Edward Ball tells the story of southern slavery through tracking the history of the Balls, prominent landowners, rice-planters, one or two of them slave traders, and big slave owners in a southern family in dispersal and decline. In 1698, a planter named Elias Ball arrived in South Carolina from Devon, England, to claim an inheritance to one half of a plantation. By 1865, the Ball family of South Carolina owned over a dozen plantations along the Cooper River near Charleston. The crop was Carolina Gold - rice. The empire was ...
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Edward Ball tells the story of southern slavery through tracking the history of the Balls, prominent landowners, rice-planters, one or two of them slave traders, and big slave owners in a southern family in dispersal and decline. In 1698, a planter named Elias Ball arrived in South Carolina from Devon, England, to claim an inheritance to one half of a plantation. By 1865, the Ball family of South Carolina owned over a dozen plantations along the Cooper River near Charleston. The crop was Carolina Gold - rice. The empire was grown with seeds from Madagascar and slave labour purchased on the Charleston Docks. By the time the civil war ended, nearly 4,000 people had been enslaved by the Balls. Descendents of the Ball slaves may number as high as 11,000 today.
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Add this copy of Slaves in the Family to cart. $5.28, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1999 by Penguin Books.
This book was interesting on many levels. A good review of South Carolina history. Interesting story that progresses well (story drags a little in the history reviews). Great example of family history and the impact it might have on present day individuals. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in South Carolina history or / and genealogy.
Kimberly
Jun 28, 2007
Well-written; great read.
Edward Ball has a great talent as a writer. This book keeps the readers' interest in the lives of those of whom he writes. I found it fascinating that, thanks to his family's extensive family records, he was able to trace so many slaves back to Africa. He also does a superb job summarizing the history and times of those in his book. Particularly interesting was the journey he took to Africa in his search to complete his story.
