The Other Ball Families

When John Ball settled in Grand Rapids in 1837 he was just the first of many with that last name to make Grand Rapids their home.  Here are a few of the others.

Daniel Ball

Photo f rom the Grand Rapids Museum Collection.

Daniel Ball was in the Owosso, Shiawassee County census in 1840,  listed as a farmer, after moving to Michigan from New York after 1836.   He came to Grand Rapids about 1841 and stayed until 1863, when he moved back to New York.  He died in Jamestown, Chautauqua County, New York in 1872.   His family consisted of wife, Mary A Covert Ball, son Byron Daniel Ball, and daughters Mary E and Julia E.

Daniel Ball's parents were John Ball, of Woodstock, Windsor County, Vermont, and Anna Bradbury of Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts.  There has not been any work done past Daniel's parents that I could find, so it is not known if they tie into any of the other Ball families.

Albert Baxter, in his History of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan, page 112, had this to say about Daniel Ball:

This on page 439:

Page 672:

From A Citizen's History of Grand Rapids, William J Etten, 1926.

OLD NATIONAL BANK AND ITS PREDECESSORS.

Daniel Ball & Co., merchants, began to sell bills of exchange on Chicago and eastern cities in 1852. This business in 1853 became known as the Exchange bank. It continued until October, 1861, when it also was forced to close on account of severe losses following failures of individuals and banks of issue in Illinois and Wisconsin. It has always been the proud boast of this community that both these institutions, driven to the wall by untoward circumstances, paid their obligations in full, with interest.

In December, 1861, Martin L. Sweet took the office formerly occupied by Daniel Ball & Co., and as successor to the Exchange bank continued to do the principal banking business of the city. March 10, 1864, the First National Bank was organized, received its charter and began taking over the business of Martin L. Sweet's private bank. The First National had a capital of $50,000, considered large in those days. Martin L. Sweet was the president and Harvey J. Hollister the cashier. When the First National's charter expired February 24, 1883, the stockholders decided to liquidate the business, and the $400,000 capital and $284,000 undivided profits were paid to the stockholders.

The Old National bank, chartered in 1883, succeeded to the business of the First National, whose quarters it occupied. The Old National's capital was $800,000 and its first officers were: Solomon L. Withey, president; James M. Barnett, vice-president; Harvey J. Hollister, cashier.

Since the banking business of this institution was established by Daniel Ball & Co. in 1852, the Old National and its predecessors have been located at the northwest corner of Monroe avenue (the old Canal street) and Pearl street. The present officers of the Old National bank are: Clay H. Hollister, president; William Judson, Carroll F. Sweet, George F. MacKenzie, Eugene Richards, and L. Z. Caukin, vice-presidents; J. C. Bishop, cashier; Philip L. Hollway, assistant cashier; Henry E. Ford, auditor.

This photo is from the Grand Rapids Public Museum's Fitch Photo Shop Collection.  This is the Exchange Bank, later to become Sweet's Hotel.  The little building next to it may be the shop of William Haldane, built in 1853.

Here is a link to a very interesting advertising coin for the Daniel Ball Exchange Bank.

CHAPTER XI.
THE CIVIL CHRONICLE---EVENTS OF FORTY YEARS.
1859
Building of Daniel Ball’s block, where now is the Old National Bank and Sweet’s Hotel, was begun in September, and the brick work was finished in November.

(1866)The First National Bank building, of eighty four feet front on Canal street, at the corner of Pearl, was sold for $28,000 by Byron D Ball to Martin L Sweet.

Page 766, Baxter's, speaking of the years 1850 - 1852:

The house can be seen on lots 6 and 7 on the north side of Pearl Street.  For reference, William Haldane's house is on the se corner of Pearl and Justice, kitty-cornered from the Ball house.

 Both of the pictures of Daniel Ball's mansion on the north side of Pearl Street between Monroe and Justice (Ottawa), are also via Robert Kline.  The one below is circa 1865 and shows the height of the hill as it rises from the river. The little outbuilding may be a carriage house and stable or gatekeeper's house.  The notes at the  top of the picture refer to other pictures in the Grand Rapids Museum collection.  George B Morton lived in the house from 1872 to 1876 and his widow until 1881.

This photo, from the east side of the house, purports to be from 1860, but I think it's more like 1870.  The trees are taller and the access road and steps are not in the first picture.  Jim Winslow, a fellow local historian, says that the photo below is later than 1882, due to the carbon-arc lamp on the corner and the large light-colored building on the left of the house.

Below is the original picture from the Grand Rapids Public Library collection via Jim Winslow.  You can see a telephone pole on the far left. 

A great shot from 1876 - 1882, from the GRPL collection, showing the new Government Building in the back left.  The Houseman Block was built where the two white houses are standing in 1882-83.  For a look the other way from the schoolhouse at the top of the hill, see the masthead photo at the top of the page, from about the same time.

Here is what happened to the house by 1888.  Check out the 12 tenements built along the street!

Samuel B Ball
A nephew of Daniel Ball

Portrait from Baxter's, page 656.

Sidney Silas Ball

A nephew of Daniel Ball and brother of Samuel

The below portrait and biography are from Baxter's, page 564.

Orson A Ball

1911, from "Grand Rapids, Beautiful, Industrial, Commercial".

From DNA testing, there is an indication that Orson Ball is from the John Ball of Watertown, Massachusetts line.

1870 shot of Monroe, looking SE from the corner of Justice.  The third building from the corner which would eventually become McKay Tower, is #19, Ball The Clothier, proprietor Orson A Ball.  From the Grand Rapids Public Museum's Fitch Collection, via Robert Kline's website.

From the 1868 Dudley & Goldsmith Grand Rapids City Directory.

Larkin Ball

From the John Ball of Watertown, Massachusetts line.

Larkin Ball was in the Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan Territory census in 1830.  By 1840 he was living in Byron Center, Kent County.  His family consisted of wife, Selima M Fuller Ball, daughters Harriet and Diantha, and sons Nathan and Benton.  Most of them are buried in the Winegar Cemetery in Byron Center.

Larkin's earliest known ancestors are John Ball and Mary Benjamin of Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts.

Nathan P Ball

Also early in Byron Center (at least by 1860) was Nathan P Ball of Canada.  His line descends from Jonannes Ball, who emigrated from Mauchenheim, Germany in 1709 to New York state.  He married Almira E Latham in 1865 when he was 38, and they had no known children.  They are also buried in the Winegar Cemetery in Byron Center.