Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 229, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 September 1912 — RELICS OF WASHINGTON [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

RELICS OF WASHINGTON

FAY DIRECTOR DEPOSITS INTER. ESTINQ COLLECTION. I -j ' Articles Worn by the Commander, and Long In General's Family, Included in Group Given by Government. Pay Director R. T. Mason Ball, United States navy, of Baltimore, has

recently deposited In the United States National Museum a npher of relics of the Washington and Ball families, some of them dating as far back as the French and Indian wars, and all of considerable historical value. These objects were formerly owned by Pay Director Ball’s fath-

or, George Washington Ball, grandson of Frances Thornton Washington, daughter of Charles Washington, the younger brother of George, and have been retained in the possession of a direct descendant of Mary Ball, the mother of George Washington, up to the present time. The relics Include a pair of gold wire epaulets, of antique design, worn by George Washington as colonel during the French and Indian war of 1754-63, notably throughout the Braddock campaign In 1755. Others are a single epaulet worn during the War of the Revolution, and a white leather Masonic apron of that period, decorated with Masonic insignia in gold, both owned by Lieutenant Colonel Burges Ball of the continental army, a third cousin of General Washington (nephew by marriage), and for a time volunteer aid on his staff. In the collection is also a snuff box of highly polished hard wood, bearing the portrait of Lafayette, presented to him by American admirers on the occasion of his visit to the United States in 1824, and In turn presented by him to his godson, Fayette Ball, father of George Washington Ball, on the occasion of Lafayette’s visit at the Ball home in Loudoun county, Virginia. One of the most interesting objects in the group Is an antique mourning brooch of gold, worn by Mary Rail This is one of the few authentic relics of Washington’s mother extant, and Is the property of Pay Director Ball and his four sisters, Mrs. Mary Randolph Ball, Mrs. W. F. Hill, Mrs. C. G. Lane and Mrs. J. S. Bowman.