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1913.
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Recollections of the Ball Family
OF
South Carolina
and
The Comingtee Plantation
BY
Anne Simons Deas
i
PUBLIC L!
653404
ASTOrt. I
TiLD
R '3 L
Copyright. 1909
Alwyn Ball, Jr
I
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* * • • •-»
•• • •• ••■
COMINGTEE PLANTATION
INDEX
Page
I. COMINGTEE 9
II. THE COMINGS 24
III. THE FIRST ELIAS BALL, 33
IV. RED CAP'S DAUGHTERS 52
V. THE SECOND ELIAS 66
VI. THE TWO JOHN COMINGS 91
VII. ELIAS OF WAMBAW 100
VIII. ELIAS OF LIMERICK 113
IX. JOHN BALL OF KENSINGTON 128
X. JOHN BALL'S CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN. 135
XI. COMINGTEE FIFTY OR SIXTY YEARS AGO, . .150
XII. PLANTATION INDUSTRIES AND OLD SERVANTS, 160
XIII. APPENDIX 174
XIV. FAMILY CHARTS 184
AUTOGRAPHS.
i&xa ficJt-,
(Elias of Wambaw.)
-4
(Afterward Mrs. Bryan.)
01*4
(John Ball of Kensington.)
mj^ -fyfry flJ/
(Second Elias.) (Catherine Chicken.)
(Miss Nelly.)
'/As*/\Z~
(Elias of Limerick.)
oJ^cuae 63clW
%^yo fio^l
(Son of Second Elias.)
(Mary Delamare.)
tj&^vxs f&vsMT^ Spa^t&
(John Coming Ball of Back River.)
I
ISAAC BALL
1844
FOREWORD.
The following account of the Ball Family has
been compiled from family records, letters, wills,
and other old papers, supplemented by traditions,
handed down from one generation to another.
While I have not encumbered my narrative with
references to the special sources from which each
statement has been taken, I have been careful to
give tradition no more credit than it deserves, and
have endeavored, even at cost of repetition, to
make it clear when a surmise or an inference is pure-
ly personal. Any positive statement, therefore,
may be relied on as having the support of authority.
The dates of births, deaths, and marriages I owe
to Mr. William J. Ball's admirable and carefully
compiled family record; while to Mr. Isaac Ball
I am indebted for the loan of old letters, for infor-
mation as to the recent alterations to the house at
Comingtee, and for many important suggestions.
To Mrs. Maria Louisa Ball I am indebted for inter-
esting family traditions and much valuable infor-
mation; and to Miss Lydia Child Ball for impor-
tant illustrations.
Anne Simons Deas.
Summebville, S. C, Sept. 29th, 1904.
I.
COMINGTEE.
Cooper River, about thirty miles from its mouthy
divides into two branches the Eastern and Western,
which, with the main stem of the river, fairly well
represent the letter "T." On the little peninsula
thus formed, Capt. Coming settled. For a long
time, the plantation was known as Coming's T, and
is so marked on some old plats. Gradually, the s
and the apostrophe being dropped, it became
Coming T; and from that to the present spelling —
Comingtee — the transition was easy.
The original grant to Capt. Coming evidently did
not cover the whole of what is now Comingtee
plantation; for, in 1703 and 1704, Elias Ball pur-
chased and added two adjoining tracts of 572 and
115 acres, respectively, at one shilling per hundred
acres. In 1735, he bought a third tract of 140 acres,
described by his son, in 1752, as lying between the
T of the river, lands of his own, a creek between
Nicholas Harleston (then owner of Rice Hope) and
the "Northwestern branch of Cooper River;" for
tli is he paid more — three shillings sterling or four
shillings, proclamation money, per hundred acres.
The creek which bounded it on the east was prob-
9
ably dammed up later into a Reserve, and the rest
of its course gradually lost; but the river front is
there, and includes the only bit of river-bluff on
the plantation, the rest of the strip along the river,
being swamp or marsh.
The plantation, from days beyond the memory of
any now living, has been considered as in two
parts — Comingtee and Stoke. I do not think that
the name Stoke occurs on the plats; but it was a
very real division, nevertheless. There were the
Stoke barn, the Stoke negro-houses, the Stoke gang
(who had a page of their own in the plantation
Record-book), the Stoke well, etc. Comingtee had
its own barn and corn-house, negro-houses, and
gang. The dwelling-house was on Comingtee.
Stoke comprises the part of the plantation on
the Western Branch, especially the bluff where the
brick mill and the wharf now are, and corresponds
closely with that latest purchase in 1735. On an
old English map of 1724, Stockentine Head — where
the Balls lived — is spelled Stokcntin Head; and
lower down the coast are Stoke Ford and Stoken-
ham. So it seems but natural that Elias Ball
should have given a name, recalling the memories
of his early home, to the one bit of bluff on the
water-front.
Who established this settlement is not known;
but it was there in 1805. In a record of the ages
of negroes, belonging to the second Elias, we find
that a boy, named "Stoak" was born in 1737. The
name, however, as applied to a part of Comingtee,
appears first in the will of Elias Ball of Limerick,
10
who leaves bis "plantations of Comingtee and
Stoke" to his nephew, John Ball, Jr. As Elias
built the brick pounding-mill, it is not improbable
that it was he who made this settlement at Stoke ;
but whether he originated the name, or only estab-
lished the settlement on a spot, already so known,
we cannot say.
High up on the Comingtee side of the creek, be-
tween Fishpond and that place, at a spot now on
the edge of the large Reserve, or perhaps under its
waters, a low bluff ran down to the stream. This
was called "Hiddidoddy Landing," and is (I think)
so marked on Purcell's plat. It was hardly more
than half a mile from the house, and in a sheltered
position. The creek was navigable for wood-boats
as late as 1828 or 1830 — perhaps later; and must
have been much deeper before it had been banked
in at all, or its head-waters cut off into Reserves.
Indeed, it had become so much shallower, even be-
fore the present bank was made up, that it was no
longer considered navigable. "Hiddidoddy" was
an Indian word, signifying in the language of the
tribes around Charleston something equivalent to
"Very Good."
That Capt. Coming built on or near the site
of the present dwelling seems certain. It is not
known whether he or Elias Ball built the present
brick house, and there is no clue to the date. It
is said to be one of the two oldest houses in the
Parish ; the other being at Exeter, the Mottes' place,
high up the Western Branch. Tradition makes the
bricks to have been brought from England. The
ii
late Mr. William J. Ball, who knew more of the
family history than any one else, thought that the
brick house was built by Elias Ball, and that
the Comings lived in a wooden cottage which stood
on the neighboring slope, opposite the large syca-
mores in the avenue. This house was standing
after 1865 or 1866; it was evidently quite old; and
in front of it were two beautiful live-oaks, which
still mark the spot. For many years it was used as
the overseer's house; but after the overseers lived
at Stoke, it became "the Sick House," or planta-
tion hospital. A short distance back, to the north-
west, a small clump of trees, principally live-oak
and cedar, marked a spot which rumor pointed out
as the family cemetery. Some of the older negroes
called it the "grave-yard''; and tradition or super-
stition kept it intact, — a thickly overgrown spot in
the midst of cultivated fields. No trace of graves
is apparent ; but the tradition, and its proximity
to the dwelling-house, are strong evidences
of its having been a family burial-place. On
most old plantations, the cemetery was within easy
reach of the dwelling. In all probability, Capt. and
Mrs. Coming, and the first Elias's younger children,
were buried there. Its position, also, with regard
to the wooden house, is in favor of the letter's hav-
ing been the original dwelling.
From an old memorandum-book, kept by the first
and second Eliases, we gather that there was more
than one house at Comingtee in their dav. In 1736
there is an entry — "To half a day's work on the old
house"; and the same carpenter was at work on
12
COMINGTEE PLANTATION
Present House
"the windows for the garret" from the 10th to the
14th August. After 1731 the house evidently un-
derwent repairs and alterations from time to time.
The first Elias was struggling from October in that
year to the next May, with a carpenter who was
perpetually "staying away" or "doing no work."
►Some of this work must have been on
the house, as he broke two panes of sash-glass and
the sash. In 1738 something was done to the gar-
ret windows that took several days. In 1743 the
house was shingled, and again in 1763; and, in
1771, it was repaired at a cost of 400 pounds, by a
carpenter who had also the assistance of four of
the plantation carpenters.
THE OLD REVOLUTIONARY HOMESTEAD AT
COMINGTEE.
In 1833 or 1834, John Ball, Jr., built out, at the
back, an addition, as large as the original house.
A fine live-oak stands in front of the door, so
near that its branches sweep the piazza shed. A
few yards beyond was the gate leading to a large
garden, on the western slope of the knoll, to the
right of which was an orchard of equal extent.
The garden was laid out in the old-fashioned way,
with a straight walk down the middle, between
flower-beds bordered with jonquils. There were
bunches of snow-drops, too, and delicious old-fash-
ioned sweet-roses ; some large old crape-myrtle trees
faced each other across the walk; and here and
there were great rounded bushes of box. Outside
13
of the flower-beds were the vegetable beds; and, in
a sunny spot among them, an old brass dial "marked
the hours which were serene." On the line of the
fence, dividing the garden from the orchard, was a
huge pecan, rivalling the live-oak in size. There
is a memorandum about the garden, too; in 1742
the second Elias notes : "Finished the garden here
at Comingtee."
To the southwest of the house, across the corn
field and between it and the large body of rice-
land, is a patch of woods called the Tee Pasture,
or, sometimes, "The Forbidden Woods." It re-
ceived the latter name because, in former years,
it was strictly forbidden to cut any wood of any
kind there; consequently, the growth was dense,
and owls might be heard hooting in its recesses
long before sunset. The Tee Pasture seems of no
special use except to shield the house from the high
winds that sweep up the river; otherwise, it only
obstructs an extensive view, of which a glimpse
may be had through the vista cut in it. The cause
of its preservation may be surmised from an old
tradition. There is a part of the highland which
used to be known among the negroes as "Missis'
Groun' " ; and the story is this : Many years ago,
the Ball of that time (his name has been forgotten)
gave his wife permission to have some land cleared,
during his absence in the city, by the plantation
hands. On his return, he was so surprised and
shocked at the progress made, that he issued orders
that not another stick should be cut from any
woods left standing. But he could not reclaim
14
"Missis' Ground," — and "Missis" doubtless en-
joyed a goodly amount of pin-money from its
produce.
The negro cemetery — in plantation parlance, the
"Buryin' Groun' " — is a grove of tall white-oaks
and hickories, half-way between the house and the
river, on the road to Stoke.
The "Stoke barn" is still standing, opposite the
old brick pounding-mill. The latter was built
about 1784, and the wheel was worked by water,
supplied from the "Mill-pond." But as the pond
could take in a supply of water only on the flood-
tide, and give it out on the ebb, the mill had to work
according to the tides. This necessitated night
labor; but there were relays of hands, for day and
night. The mill "pounded on toll," and was in
use as late as in the early fifties.
There seems to have been always a boat belong-
ing to the plantation, sometimes a sloop, some-
times a schooner. Before the days of steamboats
and railroads, this boat made frequent trips to the
city, and the family often were passengers on her.
At such times, the hold was arranged like a room,
as a calm or a headwind sometimes made the pas-
sage long. There used to be at Comingtee a low,
brown wooden table, and a cup or two of blue
china, which had belonged to the boat.
A large steam threshing-mill was put up by Col.
Keating S. Ball, about fifty years ago.
The Comingtee barn and corn-house stood on
each side of the road to Stoke, not very far from
the end of the orchard. They have both now dis-
15
appeared — one since 1865, — the latter since 1870.
There are two land approaches to Coiningtee,
One, called "The Avenue/' leads from the public
road that goes up the Western Branch, passes be-
tween the Rice Hope fields, and approaches the
house from the north. It was bordered for a part
of the way on the western side, by some fine cedars ;
and, on the eastern side, just before entering the
yard, one finds still a row of fine old sycamores.
The other approach, called the "So' Boy Avenue,"
leads from the public road that goes along the
Eastern Branch, crosses the inner Reserve on a
causeway and bridge, and enters the other avenue
a little north of the sycamores.
On the north side of the So' boy Avenue, and on
the edge of the Reserve, is a picturesque little hill,
called Indian Spring Hill. Wandering Indians,
bringing baskets and pottery for sale, used to come
and camp there for a few days at a time, even as
late as sixty or seventy years ago. The spring on
this hill was noted throughout the neighborhood
for its pure water. The story goes that, when the
Big Bank was first made up, the waters of the Re-
serve stretched from the foot of the yard at Fish
Pond to Indian Spring Hill, and that the Mrs.
Harleston of that day used to send a negro boy in
a canoe every morning, to bring drinking water
from Indian Spring.
There was a chain of reserves at Comingtee,
stretching from the head-waters of the creek and
along its banks, to the line of the present Bank.
First, there was one far out, on the other side of
16
the public road beyond the So' boy avenue; it ad-
joined the Rice Hope Reserves, and was generally
called the Big Dam Reserve, from the huge bank
on the side of the road. It has sometimes been
called "Ball's Folly," — I suppose because no labor
and expense could keep it from breaking in a
freshet. Buried in the woods, but nearer the settle-
ment, was "Daniel's Dam," a very pretty spot,
with its calm water and moss-hung cypresses. This
led into the Bridge Reserves, crossed by the So' boy
avenue ; and these led through a short canal to the
lovely little Reserve, called "Rainy Basin," which
was separated from the creek only by a bank, and
led through another little canal into "Cork Gate,"
the smallest and last of the chain. In the corner
of this stands the big flood-gate — "Cork Gate" —
that lets the water into the canal leading to the
rice-fields. I am under the impression that it took
its name from the carpenter who built it — Cork.
And now we come to the Creek or Big Reserve,
belonging jointly to Fishpond and Comingtee, —
which has cost so much money, has been so much
discussed, and quarrelled over; but of which so
little is really known.
There are no data by which to trace when or by
whom the bank was originally built — most likely
by the second Elias and his cousin, Edward Harles-
ton, or John, son of the latter, who both lived at
Fishpond in his day. It was evidently there at
the time of the second Elias's death; and from ex-
pressions in letters of John Coming Ball's son
"Wambaw Elias," the Tory, to Elias Ball, son of
17
the second Elias, we suppose that it had been
broken a year or two previously. From the same
source we infer that the crop at Comingtee was
lost in 1784 or 1785, and again in 1787 and 1788.
In 1788 Elias of Comingtee seems to have made
proposals to the two young owners of Fishpond,
Edward and William Harleston, about making up
the dam. The terms are not given, but Wanibaw
Elias thought them "very fair." Pending his
neighbors' decision, Elias Ball seems to have set
to work to make independent dams of his own.
These dams can refer only to the chain of Reserves
at Comingtee. In August 1789 he writes: The
Harlestons "came into my terms, by getting the
Old Reservoir mended by the last of Jan. I set
about it the first of Feb. and finished it about the
15th of March." Evidently, one of the terms was,
that the Harlestons should build up their side first*
(It was from these two brothers having divided
the tract into "Fishpond" and "The Hut," that the
latter place laid claim to a share of the water, after
the last mending of the dam.)
We are dependent upon tradition for its further
history. The story is, that, after the dam was
mended, — how long after is not said, — there came
a freshet, and the waste-way being inadequate, the
water took its natural course over the slope of the
Fishpond corn-fields, and washed all Mr. Harles-
ton's corn out of the ground. In a passion, he
summoned his plantation hands and cut the bank to
relieve the pressure. Elias Ball was very angry at
this; but he appointed a day for Mr. Harleston
18
and himself to meet there with their helpers, and
repair the bank, each on his own side. Mr. Ball
was there punctually; but the other did not come.
Whereupon, after waiting a reasonable time, Mr.
Ball swore that the bank should never be mended
again. And it never was, until 1874.
Proposals of rebuilding it were made to Col. K.
S. Ball by the owners of Fishpond, which he
steadily refused to entertain. When Messrs. Hey-
ward and Porcher rented the place, they obtained
his consent, and made an agreement with the
owners of Fishpond — the heirs of Mr. W. Postell
Ingraham — and the bank was rebuilt, the work
beginning in December, 1874. But the waste-way
was still insufficient for so large a body of water,
and, in the great freshet of 1877, when the Rice
Hope Reserve bank broke, letting out a tremendous
rush of water through the inland Reserves, the
pressure was too great and the new part of the
bank gave way. It was promptly repaired, how-
ever.
Comingtee, though the oldest of the Ball planta-
tions, was not continuously the residence of its
owners. Capt. and Mrs. Coming lived, and prob-
ably died, there. The first Elias lived there until
1740, when he moved to Charlestown, leaving his
son Elias at Comingtee. John Coming Ball built
and settled at Hyde Park, — probably about this
time, as he married in 1742; and Elias, still a
bachelor, found it solitary at Comingtee, and soon
built and settled at Kensington, next to Hyde Park,
so as to be near his brother. Comingtee House re-
19
mained unoccupied, except for short periods dur-
ing the busy season, until probably about 1784 or
1785. I judge from certain expressions in the Tory
Ball's letters — such as, "Elias of Comingtee" —
that Elias, son of the second Elias, was living there
before his father's death in 1786. Inheriting Lime-
rick, at that time, he made that his abode, but re-
tained sufficient affection for Comingtee to leave
directions that he should be buried from that house.
Accordingly, his remains were brought from Lime-
rick to Comingtee; the coffin was placed in the pas-
sage-way between the two doors, and the burial-
service was read there. Comingtee now passed
into the possession of his nephew, John Ball, Jr.,
who resided there until his death in 1834; and it
continued to be the home of his widow until she
died, in 1840. After that, it was the residence of
their son, Keating S. Ball, until he departed, in
1891.
"Comingtee was an open house to all who came,"
says one who was often there, "and although its
occupant for many years was an old bachelor, yet,
in every sleeping-room, was to be found the old
four-post double bed, and a trundle-bed or a crib,
ready for any emergency. The warmth of one's
welcome only reflected the sincerity and courtesy
of the host, whom two generations regarded as an
umpire in matters of honor and courtesy."
The wooden addition, built by John Ball Jr.,
was, as I have said, about the size and style of the
original house. I give the description of this, and
of the subsequent alterations, in the words of the
20
THE OLD REVOLUTIONARY HOMESTEAD AT "COMING T"
one best qualified to describe thein. The addition
extended eastward. A covered passage on both
stories connected it with the old house, but with
no roof connection, as the new structure over-
lapped the North gable of the brick building. From
the date of this addition, and possibly sooner, there
were piazzas on the West, South, and East of the
old building, — the eastern one connecting with
that of the annex.
"But this was not so originally. The old brick
house was built, as was then customary, without
piazzas. This is evinced by the horizontal bands
in relief on each side and gable of the building
(known, I believe, in architecture as 'Lines of Re-
pose') placed there for architectural effect, which
lines were entirely hidden by the piazza-sheds. The
old house contained originally only two rooms on
each floor, with no passage-way between the two
lower rooms. Into the larger of these the front
door opened. The staircase also came down into
this larger room. At a later day a paneled par-
tition was erected, forming a passage-way, and cut-
ting off the South room from the stairway. The
rooms on both floors had the old-time wide fire-
places with high mantels, and heavy cornices
around the room. Wooden paneling cut off deep
closets on each side of the chimney on both lower
and upper stories, with narrow gable windows in
them for light. When the piazzas were added, the
lower rooms were so much darkened that it be-
came necessary to remove the lower closets and
enlarge the gable windows to double their original
21
size. About 1880, when the piazzas had prac-
tically succumbed to the ravages of Time, the
lessee (Mr. Porcher) renewed only the western one
and removed those on the south and east. The
house when built was not rough-cast, as it has been
for possibly more than a hundred years, but was
of plain brick-work finished with pointing mortar.
