Balls-Town: A Community of History, Friends, Neighbors, and Lingering Spirits

Balls-Town

A Community of History, Friends, Neighbors, and Lingering Spirits

Amy Shannon

ISBN: 979-8-215-13480-1

Copyright ©2024 by Amy Shannon

Essence Publishing, Malta NY 12020

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information regarding the subject covered.

Credits:

Book Cover by Amy Shannon

Photographs: (See Resources Page)

Special Credit:

Adria Schoebel. Adria provided me with information about her home, built in 1800, which was known as Judge James Thompson’s farm and then called Rose Hill Farm. She also provided me with photos from an old ledger or journal.

And to my son, Robert F. Witkowski, who is my caretaker, but he also brought me to the various cemeteries and took photographs for me.

Other titles written by Amy Shannon.

Short Stories:

The Forsaken

Plan B

The Bridge of Shadows

The Backyard

Worth

Fiction:

Chains

Contrary Measures

Fettering Shadow

Fractured Tears: A Struggle for Justice 2022 Expanded Edition

MOD Life Epic Saga

1      Unwritten Life 

2      Rewritten Life 

3      Unwritten Life's Paths to Destiny 

4      Written Life's Past Meets Present

5      Life's Written Past 

6      Life's Unwritten Future 

7      Another Written Life 

8      Life … Rewritten 

9      Unwritten Life & Death 

10      Life's Healer 

11      Life's Hindering Hope 

12      Life's Binding Ties 

13      Life's Resurrection 

14      Life's Infiltration 

15      Life's Revival 

16      Life's Depths of Souls 

17      Life's Explosion in Time 

18      Life's Connections 

19      Life's Collision 

20      Life's Intersection 

21      Life's Final Destination 

22      Life's Generations

23      Return to Life 

24      Life's Resolution 

25      A New Unwritten Life 

26      Life's Dissolution 

27      Life's Linear Souls 

28      Life's Choices 

29      Life's Passions

30      Life's Awakening 

31      Life's Vengeance 

32      Life's Heartful Depths 

33      Life's Quaking Souls 

34      Fractured Life 

35      Life's Drowning 

36      Life's Exploration 

37      Life's Curative

38      Thicker than Life's Blood 

39      Life's Salvation 

40      Capturing Life's Midnight 

41      Life's ReEvolution 

42      Life's Soulful Intentions 

43      Life's Jagged Flames 

44      Life's Rising Depths 

45      Life's Doomed Immortality 

46      Life's Raw Enforcement 

47      Life's Deemed Corruption 

48      Life's Inherent Immorality 

49      Life's Retrospective Legacy

50      Life's Torturous Souls 

51      Life's Passages 

52      Life's Tribulations

53      Life's Spirituality

54      Life's Revitalizations

55      Life's Rapture 

56      Life's Sacred Retaliation

57      Life's Fiery Resuscitation

58      Life's Experimentation

59      Life's Redemption

60      Life's Humanity

61      The District Life: Districtive

62      The District Life: Disarray

63      The District Life: Disassembled

64      The District Life: Disapparent 

65      Life's Return: Home Sweet Sars Springs

66      Life's Return: The Practice

67      Sars Springs: The finale

My Final Chapter: A Legacy of Words

Passionate Retribution Series

Passionate Retribution

Passionate Retribution 2

Passionate Retribution 3

Passionate Retribution 4

Profiler Series:

1 Prowl

2 Preyfiler

Savvy Macavoy Series

1 Smashed: A Savvy Macavoy Story

2 The Relic: A Savvy Macavoy Story

Shattered Pages

Unlawful Identity

Poetry:

Unbroken Souls

Tattered Words

All of my Yesterdays

Nonfiction

Depths of Characters: A writer’s resource & workbook for character building

Balls-Town: A community of history, friends, neighbors, and lingering spirits

Honors

This book honors all the men and women who toiled and struggled to make a home on a settlement in Balls-Town. To all the early pioneers who respected the land and built up the towns, hamlets, and villages. I wrote this book in honor of the Reverend Eliphalet Ball, who through his vision, and wanting a to create a home for his congregation, he created Balls-Town. It also honors all of those who came between us, and followed Ball here, to make a new home.

Dedication

For Robert, Darrin, Louis, Freesia, and William

You all are my life.

For my dad, Dennis

Acknowledgements

Thank you to everyone who has helped me find answers as I worked on and researched this book. Many of the books I had to dig and find because they were so old, but some were scanned in books. (All the books and documentations, and websites I used to find answers are listed in the resources page).

I want to thank my sister, Adria Schoebel, for providing information about her home’s history. I also want to thank Ginny from the Brookside Museum for giving me information whenever I have questions. And, finally, thank you, Larry Philips who is the administrator for the Ballston Spa Facebook Groups (You Might Be from Ballston Spa N.Y. and Ballston Spa in the Sixties).

I also need to thank my son, Robert, who drove me around to various cemeteries and landmarks, and took photographs for me.

Each and every community should record in some manner its progress and its work as a landmark for the future.

