Ball, Japhet A.

Born: 1800-07-05 Madison County, Kentucky

Died: 1886 Sangamon County, Illinois

As a young man, Ball moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, where he became a blacksmith. He settled in Sangamon County, Illinois, in December 1825. Ball was a veteran of both the Winnebago and Black Hawk wars. From 1843 to 1856, he was a justice of the peace for Sangamon County. In 1857, he won election as an associate judge for the county, and he served until 1861. In 1860, he was named a delegate to the State Democratic Convention. He was married three times: to Sarah Henderson from 1828 until 1832, to Marinda Davis from 1834 to 1855, and to Melissa Morrison from 1863 until his death in 1886, and he had four children.

John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 93-94; Gravestone, Cumberland Sugar Creek Cemetery, Glenarm, IL; Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 11 June 1860, 3:2.