Heritage Album

Looking for an ancestor who lived from 1450-1480 in England. Can anyone help?

I've traced my family tree back to William Ball who lived from 1450-1480. He is listed as a Lord Mayor, and was supposedly the Lord of Barkham Manor. I can find no information as to his parents. I do know that he had a son named Robert who was born around 1473 and died around 1543. Thanks, wendy c. This is the first time I've heard of a name given to William's parents.

Public Comments

1. Sounds to me you've spent maybe decades rooting through that stuff in archives so you'd know more than I would what records to look at again or dig into next.
2. I checked rootsweb.com's family files, and find several persons who feel they have identified his parents as Lord John Ball and Sarah Howell Fairchild. Is it well proven? that I can't say. Just a head's up on what is posted. You always want to verify posted genealogies against what they use for a source record. Especially that early on, there are frequently disputes on parentage, since people accept different sources as being "best".
3. After snooping around, I have to reinforce Wendy's caveat. Don't believe the names of these parents are correct until you find the proof for yourself. I've found all sorts of inconsistencies in the stories on this man...including inconsistencies on the parentage. Never take someone else's research at face value. Lack of documentation is a big red flag. And there's a whole lot of that. There are some excellent historical sites on Barkham Manor. My suggestion is to contact the local historians in that area and ask for their input on getting accurate info and the documentation to back it up. They'll know which resources are in place, including the peerage files, and may even have the books on their shelves.