This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Ballard, Holton Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/4EB.2ACE/195.271.1.1 Message Board Post: Hello KG Landry, while not your Philena, there is a reference in the town history of Gill - "Among the names of the first settlers were the following: ..., BALLARD," and another, "BALLARD & JANES have a saw mill, with a pail factory attached, which produces 100,000 feet of lumber, and 40,000 pails per annum." found at the following link - hope you find something! History of GILL by Josiah Holland, 1855 http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=message&r=rw&p=localities.northam.usa.states.massachusetts.counties.franklin&m=893 or, the shorter link - http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/4EB.2ACE/893 GILL. - Names found in this transcription: Andrews, Arms, Baker, Ballard, Bannister, Barnes, Bascom, Bates, Bennett, Bontecou, Bosworth, Brooks, Burrows, Canning, Childs, Church, Clapp, Clarke, Combs, Cushman, Deane, Edson, Field, Frost, Gains, Gill, Gordon, Hawks, Hayward, Heath, Hitchcock, Hosley, Howland, Hulin, Husted, Jackson, Janes, Jordan, Kimball, Latham, Marcy, Marsh, Miller, Moulton, Munn, Munsell, Newton, Niles, Nixon, Ricketts, Roberts, Root, Sage, Sandford, Severance, Sizer, Smith, Sprague, Stevens, Stoddard, Stoughton, Swift, Tate, Thornton, Todd, Ward, Warner, Webster, Whiting, Wilcutt, Wilson, Wing, Winslow, Wrisley