My Grandfather, James Norman Ball

I was in St. Pete, FL with my husband visiting our great long-time friends, Paul and Paula. Paula drove me to the Bay Pines National Cemetery not far from her home, where we found my grandfather's grave stone. He died at the VA Hospital in 1940.

When I returned home, I did some research (and thought of many more unanswered questions), and found the following, which I will eventually add to the blog:

o       1890 Nov. 29, Born, College Point, Queens, NY, to father James Ball from England (32 yrs) and mother Margaretha Kohlus Ball from Germany (35 yrs)

      

      My grandfather was left with "cousins" when her mother became sick and then died. Apparently he was placed in an the orphanage, but not sure when. Haven't found where his mother died or buried.

o       1900 Census: Lived in the Paterson Orphan Asylum. (DOB Mar 1890)

o       1910 Census: Lived in Patterson, New Jersey, with William E. Speer (65 yrs) and Sarah A. Speer (58 yrs), and Joseph B Sipp (39 yrs) and Katharine Sipp (39 yrs), daughter of Speers

      The Speers took in or "adopted" my grandfather. Mr. Speer was a photographer and grandfather was his helper. Mr. Sipp was married to the Speer daughter, Katherine.

o       4/13/1918 – 1/4/1919: Drafted in WWI as a Sgt. in the Army Air Corps, Aerial Photo School, A.S.

      My grandfather's WWI Registration Card indicates he was married.

1   1920 Census: Lived in Jacksonville, FL with his wife, my grandmother, Irene O’Hagan Ball, along with her sister Edith O’Hagan (who died at Chatahoochee) and her brother Joseph O’Hagan

    

      My dad was born in 1924 in Jacksonville.

     1935 Census: He was working as a court reporter & living in Sebring, Florida (my dad was in 7th grade)

         1940 Census: He was a patient at the VA Hospital in Pinellas, Florida

o  

         May 22, 1940: He died at the VA Hospital and buried at Bay Pines National Cemetary

New Info on O'Hagan Family Members

I heard from cousin Beverly Rogers McMahan asking how Agnes O'Hagan died as she was quite young which drove me to do some research and update this blog.

Agnes was 20 years old when she died on Sept. 30, 1918. The story I have heard is that she died of a shotgun wound. There were no witnesses but they believe that she was throwing garbage down the hill toward Egan's Creek when she saw a rattlesnake and then went to the house for a shotgun to kill it. They found her body on the ground with the shotgun nearby and one of her shoes off her foot with the heel broken off. They came pretty quickly when they hear the gunshot.

I also looked some other members of the family:

William died on June 7, 1915 of lockjaw. He was 14 years old.

Edith was admitted to the Florida Mental Hospital at Chattahoochee, FL between 1920 and 1930. Census records for 1920 list Edith as part of my grandmother Irene and her husband James Ball's household along with her brother Joe O'Hagan. She is listed in the 1930, 1940 and 1945 Census at Chattahoochee. She died there on Sep. 27, 1982, and I believe she is buried there. Cousin Jimmy said that Papa visited Edith and would come back feeling very sad and that Papa wanted her to be buried next to her twin brother William in the family plot at Bosque Bello Cemetary in Fernandina.

I thought John J. O'Hagan, Papa's brother drowned at Sullivan's Island, but I found that he actually drowned at Georgetown in 1909:

O’Hagan, John J. who for 30 years was lighthouse keeper for Charleston Harbor fell into the water at Sullivan’s Island and drowned. Newberry (SC) Observer 10/1/1909, page 1.

Robert Edward O'Hagan

From Gail O'Hagan Saur:

Just thought I'd pass on a bit of humor about my dad. When he was born he was to be named Thomas John. His father's name was Robert Edward. The hospital personnel put all the names on his birth certificate. Daddy's legal name was Thomas John Robert Edward O'Hagan. Mother said he took the name Joseph as his conformation name so he became Thomas John Robert Edward Joseph O'Hagan. I remember smiling whenever I was asked as a child to fill in the father's full name.....there was never enough room to write it!