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Mathews-Williams Family Genealogy
Notes
Martin Van Buren Ball/ Capt. Maj.
Captain/Major, Martin Van Buren Ball, CSA. Co. E, 21st Virginia Cavalry.
Martin Van Buren Ball/ Capt. Maj.
Captain/Major, Martin Van Buren Ball, CSA. Co. E, 21st Virginia Cavalry.
Elihu K, Ball followed the advice of the famous northern statesman, who said, "Go West, young man." He and Minta Ellen were among the first settlers of the San Louis Valley, in Colorado, and he named the town of Bountiful, Colorado. One of his daughters described him as a "man of humility and great faith". She related a story abouth a day when her father returned from his field of ripening wheat, which was the family's only source of bread, and asked them to kneel in prayer, as he urgently implored the Lord to spare their wheat crop, that was in the path of an approaching hail storm.
Almost immediately the storm divided (as the waters of the ancient Red Sea). One black cloud passed to the right of the wheat field, and the other to the left. Thus the wheat crop was saved for a grateful family.
Elihu moved to Conejos County, Colorado, with his family, whom he baptised into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a Pariarch in the church for over thirty-five years.
Another daughter said of her parents: "I received teachings of the Gospel from my father and mother...". Still another daughter said: "We were taught the principles of the Gospel, and to be honest in all our dealings; to have our word as good as our bond; and never waste material things."
About 1913 the family moved from Bountiful, Colorado, to Oxford, Colorado, as Minta's physician had advised her to leave the higher altitude, and find a lower location.
About 1918 they moved to Redmesa, LaPlata County, Colorado. Elihu spent much of his spare time carrying on research on the Ball family for about fifty years, during which time he uncovered records of descendants in his native Russell County, Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, East Tennessee, West Virginia, and other states. (Source: "The Balls of Fairfax and Stafford In Virginia", Ball, Ball, and Brady, pp. 104-105).