THIS YEAR'S REUNION:
137th Ballard Family Reunion
The 137th Ballard Family Reunion will be held September 27th in Thompson, CT
- Saturday, September 27th, 2025
12:00 noon
172 County Home Road, Thompson, CT 06277
Hosts:
Blair Cole: 860-377-2788
Karen Cole: 860-942-3291
Click here for Driving Directions
Directions:
PAST REUNIONS:
132nd Ballard Family Reunion
was held August22nd, 2020, 12 o'clock noon as a Zoom call hosted from the home of Karen & Blair Cole in Thompson, CT.
Your Hosts for this reunion were:
Karen & Blair Cole
131st Ballard Family Reunion
was held August 17th, 2019, 12 o'clock noon
at the home of Karen & Blair Cole in Thompson, CT.
Your Hosts for this reunion were:
Karen & Blair Cole
130th Ballard Family Reunion
was held August 18th, 2018, 12 o'clock noon
at the home of Karen & Blair Cole in Thompson, CT.
Your Hosts for this reunion were:
Karen & Blair Cole
129th Ballard Family Reunion
was held September 9, 2017, 12 o'clock noon
at the home of Karen & Blair Cole in Thompson, CT.
Your Hosts for this reunion were:
Karen & Blair Cole
128th Ballard Family Reunion
was held August 27th, 2016, 12 o'clock noon
at the Eliot Boat Basin, Eliot, Maine.
Your Hosts for this reunion were:
Mary Alessi, Jan Lytle and Judy Potter
127th Ballard Family Reunion
was held August 15th, 2015, 12 o'clock noon
at the home of Karen & Blair Cole
172 County Home Road
Thompson, CT 06277
View the Photo Gallery from this Reunion
Your Hosts for this reunion were:
Blair & Karen Cole
HAPPENINGs AT THE REUNIONS:
- Pot Luck Picnic - Grills Available - Beverages Supplied
- The Ballard History Room - Karen Beck's Powerpoint Presentation on the Ballard History will run through the afternoon
- Historical Ballard Family items & Letters from Dale King's Collection
- The Original Ballard Family Reunion Lemonade Bucket.
- Items from Mary Ellen's collection of 19th Century Chase Family Clothing
- The painted boat used to reenact the 1635 Ballard landing in America will be on displayoutside for great family pictures!
- The Banner created for the 50th Ballard Reunion will be on display.
- "Ballards in the Military Services" wall. Bring a photo of your military family member to display on the wall that day!
- Maps for a self guided tour of places of interest to Ballard Family Members will be available. These include historical markers, historical sites & grave sites of Ballards.
- The Frank Ramsdell Train Photo Collection - We're working on access this for the morning prior to the reunion! Check Back for Updates on the times and location.
- Games for the children
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Directions:
View Larger Map
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126th Ballard Family Reunion
The 126th Ballard Family Reunion was held Saturday, August 23, 2014 at thEliot Boat Basin, in South Eliot, Maine at 12:00pm.
Covered pavilion with picnic tables, charcoal grills, electrical outlets, cold running water, bathrooms, open field area for games.
Fishing allowed and hiking trails. Bring a chair if you wish and a food item to share as usual.
125th Ballard Family Reunion
125th Ballard Family Reunion was held at the home of Karen & Blair Cole
172 County Home Road, Thompson, CT 06277. 860-928-3566
View the Photo Gallery from this Reunion
124th Ballard Family Reunion
The 124th Ballard Family Reunion was held Saturday, August 18, 2012 at Roseland Park, Woodstock, CT, at 12:00pm.
Playground, boating, fishing, picnicking, walking and running. No swimming or camping is permitted. Pets must be leashed. Lake and grounds, pavilion, basketball court, benches, boat launch.
Directions:
For further information contact Hostesses:
123rd Ballard Family Reunion
The 123rd Ballard Family Reunion was held Saturday, August 20, 2011 at the Eliot Boat Basin, in South Eliot, Maine at 12:00pm.
Covered pavilion with picnic tables, charcoal grills, electrical outlets, cold running water, bathrooms, open field area for games.
Fishing allowed and hiking trails. Bring a chair if you wish and a food item to share as usual.
