James was the son of James Ballou, III and Tamasin Cook. The family came to Richmond in 1773. James grew up in Richmond and built a home and farm near his father's home. In 1803 he moved to a house near the Richmond Four Corners where he opened a store. He was married to Mehitable Ingalls on November 5 1786 in Richmond, New Hampshire. Mehitable was born on July 21 1764 in Cumberland, Rhode Island and died on December 4 1821 in Ohio. She was the daughter of Revolutionary War soldier Henry Ingalls (Oct 12 1738 Rehoboth MA-1813 Worcester NY) and Sybil or Sibel Carpenter (Feb 26 1740 Rehoboth MA-Cumberland RI). Sybil was a Mayflower descendant (Francis Billington). Henry worked as the town clerk. After James died in 1808, Mehitable took her children and joined her father who was living in Worcester, New York. The known children of James and Mehitable were:

1-James Ballou (March 15 1788-July 19 1789)
2-James Ballou (Oct 15 1794)
3-Henry Ballou (Sept 6 1796)
4-Mehetabel 'Hitty' (Twin) Ballou (March 15 1799)
5-Rufuss (Twin) Ballou (March 15 1799)
6-Elizabeth (Eliza) Ballou (Sept 21 1801 Richmond NH-Jan. 21, 1888 Mentor, Lake Co., OH); married Abram Garfield in February 1820
7-Alpha Ballou (May 19 1806 Richmond NH- April 22 1882 Hiram OH); married Amos Boynton in 1826

James and Mehitable were the grandparents of President James Garfield. James achieved notoriety for his ability to foretell the future and locate missing property. His daughter's son, President Garfield, named him 'Conjuror Ballou'. He made his powers seem mystical by wearing a wizard's robe and writing out his formulas with complex geometrical figures. Ballou predicted important events, found missing farm tools, and foretold the future for young couples. He even calculated that he would die on April 30, 1808. His neighbors were aware of this prediction and questioned him about his well being that day. He claimed that he was perfectly healthy and may have made an mistake. Later that day he came upon some workmen struggling to remove stones from a field. He stopped to help them move a heavy boulder. While exerting himself Ballou burst an artery. He was carried home to bed and died before the day was over.

He and his wife Mehitable had Findagrave memorials that were taken down years ago and then created again by this contributor.

[His burial location is from the New Hampshire Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. 'Conjurer Ballou' information is from the website of the Historical Society of Cheshire County.]

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Per Contibutor Maryann Randolph Fikes (47837203):
"talked with the Sexton at Perry Twp. Cemetery, and she assured me that ALL graves are listed in their online burial search. This one [Mehitable] is not listed."

So I have deleted his wife Mehitable's memorial. I found her burial listed at Perry Township Cemetery in Lake County, Ohio from a decendant's family tree (citing an old cemetery transcription). Please do not make a new memorial there. But it is not worth my time locating original sources to dispute cemetery checkers. Perhaps someone will discover where she really is buried if that researcher was mistaken. The online database does not have a Ballou (or Ingalls):

http://perry.cemeterydata.com/index_html/burial_search