IN HONOR OF GRANDPARENT'S DAY: My paternal grandparents were Andrew Jackson Ball and Lenah Sofronie Isom. They both died before I was born so I never knew them personally but I enjoy doing research to learn more about them. Andrew Jackson Ball was born on August 10, 1886 in Pike county, Kentucky to John C Ball and Margaret "Betty" Jane (Blackburn) Ball. He was the oldest of 11 children. He had 5 brothers: Thomas, Frelan, Basil, Landon and Charles and 2 sisters: Nancy and Mary. He had 3 other siblings who died when young that I have not yet identified. Andrew was often called "A.J." or "Bud" by his family. When he was a teenager his father moved from the Pond Creek area of Pike County to Northfork in McDowell county, West Virginia. Around 1910 the family moved to Matewan in Mingo County, West Virginia and he started working in the coal mines there. Lena Sofronie Isom was born January 25, 1895 in Leon, Carter county, Kentucky to Melvin C Ison and Elizabeth "Eliza" Lyons. She was their only daughter. She had 9 brothers: Charles, Jerry, Bayless, George, Isom, Martin, Lee Roy, Robert Luther, and James. Lena was called "Fronie" or "Frone" by her family. I have not yet figured out how Fronie and A.J. met but I do know that both of their fathers were timbermen and used huge saws. I have also found out that some of Fronie's brothers were coal miners at Red Jacket #6 in Mingo County, West Virginia. It is possible that the families worked together. "Bud" and Fronie were married on September 27, 1913 in Matewan, Mingo County, West Virginia. They had 2 sons: Alfred and Lee Roy and 1 daughter: Hazel. Alfred and Hazel are still living. Fronie died on February 3, 1918 in Matewan, Mingo county, West Virginia of heart disease shortly after giving birth to Lee Roy (my father). Her father, Melvin Ison, died later that same year on July 14th in a sawmill accident. She and her father were buried in the Ison/Isom family cemetery in Fultz, Carter county, Kentucky. After Fronie's death, A.J. moved back in with his parents who helped him with the children. Fronie's mother and brothers appear in the 1920 census in Mingo County so they must have moved there sometime after the 1910 census. An older lady once told my dad that his grandma (Eliza) helped his mother (Fronie) when she was very sick and couldn't get out of bed to care for her own children. Perhaps that is when the Ison family moved to Matewan. Toward the end of 1920, John C Ball moved his family to Beckley in Raleigh County, West Virginia. A.J. and his children moved with him. Eliza Ison and her sons did not go to Raleigh County but at some point did return to the Fultz area of Carter county, Kentucky. A.J. was a coal miner. He broke his back while working in a coal mine at Skelton in Raleigh county, West Virginia. After that he was forced to retire and required a cane when walking. He considered the coal mines very dangerous and did not want his sons to work there. Against the wishes of his father, Lee Roy, convinced one of A.J.'s brothers to help him get a mining job. Although he never had any serious accidents in the coal mines, Lee died of black lung contracted from breathing the coal dust. A.J. died on January 6, 1948 near Beckley in Raleigh county, West Virginia of cancer. A.J. never spoke much about his wife or her family. Perhaps it was too painful for him. All my father ever knew was that his mother, Fronie Isom, died when he was a month and 3 days old and that she was buried in Carter County, Kentucky. He searched for her grave many times during his life but was never successful at finding it. Six months after his death, I found her grave and put some flowers and a note on it. Shortly thereafter I was contacted by some of her nephews. That summer, my family met some of my father's first-cousins that he never knew ! -- Submitted by Debbie Ullom, granddaughter of A.J. and Fronie (Isom) Ball on September 11, 2000.