Born in Fairfax County, Virginia, near Falls Church, Ball attended the village school.
He served as member of the Ohio House of Representatives from 1845 to 1849, and became editor of the Zanesville Courier in 1849.
After his tenure in Congress, Ball studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1860, and commenced practice in Zanesville.
He served as delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago in 1860, and as Sergeant at Arms of the House of Representatives in the Thirty-seventh Congress from 1861 to 1863.
This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress