Johnson was born about 1745. He reportedly married Elizabeth Eastham in Culpeper Co., Virginia. This marriage is being called in to question.

Research of the first name Johnson existing in the other Ballard family lines of Virginia has shown that no other Ballard family line had a child named Johnson at that time. The first name Johnson was most likely given to him using his mothers surname Johnson.

When Margaret Byrnside Ballard published her book “William Ballard: a genealogical record of his descendants in Monroe County” in 1957, other than his marriage to Elizabeth Eastham, little more was known about Johnson Ballard.

In the book, Margaret Byrnside Ballard¹ wrote on page 15:

“JOHNSON BALLARD m. Bettie Eastham in 1791. Apparently, they did not cross the mountains to what is now West Virginia or if they did, they did not remain long. The descendants of William Ballard in Monroe Co., believe that Johnson lived in Orange Co., Va., and probably died there.”

With the recent recovery of records for a younger Johnson Ballard, there is a strong possibility that Johnson Ballard the senior, died about age 36, at some point before the 1782 Orange County, Virginia tax list was produced. There is no record that has been found that Johnson the senior served in the Revolutionary War along side his brothers William, Thomas or Philip Ballard the junior, their service ended in 1781.

Current research shows that the name Johnson was not recorded until the 1784 Orange County, Virginia, Personal Property Tax List. A Johnson is shown living with Philip Sr., from 1784 to 1787. {Personal property tax lists, 1782-1850, Virginia. Commissioner of the Revenue (Orange County), Personal property tax lists 1782-1800, Image 61, 113, 135, Family Search, not indexed.} 

The Johnson Ballard on the 1784 – 1787 Tax List, was Johnson Ballard the junior, the grandson of Philip Ballard the senior.

The limited number of available records, almost 65 years ago, did not provide Margaret Byrnside Ballard, a conscientious, diligent genealogist, with proof of the existence of a grandson named Johnson Ballard, 20 years younger than Johnson Ballard the senior, nor did it show any other records she had available to her at the time.

Therefore, if Johnson Ballard the senior died before 1784, although we do not know the name of his wife, had a son, Johnson Ballard Jr., born about 1768. Records show that the Johnson Ballard, who lived with Philip Sr. from 1784 to 1787 and who married Elizabeth Eastham, moved about 1792, from Orange Co, Virginia to Woodford Co., Virginia, now Kentucky.

This calls in to question that Johnson Ballard the senior married Elizabeth Eastham. Johnson Ballard the junior is more likely to have been the correct one, at about age 23, married 1791, Elizabeth Eastham, as recorded in Culpeper Co., Virginia, where also were recorded the marriages of the two youngest sons of Philip Ballard, Curtis, (married 1781), and Larkin, (married 1786). Curtis and Johnson were married by the same minister, Rev. George Eve, of Forks of Elkhorn Baptist Church.

The Records from Forks of Elkhorn Baptist Church had congregants who migrated from Orange Co., Virginia to Woodford Co., Kentucky. Kentucky tax records for Woodford and Owen Counties, have been located and support the residence of Johnson Ballard the junior and Elizabeth Eastham Ballard and their family in Woodford Co. and Owen Co., Kentucky.  Johnson the junior’s birth, about 1770, is supported on an 1840 Owen, Kentucky census.  Johnson the junior’s 1st wife, Elizabeth “Bettie” Eastham, his 2nd wife, Isabella Sparks,  and his children, were listed in “Forks of Elkhorn Church” book² about the Baptist church and congregants in Kentucky.

To confuse matters, Johnson Ballard Jr., who settled in Kentucky is frequently mixed-up, by family genealogists, with his cousin Johnson Ballard, the son of William Ballard. William Ballard was a brother of Johnson Ballard the senior. Oral family stories collected by Margaret Byrnside Ballard, placed the death of Johnson Ballard, the son of William Ballard, 1849 in Owen Co., Kentucky, mixing-up the lives of the two Johnson Ballard cousins.

Careful attention is needed so as not to mix-up these two Johnson Ballard’s. Although both Johnson Ballard cousins were born in Orange Co., Virginia, one Johnson Ballard cousin moved to Kentucky. The other Johnson Ballard cousin moved to Albemarle Co., Virginia. The cousins were close in age and both were grandsons of Philip Ballard. William Ballard’s son, Johnson Ballard resided in Albemarle Co., Virginia. Johnson Ballard the seniors son, Johnson Ballard Jr. resided in Kentucky.

Current Records

END NOTES

1. William Ballard; a genealogical record of his descendants in Monroe County, by Ballard, Margaret Byrnside. pub. 1957

2. Forks of Elkhorn Church: With Genealogies of Early Members, Reprinted with Numerous Additions and Corrections (1320) Paperback – Illustrated, May 22, 2013