Thomas Horace Ballard, the son of Thomas Ballard of Albemarle County, was, according to an uncorroborated online record, born in 1732. He married (according to unverified secondary sources) Mary Elizabeth Ballard, presumably his cousin, the daughter of John Ballard (she was born c. 1730). They lived in Albemarle county, Virginia,1 and he died 3 December 1804. He was probably the “Thomas Ballard of Orange Co.” who on 22 December 1784 purchased 100 acres at the foot of Piney Mountains in Albemarle,2 then was sold four years later by “Thomas Ballard & Mary, his wife, of Albemarle” on 8 May 1788 to Benjamin Huntsman of Albemarle county.3
He left a will in Albemarle county, which was probated in Albemarle December 1804.4 He gave his estate to his six children and appointed his son-in-law Thomas Pettit his executor.5
Will of Thomas Ballard of Albemarle Co. In the Name of God Amen, I Thomas Ballard of Albemarle County do make my last will and testament.
I give and devise to my son John Ballard and to his heirs forever all that part of land that lies on the North side of the north fork of Rock Creek.
Item. I give and devise to my son James Ballard and his heirs forever all the rest of my tract of land.
Item. I give and bequeath to my daughter Ann Bruce Thirty pounds of current money of Virginia.
Item. I give devise and bequeath all the rest of my estate unto my six children viz: John Ballard, James Ballard, Mary Davis, Lucy Harvey, Betsey Snow and Patty Pettit and to my grandaughter Justina Burruss to be devided equally amongst my said six children and my said grandchild. And I hereby appoint and ordain my son James and my son in law Thomas Pettit Executors of this my last will and testament.
This my last will and testament signed with my hand and sealed with my seal, dated this fourteenth day of December one thousand eight hundred and two. Signed: Thomas Ballard (Seal)
Signed, sealed published and declared to be the Testator as his last will and testament in presence of us who have subscribed our names in his presence; Wm. Michie, Wm. Michie Jr., Anne Michie, Elijah Garth, John Mullins Jr., Purvis Rogers, William Thompson
At a court held for Albemarle county the third day of December 1802. This instrument of writing purporting to be the last will and testament of Thomas Ballard, deceased was presented into Court and proved by the oaths of Elijah Garth and John Mullins, Jr. two of the three subscribing witnesses thereto and ordered to be recorded. And on the motion of James Ballard and Thomas Pettit Executors there in named certificate is granted them for obtaining a probate in due form of law on their giving bond and security according to law, whereupon they qualified and gave bond and security accordingly. Teste: John Nicholas C.A.C.
His children were:
THOMAS, married Elizabeth _____________.
JOHN, married Elizabeth Thompson.
JAMES, married Ann Rodes (Rhodes).
Ann, married William Bruce, who died in 1813.
Mary, married ____________ Davis.
Lucy, born c. 1767, married Joseph Harvey in Orange County, Virginia.
Elizabeth (Betsey), married Frost Snow.
Martha (Pattsey), married Thomas Pettit.
Susanna, married 23 October 1786 Charles Burrus; their child (named in the will of Thomas Horace Ballard above and the will of Charles Burrus recorded in Albemarle Co. Va. Will Book 6, p. 331) was Justina Burrus. Virginia Compiled Marriages, 1660-1800 (Ancestry database online). According to an unverified genealogy on the Shiflett Family genealogy website, Susanna Ballard was the second wife of Charles Burrus (died 22 February 1791); Charles married (1) Elizabeth Dickinson (died 6 September 1785), and left issue (five children) and (3) June Owens and left issue (five children). He died 4 February 1819.
Endnotes
1. Among his holdings were 288 acres in Albemarle Co. By deed dated 9 April 1791, between Charles Burrus of Albemarle to Thomas Ballard of same, for £125, 288 acres in Albemarle Co., on both sides of Rocky Creek. Witnesses: Wm. Michie, Benj. Richards, David Michie, John Watts. Recorded April 1791, Albemarle Co. Va. Deed Book 10, p. 164.
