Ballingers of South Jersey

To coincide with April's "A to Z challenge," I'm moving my family heritage columns to Saturday. I'm planning to skip Sundays for this month, unless something particularly exciting hits my keyboard. Six columns each week should satisfy my more devoted readers, and still leave plenty for those of you who drop by less frequently.

This "Family Saturday" is all about Ballingers, or rather the Ballingers who are related to me. On my father's side, it seems I'm related to half of Cumberland County, NJ (however distantly), and today we're going to explore one of the principal lines in that relationship.

My research has taken me as far back as James Ballinger, born around 1800. He married Sarah Sutton and they had at least 2 sons, Benjamin (b. June 15, 1827) and William (b. October 1828).

William married Caroline Facemire on December 31, 1855, and together they had two daughters Harriet (b. 1858) and Ella (b. May 1864). William was working as a "waterman" in 1880 (according to the census), while Harriet was a milliner, a seller of ladies' hats. Ella was single and living at home in 1900. She probably never married.

In 1866, Caroline died, and William got remarried to a woman named Sarah Hider in 1867-68. Together, they had at least one daughter who grew to adulthood.

Benjamin Ballinger married Sarah Hires, a cousin of Charles Hires, future "inventor" of root beer (but that's a story for another day). Among other things, Benjamin was apparently a coal dealer, and in 1880 was listed as such on the census. Benjamin and Sarah had several children who died as infants, and for clarity I'll only name the three children who actually survived (that I know about). The oldest was Charles W. Ballinger (my great-great-great grandfather, born August 1853). The others were Amanda (b. December 10, 1855) and Joseph M. (b. November 18, 1862).

Amanda married Martin Rammel Pedrick in 1880. I don't know if they had any children.

Joseph M. Ballinger was working as a store clerk by age 17, though I'm not sure what else he did for a living. He married Lizzie Mickle, and they had at least 1 daughter (Maude M. Ballinger, b. April 1883).

Charles W. Ballinger married Rebecca Henderson (b. 1853) on September 2, 1874 in Bridgeton, NJ. It appears they only had one daughter, Nellie D. Ballinger (b. February 1876).

Things get a little interesting when we get to Nellie (my great-great grandmother). She married Joseph B. Robinson on October 24, 1895, and six months later their daughter, Effie K. Robinson, was born. It was apparently a shotgun wedding, and the marriage didn't last long. By 1900, Nellie and Effie were both living at home with Charles & Rebecca. Nellie never remarried, and was still living with her parents in the 1920s.

Effie Robinson married Raymond W. MacCain in 1917, and they had a son (Ray Jr.). Effie divorced MacCain sometime in the early 20s, and on March 2, 1926 she married Edward S. "Ned" Ingham, who adopted my grandfather and gave him the Ingham name.

So there's where I get my Ballinger heritage. I have to say, it seems there aren't that many descendants from this branch of my family. Are there other Ballinger cousins out there who I don't know about?