Rufus Ballard, Private of Marines

Rufus Ballard. Rufus Ballard may be the declarent in pension application #W-26657 for his sister Ruth Ballard Johnstone, widow of John Johnston who was sergeant of Marines under Captain Saltonstall on the Warren. If so, he was born about 1768 and lived in Vassalboro, Kennebec County, ME in November 1838. Rufus Ballard testified that at the time of the wedding in January 1780, he lived a few miles away from the home of his father but but was not present at the ceremony performed by Ezekiel Pattee Esq. of Winslow, ME who had earlier lived at the dismantled Fort Halifax. This Rufus Ballard was born 28 March 1768 in Oxford or Charlton, MA to Jonathan Ballard and Alice Ellis Moore. Jonathan and his brother Ephraim Ballard moved their families the 200 plus miles to Kennebec County, ME between 1775-1777 after Jonathan Ballard sold his sawmill in Charlton. Jonathan was killed by a falling tree in 1785 and his widow Martha came to live with her son Rufus. Rufus Ballard was married to Martha “Patty” Moore (1/22/1780-7/7/1869), daughter of Ebenezer and Sarah Moore on 15 December 1797 in Vassalboro, ME. Rufus Ballard died 19 March 1855 in Vassalboro, ME and was buried in Center Vassalboro Baptist Cemetery.