Eliphalet Ball

Eliphalet Ball (July 29, 1722 – April 6, 1797) was a Presbyterian minister and an early settler in Saratoga County, New York. The town of Ballston ("Ball's Town") is named for him. and was "probably" licensed to preach.

In 1750 he married Elizabeth van Flamen (or Fleming) of New York City. The couple had four sons, three of whom survived to adulthood: Cornelius (1750–1771), who died young, John (1756–1838), Stephen (born 1759, and Flamen (1761–1816). They had two daughters, Mary (1753–1803), who married General James Gordon, and Elizabeth (1769–1784), who died at age 15. After the death of his wife, Elizabeth, Ball married Ruth Beecher of Amity, New York, in 1783; the couple had no children.

Career In 1754 he was chosen minister of the Presbyterian Church in Bedford, New York, in Westchester County. He was a sympathizer of the "New-Light" movement of Henry Alline, part of the First Great Awakening, which rejected the power structure and ceremonials of the established church. They rejected the idea of predestination, and taught that all people have free will and therefore can be reborn into a personal relationship with God. This brought him into conflict with his more conservative congregation. Among other charges they accused him of "imprudent levity and unguarded airiness of deportment." According to legend, Rev. Ball bought the rights to name the town from the McDonalds for the price of a jug of rum.

In 1784 Ball resigned as pastor in Ballston. Because of the disruption caused by the American Revolution the pulpit at his former church in Bedford had become vacant, so that year he returned to Westchester and occupied the position until 1790. He returned to Ballston, bringing additional settlers, and died there in 1795. He is buried in the Briggs Cemetery in Ballston.