Laura's Family Tree

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,daughter of Amos Walton and Marcy Lacock. 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.

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.