The collection includes many types of legal records, including: Estates, Divorces, Chancery Cases, and debt collection papers. Correspondence is from clients, lawyers, legal firms, banks, and various land offices. Some of the larger case files include those of the Bank of Lansingburgh (New York) and the Indian Mill Creek Salt Company (Grand Rapids, Mich.). Numerous land records include: State Tax Deeds, Indentures, Mortgages, Bounty Lands for Veterans and their widows, Deeds, Plat Maps, and Receipts for land. The firm had many clients in Michigan and New York (State).
McKee family records include family correspondence, 1840s-1874, undated; legal cases, and Aaron McKee’s (father of James McKee) inheritance case, 1856-1864. Also included is the 1862 license for Ball and McKee and a letter of protest over the removal of the soldiers’ memorial in Grand Rapids, 1908.
Processing Note: Personal materials of John Ball were apparently removed when this collection first came to the Clarke and became the John Ball Family Papers.
Organizational History and Biography:
Ball and McKee was a law firm of partners John Ball and James H. McKee. The office was located on Monroe street in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1849-1884. The partners were heavily involved with the sale of land. (This information is from the collection.)
For information on John Ball (1794-1884) see the finding aid of his Family Papers, The Ball Family Papers, which are also housed at the Clarke.
James H. McKee was born in 1823, the son of Aaron McKee, and brother of Charles R., A. G., and R. G. McKee. James was educated in Vermont and Massachusetts, before moving to Michigan in 1849. In Grand Rapids, he became the law partner of John Ball.
McKee married Hannah, with whom he had at least four children: Willie, Henry, Mrs. Laura (Lollie) Langdon, and Montie. Henry earned a B.A. (1872) and a M.A. (1876) from the University of Michigan (UM). He also attended the Homeopathic School of Medicine (1886-1888) at the U of M. James McKee was also the uncle of Jasper Ball. James McKee was alive in 1908. (This information is from the collection.)
James’ diary of his schooling experiences, 1840, is housed at the Bentley Historical Library.