Both structures had deep cellars with fire-places
large enough to roast an ox; and no doubt many
a turn-spit has sat (himself half-roasted) in their
corners when a roast-pig or Christmas turkey was
being prepared for the guests above.
"The great storm of 1893 wrecked the plantation
and drove away the Lessee; Time struck heavy
blows on the old house at Comingtee ; — and it soon
became uninhabitable. The attic story practically
rotted away, and the piazza fell in. The wooden
annex required costly repairs, and the large old
shingled shed always threatened the whole build-
ing with the destruction common to country houses.
The property, which had come down to Anne S.
Deas, the niece of K. S. Ball, passed by sale into
the hands of Alwyn Ball Jr. of Rutherford, N. J.,
and thus returned to a party bearing the family
name and continues in the family line. Imbued
with a deep sentiment of reverence and respect for
the sacred past with its dear memories and tradi-
tions, he determined to restore the old homestead.
Having no use for such ample quarters as were
supplied by the two houses, and having no such
strong attachment to the later annex as existed
among those of previous generations, whose joys
22
ALWYN BALL, Jr.
1859-
and sorrows had been experienced within its walls,
he decided to restore the brick building only, with
a small annex in brick to add comfort and con-
venience. In thus restoring the original home-
stead, the old style has been preserved to the last
degree. Even the mouldings and blocks of the
heavy eave-cornices have been duplicated exactly,
and the interior cornice-work conforms likewise to
the original, which had disappeared except over the
mantels. An elegant piazza in Colonial style, with
the original stone steps, makes an attractive front.
And so has been developed the stately mansion, re-
fined in style, which adorns the spot where our
forefathers lived. It is the earnest wish of the
whole family that it should continue as the old
Ball homestead, connected with the blood and
name, for many generations yet to come."
23
II.
THE COMINGS.
The history of Comingtee is so interwoven with
that of the Ball family that it seems almost im-
possible to distinguish them. Any account of the
one must necessarily include the other, and neither
would be complete without mention of Capt. and
Mrs. Coining.
Comingtee, as we have seen, was settled by Capt.
John Coming. He was a half-brother of William
Ball, farmer, in the county of Devonshire, Eng-
land; and was first mate of the Ship Carolina,
Henry Brayne, Master, the largest of the three ves-
sels which brought the first colonists to Carolina
in 1669. He afterwards commanded a vessel in the
Carolina trade, which he mentions in his first will
— that of 1678 — as "Ye good ship Edistaw." Mrs.
Coming mentions him in her will as "John Com-
ing, Gent."
The first settlement of the colonists was a few
miles up the Ashley River, at a place now called
Oldtown; but Capt. Coming and Lieut. Henry
Hughes were wise enough to take out grants of
land at Oyster Point, at the confluence of the two
rivers. The colonists soon found that the location
24
on the banks of the Ashley was both inconvenient
and unhealthy, so that Gov. Yeamans determined
to remove the town to a new site at Oyster Point.
An order was issued in 1672 for "the laying out of
a town" on that spot; and Capt. Coming and Lieut.
Hughes, before the Grand Council, offered to give
up half their lands on Oyster Point for the town
and Common of Pasture. It is said that on this
occasion Capt. Coming was accompanied by his
wife.
Mrs. Coming's maiden name was Affra Harles-
ton ; she was a sister of John Harleston of Mollins,
Essex Co., England. From the little we know of
her, we infer her to have been a woman of sincere
piety and of considerable strength of mind. They
had no children, and it is not impossible that she
may have accompanied her husband on some, at
least, of his voyages. In one letter, she writes of
having been "delivered from many and great
dangers; when I saw wonders in the deep."
A brother of Mrs. Coming's — Charles Harles-
ton— was in Carolina during the early years of the
colony; but he went to Barbadoes, and after a
while was heard of no more. The Harlestons were
royalists, and after the execution of Charles I.
some of them removed to Ireland, whence Mrs.
Coming's nephew and niece came to Carolina.
On one of Capt. Coming's voyages, his ship was
wrecked "on Charles-Town bar," he and his crew
saving themselves in the longboat. People took
occasion to hint that the loss of the vessel was
due to her commander's cowardice. This so roused
25
the Captain's wrath, that "to vindicate his char-
acter"— as his great-grand-nephew tells us — "he
raised and decked his longboat, and did actually
make the voyage to England in her. When hailed
in the river Thames, his answer could not be
credited, so miraculous did the voyage seem." The
same authority informs us that, after this, he
settled in Carolina.
It is likely that he had previously taken out
grants of land on Cooper River; but the precise
date is not known. Parchments, in existence, which
were among the titles of Comingtee, may have been
the original grants; but, having been buried for
preservation in 1865, the writing has faded into
illegibility.
Life on a plantation in those days must have
been of the most strenuous sort ; the whole country
was a vast forest, infested by bears, wolves, and
other wild animals, and inhabited by tribes of In-
dians, not infrequently hostile to the new settlers.
There were few or no roads, and the river was
bordered, not as now, by productive fields, but by
dense malarial swamps of cedar, cypress, and pal-
metto, where the sunshine seldom penetrated, and
the tides rose and fell unchecked.
The Coming grant on Cooper River included
what is now Fishpond — then a mere tract of wilder-
ness. We are not told with what aid Capt. Coming
cleared and settled his new domain; at first, prob-
ably with white help of some kind; afterwards, as
we learn from Mrs. Coming's will, he had African
and Indian slaves. Settlers soon began to take up
26
and occupy lands at various points along the river ;
but there was in all probability no settlement
nearer than Luckins — now Rice Hope — and most
of such settlements must have been much fur-
ther off.
So far as we know, Capt. Coming built inland,
about half a mile from the river bluff, on, or more
probably near, the spot now occupied by the dwell-
ing-house. It was barely half a mile, also, from
the dense swamps, then covering the Mill Pond and
the Rice Hope fields ; and the probable clearing of
land for crops in that direction, would have al-
lowed free passage to the malaria-laden winds of
summer. The danger of the climate not then being
appreciated, the new-comers, everywhere, lived
summer and winter on the edge of those deadly
swamps — with what fatal consequences, family and
Parish records testify.
There is no record of the date of Capt. Coming's
death; but from Mrs. Coming's two remaining let-
ters, it is safe to place it in 1694. She says that
his sufferings were great for the last two years,
and she attributes his death to gout; but some
symptoms which she describes — severe cold and
shaking, followed by burning heat — indicate mala-
rial fever, complicated with his other malady.
There was evidently, in her mind, something
strange about this illness, for she says of this "ex-
treme burning," that she "never saw or heard of
the like before." His sufferings were so intense
that he prayed for death, — and when it came "he
bade it welcome."
27
Mrs. Coining was evidently devotedly attached
to him, and always mentions him in terms of affec-
tion and admiration. She says: "His patience
and courage were wonderful in all his tribulation
and anguish and sickness and pains which he en-
dured for the last two years together." But her
most eloquent tribute, after all, was the way in
which she carried out his wishes.
As they had no children, Capt. Coming was de-
sirous of dividing his property between his wife's
relatives and his own. In his will, of 1678, he
leaves all his property to his wife, and to any
children they might have; but should she have
none, then half the property was to go (after her
death) to his half-nephew, William Ball, and the
other half to his wife's brother, Charles Harleston,
then in Carolina. But Charles, as we have seen,
had gone away, and was not heard of again. Capt.
Coming's next plan was to bring over William
Ball and his wife's nephew, John Harleston, and
leave them in charge of the property. As described
by Mrs. Coming, his idea was that the young men
should live in his house and have half the profits
of the plantation; the other half to be sent to her
in England. Whichever one came first, was to
have possession of the plantation. Time passed on,
however, and neither came; and, discouraged by
the apparent indifference of his proposed heirs,
Capt. Coming, in another will, left all his property
absolutely to his wife.
With rare strength of character, his widow set
about carrying out her husband's known wishes.
28
Nothing would have been easier for her than to
sell the property and return to England. Even had
it brought less than its actual value, the proceeds
would have amply supported her, in comfort,
among her kinsfolk and in a civilized country. But
she remained where she was and kept the property
together, — saying quite simply, in a letter to her
sister, Mrs. Ann Harleston, that she would be
"loth to leave for their sakes, until one of them
come."
That her situation, besides the natural loneliness
of widowhood, was far from easy or pleasant, and
that she felt this keenly, may be inferred from her
letters. In one to Mrs. Ann Harleston, written
some months after Capt. Coming's death, she says:
"I am as one that is forlorn; having no relations
to comfort me, nor friends to assist me. * * * *
By all that I can perceive at present, I appear as
a sheep in the midst of wolves." Another letter,
written four years afterwards — in March, 1698 —
deserves, for its courage and hopefulness, to be
quoted in full. It is addressed to Mrs. Elizabeth
Harleston.
"Dear Sister:
I am sorry to be the messenger of so bad tidings
as to desire you not to come to me till you can hear
better times than is here now, for the whole country
is full of trouble and sickness, 'tis the small-pox
which has been mortal to all sorts of the in-
habitants, and especially the Indians, 'tis said to
have swept away a whole neighboring nation, all
29
to five or six which ran away and left their dead
unburied lying upon the ground for the vultures to
devour; besides the want of shipping this fall, win-
ter, and the spring hitherto is the cause of another
trouble, and has been followed by an earthquake
and burning of the town, or one third part of it,
which they say was of equal value with what re-
mains, besides the great loss of cattle which I know
by what has been found dead of mine, that I think
is because of the hard winter that has been and
being overstocked, what all these things put to-
gether makes the place look with a terrible aspect,
and none knows what will be the end of them. I
have lived going on four years since the death of
my husband (which I think in my heart was the
best in the world) as a sheep among wolves, but I
have resolved now by good help from God to fear
none of these things, having been by Divine Provi-
dence so miraculously preserved through so many
troubles and dangers. Remember me in your re-
tirements, with my love and service to all my
cousins; and let not these things discourage you
for I hope to be the messenger of better news to
you the next writing, for things that are violent
seldom last long, they will end one way or another
as it's decreed above.
Your Sister in trouble
Affra Coming."
Coming T.
March 6: 97. (1698)
88
30
ELIAS BALL
Emigrant about 1693
Born about 1675 Died about 1751
(I have modernized the spelling, lest the quaint-
ness of it should detract from a just appreciation
of the sentiments. — A. S. D.)
Here, too, her unselfishness appears. She de-
nies herself the comfort of her sister's companion-
ship, on account of the unsettled state of the
country to which she had proposed to come. And,
in all these four years, the nephews for whose sake
she was sacrificing herself, were comfortably at
home.
Perhaps William's unwillingness "to come
among the savages of America" may have been the
cause of this unaccountable delay. Perhaps, too,
this letter may have quickened their movements,
for John Harleston and his sister Elizabeth, and
very likely Elias Ball (who took his brother Wil-
liam's place), came out within a year, — we hope
before Mrs. Coming's death. Mrs. Page, writing
to Elizabeth after her marriage to Elias Ball, tells
her that her sister has had no letter from her since
one dated June 1st, 1699; and, as news travelled
but slowly in those days, the presumption is that
the party reached Carolina either in the latter part
of 1G98 or early in 1699. But it was too late for
Mrs. Affra Coming to realize her dream of life in
her old home.
The precise date of her death is unknown, but
in her will, dated Dec. 28th, 1698, she says that
she is "sick in body." This in all probability marks
her last illness.
She left the property equally to John Harleston
and Elias Ball; — the lands in joint tenancy, and
31
the slaves and personal property to be divided be-
tween them. No mention is made of the where-
abouts of either nephew. The executors were Dr.
Charles Burnham and Mr. James Child, "both of
Berkeley County."
We may suppose that she was laid to rest be-
side the husband whom she thought "ye best in ye
world," and on the plantation to which she had
clung so faithfully.
In the summer of 1698, Mrs. Coming had ex-
ecuted a deed giving seventeen acres of land to the
"English church" in Charleston. This was shared
by the original parishes of St. Philip's and St.
Michael's, and some of it is still in their possession.
The locality is marked by the names — Coming St.,
Glebe St., and St. Philip St.
And so "Aunt Affra" passes beyond our ken. No
mention is made of her in the family records ; and,
though the name of John Coming has been per-
petuated to the present generation among the Balls,
no child of either Ball or Harleston has ever yet
borne the name of Affra.
Note.— The fact that Elias Ball, and not Wil-
liam, is named as joint heir in Mrs. Coming's will,
would seem to suggest that he was in the Province
at that time.
32
III.
THE FIRST ELIAS BALL.
(RED CAP.)
Elias Ball was hardly more than a youth when
he took possession of his inheritance. He was the
second son of William Ball, of the Parish of Stock-
entine Head, Devonshire, England — situated on
the Channel coast, between Exmouth Bay and Tor
Bay, and near the mouth of the Ting River. John
Ball, son of the second Elias, says, in his account
of the family, that William Ball was a farmer, and
that Elias was eighteen or twenty years of age
when he came over to Carolina.
The chronology of "Bed Cap's" life is vague,
there being no record of his birth, death, or first
marriage. This paper of his grandson's says that
he was married at the age of twenty-two. We
judge from Mrs. Coming's letter that he was not in
this country in March, 1698; but it is probable that
he came out either in that year or early in the next,
for a letter of Mrs. Page's, bearing date April 4th,
1701, conveys good wishes to Mrs. Elizabeth Ball
on her marriage. John Ball says that his grand-
father died at the age of 75 or 76, and that his
father was then forty years old. But the second
33
Elias was born in December, 1709, and the first
Elias Ball died between February, 1751, and March,
1752 — so that this reckoning would make him but
72 or 73.
By the terms of Mrs. Coming's will the land was
left to John Harleston and Elias Ball "in Joynt
Tenancy," and the Negroes, Indian servants, cattle
and personal property of all kinds (including
debts) were to be equally divided between them.
In course of time the land was divided also; and
Elias Ball chose Coming T. — on which was the
settlement — relinquishing to John Harleston all
the land on Oyster Point, except one lot in the
town. Fishpond, then an uncleared tract, also
passed into the hands of the Harlestons.
John Ball tells us, on his father's authority, that
his grandfather "was a great sportsman in shoot-
ing and fishing. Was bold and resolute, and had
frequently commanded scouting parties after In-
dians."
Elias Ball married Elizabeth Harleston, niece
of Mrs. Coming and sister of his fellow-heir, John
Harleston, and settled at Comingtee; but whether
he or Capt. Coming built the present house is not
known. I incline to the opinion that it was built
by Elias Ball. It is also probable that the part of
the plantation known as Stoke received its name
from him. (See Account of Comingtee.)
He seems to have been strict and thrifty in busi-
ness as well as "bold and resolute in action." Be-
tween the years 1703 and 1718 he had taken up, at
34
almost nominal prices, nearly 3,000 acres of land
that afterward passed into the possession of his
son, Elias. When we remember that he portioned
off four other children, we realize how great the
extent of his landed property must have been. By
1718 he had added nearly 700 acres to the Coming-
tee tract and some years later 140 more.
Elias and Elizabeth Ball had five children who
lived beyond infancy, viz: Ann, Eleanor, Elias,
Elizabeth, and John Coming. As John Ball tells
us that there were many children by this marriage,
yet gives the names of only four, we may conclude
that the six years' gap get ween Ann and Eleanor
was filled by other births.
All that we know of Mrs. Elizabeth Ball is found
in a few family letters and consists chiefly of inci-
dental references. There is only one letter to her-
self— a few graceful lines from her cousin, Mrs.
Alice Page of Dublin — in which she wishes her joy
of her marriage, and hopes that she "has disposed
of herself to her satisfaction." In the letters of
her sister and cousin, in which she is generally
mentioned as "dear Betty" or "poor Betty," we
catch glimpses of the bright young girl who came
from Ireland to the wilderness in 1698. But in
her brother's letter we get a hint of the ambitious
mother arranging a match between her eldest
daughter, a girl of fifteen, and a certain Capt. Daws
of the Royal Navy — a man as rich in years as in
worldly goods.
Mrs. Ball died on the 31st August, 1720. John
35
Harleston, writing the February after to inform
her sister in Dublin of her death, says she "was
taken with a Malignant Fever, and was very deli-
rious before she died." Doubtless it was what was
afterwards called "country fever."
Not quite eleven months after her death the
widower married Mary Delamere, a girl about the
age of his eldest daughter. We know little of her
family and forbears, and there remain of her per-
sonal belongings only two books — a prayer book of
the Church of England and a collection of quaint
old pamphlets, bound together in one volume. But
thanks to the irate aunt of the first wife's children
we have more side-lights on her than on "dear
Betty;" and the sister and brother, in their slow
and labored correspondence, are not sparing of
criticism of either party in the marriage.
Mrs. Ann Bulkeley, Elizabeth Ball's sister,
writes to John Harleston in 1722 — two years after
Mrs. Ball's death, and a year after the second mar-
riage. She says :
"I am very sorry to hear Brother Ball is such an
unthinking man to forget so good a wife as I don't
doubt she made him. I am very sorry dear Betty
fell into his hands, since I see he had no greater
value for her and her children than to marry one
as young as his daughter. I am sure he is a man of
no principles, neither honor nor gratitude, for my
aunt might a chose whether she would a left him a
groat. (Rather hard on our ancestor, this; but
there is an illogical spite about it that takes off the
36
edge.) "His children and his wife's friends," she
goes on to say, "is little obliged to him for his good
management. If he had done his best for them chil-
dren, I should a loved him as if he had been my
own brother; if he had stayed unmarried, or mar-
ried for their advantage, as a good father would a
done, but just please himself without any regard
to their welfare, I shall never have a favourable
thought of him till you make me sensible that he
has made a good settlement upon all his children."
* * * She then goes on to inquire into the affairs
of the married niece, from whom she had had two
letters, and who spoke of going over to Ireland.
Mrs. Bulkeley suggests that she should "bring a
sister with her," adding, "if her father would give
her fortune with her, else I would not have her
take her off his hands to lessen his charge to enable
him to make ye better provision for his new brood."
Two years later John Harleston writes of this
second marriage:
"Mr. Ball's indiscret marriage will be the worse
for my sister's children, I doubt. For his present
wife is for encroaching all to herself, if she could.
Sometimes when I have an opportunity I am for
putting Mr. Ball in mind of his children, and some-
times I have hopes and sometimes out of hopes. But
he has done very well by Cousin Daws (Ann Ball).
But the most is to be feared for the other children
that are not disposed of. I shall always do my
endeavor to serve the children whilst I think it is
my duty, since they have no other friend but my-
self in this Colony."
37
Seven years after Mrs. Bulkeley writes again :
"You can't but think I must have a great desire
to know how you and dear Betty's children does,
who I do so much pity that wants their mother."
Then, after saying that she would have been glad
to have had one of the girls come and live with her
for company, had she been living in her own house,
she winds up a postscript thus :
"Niece Daws never writes to me, though I have
writ to her, nor none of them. I hope it is not from
want of knowledge, since it is in your power to
teach them, and your own children, I believe as
well as any body you could get there. (She must
have had a poor opinion of Colonial teaching, for
John Harleston's spelling — as well as her own —
is, in the original, unique.) I would be glad to
know how many you have, and how dear Sister's
are disposed of, and whether their father is kind
to them."
How little she realized that eleven years had
passed since Betty's death, and that "the children"
were grown up! Elias was about twenty-two; Eli-
zabeth was twenty, and had been married at least
twice; and even little John Coming, the youngest,
had reached the age of seventeen. Eleanor had
passed long before into the land where life is not
reckoned by years.
Thus far the "in-laws." And we must bear in
mind that John Harleston was a man of strong
prejudices and bitter tongue — as we may see in
some of his letters on other subjects.
