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From: "Roy Stockdill" <>
Subject: [HRT] Balls at Wallington, Kelshall & Rushden
Date: Sat, 03 Mar 2007 18:45:57 -0000

Is anyone here researching the BALL / BALLS family of Wallington,
Rushden and Kelshall, parishes which lie in a triangle east of Baldock?

I am currently researching the ancestry of the longtime jazz legend Kenny
Ball for a magazine feature (with his full agreement and co-operation).
The family - and I feel reasonably sure they were all the same lot - seem
to have moved around between these three villages.

Kenny's great-grandfather James Ball(s) was born in 1838 at Baldock to
William Ball and Hannah, nee Crawley. Their marriage is on the IGI at
Wallington in 1835 and confirmed in Allen's volumes of Hertfordshire
Marriages. Hannah is described as being of Baldock and censuses show
her and James as both born there. William Ball died in 1839 and is on the
NBI as being buried at Wallington, aged only 29, which makes me
believe he was probably a William Ball baptised at Wallington in 1810 to
another William Ball and Elizabeth. There is also on the NBI another
William Ball who was buried at Wallington in 1834, aged 66, and I
suspect this was probably the father, William snr., baptised at Wallington
in 1772 to Edward Ball and Sarah Newton, who were married at
Wallington in 1769.

Then the trail moves to Kelshall, where the only Edward Ball I can find
who fits was baptised in 1749 to a Moses Ball and Jane Hockley, who
married at Kelshall in 1741. There is only one Moses Ball on the IGI in
Hertfordshire and he was baptised at Rushden in 1713, son of John Ball
and Ann Richardson, whose marriage was rather oddly recorded in two
different parishes. According to the PRs, John was of the parish of
Clothall, Ann was from Rushden but the marriage actually took place at
Throcking and was recorded in both the Rushden and Throcking
registers.

I have checked out the above IGI records in the parish registers and I am
reasonably confident that John Ball and Ann Richardson, who married in
1700, were probably Kenny Ball™s 6x-great-grandparents. However, there
is one puzzle I haven™t yet solved, namely which William Ball and
Elizabeth were the parents of the William Ball baptised in 1810? There
are two potential candidates as follows¦..

William Ball and Elizabeth Batt, married on 30 Nov 1793 at Kelshall
William Ball and Elizabeth Edwards, married on 16 Jun 1794 at Rushden

Either of these couples could have moved to Wallington and had a family
of 6, including William jr in 1810.

Unfortunately, there were two William Balls who could fit for the father:
the William Ball baptised at Wallington on 28 Jun 1772 to Edward and
Sarah; and another William Ball baptised to John Ball and Elizabeth at
Kelshall on 23 May 1772. I strongly suspect that both these Williams
were grandsons of Moses Ball and, therefore, first cousins, which means
the ancestral line still leads back to John Ball and Ann Richardson.

Any thoughts/input appreciated.

--
Roy Stockdill
Guild of One-Name Studies: www.one-name.org
Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History:
www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html

"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about,
and that is not being talked about."
OSCAR WILDE

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• [HRT] Balls at Wallington, Kelshall & Rushden by "Roy Stockdill" <>