Editor’s Note: This is the first piece of a four-part series on the life and impact of John Ball.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The name John Ball is well known across Grand Rapids. Nearly 140 years after his death, his name is still here.

John Ball Park was the city’s first large, multi-use park, and the nearby John Ball Zoo is bigger than ever.

But Ball’s legacy is much larger than a zoo. He lived a life full of incredible stories. He met some of America’s founding fathers, survived a deadly shipwreck and took a turn as an explorer and westward pioneer.

Honestly, Ball is a real-life version of Forrest Gump. At one point, Ball took over a dead friend’s business, traveled across America and even befriended a lieutenant when his life was on the line. And that’s all before starting his noteworthy life in Michigan.

Part one of this series will follow John Ball’s journey from humble beginnings in New England to his start as an explorer.

FROM FARM BOY TO SCHOLAR

John Ball was born on Nov. 12, 1794, the 10th child of Nathaniel and Sarah Ball. Like his siblings, he was born and raised on his family’s farm in Hebron, New Hampshire. The Balls lived almost exclusively by their own means, eating food grown in their fields and making clothes from harvested wool and flax.

On the Ball farm, boys were mandated to serve on the farm until they turned 21. While he knew why his help was needed and did it dutifully, John Ball also fought for a way to get an education. As a child, classwork was limited to the winter. Despite the chill and snow, he walked daily to a nearby town for classes and eventually even started teaching.

When he was 21, one of his teachers recommended Ball try to enroll at Dartmouth College. The school president was set to travel to the area to examine prospective students and recommended Ball throw his hat in the ring. Having only four cumulative years of education, Ball admitted in his autobiography that he was nervous about his prospects, but he studied hard, passed the test and enrolled at Dartmouth.

Ball enjoyed his studies and the camaraderie of college. He also enjoyed teaching. He took up work in schoolhouses each winter, one year taking on a school of 80 kids. He made a point of making his lessons fun and provided plenty of play time, for their benefit and his own.

“And I gave them liberal time outdoors, so it went merrily on. At the same time, I kept up my reading in the office,” Ball wrote.

Like so many others, Ball also has a deeply regretful story from his college years. In his autobiography, he detailed an end-of-the-school-year trip that he and a few friends took to Mount Washington. Despite a warning from the locals, the group decided to make the hike without a guide.

Within hours the group was caught in a storm that soaked the mountain. Still determined to reach the peak, the group soldiered on and quickly realized how unprepared they were. The four men couldn’t get a fire started and were forced to huddle together on the wet ground to survive the night.

The next morning, instead of heading back, the group continued their climb, hoping to get above the fog and see the peak. The fog didn’t lift. Instead, it gave way to heavy snow. Finally, the stubborn group waived the proverbial white flag and headed back down the mountain. They made it back to their boarding house after nightfall: freezing and sore, but alive.

Ball eventually graduated from Dartmouth and decided to keep his education going by studying law. He didn’t love the idea of working in law as much as he was uninterested in the other two common fields: medicine or ministry.

“The study of medicine I thought I should like well, but the practice seemed intolerable,” Ball wrote. “Being heterodox, I could not take divinity, so the law only was left.”

JOHN THE EXPLORER

After graduation, Ball moved to Lansingburgh, New York, to live with a friend and continue his studies. He was hired by a local practice and also taught classes for local children. After a couple of years, however, he felt an urge to shake things up and explore — something that would prove to be a pattern.

“Against all persuasion” of his friends, Ball headed to New York City with no real destination in mind. Looking for the ship that would take him the farthest south, he ended up hitching a ride aboard a schooner heading for Darien, Georgia.

Ball’s first sea voyage was a catastrophic one. The schooner survived several days of storms — and Ball weathered several bouts of sea sickness — and made it to the Georgia coastline. But they weren’t in the clear.

According to Ball’s autobiography, the captain missed the channel of the Altamaha River and ended up caught on a shoal about 2 miles off land. Then yet another storm swept through. Some of the passengers and crew tried to use dinghies to get to land but were eventually overtaken by the waves and forced to swim back to the schooner. The crew started to throw all of its cargo overboard and even cut down the mast, hoping to make the ship lighter and lift it off of the sandbar. But the schooner remained stuck and the battering waves eventually overtook the cabin, forcing everyone to seek shelter on the deck.

By the next morning, as the tide pulled back, the ship was firmly trapped on the bar and revealed to be in no shape to sail to shore. The sailors grabbed whatever scraps they could and tried to assemble makeshift rafts that they could use to ride the next tide toward the shore.

While waiting for the tide, another ship came across their path and spotted them. Those sailors, however, knew the area well and that they couldn’t get very close to the boat without getting stuck themselves. So the stranded sailors were forced to use their rafts to try and make their way to the boat.

Of the 26 people on board, 25 survived. Ball was taken in by a nearby plantation owner. The next day, he learned that the schooner had broken apart and scavengers were already there searching for anything valuable.

“There were wreckers all along the shore ready to seize every bale of goods and every trunk the moment they reached the shore, and secure them for their own personal benefit,” Ball wrote. “In some cases, the clothing of our people were afterwards seen on others’ backs.”

Ball was left with literally just the clothes on his back and his wallet, but he wasn’t done with his adventure. He continued toward Darien and took a teaching job to cover his boarding expenses and save up enough money to head home come spring.

Ball returned to Lansingburgh and continued his law studies. He was admitted to the bar the next year and joined a new partner. Even though he was “settled” in New York, Ball never lost his desire to explore. That same year, he took a trip to Utica to take in a trial before the State Supreme Court. There, an 80-year-old Aaron Burr was in town to serve as counsel. Ball met him afterwards and joined him while he “held court” with other people anxious to hear his many stories about the birth of a new nation.

Ball spent five more years in Lansingburgh before his life was shaken up once again. In 1829, his brother-in-law, William Powers III, died after suffering severe burns at his oilcloth company. Ball jumped in to help his sister, Deborah, and keep the company afloat.

Within two years, they were able to pay off the business’ debts and start turning a solid profit, but Ball’s law practice suffered from the lack of time and energy.

His sister wanted Ball to stay on staff and lead the company’s successful sales team, but Ball was once again ready to explore and used the season of change to seek out another adventure.

This time, he wasn’t heading south. He was heading west.

This is the first piece in a four-part series about the life and legacy of John Ball. The next three pieces will be published on Sundays over the next three weeks.