PIC_215-Annie-Ball-McCormick-daughter-of-Sarah-Sprague Ball

Annie Ball McCormick - died in Marion - buried in La Rue Cemetery - daughter of Sarah Sprague Ball.

ANNIE BALL McCORMICK" (b. c. 1863)
MARION COUNTY, OHIO (Grand and Montgomery Twps.)
[Daughter of Sarah Sprague Ball (b. c. 1838) and Sherman Ball (b. c. 1830)]
[Grand-Daughter of Widow Sarah Davis Sprague]

We were easily able to validate most of the inscription on the back of the card through Census Records. This girl Annie Ball McCormick (aka Mary Ann Ball Ball but she apparently went by "Ann" or "Annie") was born about 1863 and was the daughter of Sarah E. Sprague Ball, born about 1838. Her father was Sherman Ball, born about 1830. The fate of her father is unclear to us, as we could find him in only one Census , and thereafter Annie and her mother are shown living with Annie's grandmother and Aunt - Sarah Davis Sprague and Emily Sprague (we know from researching other photos found with one what the maiden name of this girl's grandmother was).

Other records show that this girl had three siblings, none of whom survived past the first few years of childhood (William, Wilbur T. (or Wilbert), and Emily C. Annie was the youngest, and she survived.

Here are Census records that show first Annie Ball's parents shortly before she was born, and then Annie and her mother living with their long-widowed grandmother.

1860 Census  - OH, Marion Co., - Grand Twp.: Sherman Ball, age 31, "farm labor," born in OH; with wife Sarah, age 22, "domestic," born in OH; and child Wilbert (did not survive) - all living in the household of Nehemiah Davis, farmer, age 44 and his family (almost certainly relatives of Annie's grandmother Sarah Davis Sprague).

1870 Census - OH, Marion Co., - Montgomery Twp.: Sarah Sprague, age 63, born in OH; with Emily Sprague, age 24; Sarah Ball, age 32, and Ann Ball, age 7.

Note: We could not find a Census record for this girl when she was married, but several trees on ancestry.com show that her spouse was Michael McCormick (or McCormack), a Navy Dept. clerk who was widowed by 1900 and lived in Washington, D. C. (1900 and 1910 Census). We could not personally validate that this information is correct, but we have absolutely no reason to doubt it either.

© Michael Crane 2011