Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky, by H. Levin, editor, 1897. Published
by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago.  Reprinted by Southern Historical
Press.  p. 158.  Jefferson County.

BLAND BALLARD, judge of the United States district court for the district
of Kentucky, was born September 4, 1819, in Shelby county, and educated in
its schools and at Hanover College.  He read law under the guidance of
James T. Morehead, and was graduated in the law department of Transylvania
University, of Lexington, in 1846.  He entered in the practice at
Shelbyville, but in the same year removed to Louisville, which continued
to be his home up to the time of his death, July 29, 1879.  He was an
active practitioner of the law up to the date of his appointment as judge
of the United States district court in 1861, was connected also with the
business interests of the city, and took an active interest in all that
tended to improve the beauty and welfare of Louisville and in its
institutions for the benefit and relief of suffering humanity.
     He was opposed to slavery, from principle, and espoused with great
earnestness the cause of the Union, while as a judge he did everything
in his power to uphold the government in the contest in Kentucky with
those of southern sympathies.  The records of the United States court in
Kentucky probably show a greater number of indictments for treason and
conspiracy than any district in the country, the conditions existing in
Kentucky being exceptional.  Judge Ballard was withal a fair-minded man,
stern in his administration of the law, but guided by the law and not by
prejudice.  He ranked high as a lawyer and judge, and in his personal
relations with men was a pleasant, affable companion, a courteous and
kindly man.
     He was married in 1846 to Miss Sarah McDowell, daughter of Dr.
William A. McDowell.

Ballard Morehead McDowell
=
Shelby-KY Fayette-KY

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/jefferson/ballard.b.txt