RESEARCH SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON AN UNSUNG L.A. PIONEER.

Byline: Eric Leach Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY - More than a decade before the Civil War bloodied the South, a former slave from Kentucky made his way to Southern California, eventually settling in the isolation and rugged beauty of the Santa Monica Mountains.

John Ballard was among the region's pioneers, homesteading 300 acres after the war near what is now Westlake Village.

But California's third-graders won't find Ballard - the area's first African-American settler - in their textbooks as they wade through California history. Patricia Colman, a history professor at Moorpark College who came across Ballard's story and delved into his life, wants to change that.

``Yes, L.A. was founded and built upon the backs of men like Pico, Keller, Banning ... but also on the back of John Ballard,'' Colman said. ``I think he deserves to have his story told and credit given.

``In all of the literature I've seen on early L.A., no one talks about him, yet he was one of the pillars of the tiny 19th-century African-American community.''

As part of Black History Month, Colman will present her findings today during a lecture at Moorpark College. Besides teaching history, she is a historian for the National Park Service.

There's no question Ballard remained bound by the shackles of prejudice after he moved West.

``We can assume without a doubt that he faced intense racism,'' Colman said. ``There was institutional racism against blacks in California during the 1850s, and the state had a law that said blacks could not homestead in California.''

But by the 1860s, the prohibition had ended. Ballard was allowed to homestead in the Santa Monica Mountains. Colman found in her research that he helped establish the First AME Church in Los Angeles, yet died with little record or recognition for his contributions.

It was an astute eye that uncovered his story. Colman found a 1900 Census for Calabasas and came across Ballard's name, along with an ``N'' for Negro designating his race.

She also found a book published by J.H. Russell, who was a boy when he met Ballard around 1900.

Ballard's story as pieced together by Colman and Russell's accounts in his book, ``Heads and Tails and Odds and Ends,'' helps illustrate the struggles of the 19th-century black community in the Los Angeles area.

``I began researching the Ballards and over time I realized that I had stumbled upon true pioneers in Los Angeles history,'' she said.

After his wife died, Ballard and his daughter, Alice, put roots down in what became known as the Seminole Hot Springs area of the Santa Monica range, near what is now Mulholland Highway and Kanan Road.

Historians and officials at First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles say the church was officially founded in the early 1870s by Bridget ``Biddy'' Mason and her son-in-law, Charles Owens, at a site Mason purchased at 331 S. Spring St. for $250.

The Rev. Brenda Lamothe of First AME, the oldest African-American church in Los Angeles, said she was unfamiliar with Ballard's connection, but that Mason was a slave when she came to California from Mississippi and Utah with a Mormon family.

But Colman said Ballard is listed in real estate records with Owens and others who helped found First AME.

``He was part of a core group of African-Americans who fought for getting a school opened for black children and getting the AME Church set up,'' she said.

Ranford Hopkins, another Moorpark College history professor who has researched blacks in Los Angeles, said Colman's work on Ballard is groundbreaking and will help change the image of African-American pioneers.

``This is all new, but what is new is not that it happened, but where it happened,'' he said. ``That is what is so significant about professor Colman's work.''

Ballard was listed in an 1860 Census as a teamster, Colman said, and Russell wrote that he was known throughout Los Angeles and Ventura counties, where he used to drive a team of mules.

He was known to be a wealthy man at one time and was extremely strong - easily able to lift a 100-pound sack of barley with one arm, according to Russell's book.

``He made a good living, that's for sure,'' Colman said. ``He had an Indian servant living with the family and lived in the downtown area, around Temple and Spring, and later moved toward Washington.''

In 1880, Ballard chose for his homestead a rugged part of the mountains that includes what became the Seminole Hot Springs Resort. The springs were likely his reason for stopping there, Colman said.

The area is near the site of Holy Family Catholic Church, the old Lake Enchanto Resort and Peter Strauss Ranch, now part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Homesteading for Ballard involved building a sprawling makeshift house and raising crops.

The Ballards were always willing to help their neighbors, and Ballard's second wife was known as a great cook, wrote Russell, who loved to stop by their home and eat her biscuits with wild grapes preserved in honey.

But when Ballard's wife died, his daughter married, leaving him alone. As successful as he had been in Los Angeles, he grew old and wound up with a meager existence before dying in 1905.

``They talked about how he was basically living off rabbits he could hunt,'' Colman said.

One of Ballard's friends was John Fredericks, the district attorney of Los Angeles, who recommended that he move back to the city, where the county government could take care of him.

Russell wrote that the last time he saw Ballard, he brought him some food and told him, ``You are liable to starve to death here sometime.''

``The Lord will take care of me,'' Ballard responded, telling Russell he wanted to die and be buried in the mountains.

Eric Leach, [phone]

eric.leach(at)dailynews.com

IF YOU GO

Patricia Colman's talk on John Ballard will be from noon to 1 p.m. today at Moorpark College, 7075 Campus Road, in the television studio in the Communications Building at the west end of campus. The event is free. Parking is $1. Seating is limited, but Colman's lecture will be broadcast live on the Internet at http://video.moorparkcollege.edu.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box, map

Photo:

(1 -- color) Former slave John Ballard was the first black settler in Los Angeles, moving to the area before the Civil War and later homesteading 300 acres in what is now Westlake Village. ``Yes L.A. was founded and built upon the backs of men like Pico, Keller Banning ... but also on the back of John Ballard. I think he deserves to have his story told and credit given,'' said Patricia Colman, a history professor at Moorpark College.

(2) John Ballard lived in a home in the Agoura-Westlake area. Moorpark College history professor Patricia Colman has been studying Ballard's life and calls him a ``pioneer.''

Box:

IF YOU GO (see text)

Map:

Ballard Homestead