Yolo-Placer-Nevada County CA Archives Biographies.....Ball, John Cameron 1831 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 18, 2006, 3:59 am

Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1891)

COLONEL JOHN CAMERON BALL.— As the name will indicate to any one conversant with
such matters, Colonel Ball is a member of one of the oldest families in
Virginia. His father, Joseph L. Ball, was born and raised in Loudoun County,
Virginia, on the James River. His mother, Mary Cameron, was also a native of
Virginia, whose father, John Cameron, was born in the Highlands of Scotland,
emigrating thence to Virginia. The Cameron family is well remembered as one that
espoused the unfortunate cause of Prince Charlie (Charles Stuart, the lawful
holder of the throne of England), in his last attempt to assert his rights,
backed by his loyal Scottish subjects. Readers of the celebrated poem, "Lochiel"
will recognize the circumstances. Both the Ball and Cameron families were
planters and slave-holders in the South, Joseph L. Ball, the father of our
Colonel J. C. Ball, emancipating his slaves some time in the thirties from
conscientious scruples on the subject, and removing to Jefferson County, Ohio,
on the banks of the Ohio River. There the younger members of the family were
born, and there he died in 1872, at the age of seventy years. He was the father
of eleven children, nine sons and two daughters, of whom the daughters and six
of the sons grew to maturity, and save one are all still living. Of the six sons
all are over six feet in height, and all unusually strong and robust. The father
was a man of remarkable strength and possessed a powerful frame. But we cannot
do better than reproduce a short sketch of the life and career of Colonel Ball,
from the columns of a local paper written by one who knows him well:

  "John Cameron Ball, who has had the principal management of the defense in the
now famous case of the People vs. J. H. Harlan, is a man of mature years,
sagacious in management, cool and accurate in judgment and well versed in his
profession.

  "His unusually fine physical constitution enabled him to be present in court
at every session during this protracted trial, lasting for fifty-seven
consecutive days. He has been prominently connected on the side of the defense
with many other important criminal trials, being opposed in principle to taking
a fee to prosecute in capital cases.

  "Colonel Ball was born in Brook County, Virginia (now a portion of West
Virginia), May 15, 1831, and from his early childhood resided with his parents
near Steubenville, in the State of Ohio, until he emigrated to the State of
California, in the spring of 1855, and on his arrival in this State he engaged
in mining and pursued it with variable success in Placer and Nevada counties for
some six years. Upon quitting the mines he moved to Yolo County and engaged in
teaching school, and while so engaged was elected to the office of District
Attorney. He moved to Woodland in the spring of 1858, where he has since
resided, actively engaged in the practice of law. One year of that time he
served as a member of the State Land Commission, an office to which he was
appointed by Governor Irwin, and as the chairman of that commission it will be
remembered by readers of newspapers that he caused the investigation to be
thorough, and laid bare the fraudulent practices which had prevailed in the Land
Department of the State. He received an academic education at the Richmond
College, and at the age of twenty commenced the study of law under the advice
and supervision of Edwin M. Stanton, the great war Secretary under Lincoln.
Colonel Ball has always been a hard student and lover of his chosen profession.
His clear insight into men and measures, coupled with his industry, untiring
energy and unswerving integrity, has placed him where he belongs, in the front
rank of his profession.

  "He has held, by election, the office of District Attorney of this county for
three successive terms, arid discharged its duties with marked distinction and
rare ability. He is equally at home in civil cases. Mr. Ball possesses that
insight into character which enables him to select a jury with almost unerring
precision. In this particular he has no superior in this section of the State,
and, in fact, has earned for himself the reputation of being one of the best
jury lawyers in the State. He is clear and logical in his reasoning upon the
facts of a case, and though not a great orator, he is a strong advocate and a
forcible speaker. He familiarizes himself with every little detail of the case
in which he is engaged, and so thorough was his preparation of the Harlan case,
that when Mr. Highton became indisposed and unable to appear in court for a
whole week, Mr. Ball proceeded with the trial as though nothing unusual had
happened. In personal appearance he is five feet ten and one-half inches high,
broad-shouldered and deep-chested, a large, round, well-balanced head; dark
brown hair and beard, tinged with gray; blue, penetrating eyes, and a firm
mouth, expressive of great determination of character. In manners lie is
disposed to be polite, generous and steadfast to his friends. He is a
straightforward business man, of sober and exemplary habits, and has accumulated
considerable property in this and Colusa counties.