38
There are no means of knowing whether Elias
Ball and his second wife were kind to the elder chil-
dren or not; but at least they seem to have been
sufficiently attached to the departed Eleanor to
name their next daughter after her. Tradition says
that he was a strict father; but strictness is by no
means incompatible with justice or even kindness;
and fortunately he is able to answer for himself, in
some measure, through an account or memoran-
dum book, long preserved at Comingtee. A glim-
mer of light falls from these pages on the life and
surroundings of those far-away times — with occa-
sional brighter flashes from some of those quaint
little memoranda which the Balls had a habit of
making here, there and everywhere. The entries
in the book begin a few weeks after "poor Betty's"
death.
Elizabeth Ball, we remember, died August 31st,
1720, leaving her husband with four children rang-
ing from six to thirteen years of age. Let us try
to enter into the problems of the eleven months fol-
lowing.
Four young children in a plantation home, in a
sparsely settled neighborhood, surrounded by Afri-
can and Indian slaves not far removed from sav-
agery— children who were not only to be housed
and fed, but clothed, educated and trained in all
ways! What was a man to do? His eldest daugh-
ter, a girl of only nineteen, was living in her hus-
band's home; and it is not likely that the rich old
sailor would have cared to bring four healthy chil-
dren, accustomed to the freedom of plantation life,
39
into the quiet of his childless house. Their uncle,
John Harleston, had four or five children of his
own, and might well have shrunk from doubling
his responsibilities, even if their father had been
willing to part with them.
How the first few months were tided over, we
have no hint, but in the beginning of November it
is noted in a crabbed and labored handwriting that
"Mrs. Cook came." She was probably brought to
look after the children — an account for sundry ar-
ticles was opened with her, and was closed as paid
in full by her services. We may suppose that this
arrangement did not work well — possibly the boys
were unmanageable — for on the 11th of November,
"being of a Monday," he notes : "My two sons went
to Madam Dogett to school." The Dogetts prob-
ably lived in the neighboring town of Childbury;
but we know nothing of them except through the
extremely matter-of-fact pages of this old book.
From what is therein set down, however, we may
gather that they were not altogether satisfactory
people to deal with.
Whose fault it was can never be known, but
something seems to have gone wrong with this ar-
rangement also; for two months later, on the 20th
of January, he "took them away from Madam Dog-
ett." Three days later: "I sent my four children
to Mr. Faur (Mr. Nicholas Faur, residing at
Childbury)." Eight pounds were paid to Mr. Faur
for "a year's schooling for Johny." "Betty" seems
to have remained but three months, as that amount
of "schooling" was paid for for her.
40
Was Betty, aged nine, so much needed in her
father's household, or did she refuse to stay through
wilfulness? — thus paving a highway for her moth-
er's successor. It is significant that in the midst
of all this maze of difficulties, the name "Mary
Delamare" is scrawled across the page, right
through the memoranda. The idea was evidently
beginning to present itself that here was a way
out of all perplexities.
In May it is noted: "Andrew Songster came to
my house to live." Thereupon, an account is
opened with him, prefaced by the words "and he
had of me." This man seems to have been a kind
of overseer, but, as there is an entry of cash paid
for packing his wife's goods and of money paid to
herself, it is probable that she had charge of the
children. The Songsters were evidently in bad cir-
cumstances, if they were not of an inferior class;
the first entry on his account is for an itemized suit
of clothes for him, and he is more than once re-
ferred to merely as "Andrew." He is also charged
with beds, sheets, and blankets. Very many gal-
lons of rum and a "little sugar," testify against
him, his employer jotting down the smallest item,
even some that was sent to him "at the tar-kiln.""
Cash was paid to him and for him ; and his services
wrere valued at eighty pounds a year. The Song-
sters' account is a tangled one — suggestive, per-
haps, of worry and love combined. The last entry
charged against Songster is : "To neglect of your
business, and not bringing up the rice from the
wharf." The Songsters then disappear from view.
41
The upshot of it all is written elsewhere than in
the account-book : to the effect that Mary Delamere
took in hand the household reins on the 27th of
July, 1721.
And I fancy that she held them to some purpose.
If it were true, as her predecessor's brother states,
that "she was for encroaching all things to herself/'
it was, perhaps, a proof that she was a good man-
ager. It is noteworthy, that after her marriage,
the pages of the memorandum-book assume a more
orderly appearance; the handwriting though simi-
lar, is less crabbed, and the accounts are set down
and balanced with greater regularity. She does
not seem to have interfered with the children's
"schooling," as entries are made from time to time
with regard to their school bills. Besides being
taught by Madam Dogett and Mr. Faur, they went
to school to Mr. Lepier; Nelly and Elias had music
lessons; and Johnny went to Mr. Newbery to
"learn arithmetick." Accomplishments were ex-
pensive, too, in those days. Later, Johnny and her
own eldest daughter, Sally, learnt to dance, at a
cost of ten pounds a quarter.
The troubles with the overseers continued, how-
ever. In September, 1722, it is noted: "Mr. John
Netman came to live with me." He, too, was
charged with rum and sugar, previously consumed
in this instance, at Mr. Faur's, also with "seven all
sick days." He remained but two months. Early
in 1725 or 1726 Mr. Thos. Dyer appears on the
scene, and runs up a goodly account for corn, beef,
sugar and some rum ; but late in May it is entered
42
ELEANOR BALL
Daughter of Elias Ball (Emigrant), by 2nd wife, Mary (Delamare)
Married Col. Henry Laurens
against him ; "you left my Employ and gave me no
notis." His account runs on for a month or two
longer, and amounts to over 51 pounds. The credit
side shows only a blank.
I take it that the division of the land was made
about the time of the second marriage. The Balls
and Harlestons may have continued to live together
at Comingtee during Elizabeth's lifetime, but
after that I judge that John Harleston moved to
Fishpond and made some kind of settlement there.
For Elias Ball signed a paper on the 20th June,
1722, in which he pledges himself, his heirs, etc.,
"not to lay claim to any Land or parcel of Land
now in the possession of John Harleston Esqr. &
lying on that side the Creek where the said John
Harleston now dwelleth, on pretence of Purchase,
or any other right which I now have, or at any time
mav have had to the said Land." The Harlestons'
headquarters afterwards seem to have been at
Irishtown, an inland place near the headwaters
of the Eastern Branch. Up to 1716, letters were
addressed to John Harleston at Coming T., near
Charles Town. One of 1722 has no address copied,
and one of 1721 is addressed to him "at his house
in South Carolina." He dates his letters from
Carolina, or South Carolina.
Mary Delamare Ball had seven children —
Sarah, Delamare, William, George, Eleanor,
Mary, and a fourth son whose name has
been decipherd as "Yabsley." Neither of the
two elder boys lived to be two years old;
Sally died at fifteen, and Mary at about the
43
same age; only Nelly's namesake lived to grow up.
Merely entries, these, in a lost Family Bible; but
how much tragedy is wrapped up in them, what
suggestions of anxious nights and sorrowing days,
as one after another was laid to rest !
Elias's name seldom occurs in the memorandum-
book — not more than two or three times, once in
connection with music lessons taken, and once with
a purchase of hogs from "my son Elias;" at that
time, however, he had reached manhood. Johnny
also sold hogs. The last mention of Nellv's name
is in the account with "Mr. Harleston," in which he
is credited with "sugar borrowed at Nelly's
funeral." After Nellv's death, which occurred
when she was about seventeen — Johnny and Sally
seem to have been the father's favorites, as their
names occur most frequently. When "my Sarah"
was about two years old, she had a pair of red
morocco shoes — we can imagine the little maid's
pride in them. When she was nine, she and Johnny
had dancing lessons. At thirteen, she took lessons
in playing "the Viol." This "Bass Violl" evidently
got smashed; for, not long after, it was "gleiced"
by Mr. Thompson, "the Carpenter of the Free
School at Childbury." He knew how to charge,
too, for this same "glewing" cost 2 pounds 10 shil-
lings. At the same time, he glued two small tables
for 40 and 50 shillings apiece. Later in the year,
Mr. Thompson worked four days at Comingtee, and
his journeyman six, "only between sun and sun."
In that time, they "mended ye chest of drawers,
the desk and two little boxes, and put locks on the
44
black drawers," "and doth charge me 13 pounds 10
shillings for it." One wonders what wholesale
damage had overtaken the furniture that year.
About two years later, in October, 1737, poor
Sally closed her eyes on all earthly things.
Life had its petty annoyances, too, in those days,
as well as its graver troubles. Besides the over-
seers' delinquencies, the neighbors' negro and In-
dian slaves raided upon turkeys and hogs in a very
provoking manner, especially one Dublin, belong-
ing to Mr. Weed, aided and abetted by slaves of
Mr. Childs. A memorandum with the signature
of "Mary Ball," states the offence, and also that
Mr. Weed had promised to pay for the victims of
the raid. In the account with Mr. WTeed he is
charged with the three turkeys killed by his slave.
Then there was the petty carelessness of people in
not returning what they had borrowed — a small
matter comparatively, but nevertheless capable of
producing great inconvenience when so many arti-
cles were imported, and were both scarce and ex-
pensive.
The Dogetts — Madam Dogett, Mr. Dogett and
Mrs. Elizabeth Dogett (Madam's daughter, appar-
ently)— come to the fore on the question. Mr. Dog-
ett seems to have been an apothecary or physician,
as he is credited with "Visit and attendance for
Mr. Ball and Sally," and with sundry doses of medi-
cine. I take this entry to be in Mary Ball's hand-
writing. On the opposite page is an indignant en-
try in the same hand — "I gave you a 20 pound Bill
and you gave me but 13 and your Bill is not 8
45
pound. Madam Dogett had milk for two years,
which ran up a little bill of 5 pounds 10 shillings.
Mr. Dogett borrowed a large Bowl "when Mr.
Small's daughter died." In 1727 it is charged
against him; and three years afterwards "the
Punch-Bowl" had neither been returned nor paid
for. Mrs Eliz. Dogett borrowed Rum; and though
she returned it it was "not in ye same jug." The
Balls, by-the-bye, seem to have valued their jugs,
for in one instance, it was stipulated that some
rum should be returned in the same Jug.
Besides the staple "crops" of pitch, tar, and rice,
which were considerable, Elias Ball sold large
quantities of shingles and wood. Neither did he
despise the smaller industries; for he supplied his
neighbors with corn, peas, potatoes, "stall-fed
beef," and occasionally with milk and butter, mut-
ton and veal, in quantities to suit purchasers. He
also supplied the shoemaker with hides, and got
in return shoes for himself and the children.
About the year 1738 most entries are in the
handwriting of the second Elias. In February,
1740, he says in one of the memoranda which he
was so fond of jotting down, "My father went to
town to live, being of a tuesday." After this they
are all in his handwriting. In 1739 Mr. Charles
Pemberton, a carpenter who had repaired the house
the year before, is credited with "a coffin." Whose
coffin? Those for the negroes were made by the
plantation carpenters, and no family death is re-
corded for that year. It may, however, have been
made for one of the younger boys, the date of whose
46
death is illegible. If so, we may well surmise that
Comingtee had become overshadowed by so many
sad memories that both parents would be ready to
go with the remaining children elsewhere. Death,
however, is omnipresent, and they found it in the
city; for Mary died, presumably there, at the age
of fifteen — Eleanor being the only one that reached
maturity.
As the accounts passed into the second Elias's
keeping, in 1738, he probably had the management
of the plantation, or at least the greater part of it,
from that time — not, however, from physical in-
ability on the part of his father; for John Ball
tells us that "when turned of seventy, being in
one of the forts in Charlestown in time of an alarm,
he offered to turn out and take a wrestle with either
of the invalids in the Fort."
According to family tradition, the first Elias
lived in the house on his lot at the corner of East
Bay and Pinckney streets. That house has long
since gone to wreck ; but what was left of it has been
seen by a member of the family, still living, who
remembers, when driving out as a child with Mrs.
Lydia Bryan — the daughter of the second Elias —
how the old lady pointed out this decaying house,
calling it "Grandtata's ribs."
We know but little of Red Cap afer his removal
to the city. We conclude that he made his home
there; for in his will he styles himself "Elias Ball
of Charles Town in the province of South Carolina,
Gentleman." The second Elias, on the contrary,
in papers signed by him not long after, follows his
47
signature by the words, "of Coming T., Planter."
There is no record of the first Elias's death; but
from the date of the codicil to his will, February
4th, 1751, and that of an Exhibit of the lands in-
herited by his son Elias, filed in the auditor's of-
fice in Charlestown, March 5th, 1752, he must have
died in the interim. We know that Eleanor was
married a year or so before his death, as she is
mentioned as Eleanor Laurens in his will of 1750,
as well as in the codicil of 1751. His burial place
is only a matter of conjecture; it is supposed that
he was interred in the western half of St. Philip's
Churchyard; but no headstone has been found.
In the portrait from which he gets the sobriquet
of "Red Cap" he appears advanced in years, yet
hale and hearty. Something pathetic in the eyes,
and in the lines of the strong old face, indicates
one who has had a hard fight in life and known
many sorrows. And truly he had many griefs.
He saw laid in the grave one married daughter,
three girls, just budding into womanhood, and
several young children : — surviving his first wife,
and eight out of the twelve children whose names
appear on the record. There is little doubt that
he survived his second wife also, as no mention
whatever is made of her in either will or codicil.
In his will the bequests to his son Elias seem
very few and small — only the plantation of Com-
ingtee and "a small Silver Canister" with "a Grif-
fin's Head engraved thereon." To John Coming,
on the contrary, they were many and large: The
Cypress Grove plantation ; 1,000 acres of land near
48
Three Mile Head; Dockum plantation; 300 acres of
Eveleigh's Land; fifty feet of the lot in Charles-
town ; a negro man named Sambo ; a bond of John
Coming's own for 1,000 pounds; a large silver
tankard and a "soop spoon;" two silver salvers,
and all the other silver spoons that should be found
in his house at his death; his chaise and harness;
and his large Family Bible. Such division of the
property would seem rather unfair to the elder
son, were it not that certain other tracts of land
came to him by right of primogeniture — a law
which seems still to have been in force in the Pro-
vince. Comingtee was also of more value than
some of the other tracts; so that leaving such an
amount of land to the younger son was only an
equalization.
After certain other legacies were paid, the re-
mainder of the property was to be equally shared
by his two sons, whom he appointed Executors.
Pew No. 16 in St. Philip's Church was left
to them jointly; and by the terms of the
codicil, Lot No. 49 was to be divided be-
tween them "to their own liking." But
two of his grandchildren were named, though he
had several at the time — the two Elizabeths, daugh-
ters of Elias and John Coming — to each of whom
he bequeathed a negro girl. All the cash, bonds
and notes for money (except John Coming's bond)
were left to his grandchildren, to be put out at in-
terest and paid to them as they came of age.
To his two surviving daughters, Ann Austin and
Eleanor Laurens, he bequeathed 1,500 pounds
49
apiece. Eleanor was also to have had the larger
part of Lot No. 49. It was entailed on her eldest
son and his heirs ; — failing him, it was to go to each
of her children in succession, first the sons and
then the daughters. But the codicil revoked all
this, dividing the lot between his own two sons,
and giving her 1,500 pounds additional.
There is also a legacy of 50 pounds to his nephew
Elias Ball, "to buy mourning with."
Note. — After Elias Ball's second marriage an
account appears every now and then with "My
mother;" money was sent to her, and goods were
purchased by her — noticeably cloth and trimming.
And on one occasion 300 pounds were paid to her,
"being my mother's portion." Now, Mrs. Eliza-
beth Delamere signs as witness twice, and once
some article was sent down bv her. It does not
t/
seem likely that a man of two or three and forty
would so far have adopted his second wife's mother
as to call her "my mother" in the pages of an ac-
count book — inference being that some of these
accounts were kept by Mary Ball herself. The
handwriting, in all, is very similar — even in the
entry regarding "Mr. Ball and Sally," which would
hardly have been made by him. (The handwriting
of the second Elias was marked.)
Was the "mother's portion" any regular income
that Elias had covenanted to pay his wife's mother?
There is a large plain gold ring, a good deal
worn, within which may be deciphered "S. B., Sepr.
22nd 1722." It cannot be a wedding ring of any
member of this branch of the family, for none of
so
them was married on that date. It could not have
been commemorative of Sally's birth, for, though
it was in 1722, it was on July 22d and not in Sep-
tember.
The old Bible — unfortunately lost at Pawleys
when the family were driven from there in 1865 —
had in it the name "Sarah Ball, her book." This
Bible came from Kensington and contained the
names of Red Cap's children, including those by
the first marriage — it passed by inheritance from
John Ball, Jr. (grandson of both the second Elias
and John Coming) to his daughter, Mrs. Lydia
Jane Waring; and from her to her daughter, Mrs.
A. W. Simons.
Does it seem likely that a family Bible with the
names of the first wife's children should have been
the property of a girl of fifteen, who died long be-
fore her father? Might not "Sarah Ball" have
been Elias's mother, and the "S. B." ring have
been commemorative of her death? This, how-
ever, is only conjecture.
51
IV.
RED CAPS DAUGHTERS.
ANN BALL.
Twice married — First, to Capt. Daws, R. N. ; second, to George Austin.
Ann was the eldest child of Elias and Elizabeth
Ball, born — in all probability at Comingtee — in
1701. She was five or six years older than Eliza-
beth, the next in age — at least, of those that sur-
vived infancy.
At the age of fifteen she married Capt. Philip
Dawes, K. N., a rich old man of sixty. This ill-
assorted marriage seems to have been arranged by
the bride's mother — at any rate, her own brother
gives her the credit of so doing. But he also ad-
mits that his niece, "being something anxious for
the world * * * consented to the match." The el-
derly bridegroom owned "a good Estate in Slaves,"
and lands near Charleston, on what was afterwards
called Hampstead — a name still surviving in Hamp-
stead Mall, in the northeastern part of the city.
Of the young bride's disposition we may catch a
glimpse from the foregoing remarks ; of the husband
we have a sort of etching from the sharp pen of his
uncle-in-law, who, by-the-bye, was his junior in
52
TABLE OF ELEANOR BALL
(Mrs. Keating Simons') Miss Nellie
With old jardiniere from Comingtee
years. In answer to Mrs. Bulkeley's questions he
writes :
"As for Cousin Daws, I believe neither she nor her
husband has any thoughts of coming to Ireland;
it's something like his romantick airs, for he often
talks of that he has no mind to do. He has been a
Capt. in the Navy several years and has commanded
several good ships, and being in years was desirous
to live ashore, and settled in Carolina ; he is related
to the present Bishop of York, who is of his name.
* * * Though he was not agreeable to her in years,
he makes her a very good husband and she makes
him a very good wife."
Family tradition says, however, that at first she
was not very kind or affectionate to him ; but that
one day having overheard him praying, in the
closet adjoining their room, that God would make
his wife love him, she was so much touched by it
that she became thenceforward a most affectionate
wife. And the fact that he left her all his property,
— there being no children — seems conclusive that
they lived harmoniously.
Capt. Daws evidently planted on Cooper River
during the latter years of his life; where, is not
known, but probably on lands given by Elias Ball
to his daughter — even John Harleston having been
compelled to admit that he had "done very well by
Cousin Dawes." (It is a significant fact that George
Austin afterwards held lands adjoining those of
Elias and John Coming Ball.) In the marriage-set-
tlement of his sister-in-law, Mrs. Elizabeth Ashby,
of which he is trustee, he appears as Philip Dawes,
53
Planter, Berkeley County. There are several ac-
counts with him in the old memorandum book, be-
ginning in 1722, — for the hire of the "pettiauger"
for fourteen days and for a hundred bushels of
corn; after that, for corn by a few bushels at a
time, for drinking glasses and rum, flour, nutmegs,
etc. — such things as pre-suppose neighborhood. The
last time his name appears is in 1733, in an ac-
count with "Mr. Wood, Capt. Dawes' sawyer."
From which date we conclude that he lived sixteen
or seventeen years after his marriage.
