I first began my search in the world of Heraldry. Like many I believed that my family line had a Coat of Arms assigned to the surname. This turned out to be a falsehood. A Coat of Arms is not assigned to a family surname, it is attached to the individual patriarch of that family. Heraldry, in my opinion is what started the world of modern day genealogy. In order for a individual to receive a Coat of Arms the family line had to be researched by the royal court’s heralds, often times visitations to the individual were preformed. Today, the first picture you see in many a family tree is a Coat of Arms that is assigned to the surname. The author of a work that appropriates a family’s arms in this manner is irresponsible, and the work immediately suspect, because usually there is no family connection at all. It is done in a vain and romanticized attempt to make a connection to royalty or landed gentry.

This lead me to the field of genealogy to research and get a accurate picture of my Ballard family line, which goes back to Philip Ballard of Spotsylvania. Having been involved in this as a amateur I have discovered like a few others that there are many, many falsehoods and speculations in the family trees of casual users that have been perpetuated down through the years. I like to think of them as “point and clickers”, someone that follows others blindly by accepting the general narrative of the family line without having ever actually read or researched the documentation or source provided.

It is my hope by doing this blog that I am able to provide good information and straighten out certain aspects of this Ballard line and help researchers, as well as researchers helping me, to document the truth and real stories of our ancestors.