User:00sam020/Martha V. Ball

= Martha V. Ball = Martha V. Ball (May 17, 1811 – December 22, 1894) or Martha Violet Ball was an American teacher and anti-slavery activist from Boston. She worked with the New England Moral Reform Society, helped to found the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, the Ladies’ Baptist Bethel Society, and the Woman's Union Missionary Society of America for Heathen Lands.

Early life
Martha V. Ball was born on May 17, 1811 in Boston, Suffolk Co., MA. She was the daughter of Joseph T. Ball and Mary Montgomery Drew. Her father was an immigrant from Jamaica. She was the one of six children, three older siblings, and two younger, one of whom did not live past one year. One of her brothers, Joseph T. Ball, was an early convert to the Church of Latter Day Saints.

Career
Ball was a school teacher for thirty years, as well as a Sunday school teacher for forty years. For ten years she was the assistant editor for “The Home Guardian,” the publication from the New England Moral Reform Society. She then held the position of editor for seventeen years. In 1833 she was the recording secretary for the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. She was eventually the first secretary for the Ladies’ Baptist Bethel Society. She was later elected to president of the society and retained the position for thirty years.

Death and afterward
Ball died on December 22, 1894 in Boston, Suffolk Co., MA. She was 83 years old. She was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., MA.

Political views and activism
In 1833, she was one of the founders of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. She worked as the recording secretary for this society.

In 1838, Ball started working under the umbrella of the New England Moral Reform Society. Under this society she began working for troubled girls and young women. This association saved thousands of lives of young women and girls from “impertinence.” During her time with this society, she worked for the society’s publication “The Home Guardian.” This publication was aimed at helping "fallen women.”

In 1842, she was the recording secretary for the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. She was sent to Philadelphia as a delegate for a women’s convention on anti-slavery. The convention was attacked by a mob of men. The women were driven out of the convention hall by stones, mud, and other debris. Ball was hit in the chest by a brick. The hall was burnt to the ground.

Ball was one of the founders for the Ladies’ Baptist Bethel Society. She was also the first secretary. She was then elected president of the society, and retained that office for thirty years.

In 1860, her and a few others organized the Boston chapter of the Woman's Union Missionary Society of America for Heathen Lands.