Directions:
View Larger Map
For further information contact Jan Lytle. home 207-439-2030, cell 207-451-7022
122nd Ballard Family Reunion
The 122nd Ballard Family Reunion was held Saturday, August 14, 2010 at the Overlook Picnic Shelter at West Thompson Lake, Thompson CT.
At the West Thompson Lake:
Covered pavilion with picnic tables, charcoal grills, electrical outlets, cold running water, port-a-toilet, open field area for games.
No swimming. Fishing allowed and hiking trails. Bring a chair if you wish and a food item to share as usual.
Directions:
Exit 99 off I-395 & go up the hill to Thompson (on Route 200).
Turn right at the 4 way stop (onto Route 193 South).
Go approximately 1.7 miles and straight across at traffic light onto West Thompson Road.
Drive across the dam and white garages and overlook on right.
Go a short distance beyond and drive in at the Sign "Overlook picnic shelter>
For further information contact Mary Ellen Tomeo h 860-928-2825, cell 860-857-2279
metomeo@aol.com
View the Photo Gallery from this Reunion
121st Ballard Family Reunion
The 121st Ballard Reunion was held Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 noon at the Eliot Boat Basin in Eliot Maine.
Hostesses:
Jan Lytle 207-439-2030
Faithlytle@aol.com
Judy Potter 207-439-3195
Bizzyizzy@aol.com
We are alternately holding our reunions in Thompson, Connecticut and Eliot, Maine. Eliot Boat Basin features a covered pavilion with picnic tables, bathrooms, electrical outlets and charcoal grills . There is an open field for lawn games and swimming in the Piscataqua River (at your own risk related to tides and currents that day).
View the Photo Gallery from this Reunion
120th Ballard Family Reunion
The Ballard Reunion was held on August 9, 2008 at Rob and Sue Vincent’s Greystone Farm Estate in Thompson, Connecticut. This was an amazingly picturesque spot with huge extensive stone walls all about. We gathered under one of the barns on the property. The weather that day was sunny with some puffy white clouds that passed by. It was a day that was neither too hot nor too cold. We seemed quite fortunate since the weather on many previous days included violent thunder storms and heavy rain. Forty-eight people attended from near and far. There was a tie for who traveled the longest distance. The two people tying were Kathleen Alton from Dinwiddie, Virginia and Susan Shaw from Charlottesville, Virginia.
At 12:45 the traditional Ella Ballard school bell was rung calling everyone to the tables filled with food. Stanley Shaw graciously offered the blessing. A bountiful spread of food was present for all to enjoy. It included hot buttered corn donated from the Reynolds farm, and cooked by Stanley Shaw in a new gas cooker. Along with that were many sandwiches and salads of every description, along with lemonade as well as an assortment of cakes and cookies. The traditional watermelon was noticeably absent. The lemons that made the lemonade were once again from Sis O’Connor’s lemon tree from Phoenix Arizona and was picked by Martha, Bill, Billy, Amy and Zachary Takacs. An unusual feature this year was that nice big bales of fresh hay were available as seats around the picnic tables and were very comfortable to sit on.
After the meal, everyone gathered into the barn that the Vincents moved from Alice Ramsdell’s farm. Rob and Sue Vincent spared no expense to lovingly reconstruct and refurbish it. As people gathered in the barn Mary Ellen Tomeo played a recording of a song about Alice and Hezekiah Ramsdell. Next a business meeting was called to order by Dale King and Ken Alton Jr. was elected Chairman of the Day. The Secretary and Treasurers report was read by Dale King and the Historian’s report was read by Mary Ellen Tomeo. She reported that there were 2 marriages, 8 births, and 2 deaths since the last update. The arrangement committee was changed to now include Donna Lynch, Pat Hall, Mary Ellen Tomeo, Bruce Alton, Jan Lytle, Angie DeCourt and Judy Potter.
