Aaron and Lydia Dodge
This Maine family is one of our mysteries.
Lydia and her husband Gideon Ball IV ended up in Indiana.
Information from Janeen Peters
Photos by Barbara Dodge

Ball Lake, named for the Gideon Ball family. Janeen Peters, her husband, Charlie, and Norman Dodge, our genealogy data base keeper at Pleasant Lake, Indiana, September 2001 Pleasant Lake Cemetery where Lydia Brockway Ball, mother of Gideon Ball IV who married Lydia Dodge, is buried
Lydia Dodge and her brother Aaron Dodge, were born in Wiscasset, Maine; Lydia on 6 July, 1794, and Aaron, 3 years earlier, in 1791. Lydia and Aaron moved with their parents into NY state at an early age, and lived in Ontario County. There she married Gideon Ball IV on February 16, 1814, Ontario Co., New York. Lydia and Gideon had 9 children, all of whom were born in New York. Gideon and Lydia moved to Ohio in 1832, then to Indiana in 1835 where they lived out their lives. Lydia died on Jan. 1, 1857 and Gideon born on December 17, 1785, died July 1870.

Lydia’s brother, Aaron, died in New York, May 23, 1879 in Ontario County and is buried in Sand Hill Cemetery, Flint, New York. He married Elizabeth Allen, and had three children.

The parents of Lydia Dodge's Husband, Gideon Ball IV who was a Revolutionary War Patriot, were Gideon Ball III, and Lydia Brockway Ball, daughter of Gamaliel and Lois (Beman) Brockway.

Lydia Brockway, born in Lyme, New London Co., CT. on 17 April, 1757, died May 20, 1836 in her 80th year. Hers was the first burial in the Pleasant Lake Cemetery, having died the day after they arrived in Steuben County, IN. They had lived in Ontario County, NY, then in Ohio for a few yrs.,then went on to own land in Steuben Co., IN. Gideon Ball, born Dec 27, 1785, Granville, Hampden Co. Mass., died July 1870 in Steuben Co.

 Maine did not become a state until 1820 (a part of the Missouri Compromise when Congress was dealing with slave states and free states). Lincoln County, Maine was created from York County, Maine in 1760 (only it was still Massachusetts at that time.) Wiscasset was the county seat. The Census did not start until 1800, however. Even though one might expect the people to be counted in the Massachusetts 1790 census, we cannot find them nor can we find a record in the Massachusetts Vital Statistics.

In our Tristram data base we have many who have the surname of Ball and we even have a Gideon Ball who married a Lydia S. Dodge! But it is not the same Gideon and Lydia.

Aaron, Lydia Dodge Balls' brother, married an Elizabeth with last name unknown. They had three children, Allen, John, and Margaret. Aaron lived out his life in Ontario CO., New York, dying ther May 23, 1879. He is buried in Sand Hill Cem. Flint, New York.

There is a possibility that The father of Aaron and Lydia MAY have been named Anson. Also, there MAY have been a Thomas in this family. PLEASE...can anyone help the solving of this long-standing mystery as to the parents of Aaron and Lydia?