August 20, 2025
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on Mayflower descendants, focusing on millionaire inventor Edmund Burke Ball, direct descendant of Governor William Bradford, and his wife Bertha, direct descendant of Mayflower passengers John Howland, Elizabeth Tilley, William Brewster, and his wife Mary and daughter Patience. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Today I continue my series on “Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who,” featuring the five Ball brothers, aka “Canning Kings,” and their wives, known for their successful inventions and philanthropic work.
Here is a photo of the five Ball brothers (from left to right): George Alexander Ball (1862-1955), Lucius Lorenzo Ball (1850-1932), Frank Clayton Ball (1857-1943), Edmund Burke Ball (1855-1925), and William Charles Ball (1852-1921).
To recap: Part 1 introduced the Ball brothers’ commercial empire and their lineage. They descend from Mayflower passenger Governor William Bradford.
Below is an advertisement for some of their most recognized inventions: glass jars, lids, and all the essentials needed for canning fruits and vegetables.
In my last article I covered the marriage of Edmund Burke Ball to Bertha Crosley (1875-1957), a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers John Howland, Elizabeth Tilley, William Brewster, and his wife Mary and daughter Patience.
Like all of the Ball family members, Edmund and Bertha were generous patrons of the arts and deeply committed to enriching the community.
The couple donated funds to renovate property on Tippecanoe Lake in Kosciusko County, Indiana, for a Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) boys’ camp.
They also donated land (along with other Ball relatives) and their massive mansion to create Ball University, and it is now known as the E.B. and Bertha C. Ball Center.
In “Hidden Gem: E.B. and Bertha C. Ball Center Recalls an Opulent Past,” John Carlson noted that the stately mansion was built in 1907 and cost $100,000 (that is $3,436,680 today).
Guest of Mayflower Descendants in Texas
Bertha was a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in Indiana. Below is a newspaper clip of her visiting her relations in Texas who were members of the same society in that state.
This article reports:
Mrs. Edmund B. Ball of Muncie, Ind., will be [the] honored guest at the gathering of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in Texas Saturday.
Mrs. Ball, who is the society’s Indiana governor, is the house guest of her niece, Mrs. Alvin Owsley, and Colonel Owsley.
Mrs. Ball will report on the triennial general congress, held at Plymouth, Mass.
The Dallas Colony, headed by Mrs. Owsley, has planned a luncheon Saturday, preceding the meeting at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Baker Hotel. Herbert Chandler, state governor, will preside. District Judge William McCraw will be the principal speaker on the subject Our American Heritage.
Mrs. Alvin Owsley, a 10th lineal descendant from Mayflower passenger Gov. William Bradford, was born Lucina “Lucy” Ball (1896-1990), daughter of Frank Clayton Ball (one of the five Ball brothers) and his wife Elizabeth Wolfe (Brady) Ball. Lucina married Col. Alvin Mansfield Owsley Sr. and left descendants.
In 1927 Bertha is listed as a lifetime member of the Pilgrim Tercentenary Committee, which refers to commemorative memberships associated with the 300th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ arrival in America.
A special Pilgrim Tercentenary coin was commissioned by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. The 1920-1921 Pilgrim Tercentenary Half Dollar was designed by Boston sculptor Cyrus E. Dallin. The front has a portrait of Governor William Bradford carrying a Bible under his left arm. On the back, the dates 1620-1920 are underneath the Mayflower, and “PILGRIM TERCENTENARY CELEBRATION” is located within the rim.
Coin World reports that the 1920 coin currently has a value (depending on condition) between $60 and $750, while the 1921 coin is valued from $100 to $1,000.
Bertha was also a member of the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Colonial Dames of America (vice-president), and the John Howland Society.
Bertha, who was 20 years younger than her husband, died in 1957 – 32 years after Edmund, who died in 1925. Here is her obituary published in an Indiana newspaper.
This article reports:
MUNCIE, Ind. – (AP) – Funeral services for Bertha Ball, widow of one of the five founders of Ball Bros. Company, will be at 4 p.m. tomorrow in Meeks Mortuary here. Mrs. Ball died yesterday after an 18-month illness.
Mrs. Ball was widely known for her work in restoring historic shrines, including the communal settlement at New Harmony, Ind.; a chapel at Harrodsburg, Ky., where Abraham Lincoln’s parents were married; Stratford, home of Robert E Lee in Virginia; Kenmore, home of Betty Lewis, George Washington’s sister; and the Maison de la Fillanderie Museum at Chatillon in Normandy.
Her husband, Edmund B. Ball, died in 1925 at the age of 69.
Her will was estimated at $575,000 ($6,610,412 in today’s dollars) and some of the monies from her estate were left to many of her favorite charities, including the Muncie Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A.
To be continued…
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Note on the header image: “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
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