Andrew Jackson Ballard, the son of James Ballard of Shelby county, Kentucky, married Frances Ann Thruston.  Born 22 September 1815, he died 17 August 1885.  He married 27 April 1848 Frances Ann Thruston, who was born 30 November 1826 and died 30 April 1896 while traveling in Vienna, Austria, the daughter of Charles William Thruston (1793-1854) and Mary Eliza Churchill, the daughter of Col. Samuel Churchill and Abigail Oldham Churchill.  From 1837 he practiced law in Louisville, and in 1843-1844 represented Jefferson county in the Kentucky legislature.  In 1861 he was appointed Clerk of the U.S. District Court for Kentucky by President Lincoln.¹ He was political editor of the Louisville and Weekly Commercial.  He is interred at Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky.

His obituary appeared in the Louisville Courier-Journal on Tuesday, 18 August 1885, p. 3.

ANDREW JACKSON BALLARD

Death Yesterday of a Prominent Citizen in His Sixty-ninth Year.

A Sketch of His Long and Useful Career.

Andrew Jackson Ballard died at 4 o’clock yesterday morning of acute dysentery at the residence of his son, Charles T. Ballard, 1.-121 Floyd street, in the sixty-ninth year of his age.  He had been sick for several weeks, and, upon the advice of physicians, went to French Lick Springs, remaining thee about one week.  Not receiving any benefit, he returned home.  He took to his bed Wednesday, but a fatal termination of his sickness was not thought of until Sunday, when he suddenly became worse, sinking rapidly to death.

The funeral will take place at 4:30 o’clock this afternoon from the family residence at the corner of Walnut and Floyd streets.  Place of internment, Cave Hill.

Andrew Jackson Ballard has figured prominently as a lawyer, a legislator and a clerk of the courts.  His father was Jas. Ballard, who in 1780 migrated to Kentucky, and settled in Shelby county.  The son was born in the year 1816, and received his elementary instruction in the village schools.  His more advanced studies were pursued at Shelbyville.  In 1835 he quit school to read law with Hon. George M. Bibb, attending in the meantime one course at the Transylvania University at Lexington.  Two years later he was licensed to practice and admitted to the Louisville bar, where, until 1862 — a period of twenty-five years — he continued to be a shining legal light.  He retired from active practice to fill an appointment in the United States Court.  In 1842-3 he served in the Legislature, representing one of the Louisville districts, and, at the end of the term, received at the hands of the Whig party a flattering indorsement, by way of a renomination, which he declined.

In 1846, soon after the breaking out of the Mexican war, he tendered his services to President Polk, but the offer came too late to secure an appointment.  From 1862 to 1870 he served as Clerk of the United States Circuit and District Courts for Kentucky.   In 1871 he assumed charge as political editor of the Louisville daily and weekly Commercial, and during he memorable campaign of Gen. John M. Harlan, the Republican nominee for Governor of Kentucky, he gave him full and free support.  Since 1872 he has devoted his time principally to private matters, and has twice visited Europe.  He was a member of Christ Protestant Episcopal Church.

Mr. Ballard married Miss Frances Ann Thruston April 27, 1848, the only daughter of Mr. Charles M. Thruston, and grand-niece of Gen. George Rogers Clark.  Four children were born.  In April, 1874, while at Mentone, France, the only daughter, Miss Abby Churchill Ballard, then a junior at Vassar College, died.  The three sons survive.  For a long time Charles Thruston Ballard, one of the sons, was collected with the office of Collector of Internal Revenue.

The deceased had an illustrious brother, in the person of Judge Bland Ballard, who, during his life, resided in Louisville, and was at the time of his death Judge of the United States Courts for the District of Kentucky, holding the original appointment under President Lincoln.  Harrison Ballard, of Shelby county, is another brother, and the only sister is Mrs. Pauline W. Collins, who lives at Owensboro, Ky.

For fifty years the deceased had been a resident of Louisville, and always occupied a commanding social position.  He was a man of excellent conversational powers, entertaining and instructive, sensible and dignified, and leaves a host of warm friends.

Mrs. Ballard has been visiting in North Carolina, but arrived in the city last night.

Frances Thruston Ballard left a will dated 4 March 1895, recorded 10 June 1896 in Jefferson Co. Ky. Will Book 21, pp. 422-23.

I Frances Thruston Ballard, daughter of Charles W. Thruston, deceased, and widow of the late Andrew J. Ballard of the city of Louisville & State of Kentucky do make this my last will & testament, hereby revoking and annulling all other wills by me heretofore made.

First, I desire and direct prompt payment of all my just debts and funeral expenses.

Second, to my sons Charles T. Ballard, S. Thruston Ballard, I have given that mill property bordering on Broadway Street & Beargrass Creek on which they conduct a flouring mill.  I have given them also the dwelling houses and lots on which they respectively reside and have made advances of money to them, from time to time, in consideration of which I hereby will & bequeath to them only my love and affection.

Third, all the balance of my property and estate of every kind and description whatever whether real, personal or mixed, I do hereby give and bequeath to my son Rogers Clark Ballard Thruston, his heirs and assigns forever.  I here state that the said Rogers Clark Ballard Thruston is my youngest son, and that his name was hanged at my request by the County Court of Fayette County, Kentucky, from Rogers Clark Ballard to Rogers Clark Ballard Thruston, simply adding my ancestral name Thruston to what had previously been his name.

Fourth, I appoint my said son Rogers Clark Ballard Thruston sole executor of this my last will & testament, and request that he be permitted to qualify and act as such, without bond or security, and that no inventory be made of my estate.

Fifth, in conclusion, I request that the internment of my body shall be private.

In testimony of all the above written, and of my acknowledgement of the same, I hereunto set my hand and seal.

Frances Thruston Ballard

Signed and acknowledged in our presence who sign our names hereto, in the presence of each other and of the testator, this 4th day of March 1895.  Mary Tyler Pope, Pendleton Pope.

The children of Andrew Jackson Ballard and Frances Ann Thruston were:

CHARLES THRUSTON, married Emeline Modest (Mina) Breaux.

Bland, born 29 October 1851; died 15 August 1852.

Abigail Churchill, born 24 June 1853.  Several sources report that Abigail Churchill Ballard died in Mentone, Alpes Maritimes, France, but according to Brad Asher, author of Cecelia and Fanny: The Remarkable Friendship Between an Escaped Slave and Her Former Mistress (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2011),  Abigail Churchill Ballard was studying at Vassar College and became ill with tuberculosis during her first term and returned to Kentucky in 1872.  The family spent the winter of 1872/73 in Florida in order to allow her to recuperate, then returned to Kentucky in Summer 1873.  She died 2 April 1874, without issue.

SAMUEL THRUSTON, married Sunshine Harris.

ROGERS CLARK.

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Endnotes

1. Bridwell, p. 58.

2. Armistead Churchill, Armistead Churchill & His Descendants, (reprinted in Genealogies of Virginia Families from The William & Mary College Quarterly, 1st Series, Vol IX (1901), pp. 246-49; Vol. X (1901) pp. 39-44), pp. 836-37.

3.

Miller, TB Vol. II, p. 332.

4. Ibid.

5. Churchill, p. 838; Derby, pp. 128-29.

6. 31 December 1946. Family History and Obituary, The Filson Club History Quarterly, Volume 21 No. 2, April 1947.

7. Derby, pp. 128-29.

8. Miller, BB Family, pp. 38-41.