When William Fradd and Ann died they must have been living with Ann’s son Jonathan because the latter (described as a Yeoman) leased the house and land known as Middle Bellaminers (the spelling used in the deed), the house where they died, in 1788. Bellaminers or Ballaminers as it is still called a century after the last Ball left the village was a cattle farm. Jonathan raised beef and probably sold milk in the village. In preparation of his marriage to Ann Lobb on the 13 of August 1795 the lease was changed to include Ann’s name. One month later the couple married:

Figure 25 Marriage Record of Jonathan Ball and Ann Lobb.

Jonathan’s relationship with his half brother, William Fradd, must have been close because not only did he act as a witness at William’s wedding in 1795 but, on December 2nd. 1797 he mortgaged the lease for Bellaminer’s to an Anthony Hawkey of St.Issey, for £300 and, a few days later received £151 from William for a half share in the property. A further contract, dated 1820, see overleaf, shows that Jonathan and his brother worked Bellaminer’s in partnership. It was only after William’s death that his widow arranged with Jonathan to split the farm into two.

This Indenture of three Parts made the eighth day of May of the year of our Lord one thousand eight Hundred and twenty Between Anthony Hawkey of the parish of St Issey in the county of Cornwall Gentleman of first part Jonathan Ball of the parish of Little Petherick in the said County Yeoman of the second part and Elizabeth Fradd Widow and William Fradd her son both of the said last mentioned parish yeoman executors named in the will of William Fradd late of Little Petherick aforesaid yeoman deceased of the third part Whereas by two several Indentures of Lease bearing date the sixteenth day of June one thousand seven Hundred and eighty eight and the thirteenth day of August one thousand seven Hundred and ninetyfive made between William Burrell Esquire afterwards Sir William Burrell Baronet and John Claiton Esquire of the first part Levina Luther widow of the second part and the said Jonathon Ball of the third part All that one Messuage and Tenement area commonly known by the name of Middle Bellaminers consisting of one Barn one Oxen House or Mowhay and five fields or closes of land called or commonly known by the names of the Under Meadow the Barn Park Middle Close Higher Close otherwise Wells Park and Long Close otherwise North Park containing seventeen acres and half of land or thereabout were granted and demised to the said Jonathan Ball his Executors Administrators and Assigns for two several terms of ninety nine years determinable on the Deaths of the said Jonathan Ball the said William Fradd since deceased and Ann Lobb now the wife of the said Jonathan Ball under and subject to the ***** rent of Eleven Shillings payable quarterly and to an Heriot of Forty shillings or best Beast at the Election of the Lord upon the deaths of each of the said Lives and to the Covenant and Agreement mentioned in the Same Leases And Whereas by Indentures bearing date the second day of December one thousand seven Hundred and Ninety Seven made between the said Jonathan Ball of the one part and the said Anthony Hawkey of the other part in before mentioned Messuage and Tenament called Middle Bellaminers were granted and assigned unto the said Anthony Hawkey his Executors and Administrators and Assigns for the remainder of the said five several terms of ninety nine determinable and aforesaid under and subject to a proviso or condition therein contained for redemption of the said premises on payment by the said Jonathan Ball to the said Anthony Hawkey of the sum of three hundred pounds and Interest at the time in the said indenture mentioned and long since past and Whereas by a certain indenture bearing date the eleventh of May of the same Month of December made between the said Jonathan Ball of the one part and the said William Fradd of the other part the said Jonathan Ball in consideration of one Hundred and Fifty one pounds to him paid by the said William Fradd Dec. grant sell and assign to him the said William Fradd his Executors and Administrators and Assigns one half part or Moiety of the above named Messuage or tenement of Middle Bellaminers and premises with the appurtenances for the remainder of the said two several terms of Ninety nine years determinable and aforesaid And Whereas the said William Fradd is lately dead having before his Death duly made and published the last Will and Testament in writing and thereof appointed the said Elizabeth Fradd and William Fradd joint executors and they have since proved the same will in the proper Ecclesiastical Court And Whereas there is now due and owing to the said Anthony Hawkey for principal Money and Interest on the said **** Mortgage or Security the sum of one hundred Ninety six pounds seventeen shillings that is to say by the said Jonathan Ball Eighty three pounds and Twelve Shillings x x x and by the said Elizabeth Fradd and William Fradd as executors of the said William Fradd deceased one Hundred and thirteen pounds & five shillings which the said parties hereto do severally admit and declare x x x And Whereas the said Jonathan Ball and Elizabeth Fradd and William Fradd have agreed to make partition of the said Tenament and premises and having duly considered and estimated the condition and circumstances thereof have mutually agreed to effectuate the same upon the terms and in the manner following / that is to say / that the said Jonathan Ball shall have and enjoy to himself in severalty as and for his share or portion of the said Tenament and Premises that part of the said messuage and Tenament herinafter described and intended to be hereby assigned And that the said Elizabeth Fradd and William Fradd shall have and enjoy in severally as and for their share or portion of the said Tenament and premises All that part of the Dwelling house at the East End thereof now occupied by them the said Elizabeth Fradd and William Fradd and the Fields and closes of Land called by the names of the Barn Meadow and Higher Cow park and one half of that part of the Long Park Field which adjoins with Higher Bellaminers and the Garden next to the Barn Meadow Together with one full half part of the Barn and oxenhouse at the Higher or West end thereof and the like half part of the Mowhay at the upper or West end thereof with that part of the Town place extending from the east end of Balls little front Garden to Lower Bellaminers Gate and an equal right in common with the said Jonathan Ball to the Road or Lane from Lower Bellaminers Gate to the Water Gate used for more effectually conveying the same into Execution they have agreed to pay off the said principal Money and Interest so due to the said Anthony Hawkey Now this Indenture witnesseth that for carrying the said agreement into effect and in consideration of the sum of one Hundred thirteen pounds & five shillings in part of the said principal Money and Interest to the said Anthony Hawkey paid by the said Elizabeth Fradd and William Fradd as expressed in the said Indenture of assignment bearing even date herewith and of the sum of Eighty three pounds and twelve shillings x of Lawful Money current in Great Britain to the said Anthony Hawkey in hand paid by the said Jonathan Ball at or before the Sealing and delivery of these presents in full satisfaction and discharge of all principal Money and Interest due on the said Mortgage or surety in receipt whereof the said Anthony Hawkey doth hereby acknowledge and thereof and of and from the same doth hereby release and discharge as well the said Jonathan Ball and Elizabeth Fradd and William Fradd and for and in consideration of the sum of ten shillings of like lawful Money to the said Elizabeth Fradd and William Fradd in and paid by the said Jonathan Ball before the sealing and delivery hereof the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged. He the said Anthony Hawkey at the request and by the direction of the said Elizabeth Fradd and William Fradd testified by their being a party to and executing these presents Soath bargained sold and assigned and by these presents doth grant Bargain and sell and assign And the said William Fradd and Elizabeth Fradd do hereby grant bargain sell assign and confirm with the said Jonathan Ball his Executors Administrators and Assigns All that part *******ing **** at the West end thereof now occupied by the said Jonathan Ball and small Garden in part and the Garden by the Water Gate and the Fields closes of land called the Under meadow and Lower Cow Park and one half of that of the Long Park Field next to the Meadow Together with one full half part of the barn and Oxhouse at the Lower or East end thereof And the like half part of the Mowhay at the lower or East End thereof with that part of the Town place extending from the under Meadow Gate so far as and to the East End of the little front Garden and an equal rights in common with the said Elizabeth Fradd and William Fradd to the Road or Lane from Lower Bellaminers Gate to the Water Gate being considered as an equal half part of the said Tenament of Middle Bellaminers the other Moiety of which Tenament is x x x x a certain Indenture of assignment bearing even date herewith and made between the said parties hereby last described and intended to be hereby assigned to the said Elizabeth Fradd and William Fradd And all the Estate Title Interest Term and Terms of years property Benefit claim and Demand whatsoever of them the said Anthoney Hawkey Elizabeth Fradd and William Fradd or either of them of in or to the said divided Moiety Hereditamonts and premises hereby assigned or intended so to be Excepting and reserving as in the said recited original Indentures of lease is reserved To have and to hold the aforesaid divided Moiety Hereditament and premises herein last described and intended to be hereby assigned or intended to be hereby assigned to him And the said Jonathan Ball for himself his executors and Administrators and the said Elizabeth Fradd and William Fradd for themselves and their respective Executors and Administrators do hereby mutually covenant and agree each with the other or others of them by these presents in manner following / that is to say / that at and immediately after the expiration of the Term granted by the said Indenture of the Twelfth day of March one thousand and eight Hundred and Seven they will at their joint expense divide and fence off the Barn and Oxhall on the said Tenament by a wall or other sufficient partition and remove the Door of the Barn if requisit to one of the Divisions and place a new Door in the other and do such other work thereto as shall be requisite to form two small Barns and Ox-halls one for each party. And that they will then also at their joint expense equally divide the Mowhay and also the Field or close of Land called the Long Park with proper and sufficient Hedges and put a Gate or Gates and ports thereto for giving effect to the partition hereby made of the same field and Mowhay And further that each party shall keep in repair and maintain his or their own separate Buildings Hedges Gates and Fences which Hedges Gates and Fences are to be equally divided and alotted between the said parties and that all gates posts and Roads which are to be in common or jointly used between the said parties shall be repaired and kept at their joint expense and that each party shall have and enjoy all necessary roads and ways to their respective Fields and premises without any Hindrance or Interruption from the other of them.

Jonathan and Ann Ball had at least 6 children. Their three surviving sons, Henry (ch.1797) Samuel (ch.1800) and John (ch.1809 & Bessie’s father), remained in Little Petherick. William (1803) almost certainly died in his first year (a William Ball was buried on 20th. April 1803). Sadly, Samuel’s life was relatively short dying less than a year after the death of his wife and third child, tragically leaving two children {Edward aged 2 and Mary aged 4} to be brought up by their grandparents.

Of Jonathan and Ann’s two daughters, Thomasin (1813) was not found in the 1841 census, but Nancy (c1815 as Mary!) remained single and lived with her parents. Unlike his father, there is no evidence that Jonathan had close links to the Church but the fact that his son Henry became Parish Clerk etc. suggests that Jonathan and Ann dutifully attended church each Sunday. Jonathan was buried on Jan 14th 1848, aged 84 yrs old and the lease of his half of Middle Ballaminers became Anne’s. Ann, also known as Nancy, lived until 1862, dying in her 86th year. As will be demonstrated later, Ann must have been the ideal grandmother. Not only did she live just ‘round the corner’ she also, as is evident in the 1841 and 1851 censuses, kept open house - her grand-daughters must have regularly stayed over night!

Figure 27:     Bessie’s Uncles, Aunts and First Cousins Living in Little Petherick and the
                     Surrounding Area

Bessie’s other grandfather, Thomas Osborne, was christened in 1781 and married Elizabeth Sandrey (ch. 1787) in 1810. Thomas worked as a shoe maker. Naming their eldest daughter Sally Sandrey Osborne helped identify them. Sadly the birth records of their younger children are not listed in the IGI. Whilst Sally was christened in Padstow, Thomas and Elizabeth christened no other children there, it was simply good fortune that in the 1841 census one son was living at home and in the 1851 census, Elizabeth was staying with another. Thomas Osborne died in 1845 (aged 64), Elizabeth died in 1861 (aged 70).

John Ball, father of Jane, was born in 1809 and married Sally Sandry Osborne at Little Petherick in 1833 when he was 24 and she was 22 years old.

John and Sally’s eldest children were named after them. Sarah, Sally’s pet name, was born in 1834 and the couple’s eldest and only son John was born in 1839. Sadly John died when he was five years old. John Ball senior’s occupation varied throughout his life. In the 1841 census he was probably working on his father’s farm:

Census Year: 1841 Folio 4, pages 2 and 3. En.Dist. 3& 4 Parish of Little Petherick

The 1841 census demonstrates an underlying problem of family history research. John Ball’s wife is, on Bessie’s birth certificate, be named Sally. Fortunately, in subsequent censuses the ages of both parents and the name and age of their eldest child confirm that John and Sarah are Bessie’s parents. Similarly, John Ball’s parents Jonathan and Ann actually call themselves Jonathan and Nancy. (To make things more complicated Jonathan’s nephew, Jonathan, also married a woman named Nancy!). Equally problematic was the fact that the younger Nancy living at Ballaminers, is their daughter Mary!

An aside: The pet name ‘Nancy’ was given to my mother ‘Nancy’ (Doris Annie) Nichols. Soon after her birth, a visiting relative decried mum’s given names and argued that she should be called Nancy. The relative was almost certainly Nancy (Mary Anne) Nichols, Bessie’s daughter - presumably Bessie gave the pet name to her own daughter in rememberance of her Grandma and Aunt.

Henry Ball is John’s brother, Edward is John’s nephew. Edward’s parents, Samuel and Jane, died before he was four years old.

Thomas and Elizabeth Osborn are Bessies grandparents. Sadly, little is known of this couple, though the "shoe" link to the Nichols and Smith’s is interesting.

* I failed to note these amounts
@ Relationship unknown, but a John Osborne, was a witness at John and Sally’s wedding.

By 1851 John Ball was renting a large portion of ‘The Glebe’ (32 acres of land owned by the Church {stated 1745}) and called himself a farmer. None of the Ball’s owned the houses they lived in or the land they rented. Our relatives @ Little Petherick paid the following rents and tax payments in 1851 (a typical year):

On the night of the 1851 census (see below) John and Sally’s daughter, Sarah, stayed over-night with their widowed grandmother and their maiden Aunt; it has been impossible to confirm the parents of Elizabeth Ball - but I suspect she too is John and Sally’s daughter. Selena’s name was clearly misspelt in 1841.

The houses where John and Henry lived opened directly on to the road. Although there is no supporting evidence I suspect that John and Sally lived in the smaller of the two cottages in the lane opposite the church leading to Ballaminers farm. The cottage which Henry lived is the building on the main road now known as ‘Ball Cottage’: A large white house diagonally opposite the church (Henry’s house rent in 1851 [figure 26] was nine shillings per year compared to John’s two).

Census Year: 1851 Civil Parish: L.Petherick

Elizabeth Osborne, Sally Ball’s mother, is living in the adjacent Parish (see transcript below). Sadly both Elizabeth and William Osborne died in 1857 (according to the vicar he "died suddenly" - a heart attack?). In the nearby parish of Mawgan Samuel Ball’s son, Edward, has married and is working as a labourer.

Census Year: 1851 Adjacent village to L.Petherick of St.Issey & St.Mawgyn

Bessie (Jane) Ball (Stephen Nichols’ wife) was born on the 20th of August 1852. Thirteen days later Sally registered the birth in Padstow. The surprisingly whilst Sally had signed her name on her wedding day there is simply a cross on Jane’s birth certificate, presumably Sally had learned how to sign her name for her ‘big day’, nineteen years later....

It was in 1858 that the Church of Little Petherick was restored and the Ball’s ‘carved the stars’ above the altar. In this same year we are informed that:

"New stocks cost 7s. 6d. in 1736; a shilling is spent in repairing them in 1817. Their end was violent. They were kept in the Church Porch, and at the restoration in 1858, being left to the mercy of William Ball, the Builder, were burnt by him out of revenge, because as a boy, he had been put in them!"

William must have been Henry’s son, christened in 1822. The other three William Ball’s all lived in surrounding villages and worked on the land - the William born in 1806 was a farmer and the two born in 1814 and 1837 were both agricultural labourers. The problem is, I have not yet found Henry’s son William in a census; however he did live in Little Petherick as a child and would almost certainly have trained under his father as a carpenter. What did William do as a child? N.B. The altar screen (the reredo) was built many years later.

The list of Little Petherick singers (figure 20) is, according to the Church Visitors Guide, the last record of the village ‘orchestra’ and contains the names of two of John and Sally’s daughters and Henry’s daughter Mary. The importance of the orchestra, to the church is evidenced by the 1818 accounts: "candles for ye Singers" and "Clark for Learning the Singing 10s.6d.". The visitors guide book adds that the clerk, who for 43 years was Henry Ball, had a fixed salary!

By 1861 John Ball had stopped renting ‘The Glebe’ and, from then on, his work oscillated between carpentry and working with horses: groom (1861), carpenter (1871); coachman (1877); carpenter (1881). The fact that at least three churches in the neighbourhood were renovated in the nineteenth century - L.Petherick (begun in 1858), St.Issey (Cornwall Directory) and St.Mawgan (1871? Census) – helps to explain the changes. The fact that Henry, John’s eldest brother is also a "Master Carpenter" (parish records) helps to support Jane’s belief that her family worked on the altar and carved the wooden stars nailed to the church ceiling - though the statement ‘one for every day of the year’ (Uncle Bill, William Nichols’ memory) is almost certainly Bessie’s poetic license, in 1991 there were only 192!

The fact that Ann, Jonathan Ball’s widow previously known as Nancy, describes herself as having a ‘leasehold of 40 acres on her life’ in the 1861 census, confirms that the lease taken out by her husband, in their joint names, still exists though the acreage of land is greater than expected. Bessie (Jane) Ball is staying with her grandmother (Ballaminers farmhouse is just 50 yards from her parent’s house), just as her elder sister(s) did in 1851, indicating that this was a common occurrence.

Census Year: 1861 Little Petherick Enum. District 7

N.B. James Osborn (Bessies cousin) owns his own house and is taxed £3.3s on his leased farm.

Alfred Tamblyn the apprentice ship’s carpenter, living with the blacksmith, subsequently married Jane’s sister Sarah Sandrey Ball - see 1871 census below.

Jane’s grandmother, Ann Ball, died in 1862. John’s sister Nancy must have had to move from the farm because the lease no longer belonged to a member of the family. With no parish evidence of burial, she presumably found work elsewhere. Ann Ball is Jane’s cousin, Henry’s daughter.

Census Year:1871 Parish: L.Petherick ED 13?

Sadly, Alfred Tamblyn must have within ten years of marrying Sarah Ball, leaving her a widow with three children to support; Elizabeth, Alfred and Norah [1881 Census] are all classified in the censuses as being DEAF & DUMB. Not surprisingly, census Sarah is staying with her parents.

James Osborne (25yrs) is likely to be the grandson of Henry Osborn via James (49) - whilst the son’s age is three yrs out, the cordwainer link provides some evidence!

Census Year: 1881 Little Petherick and St.Issey

* DEAF AND DUMB FROM BIRTH

Sadly, Sarah Tamblyn, John and Sally Ball all died before the 1891 census and, the ‘Ball’ surname died out in Little Petherick by 1901 when John’s niece Ann Ball died. Henry’s sons had left the village before 1861, Edward Ball (Samuel’s son) lived at Mawgan. Descendants of Jonathan and Ann Ball, via the female lines and more distant relatives continued to live nearby.