Timothy Horton Ball

Timothy Horton Ball (1826-1913) was a historian, teacher, and preacher. Among his many historical works, one of the most notable is The Creek War of 1813 and 1814, which he co-authored with Alabamian Henry Sale Halbert and was published in 1895. Ball and Halbert’s work has served as a vital resource for later historians, as it provides eyewitness accounts of the conflict.

Ball was born in Agawam, Massachusetts, on February 16, 1826. His father, Hervey Ball, worked as a lawyer, judge, and officer in the Georgia militia. His mother, Jane Ayrault Horton Ball, was a well-educated woman who worked as a schoolteacher, doctor, and dentist throughout her life. Ball had six younger siblings. Soon after his birth, the family moved south near Augusta, Georgia, where his father practiced law until 1834. Two years later, the family moved to Indiana, where they first lived in City West, Porter County. By 1837, the family had settled in Lake of Red Cedars (present-day Cedar Lake), Indiana. During his youth, he had the opportunity to interact with nearby Pottawatomi Indians, which fostered his interest in Native Americans.

Ball attended a boarding school founded by his parents before entering Franklin College, in Franklin, Indiana, in 1848. He graduated from college in 1850. In 1851, he became principal of Grove Hill Male & Female Academy (also known as Macon Male and Female Academy and Grove Hill Academy) in Clarke County, Alabama. While working as a teacher and principal, Ball also became a Baptist preacher. He made trips back to Indiana where he received his preaching license in Danville, Indiana, in 1851, and was ordained in Crown Point, Indiana, in 1855. While in Alabama, Ball met and married Martha Caroline Creighton, the daughter of Rev. Hiram Creighton of Clarke County. The couple later had two children. In 1860, Ball entered Newton Theological Institution in Newton Centre, Massachusetts, and graduated in 1863. He then returned to Indiana and established the Crown Point Institute in 1865. 

Throughout the rest of the nineteenth century, Ball continued to work as a Baptist preacher and teacher in Indiana, while also frequently visiting Alabama. During that time, Ball became a prolific historian and writer. He authored his first book, a history of Lake County, Indiana, in 1873. In 1875, he organized the Old Settlers’ Association of Lake County, founded the Lake County Association, and edited three newspapers: The Castalian, The Prairie Voice, and Our Banner. He also collaborated with Alabamian and historian Henry Sale Halbert to publish the 1893 narrative of the Creek War, The Creek War of 1813 and 1814.

Ball and Halbert made an interesting pair, as Halbert was born in Pickens County, Alabama, spent his entire life in the South, and served in the Confederate Army. Despite their different backgrounds, both men shared a deep interest in Native American culture and had extensive interactions with Native American people throughout their lives. They drew on their personal experiences with indigenous communities, their relationships with war survivors, and their familiarity with places like Clarke County to provide what they claimed was a fuller account of the conflict than any given before by historians, such as Albert James Pickett. Clarke County, incidentally, was the location of the Kimbell-James Massacre, the Red Stick Creeks’ September 1, 1813, attack on Ranson Kimbell’s plantation, and an attack on nearby Fort Sinquefield the following day. Their goal with The Creek War of 1813 and 1814 was to draw northern attention to the conflict, especially in the wake of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Overall, Ball authored more than 15 histories related to his ancestors, Northwestern Indiana, and Lake County, Indiana. He also authored several religious publications.

In February 1912, Ball’s wife Martha died while visiting their daughter in Sheffield, Colbert County. She was buried in the Creighton Family Cemetery in Clarke County. The following year, while also living with his daughter in Alabama, Ball died on November 8, 1913, and was buried in the same cemetery. A memorial stone was also placed in the cemetery in Creston, Indiana, in his memory.