Some years after Capt. Dawes' death his widow
married George Austin, a merchant in Charlestown,
who was for some time the partner of Mr. Henry
Laurens. He seems to have been a man of strong
prejudices and violent temper; so that her first mar-
riage, unsuitable as it was in disparity of years,
may well have been the happier. Beyond the fact
that there were two children of this marriage,
George and Eleanor, and that Mr. Austin owned a
considerable estate on the Ashepoo River, and was
besides engaged in a lucrative business, we know
nothing of the domestic affairs of the Austin family.
But, early in the year 1762, Eleanor made a run-
away match with John Moultrie, which so exasper-
ated her father that he refused to speak to her or
even to see her, and all communication between the
families was cut off. From the present point of
view, it is hard to see what was the objection to
Eleanor's choice, for Moultrie was a man of unex-
ceptionable family and of intellectual ability; and
as he was over thirtv vears of age, must have al-
54
MRS. GEORGE AUSTIN. neO ANN BALL
Born January 22nd, 1701 Died June 7th, 1765
ready given signs of the capacity which caused him
four years later, to be appointed Lieut. Governor of
East Florida, a position which he held until the ter-
ritory was ceded back to Spain. Indeed, of the five
brothers in that family, three held high civil office,
one was a colonel in the American army and died
gallantly in the defence of Charleston, and
the fifth was Gen. William Moultrie, whose
name will be honored so long as Charles-
ton exists. Of course there may have been
other circumstances of which we know nothing,
— perhaps one cause of the father's anger was that
a man of his age, and a widower besides, should
have induced a girl, ten years his junior, to elope
with him. Yet, after all, she was no mere child,
but a woman of twenty-four; and both had doubt-
less well considered the step they were taking. Any
run-away match, however, pre-supposes an amount
of domestic friction that must have rendered a home
very uncomfortable, while the sudden and complete
casting off of the offender must have greatly
increased its unhappiness — so doubtless the
three years that intervened between her
daughter's marriage and her own death,
must have been far from pleasant for Mrs.
Ann Austin. If she were indeed "something
anxious for the world" in her youth, the significant
lines of her pictured face suggest that she was sat-
ed with it in her old age. Her death occurred on
the 7th June, 1765 ; and she was buried by her sister
Elizabeth in St. Philip's Churchyard. Their tombs
may still be seen in front of the South door.
55
It was probably after this that Mr. Austin went
to live in England, taking his son with him, but still
cherishing resentment towards his daughter. Tra-
dition makes Mr. Laurens the means of bringing
about a reconciliation. Being in England on busi
nesSj he made up his mind to obtain Eleanor's for-
giveness ; and, as an old and valued friend, he seem-
ed the best fitted to make the attempt. He carried
over with him a likeness of Mrs. Moultrie and her
two boys; and, armed with this as his weapon of
persuasion, proceeded to call on Mr. Austin at his
London house. He was out, but his visitor prevailed
on the maid to allow him to leave the picture on the
mantel-piece, to make its own plea. Mr. Austin
shortly returned, and recognizing the likeness,
angrily demanded who had dared to leave that there.
The servant replied that it was a gentleman who did
not give his name, but said he was an old friend
of Mr. Austin and would come again. Next day
Mr. Laurens returned. The picture had probably
had some influence; yet not until after a long argu-
ment, was the father induced to forgive his daugh-
ter.
We are indebted to a letter of George Appleby, a
nephew of Mr. Austin's and one of the executors
to his will, for further light on the affairs of the
Austin family. This letter was written to the second
Elias Ball, and dated 23d July, 1774— about a
month after Mr. Austin's death. It seems that his
son George, had fallen into dissipated ways; and
was drinking heavily, and his father, in a fit of
anger, cut him off with an annuity of 200 1. a year.
56
JOHN MOULTRIE, of Aston Hall, Shropshire, Eng.
Born January 22nd, 1764 Died December 19th, 1823
Son of Lt.-Gov. John Moultrie, Royal Gov. of East Florida
Nephew of Gen. Wm. Moultrie
The bulk of the property, which Appleby computes
at about 40,000 1. sterling, was left to one of Mrs.
Moultrie's sons ; and, singularly enough, the choice
of which son was left to her. About eighteen
months after this will was made, Mr. Austin died of
putrid sore-throat, after only thirty-six hours ill-
ness; and, as he had lost the power of speech be-
fore he realized his danger, he had no means of in-
timating whether or not he had changed his views
toward his son — consequently, the will remained in
force. The executors were endeavoring to arrange
with the heir for a small addition to the son's in-
come ; but we are not told with what success. Poor
George had begun to reform before his father's
death, and seems to have sobered down completely
after it — we can only hope the reformation was
permanent. This glimpse of him, sober and repen-
tant in his cousin's house is the last we have. We
only know he died unmarried.
How the division of the Austin estate was ar-
ranged, I do not know ; but John Moultrie, the eld-
est son, had Aston Hall, Shropshire, Eng., and
James, the second son, had the property on the
Ashepoo River, S. C. John married Catherine,
daughter of Elias Ball of Wambaw, the Tory; and
James married Catherine, daughter of his uncle
Alexander Moultrie, Attorney General of South
Carolina.
Mrs. Eleanor Moultrie died in London, in the
year 1826, at the advanced age of eighty-eight.
57
ELIZABETH BALL.
Thrice married — First, to John Ashby ; second, to John Vicaridge ; third, to
Richard Shubrick.
Although Elias Ball's other daughters do not
come in regular succession here, I have ventured to
group them together, as their history closed before
the greatest interest of their brothers' lives had well
begun to develop.
Of Elizabeth Ball, the third daughter of Elias
Ball, no mention is anywhere made from the time
that the bill for three months' "schooling" was paid
for "Betty," aged nine, until her name appears in
her first husband's will. We have no information
as to her character and disposition beyond the
brief record on her tomb-stone, that she was "a
woman of rare economy."
Her first husband was John Ashby, a widower
with one son. The Ashbys were of a good English
family, who had settled in St. Thomas's Parish,
on the left bank of the Eastern Branch, at a place
which they called Quinby, after their family estate
in England. Quinby was about eight miles up the
river, it is true, and on the opposite side; but
"Capt. Bonneau's ferry" simplified affairs in that
direction.
Elizabeth must have married almost as young
as her sister; probably when about sixteen, cer-
tainly not over seventeen, as John Ashby's will is
dated in March, 1728, and she was born in 1711.
58
MRS. JOHN MOULTRIE, net CATHARINE BALL
of Aston Hall, Shropshire, Eng.
Born 1766 Died July 30th, 1828
We do not know where they lived, as Ashby does
not mention the name of his plantation; but, as
Elias Ball paid Capt. Bonneau a heavy ferriage
account for his son-in-law, they probably lived
across the river.
Ashby's will is very liberal towards his young
widow of barely eighteen, and was evidently drawn
up during his last illness, perhaps shortly before
his death. After stating that he is "weak and sick
of body," he devises the plantation on which he
resides to his son John Ashby and his heirs; fail-
ing them, to any posthumous heirs by his wife
Elizabeth. To such heirs he leaves the plantation
on the Santee called Webdoe; failing them, it re-
verts to his son John. Should John die without
children, and should there be no other heirs, both
plantations were to go to Elizabeth; and in all
cases, she was to have the right of residence at the
first plantation, and the use of it, until John came
of age. He leaves her five negroes by name, and
divides the rest of the property equally between
herself, his son, and any posthumous heirs. Eliza-
beth and her father are appointed executors; the
witnesses are Phil. Dawes, John Coming Ball (who
must have been a mere boy), and Charles Pinck-
ney.
Eleven months after Mr. Ashby's will was made,
the wife in whom he reposed such confidence signed
her marriage contract with John Vicaridge, a mer-
chant in Charlestown. It is to be supposed that
the marriage took place shortly after, though Let-
ters Testamentary on Ashby's will were not taken
59
out until three months after the date of the settle-
ment. Phil. Dawes was the trustee, and the whole
of her property, real and personal, was settled on
herself. Elias Ball evidently continued to take
charge, as Executor, of Ashby's property; for in
1731 there is an item of "cash paid John Blake
for wages as an overseer to Mr. John Ashby's
plantation, deceased."
An account begins with John Vicaridge in 1729 ;
it concerns principally corn, peas, rice, and shin-
gles, sent him in large quantities, and casks of
sugar, wine, etc., received in return, and cash paid.
This account is carried on until 1735, but in this
year the items are trifling, apparently mere mat-
ters of neighborly convenience. His name appears
but once more, in the summer of 1738, in connec-
tion with cash paid to a third party.
After Mr. Vicaridge's death, Elizabeth took a
third husband, — Richard Shubrick. She died at
the age of thirty-five, in September, 1746, and was
buried in front of the south door of St. Philip's
Church, Charleston, where her tomb-stone and
that of her sister, Mrs. Austin, may still be seen.
Her son, Richard, went over to England, mar-
ried and settled there, and had a large family.
This is all that we know certainly of Elizabeth
Ball; but a family tradition has come down on the
side of the Shubricks, as well as the Balls, of which
we suppose her to have been the heroine.
Capt. Shubrick was once off at sea, when a vio-
lent storm came up. That night she dreamed that
she saw him, floating on something on the water.
6o
The locality was unknown to her, but the dream
was so vivid that the scene of it was indelibly im-
pressed on her memory. In the morning she re-
lated the dream to a friend or relative, imploring
him to go in search of Capt. Shubrick, who, as she
felt sure, had been shipwrecked somewhere along
the coast. She even described accurately the ap-
pearance of the locality. The notion of such a
search wras ridiculed — the ship, I believe, not even
being due as yet. The second night the dream was
repeated with equal vividness, but again she could
not prevail upon her friend to undertake what
seemed so foolish a quest. The third night the
dream recurred, and this time the earnestness of
her appeals and the remarkable persistency of the
dream sufficiently prevailed over her friend's in-
credulity and sense of the ridiculous, to lead him
to get a boat and coast along to the northward.
Entering Bull's Bay, he was struck with its cor-
respondence with the locality, described by Mrs.
Shubrick, and, looking closely, he perceived some
floating object, which proved to be Capt. Shubrick,
holding on to a hen-coop, but in an exhausted con-
dition. But for her dream and her persistence,
her husband must have perished.
ELEANOR BALL.
Married — Henry Laurens.
Eleanor was the only surviving child of Elias
Ball's second marriage. She was born in 1731,
and named, as we suppose, for that elder Eleanor
61
who had died a few years before her birth. We
have but few personal items regarding her. What
we know is chiefly in reference to others. As we
have seen, her father removed to the city in 1740,
when she was but a child. In the ten years that
intervened before her own marriage, she lost her
younger sister, Mary, two years her junior, and,
as we have every reason to suppose, had lost her
mother also. In the early part of 1750 she mar-
ried Mr. Henry Laurens, a merchant of Charles-
town, whose name is identified with the patriotic
history of his State, and who irreproachably ful-
filled his domestic duties as husband, father, and
master. Such is his character as delineated by his
son-in-law, Dr. David Ramsay.
A little more than a year after Eleanor's mar-
riage, her father died, leaving her £3,000 in cur-
rent money, — part of which seems to have been in
lieu of a house and lot, previously settled upon her
and her children, but now transferred to others.
He probably thought that she did not need the
house as much as the others of his familv, for her
husband was a man of means, and owned a fine
residence on East Bay St., surrounded by an ex-
tensive garden and shrubbery.
No kind uncle has left letters to tell us whether
she was "anxious for the world." If so, she must
have been amply gratified; for Mr. Laurens, be-
sides being of an exemplary character, was rich,
young, prosperous, thoroughly educated in letters
and in business, and soon began to take a promi-
nent part in public affairs.
62
She died at the birth of an infant, in May, 1770,
and was buried in the western half of St. Philip's
Churchyard, in the northwest corner. Mrs.
Poyas, in one of her books, tells us that the grave
was covered by a granite slab, set on a brick foun-
dation, and that "it was broken down and de-
stroyed by the British when the Old White Meeting
House (now the Circular Church) was converted
into a granary or store-house by them." Doubtless
this act of vandalism was in retaliation for the
patriotic stand taken by her husband and son dur-
ing the Revolution.
Four children survived her: — John, whose short
and brilliant career deserves further notice; Mar-
tha, who married Dr. David Ramsay, the historian ;
Henry, of Mepkin Plantation, St. John's Parish;
and Mary Eleanor, who married Gov. Charles
Pinckney, one of the framers of the Constitution.
Mr. Laurens, having, like many gentlemen of
those days, sent his sons to England for their edu-
cation, went thither himself to superintend it.
The mutterings of impending war recalled him
to his native country, where John, at least,
soon followed him. As Mr. Laurens's career is so
inseparably inwoven with American history, to
touch on its salient points is sufficient. He was
President of the Continental Congress for some
years; was sent by Congress to negotiate with
France; was captured by the British on his way
thither, and imprisoned in the Tower of London
on a charge of high-treason ; was treated during his
imprisonment with great rigor; and was only re-
63
leased when negotiations for peace were set afoot.
He then returned to Carolina. The latter part of
his life seems to have been spent at his beautiful
plantation on Cooper River — Mepkin, where he
died in 1792.
According to the wish, expressed in his will, his
body was wrapped in twelve yards of tow-cloth,
and burned on a funeral pile. Tradition still points
out the spot, on the southern spur of the bluff at
Mepkin. There are two other such spurs; the mid-
dle one, on which the house stood, and the northern
one, where the cemetery was located, and where Mr.
Laurens's grave may still be seen — a grave of ordi-
nary size, not in the least suggesting that it holds
but a mere handful of charred bones and ashes.
Eleanor Laurens's history would be incomplete
without a brief account of her gallant son. Dr.
Ramsay places his birth in the year 1755. As we
have seen, lie was educated in England. He was
proficient, not only in the solid branches of learn-
ing, but in the lighter graces and accomplishments
of music, drawing, dancing, and fencing, and was
noted for the charm of his manners and the nobility
of his sentiments. He had a keen sense of honor,
and was brave even to the point of rashness. He
rendered distinguished service as a colonel in Lee's
Legion, was sent to Paris on a mission to the French
Government while Franklin was there, succeeded
in his mission, returned to his command, and was
slain in a petty skirmish in 1782, having left a sick-
bed to join the fight. He was killed in the Comba-
hee region, and, according to Dr. Johnson's "Rem-
64
iniscences," buried on a neighboring plantation.
But his place in the cemetery at Mepkin is reserved,
by a grave, whose simple head-stone bears the clas-
sic epitaph:
"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori."
65
V.
THE SECOND ELIAS.
ELIAS OF KENSINGTON.
The second Elias Ball, eldest son of Red-Cap,
was born, presumably at Comingtee, in December,
1709.
Of his youth and early manhood we know little.
He was twelve years old, at his father's second
marriage, sufficiently grown to be impatient of the
rule of a step-mother who was only a few years his
senior; but, as neither tradition nor memoranda
hint the relation between them, they were probably
in the main amicable. He seems to have had the
same amount of "schooling" as his brother, with
the exception, perhaps, of "Johnny's" special in-
struction in "arithmetick" and dancing. His name
occurs less frequently, and his only accomplishment
seems to have been music, there being a bill for his
music-lessons — only one such bill, however. Some
years after, there is a memorandum : "hogs bought
from my son Elias"; so that he must soon have
established some business interests, independent of
his father, for whom he is also mentioned as re-
ceiving and paying out money.
66
ELIAS BALL
Born December 22nd, 1709 Died August 8th, 1786
^
Tradition throws but a faint glimmer of light
on these hidden years of his life. He is said to
have fallen in love with his fair neighbor, Lydia
Child, grand-daughter of Mr. James Child, founder
of the neighboring town of Childbury. (See Note.)
The old account-book gives some color to this, for,
inserted in the very midst of heterogeneous planta-
tion memoranda, is the statement in his handwrit-
ing: "Mrs. Lydia Child was 19 to-day" — a queer
setting for a bit of sentiment, but sentiment it un-
doubtedly is. And, strangely enough, not only dicl
Mrs. Lydia marry George Chicken this very year,
but was actually married to him at the time of this
memorandum. There is no other mention of her;
and Elias appears to have gone on his quiet way,
unmarried, not finding attraction in any other
woman.
Father and son seem to have taken their share
in cultivating the land, for there is a story to the
effect that, one afternoon, the younger Elias, who
was contemplating a visit to his lady-love (at Child-
bury, no doubt), brought a plough-share to his
father and complained that it was too dull for long-
er use. His father readily acknowledged its dul-
ness, but remarked that his son would have plenty
of time to take it on his shoulder and "step up" to
Moncks Corner — fourteen miles above — and have it
sharpened — which he had to do.
As we have already learned, the elder Elias Ball
moved to Charleston in 1740. For a year or so
previous, the younger Elias seems to have been
largely associated with him in his planting inter-
67
ests ; and the notes and memoranda in the old book
are almost altogether in his handwriting, and after
that date entirely by him, and the entries are some-
what changed. There are fewer small industries
noted; it is more and more of a planter's book.
There are accounts with carpenters, or for lumber
sold, besides all manner of household memoranda
and some of a personal character; but this part
is taken up chiefly with lists of negroes' names —
the dates of their birth, and sometimes of their
death, — with the number and recipients of the
blankets, etc., given out, and with the purchase and
probable age of African slaves. He was fond of
making memoranda; and there is a certain little
note-book, bearing his wife's maiden name and con-
taining sundry notes in a round, childish hand,
most of whose available space is filled with entries
in his peculiar handwriting, which, though rather
small for a man, is of a marked character, — firm,
regular, and tolerably easy to read.
Elias evidently lived at Comingtee; but I do not
know where John Coming lived up to this time.
He may have had the care of the property farther
away from home; but, at all events, he made a
home for himself soon after his father left Coming-
tee. Elias must have been lonely enough in the
empty house at Comingtee. Even the parrot which
his father sent him must have proved but a poor
solace. Instead, however, of finding a helpmeet
for himself, he bought and cleared a tract of land
adjoining Hyde Park, and built and settled therein,
— in order, as his son tells us, to be near the brother
68
to whom he was so deeply attached. He named this
plantation Kensington.
"All things come to him who waits;" and in 1745
Mrs. Lydia Chicken was left a widow, with one
little girl. Elias doubtless lost no time in renewing
his suit; and two years afterwards they were mar-
ried. He was then thirty-eight. He seems to have
been the kindest of step-fathers to little Catherine ;
she grew up with his own boys as of the same fami-
ly, and frequent references are made to her in his
letters and in theirs.
Little Caherine Chicken was the heroine of a
family tradition that tells how, having once in-
curred the displeasure of the brutal school-master
at Childbury School, she was tied by him to a tomb-
stone in the neighboring churchyard, by way of
punishment, and was left there and forgotten. She
was not missed until night-fall, when search was
made for her; and she was found, half dead from
fright and exhaustion. Though she recovered, her
mouth was permanently drawn into a crooked
shape, and a portrait, in possession of one of her
descendants, shows the distortion of features plain-
ly. The school-master was drummed out of Child-
bury.
We have only a few dates from which to construct
the annals of the subsequent twelve years, doubt-
less happy and prosperous, in the main, though
chequered by the sorrows inseparable from human
life. The first child of this new marriage was a
daughter, Elizabeth — one of the only two grand-
children, mentioned in the First Elias Ball's will:
69
— the two that bore the name of his first wife.
This daughter died, however, but a month after the
will was made, at the age of two years.
After his father's death, Elias seems to have set
diligently about improving his property. Coming-
tee had been left to him by will, and he had inher-
ited, as eldest son, several thousand acres besides,
most of which must have been timber land. He
also came into possession, in right of his wife, of
Strawberry Ferry and Plantation, in which tract
the larger part of the town of Childbury was in-
cluded. From time to time, he made purchases of
African slaves, some of whom were grown, and
some, boys and girls. He planted oaks to beautify
Kensington; and seems to have had some special
interest in pigeons, as several memoranda concern
them. In 1754, he notes: "my clock came home."
