John Ball (pioneer)
| John Ball | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
November 12, 1794 Hebron, Grafton County, New Hampshire |
| Died |
February 5, 1884 Grand Rapids, Michigan |
| Resting place | Fulton Street Cemetery, Grand Rapids, Michigan 42°57'49.9896", -085°38'52.8216" |
| Education | Dartmouth College |
| Occupation | Teacher Attorney Politician |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Thompson (Webster) Ball |
| Children | Frank Webster Ball, Kate Webster (Ball) Powers, Flora (Ball) Hopkins, Mary Johanna, John Helvetia Ball |
| Parent(s) | Nathaniel and Sarah (Nevins) Ball |
John Ball (November 12, 1794 – February 5, 1884) was a settler, educator, lawyer and member of the Michigan State Legislature.
Ball was born at Tenny Hill, Hebron, Grafton County, New Hampshire. He had a common school education that he got from short times at winter with a local clergyman when his father would let him leave his tough labors at the farm. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1820, having started there as a student when he was 21. He studied law two years at Lansingburgh, New York and then went to Darien, Georgia where he was shipwrecked and taught school for the winter of 1822–23 to earn his passage back to New York. Hew was admitted to the bar in 1824.
Ball's sister Deborah married William Powers who set up an oil cloth factory in New York. When William Powers died Deborah continued to run the factor and hired Ball as foreman who at that point left his law practice.
As a member of Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth's first expedition, in 1832 he traveled to the Oregon Country. While overwintering at Fort Vancouver from 1832–1833, he was employed by John McLoughlin to teach the children of the fort. The Chief Factor told the New Englander that "you will have the reputation of teaching the first school in Oregon", making him the first white teacher of Oregon. In the spring of 1833 McLoughlin tried to convince the American to continue running the school, but Ball desired to begin practicing agriculture.
McLoughlin gave Ball farming equipment, potatoes, corn, 25 bushels of wheat. Ball and a friend departed in March to the Salem, Oregon area and temporarily resided with retired HBC employee Jean Baptiste Depatie McKay. With help from his white neighbors and a "wild Indian" he planted, raised and harvested a wheat crop. This made him the first American to farm on the French Prairie, several French-Canadians having already begun farming operations some years prior. By September he described being tired of living a "primitive life" and interacting with the Kalapuya people. To afford passage back to the United States of America, Ball sold his wheat crop to McLoughlin to travel aboard a HBC vessel, the Dryad. He returned via the Hawaiian Islands and Cape Horn in 1833-34.
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