Samuel Ball (1648 - 1689)

Born 16 Mar 1648 in Springfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Graves) Warriner — married 15 Jan 1671 in Hatfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died 13 Sep 1689 at age 41 in Springfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts

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Biography

Samuel Ball was the son of Francis Ball and Abigail Burt. He was born at Springfield, Massachusetts on March 16, 1647/48, and baptized 3 days later, on March 19.^[1]

When Samuel was still an infant, his father drowned in the Connecticut River. ("Ball... Fraunces, drowned in the greate River, Oct. 1648.")^[2] Six months later, Abigail married Benjamin Munn of Hartford. (The Springfield Vital Records have an entry for the marriage, with an added note that the "widdow Ball" had "2 sons, Jonathan, age 4 and Samuell, age 1.")

After having her first two children with Francis, Abigail had five children with Benjamin, who was the only father Samuel knew. At age eighteen, Samuel was sentenced to fifty lashes for telling Benjamin, "A father indeed, you are no better than an old Indian." Samuel paid the court fifty shillings in lieu of the fifty lashes.^[3]

(Note: Benjamin Munn died in November of 1675,^[4] after Samuel had left home. A year later, Samuel's mother Abigail married third, Lt. Thomas Stebbins. Lt. Stebbins was the father of Thomas Stebbins Jr., who had married Samuel's half-sister, also named Abigail Munn, four years earlier. So a mother/daughter pair named Abigail Munn married a father/son pair named Thomas Stebbins.^[5])

On January 15, 1671, Samuel married Mary Graves, daughter of John and Mary (Smith) Graves of Hadley. Samuel and Mary had five children recorded in the Vital Records of Springfield:

1. Mary Ball, born June 12, 1673,^[1] married John Hitchcock, Jr. on September 24, 1691.^[6]
2. Francis Ball, born April 4, 1675;^[1] married Martha Blackman/Blakeman in the fall of 1699,^[6] and died a few weeks later on January 21, 1699/1700.^[2]
3. Elizabeth Ball, born January 14, 1677;^[1] married Nathaniel Sikes on December 24, 1696.^[6]
4. Mercy Ball, born December 15, 1679;^[1] died as a young child on September 14, 1683.^[2]
5. Abigail Ball, born August 18, 1682;^[1] married Moses Parsons January 20, 1709/10.^[6]

Samuel died at Springfield on September 13, 1689,^[2] at about age 41. Mary Graves Ball was married a few months later, on April 10, 1690, to widower Benjamin Stebbins.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} Vital Records of Springfield, Births.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Vital Records of Springfield, Deaths.
3. ↑ https://archive.org/stream/stebbinsgenealog01gree#page/60/mode/2up
4. ↑ Vital Records of Springfield, Deaths.
5. ↑ Vital Records of Springfield, Marriages.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4} Vital Records of Springfield, Marriages.

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