Clarence Ballard told us about how John Vincent Ballard worked for a small oil company and received some stock options from the company but by the time he was through his options were worth $42 million dollars. Dale King read a newspaper report of what the Ballard Family was doing at their reunion 100 years ago in 1908 where one of the seven Ballards who started the reunion was still present. A rousing round of applause was give to our historian, Mary Ellen Tomeo, for her outstanding efforts in preserving the Ballard history. She told us of her efforts to place Ballard histories in the local libraries. Judy Potter told the family of the medical difficulties that our youngest Ballard at last years reunion, Nicole Purington, has had during the last year. She reported that she is doing much better now though. Mary Ellen Tomeo asked that if anyone had pictures of any of the reunions from Roseland Park that they try to get her some copies. On the search for the oldest and youngest present it was determined that Dorothy Alton was the oldest at 94 years and Jayden Singleterry was the youngest at age 3 months. A collection was taken and a total of $215 was donated. A thank you card was sent around for the gathering to sign to thank our hosts Rob and Sue Vincent for the use of the property that the reunion was held on. It was requested that a donation be given to the Thompson Historical Society instead of paying the Vincents for the use of their estate. The Ballard membership voted to give $100 as a donation. The expenses for the projected year came to $120 to pay for the web site run by Blair Cole.
The final act was to decide on where to hold the next reunion. It was decided to have it at the Elliot Boat Basin at Eliot Maine sometime in August of 2009 which was where it was held in 2007 and 2005. After the meeting the group gathered for a family picture. Then everyone spent some more time visiting with family and friends before slowly parting.
The 119th Ballard Reunion was held Saturday, August 18th, 2007 at 12:00 noon at the Eliot Boat Basin in Eliot Maine.
We are alternately holding our reunions in Thompson, Connecticut and Eliot, Maine. Eliot Boat Basin features a covered pavilion with picnic tables, bathrooms, electrical outlets and charcoal grills . There is an open field for lawn games and swimming in the Piscataqua River (at your own risk related to tides and currents that day).
As told by Clarence Ballard:
In the early 1900's the pastor of the Central Baptist Church in Thompson was from Maine. Calvin Ballard, our cousin/ancestor was introduced to his sister. They married in 1910 and lived on her family farm in Maine. They had six children, etc., etc and now there are about 60 descendents (our cousins) living in the area. Clarence's father, Winthrop and Calvin grew up together in Thompson and maintained their friendship. Winthrop would go to Maine to go hunting with Calvin. Their sons, Clarence and Doug, had continued the relationship.
In 1988, 100 years of Ballard Reunions, Dorothy Alton wrote:
The Douglas Ballard and Walter Hichens families were very faithful in their attendance over the years journeying down from Berwick and Eliot, ME, almost every year even before the super-highways made the drive seem so much shorter. As they stepped from their vehicles, I always marveled at the 'band-box' condition each person seemed to present - as if they had just stepped from an air conditioned room. You see they would have just completed a four or five hour drive on a sweltering day with three or four children!!! Need I say more??? Everyone always looked forward to their appearance in completing the circle. Three cheers for this very faithful segment of the family.
The First Reunion
Reprinted from The Ballard History from 1420 - 1903, First Printing, 1903.
The first reunion of the Ballards was held in Elliott's Grove, Wednesday, Aug. 15, 1888, and the following report was read by the Secretary Mr. Stephen Ballard.
Reunion of the Ballards
The gathering of the Ballards at Elliott's Grove was quite a joyous occasion for a large number of the Thompson people. Over one hundred were gathered together in the grove and many a handshake passed around the company as friend after friend came to the grove. Representatives from Dudley, Charlton, Pomfret, Putnam, Dayville, and even Davenport, Iowa and Memphis, Tenn. were there as well as from Thompson.
Seldom do we see so largea company all akin.
After a bountiful collation, Mr. Samuel K. Spaulding, of Putnam, was chosed chairman; Newton Ballard, secretary, and W.S. Converse, collector. The latter immediately began to pass his hat for contributions to pay expenses, and realized sufficient to liquidate all the debts and had four cents to spare. This is one of the characteristics of the Ballard tribe, to "pay as the go," and have a little left.
After a few short speeches and a few big stories told, the historian, Mr. Stephen Ballard, read the following history of the family, which will prove interesting to many of the tribe who were not present.
The entire text of the history read by S. Ballard is available in "The Ballard History - From 1420 - 1903".
