Putnam patriot., 1913-08-22
The Ballard Reunion


 AS usual the Ballards had pleas ant day for their reunion which was held August 18th at Nichols Grove Slowly the teams single and double came driving on to the grounds, unui when the dinner hour came there were 65 people present, who were ready to partake of the bountiful collation. pre- pared by the matrons of the table, and passed around by the boys who were very glad to help others as we'll as to help themselves. There were not quite as many present as usual. Many whole ;families who are almost at- ways there were for various reasons absent.
 After dinner Rev. Wm. $. Chase WAS chosen moderator, and soon the hats were passed around for the col lection to defray the expenses et the gathering. After which the histori. ans report was called for, which was given as follows:
 THE HISTORY
 Twenty five years have elapsed since the first gathering of this kind was held by the Ballard family. Those of us whose memory reaches back so far, remember we'll the seven sons and daughters iof Grandfather Lynde who were then living In Thompson or nearby towns with ages ranging from SS to S9, who were all present on that occasion. Today the youngest daughter, Aunt Elizabeth, Is still living, physically inirna, but With her mental faculties and wonderful memory remarkably well preserved She as one of the early historians eX- pressed the hope that when the older generation were attending the greater reunion above, the succeeding genera tions would keep such reunions alive. It has been done until the middle week in August has become a sort oi old home week for the family. Of course we have not escaped the chang es which time inevitably brtngs,but as one by one the old familiaT faces nave passed out of our sight, one by one new faces have been added, so that our number remains about the same. our family tree is a wide spreading one, and the exact kinship of all its branch es and twigs, is pretty hard to define. There are Ballards by birth, Ballards by marriage, and Ballards by ancestry and adoption; and we often get bewll- dered in trying to place correctly so many fractional relatives, but howeV- CT far removed the relationship may be. we are all akin, and each one has part in shaping the family history. l think one is justified in haFing feel ing, if not of pride, at least Of satisiac- tion at being born into the family, put just the time of birth may not be ot so much account to most as 1t %as to one of our number who is now very much grown up, but who when he was Il small boy gave vent to his wrath oS lying fiat upon the floor and giving full play to his lungs and his heelS' when he was told by the little cousin with whom he was playing that she was born before he was.
 Many of us have in our possession pamphlet giving the genealogy ot the family from APO to 1908, perisd COW ering 16 generations. Last year st "as the reouest of our secretary th1 the nrasent historian shonld bring tGSeth- or the leading facts of the last ten wears. thus bringing our history Ill compact form up to date It goes without saving that it Is only because of the faithful work of the historians who have been appointed each year that this review is made possible.
 The historian Of 1905 brought to ouf attention the neglected condition or the Bates cemetery, where great grand father Zaccheus and grandfatherLynue vvith their wives are buried. She sug- gested that fund be raised, the ln- come of which should be used TOT lhe care of the cemetery. The suggestion was very favorabIy received snd fund of over $40 was immediately raised. the income of which has kept the lot in a proper conditIon'
 The gift of the little book giving tiie genealogy of the descendants oi Aaen GUS Ballard from 1730 to 1907, whieh many of us received in 1908 with Ine compliments of E. 5. and J. w par lard of Davenport, Iowa, was duiy ap- preciated. The book l consider very valuable one, and one that will gro" more and more so as the years go oy' It was compiled by Esek Steere par lard, of whom it has been said, ms stock ,of ancestral lore increases geo metricalIy with his years.
 A short time before inc death oi ' h. cle Salem, the last of the five brothers