And never did a clock need so much cleaning and
so many repairs, from professionals and from non-
professionals! Nevertheless, we cannot help think-
ing that it may have been one of the two exactly
similar timepieces which in after years stood in
the houses at Limerick and Comingtee. We would
like to think, too, that these two clocks had been
imported by the two brothers — but this is imagina-
tion, pure and simple. Building, also, must have
been going on, this year, or have been projected;
for the well was "bricked in"; and, the day before
Christmas, 1755, "Elias Ball and family moved into
his new house." The "family" by this time con-
sisted of his wife and two boys — Elias and Isaac —
and Catherine Chicken. Two more children, Lydia
70
and John, were born afterwards. There are, in
both books, various memoranda of the weather — of
unusually heavy rains, late frosts, a great freshet,
and the celebrated "whorlwind" that did so much
damage to the shipping in Charleston Harbor in
May, 1761.
There is an entry of March 10th, 17C3 :— "Mrs.
Catherine Chicken and Elias and Isaac Ball went
down in Mr. Bonneau's canno (canoe) and he went
with them to their Uncle Laurens to be inoculated
for ye small-pox." We can almost see the sad little
party, and hear good Mr. Bonneau's attempts to
cheer and comfort them. In this same year, too,
Mrs. Catherine Chicken married Mr. Benjamin
Simons, son of the second of that name. The
Simonses lived at Middleburgh, a plantation in St.
Thomas' Parish, not many miles distant.
It seems possible that the education of these elder
boys and of Catherine Chicken may have been car-
ried on by a tutor. They must have had education
of some sort, as there is no memorandum of Elias
ever being sent to school, and of Isaac only once;
and yet Elias wrote and spelt fairly well, and
Isaac, even better. There is a suggestive memoran-
dum of April, 1763, to the effect that John and
Thomas Cordes came to school — at a given rate.
"Schooling" as well as boarding was charged to
them.
An opportunity presented itself in 1764 of
purchasing the plantation of Limerick, * * which
adjoined Kensington on the other side. It was then
7i
a well-settled place, with a fine dwelling, and was
owned by Daniel Huger, son of the Emigrant.
But prosperity in wordly goods was soon offset by
heavy griefs. John Coming Ball died in 1764, in
October; and we can well understand how heavy
the blow was to the surviving one of these two de-
voted brothers.
A yet heavier blow, however, was in store. Only a
few months later, — in April, 1765 — his wife died,
leaving him, much as his father had been left, with
four small children. But, unlike his father, Elias
did not take a second wife. His eldest boy was
twelve — much about his own age when he was left
motherless; — and perhaps his own experience may
have made him hesitate to put a step-mother in au-
thority over his boy. Or it may have been — and
facts would seem to bear it out — that Lydia was
really the only woman for whom he ever cared. At
any rate, circumstances and times were different,
and he could afford to indulge his preferences. The
country was well-settled now, and every household
boasted trained servants, devoted to the family of
their owners. And, more than all, his brother's
widow and children lived on the next plantation.
No existing memorandum gives even a hint, of what
became of the children, the youngest of whom was
only five years old; but it is natural to suppose
that Mrs. Judith Ball assumed the care of them.
The very absence of memoranda hints that domes-
tic matters must have worked smoothly.
There are few memoranda of any kind, until Feb.
1769, when it is noted : "my son John went to Mr.
72
KENSINGTON PLANTATION (taken 19001
House Built by Second Elias Ball
Gibson to school." In April, Isaac went there too.
Where Mr. Gibson taught, I cannot state, nor how
long he continued to instruct the boys.
The uniformity and monotony of events was
broken in October, 1771, by a wedding in the family.
Little Lydia, not yet fifteen, married Edward Si-
mons, a brother-in-law of her half-sister, Catherine,
— not an old man, though nearly twice as old as she
was.
In June, 1772, "John Ball went to Mr. Sam Bon-
neau's in order to go to school at Mr. Thomson's,"
who may have been the master of the Childbury
Free School, or of the Beresford School in St.
Thomas's Parish ; — in either case, some of the Bon-
neaus would probably have been nearer than Ken-
sington. Yet, notwithstanding all the school-going,
John Ball says : "My education was too much neg-
lected by my fond father."
Mrs. Judith Ball died in August, 1772. Nothing
is said of any arrangements made by Elias Ball for
his family; but, indeed, none were needed. Lydia,
the only girl, was already provided for ; John, now
twelve, was at school ; and Elias and Isaac, twenty
and eighteen respectively, lived with their father,
by this time, and took an active part in his plant-
ing interest.
Nothing regarding them is noted until July, 1774,
when "John went to town to live with Mr. Edward
Simons," whether to attend school or to learn some
business does not appear; but the former seems
most likely, as he was only fourteen; and, besides,
his brother Elias, writing of Isaac's failing health,
73
earnestly wishes that John were "old enough" to
come and take charge of the planting.
For more than a year after this, some insight
into the domestic life of the family is furnished
through the letters, written by the three elders to
the absent youngest member, which also help us so
to know their kindly, simple, affectionate natures
as to make them very real and present to us.
John leaves home on the 27th July; and on the
2nd of August a short letter from his eldest brother
"to dear Jack," thanks him for his "kind favor,"
ending, "I hope you will follow the advice you had
from me, which will give me a great deal of pleasure
to hear it. I beg you will keep up a constant cor-
respondence with me." The boy, living in the city,
in the midst of its opportunities and temptations,
becomes the recipient of a great amount of good
advice, of many commissions, and sometimes of
what was more acceptable — country dainties dear
to the boyish palate, such as "ground-nuts," fruit,
etc.
There was much sickness in the family at this
time, Mr. Ben. Simons, "Caty's" husband, being
seriously ill; "Bro. Ned/' Lydia's husband, misera-
bly out of health ; Elias Ball, Sr., apparently suffer-
ing all the time from some chronic "Disorder" ;
and Isaac having already developed symptoms of
the disease of which he eventually died; besides
which, Elias, Jr., had one or two sharp "bouts" of
sickness. Yet the tone of the letters is cheerful in
the main ; it is only over those of the younger Elias
that a shadow sometimes seems to hover.
74
ELIAS BALL
Born April loth, 1752 Died January 2nd, 1810
But we will let the letters speak for themselves
in a few extracts.
The first letter from his father runs thus :
"My Dear Son John,
I received yr Kind' favor dated ye 29 July, it
was for want of an opportunity of answering it
sooner. I beg you'll write to me all Opportunities
you have. * * * Be sure, John, be a good Boy
and mind your Business to the best of your Power.
Come home Early of an Evening and Don't get into
bad Company. If you see any Quarrel going for-
ward, turn your back and walk off, and have noth-
ing to say to them on either side * * * You
may tell your Sister that I am afraid I shall never
see Charlestown again.
My Blessing to you all, and am, dear Son,
Your loving Father,
E. Ball."
Under date of Aug. 27th, 1774, Elias Sr. writes:
"Your brother Isaac and John Langstaff (John
Coming Ball of Hyde Park, a boy of John's own
age) have been out shooting summer-ducks, and
Langstaff had an opportunity of firing at 38 yds.
Dist., as fair a shot as man could have, and killed
but * * * (the number is illegible, but was ap-
parently small) I suppose if he had not had your
Silversight he would not have killed one." Then
follow commissions for shoemaker's thread, rice-
sickles etc., and then : "Your brother Isaac is very
75
unwell. Just now he was most strangled with his
own blood this morning; — he was at Limerick, and
was going a hunting this morning, but he came to
me, and I took some blood from him, I hope it will
be of service to him."
Elias Jr. writes of this the next day, — 28th :
"Brother Isaac was unwell yesterday with a spit-
ting of blood, for which my Father bled him, and
I think it was of service to him, as he spit no blood
to-day * * * John Coming staid a week with us
on his way to St. Stephen's." * * *
Oct. 3d the father writes quite a long letter, the
first part being taken up with Mr. Ben Simons'
illness, in consequence of which he himself has
been at Middleburgh every day, and Elias, day and
night, for a week. The latter part relates hunting
anecdotes: "A stout Buck" was started by Mr.
Joseph Bell, who "gave him a long chase ; at length
he took the river, and swam till he came where
Stepney was minding rice, and he heard a noise in
ye river, he looked about him, and there he saw
this stout Buck ; up he starts and runs up to Cupid,
who immediately went and got a shot, and Laced
him from stem to stern; for all that, he made shift
to get up as far as Silkhope Orchard, and there he
lost him; he stept to Mr. Bell and got his Dogs and
put them on the scent, and when he found him, he
found him Dead and Stiff. I do assure you he was
a fine fellow." The Wednesday following, * * *
there was somebody else a hunting — I suppose it
76
ISAAC BALL
Born May nth, 1754 Died January 5th, 1776
was Mr. Quash's Billy — and .there was another
"stout fellow roused, and he came Blundering down
ye River as ye other did" * * * here there are
one or two lines illegible, but the substance of it
is, that the person to whom the buck came "had no
shot; he broke his Pipe in pieces and put that in
his gun, and got so close to the buck as to shoot
him in his ear, and got him; and just as I came
home from your Bro. Simons, lo, he came swag-
gering with him. I do assure you, John, he was a
Stout fellow, much stouter than the other." Poor
John ! shut up with books or business when there
were such glorious doings in the neighborhood of
the dear old home!
In less than a month after, Isaac was in danger
of his life from another source. His father writes:
"I heard my dear son Isaac was Castaway near
Town or in it * * * I shall be very uneasy until
I see him or hear from him, pray, John, tell him to
take more care of himself, and Don't bring my
Grey hairs with sorrow to the Grave."
Not long after, Elias Jr. writes that Isaac has
been very ailing, and that he thinks he will never
be better if he does not go away. Indeed, he seems
to have been anxious about him from the first.
Poor little John was about this time seized with
a boyish desire to own a watch, and wrote to ask
his brother Elias to let him have money enough,
out of some that he owed him, to purchase one.
Apparently, however, watches were not considered
suitable for boys in those days, and his brother,
77
after referring to his own severe sickness, answers
thus:
"Dear John you mention to me in one of yours
about a watch, and that the money should be
drawn from the sum I have given you a note of
hand for, and your reason for getting one is to
know when to go to breakfast and dinner. I do
assure you it gave me a great deal of concern to
think that you should want to lay out your money
so foolishly. But my advice to you is that I think
you stand in no need of a watch ; which if you did,
I would advise my Father to give you one. But,
however, John, if you do not choose to follow my
advice to you, I will pay up my whole Note as soon
as I have sold some of my rice, then you must do
what you please with it." But in case of the pur-
chase, he gives John to understand that he will
never undertake to advise him again; but adds:
"I hope that by your next you will think quite
otherwise.''
To this period is apparently referable the follow-
ing letter from his father, the date of which is torn
off.
"Dear John,
* * * it is time enough for you to think of
such things six years hence. You seem to let your
head run too much on Dress and this fine thing
and that fine thing; my advice to you is to mind
your business and study that more than you do—
what signifies if you don't come to meals to a min-
78
lite or not; be a good Boy and you shall want for
nothing that I can help you to. Your head seems
to run too much on dressing yourself, as if you
Came into the world for nothing else."
Poor John must have felt as if he had inadver-
tently pulled the string of a shower-bath ! It must
have been a great consolation when "Sister Caty"
wrote to him about making up some shirts, and
promised to have them ruffled if she had to sew the
ruffles herself. Probably she had heard some of the
masculine discussions on the subject. Shortly
after, he seems to have been guilty of some more
serious misdemeanor, for on the 1st of December
is this little note:
"Dear Son John,
I have reed, your very kind favour, and that
you acknowledge you were a naughty Boy. I for-
give you sincerely, and you shall hear no more of
it." That is all, except a few words about stock-
ings that were being knit for him, and the health
of his brothers.
The year's correspondence ends thus:
"Please let me know by the return of the boat
when I shall send your horses for you, and you
may depend I shall send them."
Strange, that a boy of fourteen should own
"boys," horses, and several guns, yet not be thought
old enough to own a watch !
79
Even Christmas holidays in the country, with the
riding and the hunting and the shooting, and all
the charms of the dear familiar home life, must
come to an end, and 1775 sees John back in the
city.
The first letter for this year is a long one from
his father, dated Comingtee Feb. 10th.
"Dear Son John,
I have received your several letters, etc. * * *
My son, I am not angry with you at all. I heard
yesterday that you had a Bruising bout with Bob
Simons, and that he gave you a Black Eye; my
son, I would not have you to be Quarrelsome or
litigious, but at the same time I would not have
you be put upon by no Lad of your match. * * *
I shall send down your moneys by your Bro. Isaac
when he goes down, so you may buy your watch as
soon as you please; if you get it at Mr. Downes'
take it on his word and honour, be sure you get a
good one or not at all. Be sure, my dear Son, be-
have yourself like a young gentleman, and be ob-
liging to your Bro. and Sister, and be strictly
honest; always take care how you promise, but
when you promise always perform your promise.
I had your two guns cleaned and put up im-
mediately, I did not wait for Tycho telling me.
I received your Jar of raisins some time ago.
Be sure, John, write to me all opportunities,
don't wait for my answering yours, but write to
me, it is your Duty. In so doing you should say,
I remain, Hond. Sir, your dutiful Son John Ball,
80
* * *
* * #
not and humbl. Servt., that is all foolish to a
father.
My blessing to you all and am dear John,
Your Ever Lo. Father
E. Ball."
John evidently made a successful plea for that
watch, on this Christmas visit.
His brother Elias seemed mindful of his threat
of never sending him advice again, for there is none
in his letter from Comingtee next day, — but doubt-
less John would have preferred the driest counsel
to what he did write. After stating that he had
been kept there some time by sick negroes, and
begging John to send up the plantation things by
a certain boat, he proceeds:
"You promised the next time you wrote it should
be a long letter, I desire it may, for by accounts
you have a good subject to write on — the Battle
with the Boy as little again as yourself, and am
credibly informed he gave you a good drubbing
with two black eyes. I was sorry that you should
fight that Boy, for I thought you were on much
better terms than to fight, but as it did come to a
battle, I was much surprised to hear you had
parted with consent and with two black eyes. I
had imagined you were able to flog two such boys
as him at one time. My father is well, he is now
with me. I have not heard lately from Isaac."
But Isaac had heard of John, for on the 13th he
writes in that clear copper-plate hand of his :
81
"I shall be glad to hear in your next how that
Battle was fought between Messrs. Simons and
Ball, and who came off Conqueror."
It was in March of this year that Elias wrote to
John wishing he were old enough to come and take
charge of things, for Isaac's health is so bad that
the negroes take advantage of it to feign sickness,
and the family can get no work done satisfactorily.
Even the horses break bounds, and can't be kept
out of the oats patch — John's three being as bad
as any.
In July, the father writes from Kensington,
accusing John of forgetting various commissions:
"Out of sight out of mind, as the old saying is —
you quite forgot me too, as well as the rest of man-
kind."
In every letter now there is mention of Isaac as
being "very poorly." On August 27th, 1775, Elias,
Jr., writes sadly of Isaac's health, and fears that
his only chance lies in his going away somewhere.
He then goes on to say : "I have entered into a
volunteer company under the command of Capt.
Job Marion and R. Gough, first Lieutenant. (Isaac
also joined this company.) I am much in want of
a gun to have a bayonet fixed in, as my old piece
is too short, and I beg that you will let me have
yours for that purpose. My father tells me you
shall have his to make use of till we have better
times, and then I shall give you one in the room
of yours, equally as good. I think the offer I make
you so fair that you can't have any objection to it.
82
I beg you will acquaint me by the first opportunity
whether I shall have it or no. If you consent to
it, I shall send it down with one of the bayonets
that is at Kensington, and get you to put it in one
of the best workman's hands in town to get fixed
up for me."
We have not John's answer, but its tenor may
be guessed from the following letter from his
brother.
"In regard to the Gun, I think the offer I made
you very fair, and you have been so ungenerous as
to ask me more for it than the first * * * and
not then without my being one of the * * * (lieuten-
ants, apparently). Your being so ungenerous has
induced my Father to make me a compliment of his
gun, and I intend getting Jeudon to fix it up for
me. We are to be a company of foot, but I can't
acquaint you what the uniform is to be, as cloth
is so scarce in town."
The letters of the father and brothers cease after
August, and the probability is that John soon re-
turned home, as his brother-in-law, Edward
Simons, died early in October of this year (1775),
and Lydia's home in Charlestown must have been
broken up. We do not know whether she came
back into her father's house or not; but probably
she was there on long visits, at any rate. She
seems too young to have lived entirely alone. There
is some mention in one of the letters of "your
Sister's things" being stored at Limerick; and
writing in 177G from Charleston to John at Ken-
83
sington, she asks if "her people" have been "up to
any tricks at Limerick," and begs John to come
for her on a given day. Once or twice in the years
succeeding her husband's death, Elias, Jr., then in
Charlestown, sends love to his sister. I have seen
it stated that "Lydia Simons went to live at Lime-
rick with Elias" after Mr. Simon's death ; but this
must be a mistake. In the first place, it was then
understood that Limerick was to be Isaa&s, it be-
ing so stated in the will made three years previous-
ly, so Elias would scarcely have been living there
then. And in the second place, Elias — judging
from his own letters — was very little at home after
Isaac's death; and it surely was more likely that
so young a widow should have lived in her father's
home than alone on a plantation in those troublous
times, when the whole surrounding country was
for so long in the hands of the British.
These were exciting days, and the elder Elias
made some of his accustomed notes in his wife's
old note-book on the current news — the arrival,
and then the flight, of Lord William Campbell, etc.
It is easy to see that all his sympathies were with
the patriots. Therefore, it must have been a sore
trial when his brother's eldest son openly declared
himself a Tory. He seems to have been uneasy
about the younger son too, as he inquires, rather
anxiously, "In what troop does he ride? and what
is his uniform?"
There was need of Lydia's presence in the house-
hold now, — though, indeed, she had griefs enough
of her own, in the loss of husband and child. We
84
have not the exact date of her child's death; but
as John writes shortly before Mr. Simon's death
that "little Neddy" was very ill, it is likely that
he died the same autumn. This only child, as well
as the father, seems to have been always ailing, and
the poor child-mother must have had but a sad and
anxious life, between the two.
I cannot say if any one at Kensington realized
the impending sorrow, except Elias; but doubtless
it was a shock to all, when, on the 5th January,
1776, Isaac breathed his last. To the father, it
must have been a specially heavy blow; this son
had been always with him ; had managed the home
plantation; and of him he expressed himself in
most affectionate terms. One cannot help feeling
that, if he relied more on Elias's administrative
ability and firmness of character, Isaac was nearer
his heart. And to Elias, this brother next in age
was evidently very dear.
There are few memorials left of the young life,
whose flame was so early quenched. Half-a-dozen
short letters — scarcely more than notes, — written
in a clear, regular hand, better spelled than was
usual with country gentlemen in those days, and
with occasional dashes of pleasantry; a little
memorandum-book, containing a few miscellaneous
items; and a portrait by Theus, of cabinet size,
showing a pleasant-faced boy in the prim dress of
that day, holding a bird in his hands. His body
rests in the family cemetery at Strawberry.
Things were changed at Kensington now. Elias,
the main-stay of the family, was necessarily often
85
absent, and the active management of the business
devolved upon John, now a lad of sixteen. The
stress of the war began to be felt, too, in the scar-
city of cloth and salt, as well as of such luxuries
as good wheat flour. From time to time, too, some
of the negroes went over to the British, who after
a while over-ran the country, and finally, even John
joined a company in active service.
Elias, Sr., seems to have continued to keep most
of the accounts — the register of the births of negro
children, for example, is kept by him up to 1780.
