Dr. Mark Webster Ballance was born at New Burnside in Johnson County on April 28, 1880 to James Herndon and Jensey Whiteaker. According to his obit printed in the Southern Illinoisan paper, Dr. Ballance’s ancestors were pre-Revolutionary settlers in Virginia. The first family member, John Damron, moved to Southern Illinois in 1796. Dr. Ballance’s uncle, Captain Mark Whiteaker, organized Co. B of the 120th Illinois Volunteers in the Civil War. His father, Lt. James Herndon Balance served in the company.
The 1880 federal census located the Balance farming family living near New Burnside. The father James 47 and mother Jensey A. 43 had 6 children living in the home identified as sons G.W. 21, T.S. 13, J.W. 11, R.A. 5 and M.W. aged 7 months. There was one daughter aged 15 identified only as S.
During his youth, Mark started out working at the Anna State Hospital which is where he was found in the 1900 census working as an attendant. In 1903, Mark met and married 27 year-old Anna Stackert in Cairo, Illinois. Around that same time, Mark began attending Barnes Hospital School in St. Louis, Missouri for dentistry and graduated in 1907, then began practicing in Marion that year.
By the 1910 census, Mark 30 and Anna 33 had one son named Herndon aged 6 and were living in a rental home at 203 S. Van Buren St. Anna indicated that the couple had birthed one child and one lived. Mark was listed as a dentist.
Mark didn’t waste any time settling into the Marion community and took an active role in attending the First Methodist Church where by 1911 he had begun serving on the building committee for the church and teaching Sunday school classes. On March 7 of 1911, the building committee for the church moved to build a new building on West Main Street.
In 1914, Mark was elected city alderman under Mayor Georg B. Calhoun and again in 1915 under Mayor D.D. Hartwell.
By 1916, Mark had also taken an active role in his profession by serving on positions with the Southern Illinois Dentists Association. He attended numerous dentist’s meetings and conventions with other Marion dentists.
Through World War I 1917-18, Mark assisted the Marion Local Draft Board by giving examinations to potential draftees. When Mark filled out his own draft card, he was 38 and described as 5’ 10 ½”, slender with blue eyes and dark hair. He and his wife Anna were then living at 301 S. Van Buren Street with a dental office on the 5th floor of the Marion State and Savings Bank building on the public square.
When the 1920 census was taken, Mark 39 and Anna 41 were living in a home they owned at 515 S. Market Street with two sons, Herndon R. aged 15 and Webster aged 9. There were two boarders in the home named Charles and Bertha Otey. Charles was a lawyer in a law office.
An article in the Marion Semi-Weekly Leader in March noted that Mark was serving on the board of the Marion Hunting & Fishing Company who apparently held regular meetings and an annual event in Marion. In the same year, a Marion street directory located the family living at 406 S. Market St. and Mark occupied his dental office in the bank building on the square and also was associated with a business called GWB Music Company (aka The Edison Shop) at 1102 Public Square.
In April 1923, Mark ran for city council under William L. Dunston for Mayor during the KKK period of our county when the Klan was pushing a strong law and order platform during prohibition. His ticket lost that year to Mayor James H. Clarida. It is fairly clear that Mark supported the Ku Klux Klan’s position on law and order because in 1924, when Klan enforcer S. Glenn Young was charged with destruction of property and theft during his raids Mark, along with 8 other prominent Marion businessmen, posted a bond for Young.
Numerous ads were run in the local paper in 1925 by Mrs. Balance advertising a modern 4 room furnished apartment in their home at 406 S. Market Street.
Through the 1920’s and into the 1930’s, Mark served as a board member on the Marion High School Board of Education for 18 years.
In the 1930 federal census, Mark 49 and Anna 52 were living in their home at 406 S. Market St. with one son, Webster 19. They had no radio in the home that was mortgage free and valued at $10,000.
In April 1930, Mark ran for the state legislature under the Republican ticket and lost. He tried running again for the state senate for the 50th District in 1932 as a Republican but lost the bid again.
On June 24, 1935, a fire broke out in the top floor of the Woolworth building in the 600 block of the Public Square in Marion. At the time of the fire, Mark had his dental office on the second floor next to the office of Dr. Alonzo Baker.
By the 1940 census, Mark 59 and Anna 60 were living on a farm south of Marion in Southern Township on RFD 5 in a home they owned and valued at $6,000. In the census, Mark reported that he had finished high school and Anna had attained the 8th grade.
In 1942, when Mark filled out his WWII draft card, he had started working back at Anna State Hospital. His draft card listed him as 61, 5’ 10 ½”, 183 lbs., blue eyes and grey hair/balding. Mark continued working at the Anna hospital from 1942 until his retirement from that institution in May 1950 when he was presented gifts of luggage and a floor lamp as tokens of appreciation at his retirement party held for him.
A 1955 Marion directory located Mark and Anna living at 1001 N. Market Street with a dental office at 101 ½ W. Main Street.
Mark’s wife Anna, born in Pinckneyville on January 9, 1875, died in Marion on December 25, 1957 and was buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Marion. After his first wife’s death, Mark re-married again on December 20, 1961 to Ada Seel, born April 16, 1886 in Michigan. A 1961 Marion street directory found Mark completely retired and living at 206 S. Van Buren Street.
Mark died on September 17, 1965 at his home at 206 N. Van Buren St. after a long illness. He was a dentist in Marion for 50 years and organized the first Illinois Department of Public Welfare dental division and was its first supervisor. He was president of the Southern Illinois Dental Association and a lifetime member of the American Dental Association and Illinois Dental Association.
Dr. Balance served 18 years on the Marion High School Board of Education. He was the last surviving member of the First Methodist building committee and was a member of the Masons and the Odd Fellows. He was then survived by his wife, Ada, and sons Roswell Ballance of Arlington, Texas and Webster Ballance of Carbondale, who was currently then the SIU coordinator of research in the graduate school and a retired diplomatic service officer. Mark had then three grandchildren and six great grandchildren. All ten of his siblings preceded him in death. Burial was in Rose Hill Cemetery next to his first wife, Anna.
Mark’s second wife, Ada, passed away at Marion Memorial hospital on April 6, 1983. She was born in Michigan on April 16, 1886 and was buried in Benton Harbor, Michigan.
Notes on Children:
Herndon Roswell Ballance, born February 13, 1904 in Marion, married to Lucille Lambert, died on December 20, 1974 in Texas.
Webster Eugene Balance, October 4, 1910 in Marion, married to Dorothy Hamilton died on January 17, 1997 in Irvington, Virginia.
(Sources: Federal census records, Illinois Marriage Records, Williamson County in WWI, WWI and WWII Draft registration cards, Marion city street directories, The KKK in Williamson County, Marion Weekly Leader, Marion Evening Post, Marion Semi-Weekly Leader, Carbondale Free Press, The Daily Independent, Southern Illinoisan newspapers, FindaGrave.com. Compiled by Sam Lattuca on 4/13/2024)