-Ulysses S. Grant

Every life, every death tells a story.

Home

Home isn’t always a place,

Home can be in the heart, the soul,

Home isn’t always where you lay your head.

Or dream

But it’s a feeling, something that goes beyond.

Time and place

It’s stories of generations, learning about the past

Living in the present

Looking forward to the future

One can feel at home on any street,

With any person,

But when you feel it,

At a time and place

The people you’re with

Your home.

-Amy Shannon (2023)

Introduction

Ballston Spa is currently the border of two towns, the town of Ballston and the town of Milton. It is an area within Saratoga County, in upstate NY. Ballston Spa has its village, and outskirts that outline Ballston and borders Saratoga Springs.

It used to be distinguished by being called Ballston Centre. Before its incorporation in 1807, Ballston Spa was referred to as Ballston, (shortened from Ball’s-Town), Ballston Springs, Bath, Springs, never really called Ballston Spa. Ballston Spa has its village, but its town and history have so many stories about how it started, and when people realized how special this area is and was. Small hamlets or towns may have been forgotten, or the only thing that remains is a simple sign, such as Factory Village. Other hamlets are now just street names, such as the East Line hamlet.

Bloodville and Craneville are long gone, and today, many would be surprised to know the infamy of the Old Iron Springs, and its healing mineral waters. Those waters still run, but not as vast as they did, and some forgot about them, and head north to Saratoga Springs, where they can enjoy, if they have a taste for it, the mineral water that pours from various fountains and salt banks.

Author’s Preface

During the American Revolution, where Americans finally became a country not under the thumb of the British Army, General George Washington said to his men, as he looked out over New York Harbor,

The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die. Their journey led them upstate New York, through established and unestablished towns, and unconquered and conquered land, weaving through the land, unadulterated woods, and even marching troops up inhabited roads, to their destination, through Ballston Spa, up Middleline Road, and then the battles of Saratoga began. This war affected the settlers of Balls-Town, and made its own history, with the goal and winning side, gave us Independence. Something that was so important that it affected those all over the growing country.

These towns that were once part of Balls-Town, were more than historical landmarks and prominent or infamous names that we see on landmark signs across the towns, but the settlers and pioneers, businessmen, and everyone in between were people, families, and they all have a story. This book’s intention is to tell the history of Balls-Town and tell as many stories as possible of its community.

Hi. I’m Amy Shannon. In 1986, my family moved to Ballston Spa, New York. Ever since then, I always considered it my hometown. I grew up in various places, including Burnt hills, Ballston Lake and Schenectady. But the only place I ever felt like home was Ballston Spa.

As I grew up, I moved and lived in other places, but then a life-changing event happened in my life, and I knew where I needed to go. I knew where I wanted to go. I wanted to go home. I lived in a few places around Ballston Spa, but they were just places. My family, me and my three boys, are home. The places we lived did not make our home, our family did. There were times we lived in places that we did not like and that we could not wait to move out of. Then we found a place to call home and we made it our home together.

When we lived in Schenectady, when I was a kid, my mother was always depressed. She hated where we were living. She wanted to move back to Ballston Spa. It was a place that she had never really lived in before but lived around. Her family was in the area. Some of her friends were in the area. And finally, we moved to Ballston Spa. That is where she lived, raised her children, met some of her grandchildren, and died. It is also where she and my father finally fixed their relationship. I never fully understood until I was old enough and realized that family is the way you make it. It is a feeling of belonging.

Author Notices

Naming Traditions

During research, I noticed a pattern with children’s names, and traditions. Many diverse cultures have traditions on how they name their child. Some after grandparents, mothers, or fathers, but one thing that struck me was that some parents had children of the same name. So, in looking further into the family trees of a lot of the families that are named in this book, the tradition of some, (and I found this to be a lot of families, whether Irish, Scottish, English etc.), that if they had a child, and that child died whether they lived 1 day or 6 years, the next child of the gender would be named after that child. Some infants that were stillborn were not given a name, and others were. The other thing that struck me was that there are a lot of families who suffered many losses, some or even all of their children, of varying ages. Some people never lived past 20 years old.

Another note that I found interesting is the names of some of the residents that are represented, either their name or the spelling of their name may be different than names that are current, or popular now, and some names, such as John, Mary, Sarah, and Elizabeth (to name a few) seem to be timeless. And I never realized how long ago the name Chloe was used, I always thought it was a current generational name.

Of course, there are names like Eliphalet, Elisha, Elihu, Alling that you do not hear about much, and some were shortened or a change in the spelling. Alling is now pronounced and spelled as Allen or Alan. The first or surname Curtiss is now spelled without a second s.

Dates:

Whenever possible the year of death and birth are indicated, within parentheses. If there is a question mark where a year would be, that indicates the date is unknown. If there is a parenthesis with just one year and no question mark, then that indicates the year of birth and death were the same.

The Acorn:

The Acorn image seen at the bottom of the page for the end of the various chapters, is in honor of a similar image in the book Centennial History of the Village of Ballston Spa, something I took to mean prosperity. So, I updated the image, and added it.

