By FRIENDS OF SILVERBROOK CEMETERY

The Niles Daily Star is pleased to continue the historical series on those buried in Silverbrook Cemetery. We join the Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery in welcoming your suggestions and input for future columns.

As we continue to do our small part in preserving our area’s history, we truly appreciate those who kept the records and passed on the stories before us.

Ralph and Mary Huston Ballard are two former Nilesites to whom we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude. Not only did they record a great deal of the written history of their day, but they respected those who preceded them enough to play a large role in the creation of the Fort St. Joseph Museum.

Ralph Ballard was born July 5, 1870 at the family home on Ballard Hill, M-60 west of Niles. He lived there until 1945 when he purchased their home at 742 Broadway St. in the city.

His wife was born Feb. 28, 1874 in the Huston family home at the corner of Elm Street and St. Joseph Avenue. They married in the fall of 1891. This was a union of two well-matched individuals who shared a love of the land and their community.

The couple was actually related through their grandparents. Jeremiah Ballard, Ralph’s grandfather, was married to Clarissa Huston, sister of Mary’s grandfather, Thomas Huston. We will feature the Huston family in our next Silverbrook Legacies.

A graduate of Niles High School, Ballard showed strong character early on as was reported in the Popular Science News for which he was a corresponding member of the Agassiz Association (A. A. was a scientific association of the day).

The December 1890 issue reported that Ballard “recently passed through a great trial in the sudden and very unusual death of his elder. This calamity was due to gas accumulated in a silo and supposed to come party from the heated corn and partly from the tar with which the inside was painted. Ralph’s heroism in saving one brother and attempting to rescue the other at the risk of his own life is thus recounted by the Niles Daily Star of Sept. 5.”

Ballard was an orchardist and farmer. Farmers have always had to be a tough lot. Ballard is quoted as pondering: “When the grower gets 50 cents for his fruit and the consumer has to pay $2 for the same, where does the $1.50 go?”

The Ballards were both regular contributors to farming and gardening publications of the time. In 1948 he and his wife were responsible for authoring an article on “Trees Native to Berrien County” and the book “Nature Notes,” published by the Niles Club of Home Gardens which is still on file in the Niles District Library. They often contributed to the State Horticultural Association publications.

The Ballard Fruit and Dairy Farm was famous in the area for its fine apple orchards and herds of purebred Guernsey cattle. The couple always encouraged the nesting of birds around their property, and they were often asked to test new products for birdseed companies.

However, it is their love of history and geography for which they will best be remembered. As major parties to the organization of the Fort St. Joseph Museum, they also contributed many of the early exhibits. Among his favorites were collections of Indian arrowheads and beads.

It was Ballard who recorded Niles Centennial, 1829-1929. In 1948 he wrote “Tales of Early Niles” and the following year authored “Old Fort St. Joseph.” His meticulous research of many years, including as it did a painstaking study of official papers, letters, news files and other authentic documents was much appreciated as it was the first volume very published that contained a composite story of the city’s earliest events.

Mary Ballard was a member of the Progressive League, the forerunner of the Niles Service League and of the Til-i-Kum Club, which translated from Potawatamie means “country neighbors.” She remained active in the Fort St. Joseph Historical Society even after her husband’s death on Feb. 16, 1962.

She taught grade 1 for the Niles school system from which she graduated. In those days it was still not uncommon to have 45 students in one room. In 1948 as her eyesight began to fail, the teacher became the student in order to learn Braille so that she would be able to continue to read the scientific journals and history she loved.

Mary died April 18, 1969. The Ballards are buried with their ancestors in the old section of Silverbrook Cemetery. Ballard Junior High School was named in honor of the family.

Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery meets the third Thursday of each month at the Niles Law Enforcement Complex on Silverbrook at 7 p.m. For more information with regards to memberships and work days to help restore and catalog the monuments contact: Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery c/o 508 East Main St. Niles MI 49120, Tim and Candace Skalla at 684-2455, wskalla@sbcglobal.net or contact Ginny Tyler at 445-0997, sphinx1974@aol.com.