Possibly it was at the time of John's marriage —
this same year — that he divided his property be-
tween his sons. In a manuscript book, belonging
to John Ball, there is "A List of Male Slaves from
sixteen to sixty, at Kensington, with each negro's
age to the best of our knowledge, made the eight
day of March, 1780." There is also a "Copy of the
Ages of the Negroes belonging to my Father, taken
from the original, March 6th 1780." In another
part of the same book is a list of the Negroes that
came with his wife, born after he had possession
of them. The first birth registered is June 5th,
1780. The latest writing of the second Elias seems
a memorandum slip of the births of his grand-
children in 1782, 1784, and 1785.
How he fared in these times, with ill-health and
increasing years, we do not know; nor how much
Elias, Jr., was able to be at home; but from a let-
ter written after the Peace, we presume that he had
been absent most of the time.
In the Spring of 1779, we find John a second
86
STRAWBERRY CHAPEL
Ball Cemetery in lower right hand corner, Harleston Cemetery in background
Lieutenant in Screven's company, Col. Daniel
Horry's regiment of Light Dragoons; and in 1780
he married his cousin Jane Ball, daughter of John
Coming Ball and his wife Judith Boisseau. So
Elias, Sr., may not have been left alone in his old
age. Doubtless the wife was the "Cousin Jinny"
about whose health Elias, Jr., inquired in the
autumn of 1776, and who seems to have been then
on a visit to Kensington.
In 1780, over forty negroes, men, women, and
appaiently some children, left Kensington to go
to the British army. Some of these afterwards re-
turned.
The year before the war closed, 1783, Lydia mar-
ried Mr. Bryan, and settled (I believe) at Camp-
vere, near the Simons' place, Middleburgh.
In the summer of 1786, Elias Ball's long con-
tinued ill-health brought on death on the 8th of
August, at the good old age of seventy-seven. He
was buried beside his wife and his son Isaac in
the centre of the family cemetery at Strawberry
Chapel, where a single wide slab covers their
graves.
The second Elias Ball and his family — so I have
always heard — were the first to be interred in this
Family Cemetery at Strawberry Chapel (formerly
Childbury Chapel). The cemetery at Hyde Park,
which belonged to the John Coming Ball branch,
has been long disused in favor of this one.
There is a will extant, dated March 13th, 1772,
an original, not a copy. It is duly witnessed, and
seems to have been duly signed — though the signa-
87
ture has been cut out — but I do not see that the
will has been proved. In this he devises Coming-
tee to his son Elias; also "Eveleigh's Land;" some
other tracts which had been granted to his father;
certain special legacies of negroes and silver; and
his "clock and Family Pictures." To Isaac he
leaves Limerick, and special legacies of negroes
and silver. To John, Kensington and Hyde Park,
except a piece of ground on the latter of twenty
feet square, "reserved as a Place of Family Se-
pulture for ever." John also has special legacies
like the others. To Lydia he leaves Lot No. 49 in
Charlestown, and the sum of 10,000 1. currency;
her special legacies include furniture also.
Of course, Isaac's death must have made a
change. Limerick became Elias's; but as far as I
know, John and Lydia retained their original
shares. Any difference in value may have been
equalized in money. It is strange that in this will
no mention is made of Mrs. Lydia Ball's landed
property, which consisted of Strawberry Planta-
tion, and about 160 acres on the other side of the
river, left her by her aunt Mrs. Durham, yet con-
firms the bequests of personal property made in
her will. In this will, dated the day before her
death, she appears uncertain which of her sons was
to have Strawberry.
Elias Ball's character may best be given in the
words of his son John. "My father and Uncle John
C. Ball were honest, peaceable, domestic men.
Their ambition was to live happy and content-
ed in private life. They resided chiefly on
88
their plantations, Kensington and Hyde Park,
that they might be near each other, as
there ever subsisted the utmost harmony and
brotherly affection between them. They were
very easy, indulgent masters, which united to their
not being of an enterprising disposition, prevented
that accumulation of property which was so favor-
able in their younger days ; especially in taking up
grants of valuable lands, vast bodies of fertile
swamps were then vacant. They, each of them,
however, had the happiness to leave a pretty begin-
ning for their children."
There are three portraits of the Second Elias,
taken in early or middle life. They show us a
pleasant-faced man, not strictly handsome, but un-
mistakably the gentleman.
Note.
CHILDBURY.
The town of Childbury was founded by "James
Child, Yeoman," of Buckinghamshire, England,
who, having in some way incurred the enmity of
the notorious Judge Jeffries, and being fortunate
enough to escape his clutches, fled to Carolina. He
left his wife and a large family in England; only
one son, Isaac Child, accompanied or followed him.
Mr. Child acquired property around what is now
Strawberry Ferry. Here he laid out a town on the
English plan, and called it Childbury. It was laid
off in lots, one of which was reserved for a church,
and another for a school-house; the streets were
89
named ; several houses seem to have been built ; and
semi-annual Fairs, incorporated by Act of As-
sembly, were duly held.
But conditions were not favorable to the growth
of small inland towns so near the capital of the
Province, and after the death of Mr. Isaac Child,
the town gradually passed out of existence, and
the unsold lots were incorporated by the heir, Wil-
liam Child, with Strawberry Plantation.
90
VI.
THE TWO JOHN COMINGS.
OOHN COMING BALL OF HYDE PARK.)
GOHN COMING BALL OF BACK RIVER.)
JOHN COMING OF HYDE PARK.
Our acquaintance with John Coming Ball is not
nearly so intimate as with his brother Elias; since
we have no letters or memoranda through which
he might become to us a real and living personage
instead of a mere name. This absence of material
is probably due to the fact that the original house
at Hyde Park was destroyed by fire; and many
valuable relics of past days doubtless then
perished.
Of the First Elias Ball's two sons, John Coming
seems to have been the favorite. His name occurs
frequently in the memorandum-book in connection
with "schooling" and dancing, and is frequently
associated with that of his eldest half-sister, Sarah.
He was only six at the time of his mother's death,
and probably accommodated himself to the ways
of the young step-mother more readily than the
elder ones were able to do. And, as we have seen,
91
the personal bequests to him in his father's will
far exceeded those to his brother. In spite of the
five years' difference in age, however, the strongest
affection and friendship existed between them ; and
if their father did make any difference in his treat-
ment of them, it does not seem to have influenced
in the least their feelings towards each other.
"Johnny" was duly sent to school after his
mother's death ; and we know that he had at least
one full year's schooling — for it was paid for.
Johnny also went to Mr. Newbery to "learn
arithmetick," but whether from natural aptitude
or inaptitude, does not appear. As he grew older,
the notices of him are limited to occasional pur-
chases of hogs "from Johnny," showing that Johnny
began early to strike out for himself in some direc-
tions. It is probable that the sons assisted their
father in his various branches of business as soon
as they were old enough to do so.
In course of time, John Coming bought a tract
of land on the Eastern Branch, from Mr. Gough,
and built and settled there, calling the plantation,
"Hyde Park." I have not the date of this pur-
chase, but suppose it was somewhere about the time
of his father's removal to Charlestown — 1740. This
original house at Hyde Park did not occupy the
site of the present one. It stood on the hill near
the family cemetery, and is said to have been a
comfortable square house, resembling that now
standing at Kensington. I have not been able to
ascertain the time at which it was burnt down, but
it may have been shortly after the Revolutionary
92
War. It was subsequent to Mrs. Judith Ball's
death, for she died at Hyde Park ; and the present
house was not built until long after. The fire is
said to have originated from a lighted candle which
had been left in a closet.
In 1742 he married Catherine Gendron —
daughter of John Gendron and his wife Elizabeth
Mazyck, — Huguenots of the Santee settlement.
There were six children by this marriage, two of
whom died in early childhood and in the same
year.
Mrs. Catherine Ball died in the latter part of
September, 1755, the eldest of her four children
being under thirteen, and the youngest only two.
In ten months' time her place was filled by another
Huguenot bride, — Judith Boisseau.
By this marriage there were five children, two
of whom, also, died in childhood.
John Coming Ball himself died in October, 1764,
and was buried in the family cemetery at Hyde
Park, where the bodies of his first wife and of four
of his children had already preceded him.
Well might his nephew say of the two brothers
that "they each of them had the happiness to leave
a pretty beginning for their children." John Com-
ing died possessed of nearly 9000 acres of land, in-
cluding at least two settled plantations; and, as
sawing lumber and making tar were then important
industries, even the large body of uncleared pine
forest was by no means unproductive. Some of this
land had been left him by his father, and some had
been purchased by himself. A considerable part
93
of his land was in the vicinity of Wambaw Swamp,
near the Santee river. Part of this he owned joint-
ly with his brother-in-law, Henry Laurens, and an-
other part he mentions as having been bought from
Col. Gendron.
He left the plantation on Wambaw to his eldest
son, Elias, who was already living there. Hyde
Park was also bequeathed to Elias, with the pro-
viso that the widow and the other children should
have a home there and the use of the plantation
during her lifetime. The will is long and very ex-
plicit, providing for every possible contingency ex-
cept the one that actually arose, viz., the birth of
a posthumous child. Six children survived him;
four of the first wife's, Elias, Elizabeth, Catherine,
and Ann ; and two of the second wife's, John Com-
ing and Jane. Five months after his death, another
daughter, Eleanor, was born.
The Santee lands were all left to the first wife's
children, with directions that the slaves that fell
to her daughter's share should be kept at work on
their lands there; whence I surmise that some, at
least, of this property must have been acquired by
his first marriage. The slaves belonging to his
second wife and her children were to be kept at
work on the lands near Cooper River.
Mrs. Judith Ball died at Hyde Park, in 1772,
eight years after her husband. By this time her
stepchildren were all married; Elizabeth and Elias
having married shortly after their father's death,
and Ann in 1771. She was buried by her husband
in the cemetery at Hyde Park. A single stone
94
STRAWBERRY CHAPEL
Ball Cemetery at left of picture (corner of Cemetery)
marks the resting place of them all, and bears the
inscription :
"John Coming Ball died at Hyde Park, Oct.
20th, 1764, aged 50 years and 2 months.
Katherine Ball died at Hyde Park Sept. 23d,
1755, aged 32 years.
Judith Ball died at Hyde Park Aug. 2d, 1772,
aged 41 years.
Also to several children and grandchildren.
This stone is erected to their memory in 1821 by
Isaac Ball, Grandson of John Coming and Judith
Ball."
Mrs. Judith Ball seems to have lived on har-
monious terms with her step-children. She made
her step-son Elias, executor of her will and guar-
dian of her children, conjointly with her nephew-
in-law, Elias Ball; and her girls seem to have
found happy homes with their step-sisters.
Of John Coming's children, Elias and John
Coming will have separate mention.
Elizabeth married Mr. Henry Smith of Goose-
creek, son of Landgrave Thomas Smith, and left a
numerous family.
Catherine married Benjamin Smith, another of
the Landgrave's family, and died before a year
was out.
Ann married Mr. Richard Waring of Tranquil
Hill, near Dorchester, where, as wife and widow,
she lived a long and honored life. She had no
children.
95
Jane became the wife of her cousin, John Ball
of Kensington.
Eleanor's first husband was Mr. John Wilson,
a merchant of Charlestown, who lies buried in the
cemetery at Hyde Park; and her second husband
was Mr. Keating Simons. She died on her birth-
day, in 1827, of consumption, and was buried at
Lewisfield Plantation. She had no children.
Family tradition says that "Miss Nelly" (her
pet name) was "a beauty and an heiress." Of her
beauty we have abundant proof in the very fine
portrait by Morse, painted only a few years before
her death. Though an old lady, she is a very hand-
some one, with clear-cut, regular features, which
testify to the firmness and attractiveness of char-
acter for which her step-children and grand-
children admired her. The heiress-ship seems more
doubtful. As we have seen, she had no part in her
father's will ; and I have found no letters or papers
which point to the relinquishment of any part of
the property to her by the heirs. Her mother left
her 6000 currency, and a yearly income of 100 un-
til her brother John Coming should come of age;
but we gather from family letters that this legacy
was not paid. There were other special legacies
to her; of three negroes, and of silver, furniture,
etc. She was also to share equally with John
Coming and Jane the rest of their mother's per-
sonal property.
96
f % %
MRS. KEATING SIMONS, nee ELEANOR BALL
Born March 20th, 1765 Died March 20th, 1827
JOHN COMING BALL OF BACK RIVER.
"POOR JOHN COMING."
The second John Coming Ball was the youngest
son of John Coming Ball. His mother was the
second wife, Judith Boisseau. He was only six
years old when his father died, and fourteen, at
the time of his mother's death. We know very
little of him, there is only an occasional mention
of him in the letters of his uncle and cousins, and
a reference or two to him by his half-brother. He
was about two years older than his cousin, John
Ball of Kensington, and doubtless they were much
together in their boyhood. It is not mentioned
with whom he lived after his mother's death; but
he seems to have been sent to school, and was at
one time in Charleston. "John Langstaff" was his
nick-name with the family at Kensington; some-
times in full, at other times "Langstaff," or "Cousin
Staff;" occasionally, he was known by the more
dignified proper name "John Coming."
We cannot help thinking, from the way in which
he is mentioned by every one, that his words were
stronger than his acts, and that there was some-
thing incomplete and inefficient about him. This
may have been due to the want of wise guidance
and methodical training in his youth. The two
Eliases, his half-brother and cousin, had been ap-
pointed by Mrs. Judith Ball as guardians to her
children ; but the cousin must have declined to act,
97
as he nowhere refers to such a responsibility, and
he was a man to have shouldered it bravely if he
had assumed it. The boy seems to have drifted
around aimlessly; sometimes stopping in at Ken-
sington and bringing his gun from Bossis, where
some of his Harleston relatives lived; sometimes
going on to his elder brother at Wambaw ; or to St.
Stephen's to school, where some young man had
promised to help him find board. He was in Char-
lestown too, for a part of his time; his uncle asks
John if he knows what business he is in, and a
little later on, what uniform he wears and in what
troop he rides ; but unfortunately, I have not John's
answer. He has the reputation of having been a
Tory, chiefly founded, I believe, on Gen. Marion's
having captured a fine horse in a skirmish from a
John Coming Ball, which horse he rode for some
time, and called Ball. It is possible that there may
have been some mistake in the name, and the horse
may have been Wambaw Elias's; but poor John
Coming gets the credit or discredit of it.
He remained in America, however, and seems to
have drifted on somehow through life. His half-
brother and guardian invested in land for him; and
he appears also to have bought land for himself, as
his brother regrets his having done so, since it pre-
vented his own buying Fishpond. It is his brother
who calls him in one of his letters, "Poor John
Coming." He owned a plantation on Back-River,
in Goosecreek Parish.
John never married; and does not appear again
in any letters. Tradition reports that his health
98
was bad, and that he went northward for a change.
He died on Long Island, N. Y., in October, 1792,
and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, where a
stone was erected to his memory. He left his prop-
erty to the children of his two sisters, Mrs. Jane
Ball and Mrs. Eleanor Wilson, and appointed his
brother-in-law, John Ball, one of his executors.
The will was drawn in August, 1792. John Ball
was the only executor who qualified; and he man-
aged the estate for eighteen years, until after the
youngest heir had been of age for some time. When
the estate was divided in 1810, the whole was
vested in John and Isaac Ball, the only surviving
children of Mrs. Jane Ball. How well it was ad-
ministered, is proved by the following memoran-
dum:
"J. Ball gave up the Estate of John C. Ball to
the heirs the 7th May 1810 — Having added a plan-
tation that cost 2500 1. — paid off Debts to about
0000 1. & deliver'd up 138 Negroes— being 50
negroes more than was appraised — run out for
Estate abt. 130 Acres near Jericho — and paid the
heirs in cash and Notes $7828.79."
99
6534*
VII.
ELIAS OF WAMBAW.
"WAMBAW ELIAS."
John Coming Ball, as we have seen, left two sons,
one by each marriage. The elder of these, Elias,
was born at Hyde Park in 1744, and was conse-
quently about twenty at the time of his father's
death. To him were left Hyde Park, and the plan-
tation on the Santee River, whither, as we learn
from one of his letters, he had already gone to re-
side. He sold Hyde Park to his uncle Elias; but
his step-mother, according to the terms of his
father's will, continued to reside there until her
death.
Of his earlier years we have no record, but after
his father's death we begin to hear of him. In
May, 1765, he married Catherine Gaillard, a lady
of Huguenot descent. His step-mother, Mrs. Ju-
dith Ball, appointed him, conjointly with his
cousin Elias Ball, executor of her will and guar-
dian of her three children. When the War of In-
dependence began, he sided with the British; and
while we do not know exactly what part he played,
various circumstances would seem to suggest that
he was sufficiently active to render himself dis-
100
agreeably unpopular. His property was confiscated
by the Jacksonboro' Assembly, and, but for the
prompt action of his cousin Elias, between whom
and himself there existed a strong friendship, he
would probably have been left penniless. Elias
stepped in and purchased his slaves at a high price,
probably before the Act of Confiscation was passed.
At the close of the war, he moved with his entire
family to England, and settled at Frenchay, near
Bristol. I have in some way got the impression
that he did not sail direct from Charleston, but re-
tired first to Florida, and sailed thence.
For some years he kept up a correspondence
with the younger Elias, the dominant topic in his
letters always being the money due him for his
negroes. It is true the letters express friendship
and esteem, and perfect confidence in his cousin's
integrity, but the omnipresent reminder of the
pounds, shillings, and pence, owing, must have
been galling to a young man who, under great diffi-
culties, was straining every nerve to meet a debt
incurred through a chivalrous friendship. Oc-
casionally, the writer provoked a remonstrance, as
when he made an unreasonable proposition as to the
fixed price at which the other's rice should be taken
in payment, or when he wished to charge interest
on the bond for negroes who had been bought at an
exorbitant price; and this, after five years of un-
propitious seasons and lost crops, of every par*
ticular of which he had kept himself informed.
Galling, too, must have been his supercilious tone,
his open sneers at the country and friends of his
IOI
correspondent, and his rather dictatorial manner
which must have made even good advice dis-
tasteful. But, on the other hand, we catch glimpses
of a different side of his character ; in his inquiries
after his former servants, "old Tom" in particular;
in his messages to them and his pleasant acknowl-
edgments of "ground-nuts" and other things sent
to their young mistresses; and in his solicitous
anxiety that bundles of clothes sent should reach
them safely.
There can be no better proof of friendship than
the way in which the American Elias, strong of will
and prompt and resolute of action, passed over or
condoned in his exiled relative what no other man
would have been permitted to say or do. Doubtless
he made allowances for the bitterness engendered
by defeat. Far different was it with our ancestor,
John, who had married the "Tory Ball's" half-
sister, Jane, in the very middle of the Revolution.
Some question of property had arisen, and in re-
ply, the Tory's peculiar way of expressing himself
fell upon his quick-tempered cousin like a spark
upon tinder. The correspondence does not seem to
have been a long one ; I have but two of the letters,
and, as no extracts can do them justice, I give them
entire.
The first is from Wambaw Elias to John Ball.
No. 10 North St., Bristol, Aug. 27th, 1786.
Dr. Sir:
I received your favour of the 8th July yester-
day, forwarded to me by my kinsman J. Moultrie;
102
in answer to the First part thereof acquaint you
that I never had the Hundred Acres of Land left
by my father to his daughter Jane laid off, the rest
of the land being left to me I thought it best to
be left until my sister came of age, and then it
might be done without leaving room for censure,
my Father in his Will empowered either one of his
Executors to do it, and I certainly might have had
it platted off, and I should have done it if it were
not for the above reason, but the Will so particu-
larly points out the spot that I don't see how you
could possibly be at a loss to fix it. He mentions
the Great pond, a piece of Oak and Hickory land
he once cleared and planted; that land is so well
known by all the neighbors, the Guericas and other
people, that it cannot admit of a dispute. Your
fellow Peter, old Tom, Frank, and many other of
your negroes knows the spot. It wras the best
piece of Highland on the whole tract, when my
Father cleared it he planted it two years, the first
in Indigo, the next in Corn, and both was remark-
able fine crops. I planted it one year when I first
went to live at Santee in my Father's lifetime, but
he giving it away in his Will, never planted it
after. I once went with my brother to the spot to
show it him, and told him it was his sister Jane's
land, and proposed his planting corn on it for the
use of Jericho plantation.
