EXCERPTS FROM…….

GRAPHOANALYSIS AND JAMES "MAJOR JIM" BALL: A GENEALOGICAL TEST OF A PSYCHOLOGICAL TOOL
By Irene P. Lambert, MGA
NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Volume 86, No. 3, September 1998

Genealogists today employ many research tools in their efforts to reconstruct ancestral lives. Commendably, good genealogists exercise caution in adopting nontraditional approaches to research and interpretation. Among the adjunct fields that family-history scholars typically treat with reserve is graphology, the analysis of an individual's handwriting for clues to the person's character. Although its principles are still clouded by skepticism in academia, handwriting analysis is classed as psychology by the Library of Congress. The United States government has categorized it in the "Miscellaneous Professions" section of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, and many companies use this tool as a recruiting practice to minimize mistakes in hiring new employees.

The concept is ancient. The earliest acknowledgment of handwriting analysis has been attributed to Aristotle, 384-322 B.C., who is said to have proposed that differences in writing might be signs of personality.

Yet not until Europe had emerged from the Dark Ages were scholarly advances made in handwriting analysis as either a psychological or forensic tool. In 1609, one F. Demelle of France published a treatise advocating ways in which the science of handwriting analysis could study strokes and letter formations, pen positions, and intensity and speed on the part of a scribe.

In the United States, an early twentieth-century teacher of shorthand, Milton Bunker, developed a system that he called Graphoanalysis. Despite his attempts to teach all students to make shorthand formations identically, Bunker observed distinct differences in their individual execution of style. Studying graphology and its history, he formulated a new method and in 1929 founded a school, the International Graphoanalysis Society (IGAS) in Chicago. His principles followed both Michon's method of relating certain strokes to personality traits and Klage's Gestalt theory of viewing the whole handwriting and then interpreting its meaning. Bunker's Gestalt method, given the term evaluation, continues to be the most difficult approach to doing an analysis. Bunker's successor, Peter Ferrara, who acquired the school after Bunker's death in 1961, held a master's degree in psychology. Schooled in modern scientific approaches Ferrara began scientific research programs and instituted more precise standards for IGAS certification.

If takes years for an analyst to achieve proficiency in this comprehensive approach, because of the complexities of human personalities. Applying an extensive work sheet, a highly skilled professional can pinpoint with impressive accuracy such qualities as the following:

· How emotional a person is;
· How long those emotions last;
· What thought patterns the person uses;
· How many personality controls are evident;
· How much imagination a person possesses;
· How strong a person's achievement potential, ego, determination, self-motivation, etc. may be; and
· How a person copes with aptitudes, fears, integrity, and social traits.

Yet writing constitutes a "frozen personality" - just as a photograph freezes an image. While most major traits will appear in the writing, there can be small changes brought about by the emotional state of the writer. For example, a person's penmanship, in a period of a particular duress, may exhibit strokes commonly associated with a heavy sense of guilt, while the stroke is not evident in samples taken immediately after the writer is forgiven.

A CASE AT POINT

As a Graphoanalyst, I came to know James Ball from a pair of handwriting samples. They were supplied to me by the editorial office of this journal, with no information as to the identity or the sex of the scribe. I was given no clue to the person's place of residence and was told neither of his or her personality, educational background, or occupation (although some speculation on the latter might be made from the content of the documents). I was told only that the individual was about thirty years of age when one sample was written at about sixty-five and suffering from rheumatism at the time the second sample was created.

After I had submitted that profile to the NGS Quarterly office the editors supplied published biographical data that examine the scribe in penetrating detail. The rest of this paper compares the personality profile in my report with the character of the man as described by his contemporaries and reconstructed by genealogists.

JAMES "MAJOR JIM" BALL

James Ball was born about 1783, apparently, in Amherst county, Virginia, and died in Crawford County, Arkansas, in 1861 - a long life for a man who lived so turbulently. At the time document 1 was penned, he was son-in-law of Middle Tennessee's legendary "wild Irish" settler, Dr. Redmond Barry, and may have moved in the same social circle as Andrew Jackson. Later boasts of friendship and service at the very side of "General Andy" at the Battle of New Orleans earned James Ball a social promotion from his actual sergeant's post to the grander title "Major Jim." As a trader in most everything merchantable (legally or otherwise), he was the legendary "Arkansas Traveler" personified. Abandoning his Tennessee wife and children, he won considerable fame across the Southwest, leaving a trail of records that could excite the lather of any genealogist - and at least one illegitimate child whom he never acknowledged (although that did not prevent him from appearing for care in his old age, to the woman he had seduced and left to rear that child alone). Ball's devilish, rapscallious, but utterly charming nature and his wondrously complex exploits made him an icon on the frontiers of early-nineteenth-century Arkansas and Texas, before rheumatism and old age pushed him into oblivion.