2. Deed from Fredrick Wills & Frances, his wife, Leonard Davis & Mary, his wife of Albemarle Co. To Thomas Ballard of Orange Co., for £45, 100 acres at foot of Piney Mountains, Albemarle Co. Witnesses: Robert Sanford, Leonard Davis, Augustine Davis, John Wills, Elizabeth Ballard. Recorded March 1785, Albemarle Co. Va. Deed Book 9, p. 69.
3. Deed between Thomas Ballard & Mary, his wife, of Albemarle to Benjamin Huntsman of same, for £35, 100 acres at the foot of Piney Mountains, Albemarle Co. Witnessed by Henry Stone, Thomas Stone. Albemarle Co. Va. Deed Book 9, p. 465.
4. Will of Thomas Ballard of Albemarle Co. Albemarle Co. Va. Will Book 4, p. 162.
5. Albemarle Co. Va. B.K. 4-163; Boddie, Southside Virginia Families, Vol. 1, p. 20.
Ballard of Virginia 
In the transcription of the will of Thomas Ballard, d. c. 1804 in Albemarle County, Va. there is a mention of a daughter Ann (Ballard) Bruce who is to receive 30 pounds current. However, in the genealogical chart (above) showing relationships of the family of Thomas Ballard, you do not show an Ann Bruce. Perhaps that is because after Thomas mentions the bequest to Ann Bruce, he mentions “to my six children” in the following paragraph, not mentioning her again.. At any rate, I wanted to let you know that Anne Ballard Bruce married William Bruce, d. 1813. I can supply materials for this connection.
thanks
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[…] Thomas Horace Ballard of Albemarle County, Virginia (c.1732-1804). […]
[…] this information tells us is that this Thomas Ballard is an otherwise undocumented son of Thomas Horace Ballard of Albemarle County, Virginia (c. 1732-1804). He was not mentioned in the better known Albemarle Ballard family histories, namely Edgar […]
[…] Ballard, Sr, of Albemarle County, Virginia, was the son of Thomas Horace Ballard of Albemarle County, Virgina. He reportedly served in the Light Infantry from 1794 to 1802, and married 10 May 1790 in Albemarle […]
I am a descendant of Lucy Ballard Harvey, wife of Joseph Harvey and a daughter of Thomas Horace Ballardt I have two questions. First, where does the name Horace come from? Is there a document showing him with such a middle name? Second, is Thomas Horace Ballard the son of Thomas Ballard and his wife Susannah Hesson? I have two other Ballard lines — Richard Ballard whose daughter Susannah Ballard married Eusebius Stone, and William Ballard who married Clopton and moved to North Carolina.
Good questions — one I had not posed, myself. I think (but I am not sure — I need to check) that the name “Horace” appears in William Harris Miller’s, History and Genealogies of the Families of Miller, Woods, Harris, Wallace, Maupin, Oldham, Kavanaugh and Brown : with interspersions of notes of the families of Dadney, Reid, Martin, Broaddus, Gentry, Jarman, Jameson, Ballard, Mullins, Michie, Moberley, Covington, Browning, Duncan, Yancey and others (Richmond, Ky.: Transylvania Press, 1907). That very ambitious book is riddled with errors and omissions, but in some cases is the only source of information on a person or line. It would be good to corroborate the name with contemporaneous records, but I haven’t tried to do that. Interesting that it isn’t used in his will, isn’t it?
Who was Thomas Horace Ballard’s mother? Given the curious order of the names in the will of his father, Thomas, my personal deduction (and it no doubt is not shared by other researchers) is that he first names and provides for his youngest daughter, Mary, who I suspect is a child from a second marriage to Susannah ___________. Some identify her as Susannah Hesson, but I don’t know the source of that name so I omit it in my notes. The elder children are then named in the will, but Susannah is not, she likely having pre-deceased him.
[…] Thomas Horace Ballard of Albemarle County, Virginia (c.1732-1804). […]