In regard to the other part of your letter re-
garding my sister Nelly's affairs, must acquaint
you agreeable to the information you have given
me that she has not been done justice by agreeable
103
to her mother's Will. How any person can mistake
the plain express words of the Will, I can't con-
ceive ; does not the words of the Will expressly say
that Nelly is to First have six thousand pounds
out of the estate, and then the Rest to be divided
equally between her three children, share and
share alike? Instead of that, you and her brother
John has taken it upon you to give her four, and
then shared the residue. How people can mistake
Six for Four I cannot account for any other way
than their being blinded by Interest. I will for
argument's sake suppose the whole estate to be
worth but six thousand pounds at the time the
Will authorized a division, must she not then have
had the whole? — but you and John C. would say,
no, she ought to have but four, the other two thou-
sand we must share. I must say, John, that you,
from your first marrying my sister, showed an in-
clination to grasp at her Mother's estate; you was
strenuous for having the estate divided when the
Congress money was in circulation, when the six
thousand pounds that she was to receive was not
worth Six half-pence, to the utter ruin of that poor
child who never knew the tender patronage of a
Father, and to frustrate the good intention of a
tender Mother, who endeavored to ward off from
her helpless child poverty and want. Good God,
my heart bleeds whenever I think of it, and now at
last when Fate has stript me from her, to seize the
estate and share it in the manner you have. I
should not be worthy the great trust reposed in
me by her Mother, nor should I deserve the name
104
of an Elder Brother were I to let so glaring injus-
tice to her go unnoticed; had you not been quite
so eager and consulted me on the matter, your con
duct might have been less liable to censure, be-
cause under the express words of the Will no other
Executor was authorized to qualify until I was
either dead or had refused to take the administra
tion on me; neither of these two cases having hap
pened, consequently no person had a right to trans
act the business of that Estate but by a power
from me, which might have been easily procured.
But when Persons can lay the Will aside in one
case they may in all, and its a wonder to me you
had not shared the Estate without regarding the
legacy left Nelly, and shared the negroes particu
larly given her with the rest, there is as much jus-
tice in the one as in the other; and I now, John,
as a friend advise you to take the Will and pull
off that Veil of Self Interest from your eyes, and
read it with attention, and lay your hand on your
heart and say if Nelly has had her share of her
Mother's estate agreeable to the express words of
the Will, and if not, do her immediate justice.
Otherwise, if she marries a man of any spirit, you
may be involved in a litigious Lawsuit; and if any
thing ever carries me to Carolina it will be to assist
that child to her right, which I may do under the
treaty of peace. I now conclude this long letter
with wishing you and yours all Earthly Felicity
and Eternal in a Future State, and I would not
have you think I am less your friend for writing
so plainly to you on the above case, you ought to
105
consider what a capacity I stand in with regard
to my Sister Nelly, whom I tenderly love and wish
to serve, and would have done had not fate parted
us and put it out of my power. Give my kind love
to my Sister and tell her I lay it much to heart her
neglect of her cast off Brother, and believe me to be
Your affect. Kinsman and Friend,
Elias Ball.
We must remark that while the war was in prog-
ress, it might not have been very easy for a lieu-
tenant of cavalry in Horry's Brigade to consult, or
even to communicate with, a pronounced Tory; —
nor would it have been a very simple matter to
conduct the affairs of an estate from so distant a
point as England. And he seems ignorant of the
fact that John and John Coming Ball had been
legally appointed administrators, and were acting
as such, apparently with the will annexed.
Let John Ball speak for himself, however.
Kensington, S. Carolina, 27th Dec. 1786.
Sir,
Your scurrilous letter of the 27th August came
to hand a few days since — and in order to vindi-
cate my character of the aspersions which you have
so profusely bestowed — I will endeavor to convince
you of your error. The enclosed paper contains
the whole amount (by Appraisement) of such part
of Mrs. Judith Ball's estate as John Coming Ball
produced to the Appraisers. To convince you —
106
Miss Nelly — and the world that there was no fraud
intended, I have, since the receival of your letter,
offered Nelly to have the whole estate sold, pay her
the six thousand pounds and divide the remainder.
Now, Sir! I shall take the liberty of making some
comments on your character as an Executor — in
the first place I will leave it to the impartial World
whether or not an Executor ("not to mention one
who boasts the epithet of an elder Brother and of
fidelity to his ward, and so much laments for jus-
tice sake that fate had strip't him from her")
ought to give in to the heirs when of age a clear
state of his proceedings with an estate committed
to his care for upwards of sixteen years. — What
improvements or additions did you make to your
sister Jane's portion in this long space of time?
— surely in the manner she was brought up, her
income, though trifling, could not be expended in
Board &c. — No purchase of negroes was ever made
for her ; on the contrary, there was one of hers sold,
as I have been informed. — Pray was the expenses
for Coming so much less than for Jane, as to enable
you to purchase for him 1500 acres of land at 40/
per acre, without making the least purchase for
the other. — But by the bye you have not made
Titles to Coming for this land yet; which methinks
an honest man might have done seven years ago,
and before fate had strip't this worthy elder
Brother from the younger.
In your letter to Nelly you inform her that her
legacy of 100 1. per annum was never paid, — that
your legacy of 120 1. was likewise never paid, and
107
that you make it a present to her. Liberal Sir!
can't you make a present to your sister out of your
own purse, for be assured I will never pay six-
pence of your Legacy until you produce a clear
account of the monies you received for that Estate,
as I have reason to believe that you have embezzled
more than the amount of your Legacy. To my cer-
tain knowledge, Wershing the Butcher paid you
many guineas in the year 1781 for cattle belonging
to that Estate. — From Nelly's annual legacy hav-
ing never been paid, and from the very few receipts
which appear on your and the other bonds given
to Nelly by the heirs of my Uncle, it would appear
(if we were not too well acquainted with your lib-
erality) that you entirely maintained her from the
decease of her mother until fate had strip't you
from her — poor unfortunate Nelly, what must you
sustain from the loss of this bountiful elder Brother
and most faithful Guardian.
Good God ! is it possible that thirty odd negroes
could not pay their own expenses and these trifling
legacies in the course of seven or eight years —
Surely the best that can possibly be said for you
as an Executor will be to compare you to a parable
of the servant in the Gospel who had one talent
committed to his care, which he hid in the earth
and delivered again to his Lord on his return, with-
out improvement.
I must now point at those parts of your letter
which are repugnant to truth; you say "that from
your first marrying my Sister showed an Inclina-
tion to grasp at her Mother's Estate." I deny it,
108
Sir! I only wished for my wife's portion of that
Estate which was my due on the day of Marriage,
and might have been divided then (as it has been
since) without Nelly's losing anything by de-
preciated paper. — But you were pleased to keep
me from it as long as you could. — In your letter
you affirm that it was "The express words of the
Will that no other Executor was authorized to
qualify until I was dead or had refused to take the
administration on me," — what a glaring falsehood
is this — and how clandestinely did you act on the
occasion — for you must certainly know (if ever you
read the will) that my brother was left in equal
power with you, both as Executor and Guardian —
you recorded the will and qualified thereon without
ever informing him that he was mentioned. — You
further add that "No person had a right to trans-
act the business of that Estate but by a power
from me." — This point you may dispute with Mr.
Lining, Ordinary for Charleston District, who
granted Letters of Administration.
Towards the conclusion of your letter you seem
to threaten to return to this country to have justice
done to Nelly, now as matters remain just as they
were before you wrote, I hope you will come over
"to assist that poor child to her right," and answer
to the charges herein alleged against you. — You
may rest assured that you may come with all safety
under the treaty of Peace, more especially under
the Administration of the present Governor (Major
Pinckney) whose conduct hitherto has been such
against Mobs and riots as I believe will effectually
109
prevent there being any while he continues Chief
Magistrate.
After writing the most scurrilous letter that you
could well pen, you conclude yourself my Friend,
this I doubt as much as any other part of your
letter, and will leave you to judge from what I have
wrote whether I still remain your Friend or am
now become your Enemy.
Yrs. &c.
Jno. Ball.
After this reply, the family relations, for a time
at least, could hardly have been cordial; though
the correspondence with Elias of Limerick was still
kept up.
Time heals even domestic wounds, however, and
amicable relations were resumed between the Eng-
lish and American Balls. William James Ball,
son of the writer of this fiery epistle, stopped at
Bristol, on landing in England in 1805, inquired
for his uncle and paid him a visit at Frenchay.
Elias of Wanibaw's two sons-in-law, Moultrie and
Slater, were on very frienly terms with John Ball's
second son, Isaac, who, for his part, looked after
Moultrie's property on the Pee- Dee. Mrs. Moultrie
also kept up a friendly correspondence with him,
recommended her son to his care during a con-
templated visit to South Carolina, and gave him a
handsome watch-seal engraved with the family
coat-of-arms. This seal is now in the possession
of his great-grandson, John Ball.
ITO
Elias of Wambaw's eldest daughter, Catherine,
married her kinsman John Moultrie, the grandson
of Mrs. Ann Austin, and heir to Mr. Austin's estate
of Aston Hall. Besides Mrs. Moultrie, he had six
children, all but one of whom were born in Amer-
ica. Two of these were sons, and both died in early
childhood. The next daughter was named Lydia,
— we wonder if it was in compliment to his uncle's
wife, the mother of his stanch friend. She must
have thought well of him, as she made him one of
her executors. The correspondence with Elias
was kept up certainly until 1795, — and I do not
know whether it ceased when the debt was paid.
He now drops out of sight until the record of his
death in 1822, at the age of seventy-eight.
Wambaw Elias does not leave a pleasant impres-
sion on our minds. We cannot help picturing him
as a man over-bearing, selfish, arrogant, lavish
of sneers and criticism, and not over-considerate
of other people's feelings. Yet we are sen-
sible that there is another side to the character, —
one that reveals itself occasionally — in the constant
thought of the faithful old servants in a sort of
vague unexpressed yearning after the old familiar
places, in the injured feeling of the "cast-off
brother" whose sister does not notice him — and we
feel that perhaps much of the bitterness comes
from the heart of a defeated, disappointed, exiled
man who at the age of forty is set to begin life
anew, in a strange land.
in
PAPER ENCLOSED IN JOHN BALL'S LETTER.
Note. — Mrs. Ball's Will after some small lega-
cies leaves her Daughter Eleanor 6000, and the
rest of the Estate to be equally divided. — Query,
what is Miss Nelly's share of the estate.
Appraisement amounting to 2085. .12 Sterling.
7
Whole estate 14599.4 Currency.
Nelly's legacy 6000
To be divided between 3 1 8599. 4 Surplus.
the Three Heirs 2866.8 Each share.
Miss Nelly's full 6000
Share of
8866.8 the Estate.
To Amount of Miss Nelly's
lot of Negroes 677 Sterling.
7
To Amount Ditto's lot
Cattle 4739 Currency.
Reduced to Currency. ... . 127.8
To J. C. Ball and J. Ball's
Bond for 2000 Currency
Each 4000
Miss Nelly's share by
Division 8866.8
112
LIMERICK HOUSE IN 1900
i Taken from the back)
VIII.
ELIAS OF LIMERICK.
"OLD MAS' LIAS."
The eldest son of the second Elias Ball was called
Elias, and was born at Kensington April 10th,
1752.
We do not hear much of him for the first twenty
years of his life, except the little glimpse of him,
going in Mr. Bonneau's canoe, with his brother and
half-sister, to be inoculated for the small-pox. At
the age of twenty, we find him and his brother
Isaac, two years his junior, assisting their father in
the management of his planting interests. Isaac
seems to have had special charge of Limerick —
which was intended as his patrimony — and to have
had at least a great deal to do with the control
of the home place, Kensington. Elias man-
aged Comingtee and Strawberry, both of which
were to be his after his father's death.
Elias seems early to have realized the responsi-
bilities of life; and there is a certain tone of grav-
ity, almost sadness, about his letters, which seems
strange in so young a man. His letters to John are
full of elder-brotherly advice, given with an air of
authority. Indeed, his firmness and decision of
113
character show through them quite plainly. These
traits, coupled with reliability and judgment, must
have manifested themselves early in life, as Mrs.
Judith Ball, in her will, made him joint executor
and guardian, giving him equal powers with her
own stepson. He was then barely twenty years
old. Strength seems to have been linked with
kindness, in him; for he writes with expressions of
anxiety amounting to a personal feeling of solici-
tude about the ill negroes at Comingtee, where he
remained for some time to look after them. He was
much at Middleburgh during the illness of Mr. Ben.
Simons, his half-sister's husband; and at one time,
when he was most ill, was there day and night, for
a week. He seems to have been on terms of great
intimacy with the Simonses, as, indeed, was but
natural, as both his sister and half-sister had mar-
ried into the family. Keating Simons, the one near-
est him in age, appears to have been his special
friend.
He went to the North in 1770 — why, it is not
said — but it was doubtless on acount of his health,
as he seems to have suffered frequently from fever.
All through Elias's letters to John, in 1774 and
1775, he expresses himself as being very anxious
about Isaac's state of health ; indeed, he, more than
any one else, seems to have realized its serious con-
dition. In the summer of 1775, both Isaac and him-
self joined Capt. Job Marion's Company of infan-
try ; and Elias was elected first lieutenant, "against
my will," as he informs John ; adding that he would
be glad to get out of it if he could do so with honor.
114
In the same year, evidently (the date of the letter
is torn off), he was duly elected, in conjunction
with Gabriel and Job Marion, Maurice Simons,
James Ravenel and William Moultrie, Jr., to serve
in the House of Assembly. He was then but
twenty-three.
Accordingly, we find him in Charlestown in Sep-
tember, 1775. His lodgings being uncomfortable,
he went to stay with the Jamisons; Mrs. Jamison
had been a Miss Simons. When they moved into
the country in November, he offered them his fath-
er's assistance, and wrote to Isaac to send carts,
etc., to help in moving their goods from the boat.
In the same letter he asks Isaac to ride to Coming-
tee now and then with John, and look after affairs
there; and in his next, he thanks him for having
done so, and gives some further directions. But
Isaac could not long have attended to his brother's
business, as he died early in 1776. We do not know
if the end was sudden, or if Elias was able to be
with him at the last.
The "House" continued to sit for a long time,
and there are several letters from Elias during the
next two years, in which he speaks of being kept
there by business, though his presence was evidently
needed at home. In the beginning of 1777 there
was some difficulty in ousting a man named Harvey
from Strawberry. He had been duly notified to
leave at the end of the last year ; but the new year
had come in and Harvey still remained. Perhaps
he thought that when the young master's back was
turned, he could do as he pleased, having only an
n5
old man and a boy to deal with; but he reckoned
without his host. Elias wrote promptly up to
John, expressing his surprise at Harvey's conduct,
and requesting him to ask his father to go there
(and to go himself with him) and tell Harvey to
leave at once. If he refused, his father was to
"summon the carpenters and have enough of the
shingles stripped off to compel them to move out;"
but if he asked for two or three days' grace, he
could let him have it. Heroic measures, these, but
thev accord with the familv tradition that no one
could "trifle with Mas' Lias." Nearly all of his
letters contain news of the war to the northwards.
When the British troops and fleet appeared be-
fore Charlston in 1780, the Assembly broke up, dele-
gating its authority to Gov. John Rutledge and his
council, until ten days after the next meeting.
What now became of Elias Ball, I cannot say, as
there is no mention of him (in any letters that I
have seen) until the close of the war. But doubt-
less he had his share of marching and fighting.
It must have been a source of mortification and
distress when his cousin and intimate friend, Elias
of Wambaw, took sides with the British; but the
friendship he felt for him must have been peculiarly
strong, since it endured the tests of political disa-
greement, bitterness of speech and absence. When
the new House of Assemblv met in 1781 at the lit-
tie village of Jacksonboro' on the Edisto it passed
laws (in February, 1782), banishing the active
Tories and confiscating their estates. Elias prob-
n6
ably foresaw and forestalled their action, and pur-
chased his cousin's slaves at a high price.
When peace was declared, he went home and took
up the arduous task of restoring his neglected plan-
tations and bringing the demoralized slaves into
order. That the difficulties he had to encounter
were not small, appears from a letter to Elias of
YVambaw in which he refers to "The great expense
of bringing those people (from Wambaw) and the
heavy duty of 31. per head, and expenses with set-
tling my plantations almost anew, and plagued al-
most out of my life with the negroes not knowing
how to work or an unwillingness in them and run-
ning away." * * * This was the time that his
cousin chose to charge interest on the bonds for a
debt, voluntarily assumed out of simple friendship.
At one time he was so discouraged as to entertain
the idea of selling Comingtee. The seasons, too,
were unpropitious, and the water supply at Coming-
tee was unsatisfactory. To obviate the latter diffi-
culty, he proposed to his relatives, the two young
Harlestons who had recently bought Fishpond, to
mend the broken bank which had damned the creek
between the plantations, forming a reservoir suf-
ficient for both. I do not know what terms he
offered; the papers relating to this bank are lost,
and our information is derived only from the let-
ters which passed between the two Eliases. As the
Harlestons were slow in coming to terms, Elias Ball
very characteristically set about making reserves
of his own, banking in the low lands near the creek,
and securing the "leads" which passed through
117
Comingtee. It was a great undertaking, and in-
volved a vast amount of labor ; but he accomplished
it, and thus rendered himself practically independ-
ent of the Harlestons. Later, they agreed to his
terms, and the bank was made up. Then, owing to
a dry season, the reservoir remained empty until
near the end of July, when the rains set in. We
know already what became of the dam, and how
Elias absolutely refused to have anything more to
do with it.
From a letter of Wambaw Elias's, we learn that
Elias of Limerick was not on speaking terms with
his cousin, the gallant Major Isaac Harleston.
There is no clue to the cause of this quarrel, unless
on the principle that
"Lands intersected by a narrow frith
Abhor each other,"
and Major Harleston owned The Bluff, opposite
Strawberry Ferry. Consequently, one of the Ferry
"slips" was situated on his plantation.
At some period, either just before, or more prob-
ably after, his father's death, Elias took up his
abode at Limerick, which was henceforward his
home. He was the first — and for some time the
only — Old Bachelor in the Ball family. We know
absolutely nothing of his love affairs; in fact, we
only surmise that he had one experience of Cupid's
dart, from an expression in one of his letters to
Elias of Wambaw, in which he says that he hopes
to be married soon. But neither tradition nor let-
118
ters give us any hint as to the name of the lady.
Truly, he could not only speak to the purpose, but
be silent when need arose. And as for the lady —
whoever she was — she surely made here one of the
great mistakes of her life.
Comingtee affairs being settled, Strawberry be-
gan to give trouble. In October, 1791, his neighbor
at Rice Hope, Dr. William Read, entered suit
against him for some lots in the former town of
Childbury; lot No. 36, and the fourth part of the
other lots in the town. These, by the will of Wil-
liam Child, had been incorporated with Strawberry
Plantation, which he left to his sister Lydia. Elias
wrote to his brother John, desiring him to look into
the matter, as he himself was on the eve of leaving
for the Pee-Dee — with what object we do not know,
but it may have been connected with the property
aferwards owned by Moultrie. "I wish you to call
on Dr. Read," he writes, "and have a serious talk
with him on the matter for which he has entered
an action against me, for which purpose I have en-
closed the Deed I had shown you, and the right."
