THOMAS SAMUEL BALLOW

The following bio was taken from page 101 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

As far as has been ascertained at present, the Ballow (Belue, Ballou, etc.) family were French Hugenots who came over in or before the 1700’s. An early record shows Rene Belew married in the 1750’s with three sons: Zachariah, Reuben, and Rene, Jr., all of whom did militia duty in the Revolutionary War, in Brandon’s Regiment. These Ballows were in Union District, South Carolina, later going to Tennessee, Alabama, and other southern states.

Thomas Samuel Ballow, Jr., born in 1833 in Union District, South Carolina, was the direct ancestor of the Henderson, Texas Ballow families. He came to Panola County and married Martha Jane Russell, daughter of Jonathan and Emily Cochran Russell. Their sons – William, Oscar, Isaac, and Bascom – all lived near Henderson. Their daughter, Emily, after marriage to Arthur Halton, lived in West Texas.

William (Bill) Samuel Ballow, son of Oscar and Martha Copeland Ballow, was born October 13, 1908. When he was an infant, his parents built a home on their land in the Oakland Community, and there Bill and his sisters Gertie, Achsa, Bonnie, Fae Marie, and Mattie Mae grew up.

Bill remembers his first day of school. He proudly walked over to the Oakland school carrying his lunch in a tin syrup bucket. Before the bell rang, he hid his lunch under steps so the "old big boys" wouldn’t get it. At noon when he went to retrieve it, he found his lunch full of ants. However, his sister, Bonnie shared her lunch with him and Miss Minnie Waldrop, his teacher, seemed to know just how to handle a little boy’s problems.

In 1928 Bill went to Houston "to seek his fortune." He began working for the Bell Telephone Company and at night continued his schooling. In 1930 he met his wife-to-be, Irene Johnson, who also had gone to the city to work and go to school. They met at the Methodist Church where they had placed their membership. They married in 1934, built a new home, and lived there more than thirty years, rearing three children.

After forty-one years of service, Bill retired from "Ma Bell" as a supervisor in the teletype department. In the meantime, Bill had prepared for retirement by buying his old home place in Henderson. Since Bill’s main hobby is working to improve property, he has had 12,000 pine seedlings planted, built a new house, had a small fishing lake made, set out fruit trees, and is doing extensive gardening. I believe that he is completely happy with his projects. I, Irene, have found pleasure, other than our home and church, in the genealogical societies, fine arts league, porcelain art league, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Our immediate family now numbers fifteen: the eldest daughter, Judith Irene; her husband, S. G. (Buddy) Litherland; their children, Lori Ann and Michael Wayne; our son, William Samuel, Jr., his wife Kathy, and their children – Randy Dale, Jennifer Lynn, and Susan Irene, all of Houston; and our daughter, Rebecca Jane, and her husband, Terry Lee Lesher, and their children, LeAnne and Davis, of Austin, Texas. They all seem to share a special feeling for "the farm," as they call it, and spend as much time as they can here.

Submitted by Irene Ballow