==== Colonel Joseph BALL & Mary BENNETT ==== Father: **Colonel Joseph BALL**, b. 24 May 1649, Northumberlund County Virginia, d. 11 Jul 1711, Eppes Falls, Amelia, Virginia Joseph Ball is the GrandFather of George Washington, President of the USA. !SOURCES: Carmen Hope Esau Johnson, Family Archives-1970 Susan Smith's Web Page This is the grandfather of George Washington All remaining info taken from Washington DC genweb as there are many genealogies regarding the marriagea and children of Joseph Ball and this one was the official information , the most detailed and the info was in correct order."Col. William Ball of Balleston, MD, and Millenbeck, VA, Great Grandfather of George Washington". ("Genealogies of Virginia Families" from Tyler's Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine) "Colonel Joseph Ball, youngest son of Colonel William Ball, was transported by his father from Maryland to Virginia. By his first marriage he had one son and four daughters: Joseph. born 11 March, 1684, who was educated in England and there wooed and wed Miss Frances Ravenscroft; Elizabeth married Rev. John Carnegie, Hannah married Mr. Rawleigh Travers, Anne married Colonel Edwin Conway, and Esther married Mr. Rawleigh Chinn. He married second Mrs. Mary Johnson, a widow with two children, John and Elizabeth Johnson. She was born in England and was living neighbor to him in Lancaster County, Virginia, at the time of their marriage. Colonel Joseph Ball died at "Epping Forest," Lancaster County, Virginia, in 1711, leaving an only child by this marriage, Mary Ball."' Probably his widow with their daughter, Mary, returned home to visit relatives. She married, as her third husband, Captain Richard Hewes. They were living in St. Stephen's Parish, Northumberland County, Virginia, when he died circa 1713. In her will dated 17 December, 1720, she leaves her daughter, Mary Ball, "under tutelage and government of her friend, Captain George Eskridge, during her minority." She died in 1721 and when her daughter, Mary Ball, was of age most likely she went to England to live. Also from a published genealogy Elizabeth Comb Pierce published in William and Mary Quarterly. (b) In 1703, Col. Joseph Ball made a gift deed to his son-in-law Rawleigh Chinn, Gent. of 190 A. "To the westward of the land of the sd Col. Joseph Ball," which afterwards bore the name, "Oakley," and which has never been out of the possession of descendants of Rawleigh and Esther Ball Chinn. This deed was witnessed by "Mary Johnson, her mark." (c) On Feb. 6th, 1707, Col. Joseph Ball made a gift deed to his five children as follows, "To son Joseph Ball, To Hannah Travers, wife of Mr Rawleigh Travers of Stafford Co. To Ann Conway, wife of Mr. Edwin Conway of Lancaster Co. To Easte-Chinn, wife of Mr Rawleigh Chinn aforesaid each daughters of the aforesaid Col. Joseph Ball and to Joseph Carnegie, son of Elizabeth Carnegie late dec'd, which sd Elizabeth, my daughter and wife of Mr John Carnegie, minister in Northumberland Co." and adds this "If I the sd Col. Joseph Ball should decide to marry,"--evidently having the "Widow Johnson" in mind at that time as he reserves certain dower rights in his estate. Mother: **Mary BENNETT**, b. West Chester England, d. 1720, Lancaster County Virginia NOTE: Genealogy.com official genealogy of George Washington says his grandmother is indeed Mary Bennett and not Mary Montague. This woman the grandmother of George Washington is still part of a genealogical mystery. for some genealogists, Some claim that Joseph Ball married a woman named Mary Montague as his second wife., , others say that this is not so and Mary Montague married a man named Thomas Payne and died prior to Mary Ball Washington's birth. However, most of the evidence I have seen shows that he probably married a woman who was the widow Johnson or Mrs Mary Johnson at the time of his marriage to her. And her maiden name was Bennett. See the twisted tale of documented evidence which tries to sort out who the grandmother of George Washington is and what her maiden name may be. I have only chosen to copy the information listed as documented evidence on the Montague family site, not the information that is gossip or undocumented info. I think that the evidence below points to the fact that he married Mary Bennett the widow of .William Johnson. Since this is so well documented as far as I am concerned I have gone with Mary Bennett as I do not believe his wife was Mary Montague at all as according to this info she was probably dead and too old to be the mother of Mary Ball who also had siblings. FROM THE HOUSE OF MONTAGUE WEB SITE Documented Sources