John Ball and Margaret Joyce

There were a number of Dominick Joyces in 1857 in Co. Galway, which borders on Mayo. Perhaps one of them is Margaret's father.

Source Surname First Name Townland Parish County

Griffith Joyce Dominick Ardrahan North Ardrahan Co. Galway

Griffith Joyce Dominick Caherkelly Ardrahan Co. Galway

Griffith Joyce Dominick T/loughrea/bohercon Loughrea Co. Galway

Griffith Joyce Dominick T/loughrea/bride St. Loughrea Co. Galway

--source: rootsireland.ie

Roger and Patricia,

Thank you both for your replies. My relatives were Roman Catholic, and I would agree the Ball surname does not seem very common in County Mayo.

The sad fact is that I do not know who John's parents were and I am guessing that the only Ball in the 1855 record would be a relative of John's but no real way to prove it.

I know that their son Michael, my 2nd Great Grandfather born circa 1845 in Ireland, listed County Mayo on his Civil War enlistment papers and everyone from him on down has always stated the family was from Mayo. The only other name I have run across was Loughrea, Co. Galway which may have been on a census record as well. I know they arrived in the US during the Great Hunger and it was John, Margaret, Michael and Hanna or possibly Hanora Ball.

I have done all Ancestry DNA and it shows my Irish ancestry strictly in Connemara mainly Mayo and Galway. I do have some Scottish ancestry as well and the thing I am trying to find out is where did the Ball family come from since they were Roman Catholic, I am assuming they did not come over with the English, but I guess I will never know. Any suggestions on how to find John Ball's parents or the family in general? It is also difficult that everyone was named John, Michael, James, Robert, Mary etc. Thank you for the help and I will work on adding them to the ancestry database.

Sincerely,

Ryan R Ball

Attaching this from 2018

Hello,

I am trying to find out more information about my 3rd Great Grandfather John Ball. The only information I have is that he was born in 1818 in Galway Ireland. He married Margaret Joyce from Kilgeever Co. Mayo. They left for America during the Great Famine and arrived in Boston and eventually made their way to Wisconsin. I do not know if he had any siblings or who his parents were. His death certificate did not list a father and a mother's maiden name was hard to read but looked like Malten or Malteen, or Maliten? Any help is much apprecitaed. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Ryan R Ball

Here is all of the information that I have on the family:

John Ball born 1818 Galway Ireland died 1910 Hudson Wisconsin

MargaretJoyce Ball born 1825 Kilgeever Co. Mayo died March 4th,1880 New Richmond, WI

Michael Ball born circa 1845? Ireland died 1911 New Richmond, WI

Hanora Ball born March 17, 1847 Ireland died March 16, 1936 Hudson, Wisconsin

Martin Ball born 1853 Massachusetts died Wisconsin

John Ball born1854 Massachusetts died Wisconsin

Mary Ann Ball born 1856 Massachusetts died September 1, 1954

Elizabeth (Betty) Ball born Jan 22, 1857 wisconsin died March 29, 1960

Thursday, 29 Mar 2018, 00:00

Galway

EDITDELETE

Message Board Replies

Unfortunately I've not been able to find anything on this family, I believe the availability of records is probably the issue. The Catholic baptism records for the parish of Kilgeever (aka Louisburgh) are only available back to abt 1850. 

griifins valuation took place in Mayo around 1855, so a little after your Ball/Joyce family left, and this shows just one Ball property, a James Ball with a house and shared land at Kilsallagh Upper townland in Oughaval civil parish. The town of Westport is in this parish and located abt 20km (~12 miles) east of Louisburgh.

Hopefully someone else is researching this line and will recognise the details.

I had a look for a possible marriage or baptism for John in Co. Galway or Mayo but there were no matches - many parishes in the west of Ireland do not have records going back this early.

Friday, 30 Mar 2018, 18:10

Shane Wilson, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

I found the name 'Manten' in a small number of registrations in the Loughrea records but these were in the 1874 to 1882 range, without first names or marriage connections it is difficult, do you think the name could be Manten?

Eileen,

Thank you for looking. I will have to go get the death certificate for John and try and see if I can read his mother's last name. Where there any records of that last name marrying a BALL?

Some additional information that I have come across is that Margaret Joyce had a sister named Cecily Joyce who married Lawrence J Hawkins. Their son, Stephen Nathaniel Hawkins wrote a book about his family coming to America and traveling from Connecticut to Wisconsin. He listed his birthplace as being Loughrea, County Galway so I am wondering if there are any records there of the BALL/ JOYCE/HAWKINS family that may provide any clues. Still trying to put it all together....Thank you all for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Ryan R Ball