The Trouble with Ancestry Family Tree Hints

Recently while working one of my new family ancestors, John Ball, I had an ancestry leaf appear.   This is the symbol for a hint for information that Ancestry has matching John Ball.  Clicking on the leaf hint came up with ancestry family trees and records for a John Ball born about 1737-8 in Massachusetts.  My ancestor was also born at this time.  All hints gave that John Ball married Lydia Pratt in 1763 and had children in Westborough, Massachusetts and then married a Mary Baker in 1772 and died 17 Apr 1801 in Northborough, Massachusetts.  This matched several facts I had that he married Lydia Pratt on 12 May 1763 in Westborough, Massachusetts and had the following children born there:

                1. Joseph Ball b 3 August 1763

                2. Lydia Ball b. 4 February 1765

                3. Levi Ball b 17 Nov 1766

                4. Molly Ball b. 3 March 1769

                5. Sarah  Ball b 9 July 1771

                6. Hannah Ball b. 17 September 1773

                7. John Ball b. 23 Mar 1776

                8. Eunice Ball b. 2 April 1778 [My ancestor who married Rufus Carter]

                9. Levina Ball b. 9 June 1781

I even found a newspaper clipping of John’s death in Northborough, Massachusetts, the next town to Westborough, which provided some great information.

Massachusetts Spy, issue of April 29, 1801

There was also a John Ball of Northborough who served in the American Revolution as well as John Ball of Westborough who marched on the alarm of 19 April 1775 to Cambridge, Massachusetts at the start of the Revolution.   There was no record of death for Lydia (Pratt) Ball in either Westborough or Northborough. However on line family trees listed John married Mary Baker on 5 November 1772 in Westborough and had the following children born in Northborough.:

                1. Lydia Ball b. 26 February 1775

                2. Edward Baker Ball b. 11 July 1778

                3. James Ball b 13 August 1781

                4. Susannah Ball b. 13 June 1783

                5. Hannah Ball b 12 September 1785

So immediately it was apparent that John was having children with his first wife at the same time as his second wife if these hints were correct.  This would not be likely for this time period without some legal punishment. 

Worcester County Probate for John Ball in 1801 contained the petition for administration by John’s wife, Mary and named his children, Nahum Ball, Joel & Charlotte Pratt, Levi & Patty Bush, John Ball, Edward B. Ball and Joseph & Lydia Davis, John & Susan Winslow and John Fay, guardian of Hannah Ball.  John Ball's widow died in 1818.  Where were the children of John and Lydia (Pratt) Ball?  Who were these other Ball heirs?

There was another John Ball of Westborough who married on 22 January 1760 in Westborough to Abigail Wilder of Lancaster, Massachusetts and had 5 children before her death on January 4, 1771 in Northborough.  The names of their children were Nahum, Charlotte, Patty, Abigail and John born between 1761-1769.  These were the names of heirs named in the probate record.  Again unlikely John had 3 wives and had children overlapping with each wife despite what several one line family trees have listed that way.

John Ball of Westborough and John Ball of Northborough were two separate men with different families.  John Ball of Northborough based on his wives' deaths, married 1) Abigail Wilder and then Mary Baker. He died in 1801 in Northborough, etc. 

My John Ball of Westborough did not die in 1801 and appeared on census records between 1790 and 1820 in that town.  A probate record in Worcester County Probate also provided more on John Ball of Westborough, who made a will dated December 21, 1824 named his wife Lydia and his children including my ancestor Eunice (Ball) Carter, and the will was filed with the Probate Court on January 7, 1825.

Worcester County Probate
Docket #3047

 

With this new information, another newspaper article provided his actual death date as January 4, 1825.

Massachusetts Spy
issue of January 12, 1825

Although many Ancestry Family Tree hints have proven useful many times, but often are not correct or relevant to my ancestors.  The Ancestry hints and trees for John Ball confused two different men whose birth years were alike.  All ancestry hints unless they are attached to a real record should be verified before accepting them into your family tree.