"James Presley Ball Sr."(1825-May 4,1904)

Was a prominent African-American photographer,abolitionist,and businessman.James was born to William and Susan Ball in 1825.He learned daguerreotype photography from John B.Bailey of Boston,who like John was "a freeman of color.James opened a one room daguerreotype studio in Cincinnati,Ohio in 1845.The business did not prosper,so he worked as an itinerant daguerreotypist,setting briefly in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania,then in Richmond Virginia in 1846 to develop a more successful studio near the State Capitol Building.In 1847,James again departed for Ohio,again as a traveling daguerreotypist.He settled in Cincinnati in 1849 and opened a studio where his brother Thomas Ball become an operator.The gallery,known as "Ball's Daguerrean Gallery of the West"or Ball's Great Daguerrean Gallery of the West,"ascended "from a small gallery to one of the great galleries of the Midwest.Starting in 1854 and continuing "for about four years,"Robert Sheldon Duncanson worked in Ball's studio retouching portraits and coloring photographic prints.Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion in 1854 described the gallery as displaying 187 photographs by James and 6 painting by Robert;the gallery was replete with elegance and beauty,"with walls "bordered"with gold leaf and flowers,"master piece"furniture,a piano and mirrors.James opened the seperate Ball and Thomas Gallery with his brother-in-law Alexander Thomas.In 1855,he published an abolitionist pamphlet accompained by a 600-yard-long panramic painting entitled "Mammoth Pictorial Tour of the United States Comprising Views of the African Slave Trade,"Robert probably participated in the production of the painting.During 1855 Ball's daguerreotypes were shown at the Ohio State Fair and at the Ohio Mechanics Annual Exhibition.In 1856 James traveled to Europe.The Ball and Thomas Gallery was destroyed by a tornado in May 1860,but was later rebuilt with assistance from the community.During the 1870s James ended his partnership with Thomas and moved to Greenville,Mississippi;Vidalia Louisiana;St.Louis,Missouri;and then Minneapolis Minnesota,where he started a new studio.By 1887,the studio was known as "J.P.Ball & Son,Artistic Photographers,"his son was named James Presley Ball,Jr.In September 1887,James Sr.became the offical photographer of the 25th anniversary celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation.In October 1887,James again moved this time to Helena Montana where the "J.P.Ball &Son"studio was established.By 1894,James had become active in politics in Helena;for example,he was nominated for a county coroner position which he declined.One of the notable series of photographs he took his stay in Helena involved William Biggerstaff (an African-American man) before,during,and after he was hanged in 1896 for committing murder.In 1900,the Ball family probably moved to Seattle, Washington,where James opened the Globe Photo Studio.He may have relocated to Portland Oregon in 1901.The family moved to Honolulu in 1902,James died there.