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!

New Family Member: Sofya

My sister Rachel Zahn's son Robert and his wife Lisa are the proud parents of Sofya.

Sofya Marie Zahn was born at 8:45PM, March 30th, and weighed 6 lbs 6.5 ounces and was 19 inches tall.

Mary Loretta Ramsey Obituary from July 25, 2009

Taken from the her Obituary in the Post and Courier.

Mary Loretta Croghan Ramsay, an influential live-long resident of Charleston, died on July 25, 2009. She was owner and manager of Croghan's Jewel Box, an historic landmark in Charleston opened by her father, William Joseph Croghan, the store in 1919 on King Street in Charleston.

Mary Loretta was born on Dec. 28, 1921, in Charleston, the daughter of William Joseph Croghan and Loretta O'Hagan Croghan. She married George P. Ramsay in 1950. Her husband died in 1985.

She is survived by her four children, Dr. Alex Ramsay, Mariana Ramsay Hay, George Ramsay and Rhett Ramsay Outten; and eight grandchildren, Mary, Alex and George Ramsay, Kathleen, Mariana and Mikell Hay, and Anna and Caroline Outten.

News from Cousins

Gail O'Hagan Sauer visited and gave me some information to correct about her father Thomas John O'Hagan (b. 1923). I have updated the O'Hagan page with the information Gail sent me.

Stories of My Father from Cousin Jimbo

I am so pleased when I hear from a relative who found this blog and sends me information to share!

I recently received these stories about my father from my first cousin Jimbo Ball, son of my father's younger brother, Uncle Jimmy. Thank you, Jimbo!!

"We were talking about the war and Iwo Jima when I was a little boy. He casually mentioned that he was standing by the group of marines in the famous flag raising photograph. If I remember correctly, he said he was just outside and below the lower left corner of the picture's frame, doing something else. I was awed that he was only a few steps away from being in the history books! He shrugged and said 'I was just doing my job.'"

"Donna (Jimbo's wife) and I went to Jacksonville to spend Christmas with Aunt Irene before she sold the house. The last Christmas. Uncle Billy came over for Christmas dinner and we were sitting round the table talking when the subject of hair came up. I was getting pretty thin on top about that time of my life and said he lost his hair during the war from rancid food. The food was not fit to eat and every body knew it but it was all they had. You either ate it, or went hungry. A lot of the men chose to go hungry but your daddy was hungry enough he decided to eat it any way. He got sick, his hair fell out and never grew back."