  "In 1864 he was married to Miss Ella M. Tyler, the result of which union is a
family of five sons and one daughter, all but the eldest born in Woodland.
Colonel Ball has always been a consistent anti-monopoly Democrat—a recognized
leader in the councils of his party— never radical, but firm in his convictions
upon principle, and always tolerant of the opinions of others, willingly
according to them the same rights that he claims for himself."

  Since the Harlan trial Colonel Ball has been engaged in several important
civil cases requiring much labor and attention, among which is the case of Moore
vs. Capay Ditch Company. In this action the right to appropriate for
agricultural purposes the entire water of Cache Creek, a very considerable
stream having its source in Clear Lake, is claimed on the one side, as, against
the rights of the riparian owners living along the stream. The Colonel is found
upon the side of the settlers, and the case has not yet been decided.

  Colonel Ball's recognized legal ability and business capacity has recently
secured him the responsible and lucrative position of attorney for the Central
Irrigation District in Colusa County, to which position he has been elected by
the unanimous vote of its board of directors.

  This is the most important irrigation scheme undertaken in Northern
California. It is proposed to tap the Sacramento River at a point a few miles
above the mouth of Stony Creek with a canal eighty feet wide and seven feet
deep, running thence in a southwesterly direction with its main branches, more
than 200 miles.

  The district is formed under what is known as the "Wright Law," and comprises
over 156,000 acres of good farming land in Colusa County, which, without regard
to irrigation, with the improvements already thereon, is of the full cash value
of $5,000,000, and will be of immense value when the canal is completed. The
district has issued bonds to the amount of $750,000, a portion of which have
been sold, and the work of excavating the canal is actively under way.

  Colonel Ball in his energetic and busy life has not neglected his obligation
to society and the State in his domestic relation, but has reared and is raising
and educating a family of which a parent may be justly proud. His eldest son,
Jo. Hamilton Ball, twenty-four years of age, has chosen his father's profession,
recently married and settled in Woodland. He is a bright and energectic young
man of a high order of intellect and good habits. He is highly gifted as an
orator. His natural oratorical and elocutionary powers are seldom surpassed. He
is fast growing into prominence. The next boy, George Tyler Ball, is more
inclined to agricultural pursuits, and is on one of his father's farms in Colusa
County. Of the younger boys but little can be said, further than that they are
bright and dutiful and fond of learning. Katie May, the only daughter, bright
and lovely, universally loved and admired by all her acquaintances, the joy and
life of the household, just as she was blooming into womanhood, was called away
in death a little more than two years ago, leaving in the household a void that
never can be filled.

  This is one only of many like families that contribute to the growth and
prosperity of Northern California.

  J. H. Ball, son of the preceding, was born on the ranch of his uncle, J. C.
Tyler, two and a half miles above Tehama, and was less than a year old when the
family removed to Sacramento. A year and a half afterward they removed to Yolo
County, about fifteen miles from Woodland, and when he was four years old they
moved into Woodland, where Mr. Ball was brought up. In his education he attended
Hesperian College there. From the age of seventeen years to twenty he attended
St. Augustine College at Benicia, graduating there in 1884. During vacations he
had been reading law in the office of his father, and he was admitted to the bar
of the Supreme Court at the age of twenty-one years. Since then he has been
engaged in legal practice with his father. The Democrats in 1888 nominated him
for District Attorney, and although side issues seriously interfered he lacked
only eleven votes of election. He is a member of Woodland Parlor, No. 30, N. S.
G. W.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California.

Illustrated, Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast
from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with
Glimpses of its Prospective Future; Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of
Prominent Citizens of To-day.

"A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendents." – Macauley.

CHICAGO
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1891.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/yolo/bios/ball811nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/

File size: 10.6 Kb