My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM BALLEW was born November 24, 1814, in Burke County, N. C., and is the fourth of ten children, five boys and five girls, born to Robert and Elizabeth (Alexander) Ballew, natives of Burke County, and of French and Irish origin respectively. William was reared on the farm, and lived with his parents till he was twenty-two years of age. When sixteen years old he commenced business for himself, and at the age of eighteen, moved with his parents to Tugaloo River, S. C., where he purchased a farm for $4,000, on which he resided for about twelve years. He then sold out and moved to Cherokee, Ga., where he purchased a farm of 600 acres for $11,000, and where he remained till 1865. During the war he lost nearly all his property, including twenty slaves, and sold his farm for $18,000 in Confederate currency, which was a total loss. Possessed of an iron will, however, he was not to be discouraged by his misfortunes, and taking with him the remainder of his property—his horses and three negro women—moved about forty miles south of where he lived, and planted about seventy-five acres of corn. When he had plowed corn once, Stoneman made a raid south and Mr. Ballew lost all his stock except one mare. His nephew, who lived about twelve miles from him, brought him a condemned mule which the Federal soldiers had given to a boy, and with the mare and mule he succeeded in raising 300 barrels of corn of which the armies in 1864 used all but fifty barrels, which Mr. Ballew had stored in his house and had saved by hauling it to Fair Mount to a place of safety. At the close of the war he furnished the corn for the whole country for seed. In 1865 he raised about fifty barrels of corn, purchased eight cows at $100 each, also a mule for $2,000 Confederate currency, and supplied the neighborhood with corn and milk. In the fall of 1865 he moved to Mississippi County, Mo., where he remained one year, when on account of sickness he moved to Dublin, Graves Co., Ky. In 1866 he came to where he now lives, and where he owns 650 acres of land in a fair state of cultivation, with good buildings, etc., all of which he has accumulated since he came to the county. Mr. Ballew was married in 1837 to Lucy Albright, a native of Madison County, and a daughter of Henry and Micca (Blair) Albright, of Dutch and Irish origin. To Mr. and Mrs. Ballew were born twelve children: Ann Eliza (Austin), Harriet A. (married to a Mr. Gordon, but is now deceased), Micca (Pullian), deceased; Mary (Darby), James (who was killed in the war), Julia L. (Nicholson), William P., John P. (deceased), Handrel (deceased), Sallie L. (deceased), Rob Bruce (deceased), and Thomas M. Mrs. Ballew died in December, 1883, aged sixty-three years. In his younger days Mr. Ballew speculated in gold; he was a spectator at the battle of Chickamauga.