Yolo County
Biographies
COLONEL JOHN CAMERON BALL
As the name will indicate to any one conversant with such matters, Colonel Ball is a member of one of the oldest families in Virginia. His father, Joseph L. Ball, was born and raised in Loudonn County, Virginia, on the James River. His mother, Mary Cameron, was also a native of Virginia, whose father, John Cameron, was born in the Highlands of Scotland, emigrating thence to Virginia. The Cameron family is well remembered as one that espoused the unfortunate cause of Prince Charlie (Charles Stuart, the lawful holder of the throne of England), in his last attempt to assert his rights, backed by his loyal Scottish subjects. Readers of the celebrated poem, “Lochiel,” will recognize the circumstances. Both the Ball and Cameron families were planters and slave-holders in the South, Joseph L. Ball, the father of our Colonel J. C. Ball, emancipating his slaves some time in the thirties from conscientious scruples on the subject, and removing to Jefferson County, Ohio, on the banks of the Ohio River. There the younger members of the family were born, and there he died in 1872, at the age of seventy years. He was the father of eleven children, nine sons and two daughters, of whom the daughters and six of the sons grew to maturity, and save one are all still living. Of the six sons all are over six feet in height, and all unusually strong and robust. The father was a man of remarkable strength and possessed a powerful frame. But we cannot do better than reproduce a short sketch of the life and career of Colonel Ball, from the columns of a local paper written by one who knows him well:
“John Cameron Ball, who has had the principal management of the defense in the now famous case of the People vs. J. H. Harlan, is a man of mature years, sagacious in management, cool and accurate in judgment and well versed in his profession.
“His unusually fine physical constitution enabled him to be present in court at every session during the protracted trial, lasting for fifty-seven consecutive days. He has been prominently connected on the side of the defense with many other important criminal trials, being opposed in principle to taking a fee to prosecute in capital cases.
“Colonel Ball was born in Brook County, Virginia (now a portion of West Virginia), May 15, 1831, and from his early childhood resided with his parents near Steubenville, in the State of Ohio, until he emigrated to the State of California, in the spring of 1855, and on his arrival in this State he engaged in mining and pursued it with variable success in Placer and Nevada counties for some six years. Upon quitting the mines he moved to Yolo County and engaged in teaching school, and while so engaged was elected to the office of District Attorney. He moved to Woodland in the spring of 1858, where he has since resided, actively engaged in the practice of law. One year of that time he served as a member of the State Land Commission, an office to which he was appointed by Governor Irwin, and as the chairman of that commission it will be remembered by readers of newspapers that he caused the investigation to be thorough, and laid bare the fraudulent practices which had prevailed in the Land Department of the State. He received an academic education at the Richmond College, and at the age of twenty commenced the study of law under the advice and supervision of Edwin M. Stanton, the great war Secretary under Lincoln. Colonel Ball has always been a hard student and lover of his chosen profession. His clear insight into men and measures, coupled with his industry, untiring energy and unswerving integrity, has placed him where he belongs, in the front rank of his profession.
“He has held, by election, the office of District Attorney of this county for three successive terms, and discharged its duties with marked distinction and rare ability. He is equally at home in civil cases. Mr. Ball possesses that insight into character which enables him to select a jury with almost unerring precision. In this particular he has no superior in this section of the State, and, in fact, has earned for himself the reputation of being one of the best jury lawyers in the State. He is clear and logical in his reasoning upon the facts of a case, and though not a great orator, he is a strong advocate and a forcible speaker. He familiarizes himself with every little detail of the case in which he is engaged, and so thorough was his preparation of the Harlan case, that when Mr. Highton became indisposed and unable to appear in court for a whole week, Mr. Ball proceeded with the trial as though nothing unusual had happened. In personal appearance he is five feet ten and one-half inches high, broad-shouldered and deep-chested, a large, round, well-balanced head; dark brown hair and beard, tinged with gray; blue, penetrating eyes, and a firm mouth, expressive of great determination of character. In manners he is disposed to be polite, generous and steadfast to his friends. He is a straightforward business man, of sober and exemplary habits, and has accumulated considerable property in this and Colusa counties.
“In 1864 he was married to Miss Ella M. Tyler, the result of which union is a family of five sons and one daughter, all but the eldest born in Woodland. Colonel Ball has always been a consistent anti-monopoly Democrat – a recognized leader in the councils of his party – never radical, but firm in his convictions upon principle, and always tolerant of the opinions of others, willingly according to them the same rights that he claims for himself.”
Since the Harlan trial Colonel Ball has been engaged in several important civil cases requiring much labor and attention, among which is the case of Moore vs. Capay Ditch Company. In this action the right to appropriate for agricultural purposes the entire water of Cache Creek, a very considerable stream having its source in Clear Lake, is claimed on the one side, as, against the rights of the riparian owners living along the stream. The Colonel is found upon the side of the settlers, and the case has not yet been decided.
Colonel Ball’s recognized legal ability and business capacity has recently secured him the responsible and lucrative position of attorney for the Central Irrigation District in Colusa County, to which position he ahs been elected by the unanimous vote of its board of directors.
This is the most important irrigation scheme undertaken in Northern California. It is proposed to tap the Sacramento River at a point a few miles above the mouth of Stony Creek with a canal eighty feet wide and seven feet deep, running thence in a southwesterly direction with its main branches, more than 200 miles.
The district is formed under what is known as the “Wright Law,” and comprises over 156, 000 acres of good farming land in Colusa County, which, without regard to irrigation, with the improvements already thereon, is of the full cash value of $5,000,000, and will be of immense value when the canal is completed. The district has issued bonds to the amount of $750,000, a portion of which have been sold, and the work of excavating the canal is actively under way.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler