Monterey-El Dorado-Sierra County CA Archives Biographies.....Ball, H. L. 1830 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 27, 2007, 11:40 am

Author: Luther A. Ingersoll, Editor (1893)

H. L. BALL, one of the prominent citizens of Monterey county, is an example of
what business judgment and honorable persistence can accomplish, not only for
their possessor, but likewise for a community, fortunate enough to have an
individual like him for associate and counselor.

  Henry L. Ball was born March 4, 1830, in Chautauqua county, New York. He began
when a mere boy to encounter the labors of a farm, and except while he was
attending the public schools near his home, he worked as industriously as the
typical farmer boy. When he had reached his sixteenth year he accompanied his
parents to Wisconsin, where, in Jefferson county, they founded a new home. There
for some four years young Ball was employed in handling horses and teaming. His
next step was an important one, and spiced with adventure withal, for he now
sought distant fields for the enterprise of his young manhood, arriving in
Placerville, California, September 5, 1850. Mr. Ball is hence a pioneer.

  He passed the winter in Placerville, afterward trying his hand at mining at
Downieville and Mud Springs till August, 1851. Meeting with indifferent success,
and feeling that fortune for him was not to be won with pan and shovel, he went
to Sacramento and engaged in staging and teaming till 1856. His next move was to
Shasta county, where he took up land, and farmed and worked in the lumber
business for eleven years. In 1867 he went to San Jose, where he tarried for a
year, and then moved to Monterey county. Here he has since resided. He first
located on the Alisal ranch, near Salinas, where he farmed six years. In this he
met with unqualified success.

  In 1874 Mr. Ball purchased property in Salinas, and, in connection with
ex-United States Marshal Franke, erected the first brick building, a livery
stable, in the town. When he first came to Salinas, the place was a broad
expanse of mustard. He, like others of that period, felt confident that it must
some day be a connty-seat; and from the time of his arrival here, he has been
prominent and active in everything that could promote the advancement of the town.

  His success as a grain farmer and his solid business qualifications attracted
the attention of Isaac Friedlander, the then "Wheat King of the World," with
whom he became associated in buying grain and warehousing the same. At the same
time he was busy in erecting warehouses in Gonzales, Chualar, Salinas and
Castroville. Some idea of the magnitude of the business of this firm may be
obtained by the statement that the first two years of the partnership, their
business amounted to over $2,000,000. This partnership continued for seven
years, up to the date of Mr. Friedlander's death, after which Mr. Ball conducted
it alone. For the past six years he has been conducting farming operations on
his ranch of 900 acres, located three miles north of Salinas, although he is
still actively engaged in the warehouse business.

  It is said of Mr. Ball that he is an authority on grain production, both as to
methods of agriculture, and its standing in the markets of the world, for a
quarter of a century past. He prides himself on the accuracy and completeness of
his great statistics, they being frequently consulted by the great grain buyers
of the State.

  That Mr. Ball during this busy period has secured the respect of his
fellow-citizens is vouched for by the fact that he was the first Mayor elected
in Salinas, and continued to hold that office for eleven consecutive years. And
he has never sought office. His desire has been the laudable one of being useful
in the community, which he calls his home. He is a life member of the Monterey
District Agricultural Association, and a director of the Salinas City Board of
Trade.

  Mr. Ball was married to Miss Eva B. Allen, of Salinas, his second wife, in
1872, and by her has one child.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California.

Illustrated.

Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast from the
Earliest Period of its Discovery to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of
its Auspicious Future; Illustrations and Full-Page Portraits of some of its
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers, and Prominent
Citizens of To-day.



HENRY D. BARROWS,
Editor of the Historical Department.

LUTHER A. INGERSOLL,
Editor of the Biographical Department.

"A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendants."-Macaulay.


CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1893.

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