Ball, John
lawyer, state legislator, philanthropist, was born Nov. 12, 1794, in Hebron, N. Y. In 1820 he graduated from Dartmouth college; taught school for a number of years; and from 1824 practiced law. In 1837 he settled in Grand Rapids, Mich.; in 1838 he was a representative in the Michigan state legislature; and was interested in schools, geology, lyceums and other local enterprises. He died Feb. 5, 1884, in Grand Rapids, Mich., and willed to that city forty acres of land, which is now known as the John Ball Park.