.com/document/15661713/ezekiel-ross-page-1-revolutionary-war-pensions Why would a man from Virginia fight with the New Jersey militia?

Page 207 of The Swaim family history reads the following: "It is taken for granted that Zopher Ball [b. ca. 1740] is the child of Isaiah Ball [b. ca. 1710]. Isaiah Ball was residing in the same township as Zopher (West Bethlehem) and the Crumrine History speaks of him as the first innkeeper there, starting in 1782. Zopher named one of his sons Isiah." ^[4]

There is a list in the Pennsylvania archives. Third series V.23, on page 213^[5] which shows two Zophar Balls, both Ensigns as "Rangers on the frontiers" 1778-1783.

Sources

1. ↑ Pennsylvania in the war of the Revolution: Associated battalians and milita, 1775-1783, ser. 2, vol. 14, p 718 [.pdf page 733], downloaded 3/21/2020 from: https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/51787-pennsylvania-in-the-war-of-the-revolution-associated-battalions-and-militia-1775-1783-ser-02-v-14?viewer=1&offset=24#page=765&viewer=picture&o=search&n=0&q=Ball
2. ↑ Pennsylvania in the war of the Revolution: Associated battalians and milita, 1775-1783, ser. 2, vol. 14, p 750 [.pdf page 765], downloaded 3/21/2020 from: https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/51787-pennsylvania-in-the-war-of-the-revolution-associated-battalions-and-militia-1775-1783-ser-02-v-14?viewer=1&offset=24#page=765&viewer=picture&o=search&n=0&q=Ball
3. ↑ "United States Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-994M-472Z?cc=2068326&wc=M61K-G38%3A355093201 : 24 January 2018), 114-Virginia (jacket 341-364) > image 109 of 459; citing NARA microfilm publication M246 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1980)./ War Roll
4. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/105199-the-swaim-family-history?viewer=1&offset=2#page=207&viewer=picture&o=search&n=0&q=Ball
5. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/24637-pennsylvania-archives-third-series-v-23?viewer=1&offset=3#page=213&viewer=picture&o=search&n=0&q=%22Zophar%20Ball%22

• Find A Grave: Memorial #27863273
• "United States Census, 1790," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YYB-HLC?cc=1803959&wc=3XT9-MVC%3A1584071103%2C1584070905%2C1584070607 : 14 May 2015), Pennsylvania > Washington > Not Stated > image 31 of 33; citing NARA microfilm publication M637, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/42240983/family?cfpid=19752321413&selnode=1
• http://www.jhowell.com/tng/histories/Burkes1600.pdf
• History of Washington County, Pennsylvania: with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Crumrine, Boyd, Philadelphia, H.L. Everts & Co., 1882, https://archive.org/details/historyofwashing00crum/page/974