{"id":103934,"date":"2025-08-18T11:48:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T15:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/?p=103934"},"modified":"2025-08-20T10:26:44","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T14:26:44","slug":"mayflower-descendants-whos-who-part-49-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/mayflower-descendants-whos-who-part-49-part-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Mayflower Descendants: Who\u2019s Who, Part 49 (part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on Mayflower descendants, focusing on the millionaire inventors the Ball brothers, direct descendants of Governor William Bradford. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Today I continue my series on \u201cMayflower Descendants: Who\u2019s Who,\u201d featuring the five Ball brothers, aka \u201cCanning Kings,\u201d and their wives. The special glass jars the brothers \u2013 descendants of William Bradford \u2013 designed, with their air-tight seals, helped people preserve food at home through the canning process.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Ball jar for canning and preserving food. Credit: Minnetrista Heritage Collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is a photo of the Ball brothers (from left to right): William Charles Ball (1852-1921); Frank Clayton Ball (1857-1943); Lucius Lorenzo Ball (seated) (1850-1932); Edmund Burke Ball (1855-1925); and George Alexander Ball (1862-1955).<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: the Ball brothers. Credit: Minnetrista Heritage Collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The brothers demonstrated strong entrepreneurial skills, and their success enabled them not only to enjoy the high life but also to engage in philanthropic activities. The women they married were no different and used their status in the community to promote many great causes.<\/p>\n

The Ball brothers started Wooden Jacket Can Company in Buffalo, New York, in 1880 and became the world\u2019s largest manufacturer of recyclable aluminum packaging for a variety of beverage, home and personal care applications.<\/p>\n

In 1886 they renamed their business the Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company<\/a>, and moved its headquarters to Muncie, Indiana.<\/p>\n

The business was renamed the Ball Brothers Company in 1922 and the Ball Corporation in 1969. You can read more on the Ball business history at Americana-Archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Evansville Courier and Press (Evansville, Indiana), 10 April 1927, page 98<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Descendants of Governor William Bradford<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Ball brothers\u2019 Mayflower<\/em> line connects through their mother Maria Polly (Bingham) Ball (1822-1892), a direct descendant of Mayflower<\/em> passenger Governor William Bradford.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Maria Polly (Bingham) Ball. Credit: Ball State University Archives.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is the Ball brothers\u2019 lineage:<\/p>\n