Allen line: Samuel Ball 1648-1689

Here we are, back in Springfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony, where so many of our Allen ancestors started out.  This time we're looking at the rather short life of Samuel Ball, who was born in Springfield on March 16, Samuel's life started out on a harsh note, when his father drowned on October 3, 1648.  Samuel wasn't yet a year old.  Samuel had an older brother, Jonathan, and his mother soon remarried to Benjamin Munn.  Before long he had at least eight half siblings to care for and play with.  We don't know much more of his youth than that, but we know from following the early history of Springfield that the town was settled with houses close together, everyone went to church when the drummer came by, and Puritan boys were expected to learn to read and write.  Benjamin Munn was the only father Samuel would ever know, so we can expect that he raised the two Ball boys as he raised his own family. Samuel's inheritance from his father was prtected in 1649, stating that he would receive either 14 pounds when he became twenty years old, or would be provided with an apprenticeship.  

It looks like he was probably apprenticed to a brickmaker or mason, because there are several references to his employment in that trade in the town records.  He also had an interest in a pine saw mill at a later date.  Samuel married Mary Graves, daughter of John and Mary Smith Graves, in Hatfield, Massachusetts on January 15, 1671.  Let's hope Mary settled him down a bit, because as a youth Samuel was one of the young men who did not behave well (there was quite a group of them).  He was sentenced to the whipping post for speaking rudely to his step-father when Samuel was eighteen years old, saying to him "A father indeed; you are no better than an old Indian."  Samuel was offered the option of paying a fine, which he did.  It wouldn't surprise me at all if the money for the fine came from his step-father, but we don't know that. 

Samuel and Mary had five children together.  Probably the most difficult part of their life would have been King Philip's War.  Samuel is credited with fighting in the Turner Fall battle near Deerfield, Massachusetts,on May 19, 1676, along with several other of our family members and his own family, too.  This is a very complicated family as there were several Ball-Stebbins marriages, but we had other family names, too.  John Hitchcock, Samuel's son in law, received land in Falltown, at roughly the site of the battle, in 1736 as the heir of Samuel Ball.  It is quite likely that this was not the only time Samuel fought, or went on patrol, or stood guard duty, but this is the one instance we are sure of. 

Samuel was just 41 years old when he became sick and died on September 13, 1689, in Springfield.  There is no indication of the illness, or the length of the illness.  It could have been a contagious disease or it may have been heart trouble.  Medical care at the time was not particularly effective.

Samuel died without a will and the only record we have is John Hitchcock's presentation of an inventory to the court, on behalf of his mother in law, Mary Graves Ball.  The inventory didn't survive, although there are notes to support the widow and also his mother, and then divide up the inheritance among the surviving children.

In a way, it's fun when we can see a bit of the personality of our ancestors.  Samuel was a little bit of a rebel, as many teen agers are today, and that gives us a sense of connection with him.  He was also willing to work hard, to support his family and to fight for his hometown.  In some ways, he was just like us.

The line of descent is

Samuel Ball-Mary Graves
Mary Ball-John Hitchcock
Samuel Hitchcock-Ruth Stebbins
Margaret Hitchock-Richard Falley
Samuel Falley-Ruth Root
Clarissa Falley-John Havens Starr
Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott
Edith Knott-Edward Allen
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendants