Reuben Ballard was in Franklin County, Georgia as early as 1788. He owned 287.5 acres of land in Franklin County, Georgia, which he bought Feb. 15, 1788 from Jonathon Parmer and sold back to Parmer in January of 1790, by which time Reuben was living in Wilkes Co., Georgia.
Reuben (also spelled Reubin) owned land in Wilkes County on the Fishing Creek waters. One key reference describes it as 343 Acres of 1st quality, oak and hickory lands.
However, another compilation of 1790 tax returns describes it as 42.5 acres of 1st quality and 300 of second.
Still a third compilation, apparently taken from the same records, says he owned 544 acres in Wilkes Co.
Other Ballard names on the 1790-92 tax lists for Wilkes Co. include a Nathan, John, and Philip all over 21 in 1792 but with no land, and a Humphry (or Humphrey) Ballard with 200 acres also on Fishing Creek. It is unknown if these are any relation to Reuben, but it seems likely.
According to a descendent of that line, Martha Dove (JDove@IX.netcom.com), who emailed me in 1997, Humphry Ballard was the father of Nathan (their direct ancestor) and Philip. No known connection to Reuben.
Reuben moved to Mercer County, Kentucky in 1795, along with his son-in-law Isaac Alexander.
On July 21st, 1795, ``Rubin Ballard'' of Mercer County, Kentucky, bought 140 acres of land in Mercer Co. from William and Dolly Crowders. He paid 150 pounds for the land which was on the ``Doctors of Chaplins fork'' (Doctor's Fork of Chaplin's Creek) and was a rectangular plot 93 poles (north-south) by 240 poles (east-west).
Reuben came to Warren County, Kentucky in 1799, and that's where he remained until his death. He and his sons first settled along the Gasper River, near the Logan Co. border. In 1806 and 1807 the Ballards are listed as living on the Barren River, which is a little east of the Gasper River.
On Nov. 6, 1800, Reuben paid $333 for 100 acres of land on Blackberry Ponds in Warren County to Francis and Mary Jordan. Apparently this same land was assigned to Reuben by Francis Jordan before 1800, probably in 1799.
Reubin Ballard received a Kentucky Land grant for 200 acres in Warren Co., Kentucky, surveyed 20 Jul 1799.
A Reuben Ballard appears on the 1769 and 1770 tax lists of Craven County, North Carolina. I don't know whether it is this same Reuben or not. Craven county is sort of far from Bute Co. where this Reuben is known to be in 1770.
Some researchers have suggested that Reuben is somehow descended from the John-Ralph-Abraham Ballard family of Nansemond Co., VA which is also possibly the family of his wife Absilla. There isn't any proof of this that I know of.
Some researchers give Reuben's name as Reuben R. Ballard. I believe this comes about from his ``mark'' (signature for someone who couldn't write) on a document (which I have seen, but I forget which it is). A typical mark would be an X and the way it is used in a document is the clerk writes the persons name, e.g. Reuben Ballard, with an extra large space in between the first and last names. The signer then makes his mark in that space. Sometimes the words ``his mark'' are written around the mark. In Reuben's case, his mark was a capital letter R instead of an X. So on the document the name looks like Reuben R. Ballard. But the R was just put there by Reuben as his initial or mark.
Sources for this individual: @S1264@ @S1265@ @S1266@ @S1267@ @S1268@ @S1269@ @S1270@ @S1271@ @S1272@ @S1273@ @S1274@ @S1275@ @S1276@