None of these details are revealed by the contents of the words that James Ball penned on documents 1 and 2, but the way in which he wrote his words revealed much. In the passages that follow, I compare, verbatim, conclusions I made in the Graphoanalysis against the biographical data the the NGSQ editorial office thereafter supplied me - i.e., the observations of two contemporaries (William Quesenbury, an Arkansas newspaperman, and Judge J. P. Simpson, whose recollections appear in the early Texas history) and studies by four modern biographers.

Strength of Character

GRAPHOANALYSIS: "He possessed an abundance of pride, and at times elevated himself above others so that he was beyond reproach."

QUESENBURY: "Major Ball was a large, finely formed man, and always maintained, whether conversing with Governor Pope, discussing land titles, playing 'Sugar in the Gourd,' swabbing a squirrel, or improvising a verse, a majestic dignity that would have done honor to a Spanish grandee or the Sovereign Pontiff of Rome."

GRAPHOANALYSIS: " When convinced of an idea or plan, his enthusiasm could influence those around him to join him in his efforts."

QUESENBURY: "To listen to him and believe a part of what he said, one would be confident that he had schemes by which he would acquire whole counties of land."

BAMMAN: "He would insinuate himself with the more prominent and wealthy of a community, gain their trust, and eventually, access to their money."

Emotions

GRAPHOANALYSIS: "Both specimens of this writer displayed an emotionally led individual. His feelings influenced his decision and he tended to respond spontaneously to emotional appeals. His feelings were easily aroused, and at times, his impulsiveness caused him to jump to conclusions before considering the consequences. He could be irritable and argumentative which were fueled by the deep emotions he felt. There was also noted a slight temper."

QUESENBURY: "In a long tale, Quesenbuy relates an incident in which Comanches bests Ball in a game of coup, stealing his horse while he slept with the reins in his hand. Ball awoke to find the rope cut-at which point, Quesenbury relates: "Dropping the rope as a thing abominable to his sight, he did all he could do - he 'cursed' the Indians - loudly, deeply, vehemently, 'cursed' - vowed vengeance, murder, nay the utter extermination of every human being that bore the tinge of the Shemitic race."

Aptitudes

GRAPHOANALYSIS: "Document 1 displayed a talkative individual. In both specimens, there were strong literary ability strokes. He had the ability to express himself well."

QUESENBURY: "In improvising verses, fiddling, and cooking he was peculiarly gifted..(His) improvised stanzas….countless thousands…have shared a better fate than most of the poetry written now-a-days; for three of them, at least, are remembered."

Thinking

GRAPHOANALYSIS: "Document 1 exhibited deeper thought patterns. However, they both reveal an analytical mind with a desire to learn and understand. He was also intuitive which gave him a marked insight about matters. This enabled him to grasp ideas quickly and interpret without much effort."

QUESENBURY: "As skilled a speculator as ever wandered about the country, was old Jim Ball."

Overall conclusion

GRAPHOANLYSIS: "The writer….possessed a strong, aggressive personality. He knew what he wanted and proceeded to work toward acquiring it. One would not want to be on the 'other side' during a conflict."

MILLS: "It was, indeed, James's nature to plan 'a pickle' for those whom he felt had wronged him - as the Louisiana Hooks also found out. The (seduction) of their naďve young sister-in-law (amid their suit against him) may have been one such incident, but it was not the last. Losing his dispute with them….Ball reappeared the next year (when) Samuel Hook prosecuted a case…in the Superior Court of Arkansas Territory. In his one and only known stint of jury service, James Ball appeared amid the 'twelve peers' who ruled upon the case. Not surprisingly - given James's famed silver tongue - Samuel Hook lost his suit."

Vocational Aptitude

After completing this IGAS-based analysis, I applied one further test: my copyrighted Vocational Graphoanalytic Inventory (VGI) system to determine vocational aptitudes. By utilizing the well-accepted vocational system of John Holland, my VGI catalogs six categories - Artistic, Social, Realistic, Investigative, Conventional, and Enterprising - each one with basic career motivation. From my analysis of documents 1 and 2, I graded the writer's vocational strengths as follows:

VERY STRONG: Enterprise Model
Individuals in this category have a compelling desire to lead and manage other people. Sales careers are often included. The post-analysis biographies provided by the NGSQ editor confirmed this strength. "Major Jim" Ball was highly skilled in both the management of people and sales.

STRONG: Social and Political Models
The Social Model's basic motivation is interaction with other people: communicating, entertaining, and guiding them.

The John Holland Dictionary equates (these) characteristic with administrators, sales managers, lawyers, and politicians. While Ball was not a lawyer, he spent an inordinate amount of time in the courts of at least five states - suing and being sued, administering estates, and pursuing claims. Although Ball was no politician, Quesenbury and Simpson both note his "professed great familiarity" with key politicians of his era.

SUMMARY SUGGESTIONS
Graphoanalysis is one more tool that genealogists can consider as they delve into the past and attempt to make it "come alive." Doing so may enable them to better answer their questions as to why certain events occurred and why certain reactions ensued. It can offer one more step in the quest for truth.

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