VERBIAGE AND VOCABULARY

It is not the intention of this author to degrade any person or persons. There are instances in this book that references Native American’s, as savages, the Red Man, or Indian, and those are only to reflect either a quote from an old book, or to set the stage for the era, when it was commonplace. Sometimes it was red man versus white man.

Sometimes compound words, instead of being together, had a – (dash) between the two words. For example, the instances of Balls-Town include the dash, until name was changed.

Glossary

Constable: Police officer or law enforcement officer

Fuller: a launderer of clothing

Furrier: a person who prepares or sells furs.

Grist Mill: A mill that creates cereal grain.

Hatter: a person who creates and/or sells hats.

President of the Board of Trustees: Mayor

Saddlery and harness: A business that creates saddles and harnesses for horses.

Sanatorium: a place that provides medical treatment of people who are convalescing or have a chronic illness

Flags and Seals

Many of the towns within Saratoga County have their own town seal or flag. The town of Milton does not have its own flag or seal, however, the town of Ballston has its own flag.

Saratoga County also has a seal.

Prologue (by the late Reverend Eliphalet Ball)

This is my town, Ball’s-Town. I bought it, but a town should not just be owned by one man, it should be a community. If you do not know, I am the Reverend Eliphalet Ball. I was born in 1722, and I died in 1797. It may seem odd that I am telling my story, the story, but I am still here. My body may be underground, buried in Brigg’s Cemetery on Brookline Road, but my spirit has never been left. There had been rumors that General George Washington was my third cousin, that my father was related to General Washington’s mother. I only heard the family stories, but whether that story is true or not, I do know what a virtuous man he was. He was full of energy, courage, and he was a scholar, and of course, he was a Christian man. Yes, I still see him now and then, but since he became the first President of the United States, when the war was over, and though he did not want it at first, he still believes that he is a great man, and maybe better than us spirits that only were settlers that believed in God, or the minerals that spring wildly through the Spa cities. We are all important, but what is most important is humans living their lives, taking care of their families, how they lived, not necessarily who they were in society, but who they were as people. I want my story told, and how, even though I have been gone a long time ago, I was and always will be here. One of the interesting parts of my story is that I never settled, truly settled anywhere until after death. Yet, I am still here, looking over, keeping watch, seeing destruction and what is called progress. Somehow, from its beginning to its current state, I can see all, and I do not have to be all. I can see a part of history that I was not involved in. In life, I was a God-fearing man, now as a spirit, I feel I am still doing God’s work. He has the world; I have my town.

The Pioneers and Settlers

The Settlers

History is just that. A story. It’s HIS story and HER story, and just plain stories passed down from those who came before the present (whenever that is) generation. Generations of telling stories, but the ones that are told, that are to be truth, to be where we came from, are the best stories of them all. We all started somewhere. We came from something. Why did those who came before us decide to live here? Live anywhere. What makes where we live so appealing, even if it is just a blank canvas of land and water, and then, soon, it makes people come together. Create homes, homesteads, farms, businesses, friends, and enemies.

By creating a home, pioneers had to struggle, build, establish, create, work hard, and then reap the rewards of having a home, a community. Every place starts with one settler, one tribe, one person, and then they bring others. We live, we die, but we leave a mark, no matter how small, when we leave. Sometimes, we never leave, we are still here. Waiting for the stories to be told. With knowledge, there is power, and with knowing the past, and correcting the errors or rumors that have been passed down, it makes sense to study, research, and share.

We do not have to apologize for the errors of the past, just learn from them, and move forward. By sharing the truths of the past, the truths we know are facts, only then can we understand the past, and learn from it.

The communities of the past have endured famine, struggles, hard work, and war banging down their doors. And in some cases, yes, that did happen. The world had been around for a very long time before Balls-Town was a home to the Native Americans, with vast fields and woodlands, mountains, and streams. Progress.

Travelers started settling in Ballston in 1771. In the early summer that year, there were surveyors that were set to patent the Kayaderossera area, in a five-mile square. During one of the many surveys of this area, the men were watching the flowing creek, and decided to use it to cool themselves because of the intense heat of the summer. One of the men dropped a valuable tool, and followed the rippling creek to find this instrument, causing all the men to stop, and search for it. Once they did, they discovered a mineral spring.

Most of Saratoga County was the hunting ground of the Mohawk Native Americans. Most of the Mohawks were living along the Kayaderossera, and making use of the mineral springs, long before it was discovered by surveyors.

The swampy, bubbling water was just the beginning, before they found a full fountain, which was on the surface, and running off freely. Once word of this mineral springs swirled around, more people started coming to the springs. People would visit or settle, to be part of gaining health benefits from the mineral springs. It was referred to as Spa because the water spot was known for its medicinal value. Currently, in 2023, the Old Iron Springs still stands, it just does not flow as vivaciously as it once did. The Old Iron Springs were drilled in 1874.

For years, not until about 1787, structures were not built around the springs. Sometimes, before that travelling parties, who were passing by, would visit the springs. Some settlers settled because of the springs, but the homesteads and settlements were lower