The sight of these papers seems to have satisfied
Dr. Road, as the following is endorsed on the writ.
"The suit commenced by virtue of this writ is
hereby postponed until farther inquiry can be
made in the business by the plaintiff.
William Read,
December 18th, 1791."
And we hear no more about it.
119
The next annoyance at Strawberry was on ac-
count of the Ferry. The Commissioners of Roads,
in the slimmer of 1801, refused to have anything
more to do with the slips at the Ferry, which for
many years they had kept in repair. Strawberry
Ferry was established by Act of Assembly in
1705 ; it then belonged to Mr. James Child. An ad-
ditional Act was passed in 1748, vesting all rights
in his granddaughter, Lydia Ball, for the term of
seven years, and stipulating that she should keep
the slips, as well as the ferry flat or boat, in proper
order. But for many years after this the Commis-
sioners had kept the slips in order, and had made
no objection to doing so; wherefore Elias Ball
claimed that they were under obligation to continue
the practice. His brother-in-law, John Bryan,
writes that he had had a talk on the subject
with Mr. Pringle (Hon. J. J. Pringle) and records
it as his opinion: that "from the great length of
time that the Commissioners have made and kept
the slips in repair, you have a very good right to
claim the privilege." Also, that if any of the Com-
missioners go to him (Mr. P.) for an opinion, "he
will give it as his that you have a right to claim the
rights of privilege, as it will appear from the differ-
ent Receipts and the Commissioners' books." I
am not certain how this controversy was settled, but
I think the Commissioners carried the day.
While on the subject of the Ferry, I cannot for-
bear referring to the old cypress board on which
the rates of ferriage were painted and the inscrip-
tion on which is now nearly illegible. It is mor-
120
tised into a tree on the Strawberry side, and is
partly overgrown by it. Indeed, the tree had over-
grown it in this way seventy-five years ago, — from
which we conclude that the sign board has been
there for several generations.
There was one more worry about Strawberry —
that we know of: While Elias Ball was away on
a tour to the North in 1806, one of the Childbury
lots, owned by Dr. Bolton, was offered for sale, and
Elias writes to his nephew, John Ball Jr., to buy
it for him, as he does not want either Dr. Read or
Dr. Fayssoux to get possession of it.
This tour, which was apparently for his health,
was undertaken in the summer of 1806, in company
with his nephew Isaac Ball. Judging from the
elder man's letters, they had a most enjoyable
time. He was not going over the ground for the
first time, and he seemed to find great pleasure in
reviving old memories, and in noting the changes
that had taken place in the interval. They went
by packet to Philadelphia, and travelled through
the country by coach, visiting the villages of Beth-
lehem and Nazareth. Thence they went to New
York ; then to Albany ; and extended the tour into
Canada. They returned by way of Boston and
Newport to Philadelphia. The last city does not
seem to have met with much favor in the eyes of
the elder traveller ; he finds it hot, and the lodgings
not very comfortable. From New York he writes:
"The onlv thinu that looks like when I was here
in the year 1770, is the ferry from the Hook to
town ; it is conducted just in the same way it was
121
then, but every thing else appears as strange as
though I had never seen it; it is, to be sure, a
great city, and a prodigious trade carried on. Phila-
delphia in several parts of it appeared as familiar
to me as if I had been there but a few years, and
I found it so at Bethlehem." * * * Of Boston he
says: "I like this city better than New York or
Philadelphia." He met there several friends from
Charleston, which doubtless added to his pleasant
impressions of the place. He goes on to say : "We
intend leaving it in a few days for Providence,
from thence to Newport, where I expect to meet
with a great many Carolina folks, and try whether
Old Townsend's lobster is unwholesome for supper.
From thence we shall be jogging on Southerly, and
try to pick up some good horses; but this I have
my doubts of. I find the very great run of stages
through these States destroy a great number of
Horses, which makes them scarce and dear. I
ordered a Jersey wagon made in the city of Phila-
delphia, with harness for four Horses, and hope to
set off from that place the 15th or 20th of October,
and arrive about that time at Limerick in Novem-
ber." He does not say whether "Nat (his servant)
and the baggage" travelled home with them, or
were sent home by the packet. His health does
not seem to have been very good at this time; and
his medical-student nephew — after the manner of
medical students — hints that his "Game leg" may
have been due to too high living.
These letters were addressed to his nephew, John
Ball Jr., who was at this time living at Comingtee,
122
where he had been settled by his uncle on his mar-
riage.
"Mas' Lias always maintaind the pleasantest and
most cordial relations with his three nephews, John,
William James, and Isaac, — corresponding regular-
ly with them when absent, and giving besides such
substantial proofs of affection as that mentioned
above. He died at Limerick, Jan. 2nd, 1810; but
according to his request, the funeral service, was
read in the passage-way at Coiningtee. He was
interred in the cemetery at Strawberry Chapel.
He willed his property to his brother, John Ball,
and his two nephews, John and Isaac, — William
James being dead. To his brother, he left his three
plantations on the western side of the Western
Branch, — Pimlico, Kecklico, and Mepshew (now I
believe, all comprised under the name of Pimlico) ;
with all the slaves employed upon them, and the
cattle, horses, sheep, hogs, stock of every kind,
plantation implements, vehicles, flats, boats, etc.,
belonging to the place. To John Ball Jr., he leaves
"my plantations on the T. of Cooper River called
Comingtee and Stoke, also my plantation called
Strawberry Ferry, and all my right, title, and in-
terest in and to the Ferry, also the vacant lots of
land annexed thereto;" — five tracts of pineland;
and the slaves attached to the plantations, with the
stock, vehicles, implements, etc. To Isaac Ball, he
gives Limerick Plantation, and a plantation or
tract of land called The Cypress; all the negroes,
and the stock, etc., on them; also his Household
goods of every description, — furniture, bedding,
123
household linen, books, carriages, etc., and all the
ready money in the house "(except a deposit by a
free Negro Man named Nat Weaver, who I have
employed as a Driver and Miller) ;" also his
schooner, the Strawberry, and the hands employed
on board of her. Then follow some special lega-
cies;— two families of negroes, and the pew in St.
Philip's Church, to John Ball Jr.; a life-estate in
his house and lot on East Bay St. to his sister
Lydia Bryan, reverting to her daughter Elizabeth
Ball, wife of John Ball Jr. ; two other lots in the
city to his nieces Caroline and Angeline Ball; a
tract of land on Watboo Creek, called Watboo
Landing, to his ward William Morgan; and $2,000
apiece to his two grand nephews, the Horts (grand-
children of his half-sister Catherine Simons).
This will was drawn in December, 1809, less than
a month before his death. His brother and his two
nephews were made residuary legatees. We cannot
help thinking that by the gift of Limerick and all
his personal belongings there, unreservedly, he
recognized in Isaac the representative of the one
whose name he bore.
Some months after his death, the executors car-
ried out an expressed wish of his, by making a deed
of gift to Biggin and Strawberry Churches in the
Parish of St. John's Berkeley, of "a plantation or
tract of land" of 63 acres, to be held by the Vestry
and Wardens in trust for the use of the Episcopal
minister in that Parish. The heirs, however, re-
served the right of fisheries and of digging marl
etc. ; and in case there should be no minister, or the
124
minister should not make use of the land then it
should be "to and for the use, benefit, and behoof of
those three and their heirs and assigns." The only
portrait of him is a companion picture to his brother
Isaac's, and was evidently taken about the same
time, — by Theus, who painted the portraits of Red-
Cap, the second Elias, and Ann Austin.
Elias Ball of Limerick was held in high esteem
by his fellow-parishioners. They erected a mural
tablet to his memory in Strawberry Chapel — a
mark of consideration which, so far as I know, has
been bestowed on no other layman of that parish.
We give it entire.
ELIAS BALL ESQUIRE.
Endeared to his friends
By his social qualities,
Entitled to the gratitude
Of
His fellow parishioners
By his constant, faithful
And valuable exertions
In their service
And by
His liberal benefactions
To their Church
Died
At Limerick in this parish
January 2nd A. D. 1810.
Aged 57 years.
125
The members of this Church
In testimony
Of the respect and affection
With which they cherish
His memory,
Have caused this tablet
To be erected.
Strong-willed, kind-hearted, clear-headed, reso-
lute, generous, affectionate, he was respected by all
classes, black and white alike. On his plantation
his word was law with all. He was a kind and
just master to his slaves, personally attentive to
them in illness, and always considerate of their
welfare and comfort. And it is safe to say that
they were strongly attached to him. During his
last Northern tour, he wrote to beg that "Maurice
Cooper and my people" might be notified of his
safe arrival; and before starting on his homeward
journey, hoped that either John or his father would
purchase his negro cloth for him ; but, as he did not
wish it distributed until he should come himself,
he asked his nephew to tell Maurice Cooper to have
the clothes of the new negroes mended, and any
others that might need it.
As an illustration of his undisputed sway, the
following anecdote has been handed down in the
family. There was to be a wedding one night in the
house of the overseer on one of his plantations.
The feast was ready, the company had assembled,
the minister and the groom were on hand ; but the
126
bride, at the last moment, turned recalcitrant, and
refused to be married at all. What was to be done?
— she would listen to neither coaxing, nor threats,
nor arguments. Fortunately, the Court of Final
Appeals, in the person of "Mas' Lias," happened to
be on the plantation. A few minutes after, the
master was interviewing a panting and breathless
negro boy; — "Mas' Lias, Miss Katy say she wun't
married!" — "Tell Miss Katy I say she Must mar-
ried!" Back sped the messenger in hot haste, —
and Miss Katy was married.
127
IX.
JOHN BALL OF KENSINGTON.
GOHN BALL, SENIOR.)
John Ball, known in the family as John Ball
Senior, was born at Kensington, July 10th, 1760.
We have already had pleasant glimpses of his boy-
ish days, through the letters of his father and
brother, and have seen how the active management
of Elias Sr's extended planting interests devolved
upon his shoulders at the age of sixteen. Nothing
develops a boy into a man so rapidly as responsi-
bility; and as John was already a manly and self-
reliant boy, it is no wonder that he speedily as-
sumed responsibilities of his own.
We find him in Philadelphia in August, 1777.
It is not very clear why he went there; but I sur-
mise, from a letter to his brother, that it was for a
change of air. The letter is dated August 21st,
1777.
"Dear Brother,
I just a day or two returned from Reading, a
pretty inland town in this state, 55 miles from this
city. Taarling and myself travelled together up
there, we are very uneasy here about the Fleet's go-
"128
JOHN BALL
Born July ioth, 1760 Died October 29th, 1817
ing to Charlestown, or at least it's surmised so.
If I hear certainly that they are there, I shall set
off (with intent to return) as soon as possible. I
never was so tired of a place as I am of Philadel-
phia, a Gentleman must spend a deal of money,
and has but little satisfaction for it either (at least
I have found it so). I wish with all my Heart I
was at Kensington now. In short, I repent al-
together coming here this year. I thank God I am
well over the small-pox, and had them extremely
favorable; so had Hammond (his servant) also.
* * * I am extremely well and hearty, and am not
now of an opinion that I shall soon go into a Con-
sumption.
Mr. Laurens hires two or three rooms in a House
and keeps his own Table. I staid with him whilst
I had the small-pox, but after I was well I thought
it not proper to be living at his expense when I
had money enough to support myself. I now lodge
at Dr. Bond's House. The Doctr.'s family is in the
countrv, and there is one Mrs. Davis that has the
house * * * the Dr. himself is a Lodger in his own
house. I think it is now high time I should hear
from you all, and most ardently wish to hear of you
and all my friends being well.
Aug. 25th
The Fleet has gone to Maryland, it is thought they
will land there and endeavour to march to Phila-
delphia or to Lancaster and destroy our stores that
is there. General Washington at the Head of His
Army march'd through this city yesterday, all in
129
great order, he and his army are gone towards the
Enemy. I believe I shall set off the last day of this
month or the first of next month, shall come in com-
pany with Major Deming, a Gentleman of Georgia
who was Aid-de-Camp to Lord Sterling.
We shall travel but slow, but I shall be Home
soon after this letter, if nothing happens extra-
ordinary. I think it will be much better for me to
be at home minding my Business than to be here
spending money at so great a Rate without any
satisfaction."
In the postscript he adds :
"I have not been any Farther to the norward
than this place, I believe I shall go up to Trenton
and Morristown and about there this week with
our friend Col. Taarling, and as soon as I return
here and rest a day or two, will set off for Home."
Two years after, at the age of nineteen, we find
him a lieutenant of cavalry in Screven's company,
Horry's Brigade. The cavalry in the days of '79
and 'SO led a stirring life, their field of action ex-
tending over nearly the whole sea-board, and espe-
cially along the roads leading from Charleston.
Consequently, the gallant young lieutenant had
many opportunities of visiting his relatives in the
neighboring parishes of St. James, Goosecreek, and
St. George's, Dorchester. Mrs. Richard Waring,
daughter of his uncle John Coming, lived in the
latter parish, at a plantation called Tranquil Hill;
and with her lived her half-sister Jane, — John's
junior by less than two years. What wonder that
130
the young officer was captured by a force far more
powerful than the British!
Notwithstanding the gloomy state of affairs in
1780, the young people were married. The wedding
took place at Tranquil Hill; but I do not know
whether the bride continued to reside there or not.
John could not have been much at home, unless he
were on parole, and not even a tradition to that
effect has been handed down to inform us on this
matter. With Charleston in the hands of the
British, and the whole surrounding country laid
open to their foraging parties, the only safe place
for a patriot soldier was in some impenetrable
swamp, whence parties could swoop down on the
enemy as occasion offered. But after the evacuation
of Charleston by the British in 1781, when the
supremacy of the Americans was restored, John
seems to have taken his wife back to Cooper Eiver;
for his father notes on a scrap of paper that two of
John's children were born at "Pumpkin Hill."
Pumpkin Hill, or Middleburgh, we remember, was
the home of John's half-sister Catherine Simons. It
was not very far from Hyde Park, across the river,
and he may well have left his young wife under his
sister's care when he was unavoidably absent.
The present house at Hyde Park was built by
John Ball, but I believe at a later period, as it
was intended as a place for a maroon of a few
days or weeks, rather than as a residence. He must
have been living at Kensington when it was built.
By the terms of her parents' wills, Jane was en-
titled to come into her property on her marriage;
131
but as we have seen, John complained that this
provision was not properly carried out by the ex-
ecutor. There is a memorandum of planting done
at Kensington by John Ball in the early part of
1780, but none after April. The memoranda be-
gin again in 1781.
John and Jane Ball had five children: — John,
Elias, Isaac, William James, and Edward; but
Elias and Edward died in boyhood.
There is an exquisitely painted miniature, by an
unknown artist, of Mrs. Jane Ball. It represents
a delicate-looking lady, whose thin face is framed
in a wealth of dark hair, which is surmounted by
a marvellous cap. This miniature was put away in
a drawer, and forgotten; and when it was found,
years after, no one could tell whose it was. But
it occurred to Mr. W. J. Ball that it might be
recognized by old Hetty, an aged woman at Lime-
rick, who had been a nurse in the family; so he
showed it to her. As soon as she saw it, she ex-
claimed, "That's Kin's'ton missis!" — meaning it
was the lady who had been the mistress at Ken-
sington when she was a girl — Mrs. Jane Ball. Mrs.
Jane Ball died of "long decline" in October, 1801,
and the next Julv the widower married Martha
Caroline Swinton. By this marriage there were
(including two sets of twins) eleven children,
seven of whom lived to maturity.
Of the latter part of John Ball Sr.'s life I know
but little, except that he prospered in his business.
He was a practical man, of good business parts;
and judging from the variety and minuteness of
132
2nd MRS. JOHN BALL, net- MARTHA CAROLINE SWINTON
Died September 14th, 1847
his accounts and memoranda, he must have given
close attention to every detail, a habit which is by
no means an unimportant factor in success. When
he died, he owned the plantations of Kensington
and Hyde Park, with large tracts of pineland ; Pim-
lico, Kecklico and Mepshew, White Hall, Midway,
Belle Isle plantation on the Santee Kiver, St. James
or the Saw-Mill tract, near Kensington; tracts of
land at Three Mile Head, the Marshland Farm, a
few miles above Charleston ; a large brick house in
the city, a lot of four or five acres near the New
Bridge, and a share of a lot which had been left by
Elias Ball to his daughter, Angeline. Each planta-
tion was stocked with negroes, and he seems to have
had a good number of cattle. He had also bonds,
and — I think — stock, and a considerable amount of
silver plate. He died in Charleston, October 29th,
1817, of bilious colic, — a malady to which he was
subject ; and was interred in the family cemetery at
Strawberry.
He was a man of sincere piety, — beloved and es-
teemed by his own family, and respected by his
neighbors. We cannot close this account of him
better than in the words of his daughter-in-law,
Mrs. Isaac Ball, one who knew him intimately, and
was eminently qualified to judge.
"This loss is felt most largely, he has left a numer-
ous family of small children to whom his domestic
turn of mind rendered him a peculiar blessing; be-
sides two sons who well know his value, a widow,
and numerous relatives who mourn his loss, be-
sides a number of domestics to whom he was a kind
133
and just master. But may we not truly say of him,
'Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for
the end of him is peace.' He was indeed the up-
right and true Christian; charity and benevolence,
combined with prudence, marked his character."
I know of but one portrait of John Ball Senior.
It represents just such a man as one would suppose
him to have been like — a stout, cheerful-looking
gentleman, whose face shows frankness and benevo-
lence, yet is not without a hint of quick temper.
134
JOHN BALL, JR.
Born September 12th, 1782 Died June 24th, 1834
A List of Stages on the Road from
New York To Charleston, as Trav-
elled by John Ball. Jr.. in Oct.
ana Nov., 1802, Mostly on ihe
Main Post Road.
"Miles from N. Y.
New Ark, A. Giffords.good house 0
Elizabethtowu 0
Bridgetown _ c
Woodbiidgc tolerable house
2ml X keys 4
New Brunswick, good, ju.-t ov sr
the bridge 10
Kiugston Vantilbury's good 15
Princeton, Gilford's 3
Trenton, Scon, city tavern, so-so 12
PENNSYLVANIA.
Bristol, Tombs, good 10
Frankford 15
Germ;«ntoTYTj,nicefield house good 5
Philadelphia 4
Blue I'.ell Tavern, good .., T
Chester. Anderson, good 8
DKLWVAKE.
Practical Farmers' Tavern, so-so 7
Wilmington *. 0
N'cwpost, Jesse Harris, good 3
Christiana Bridge, good C
MAKYUND.
Elkton, Richardson, good 12
Charlestowa JO
Havre de Grace, tolerable house.. G
H.irtfurd or Buotown. tolerable... 12
Well's Tavern, good for horses but
not man S
Baltimore, Feck's not so good as
it appears 16
Spurrier's Tavern, good 1-1
Boss' Tavern, good 18
Bladensburgh....' - , 3
Washington, Stell-'s hotel not ex-
traordinary C
Georgetown 3
Alexandria, Gadby's city tavern
excellent 8
Lolehester 16
Dumfries, good house '•>
Stafford Court House, prettygood 13
Frcdericksbnrgh, several houses. 12
Todil's, indifferent 10
Howling Green, good „ 12
White Chimneys, good lo
Uano\er Court House 10
Oaks, good 0
Richmond Eagle Tavern, indiffer-
ent 1G
Osborne's, good „ 15
I'etersburgb, Armstead's indiffer-
ent _ 10
Kirbv's. good _ 13
King's, bad 7
John Harris, good 10
Sholson's, Wallis, good 20
Drummond's, good S
Basses, bad '„ 5
NORTH CAROLINA.
Mosley's Ferry, Roanoke, no
hoi.se 7
Geo. Nicholson's, good 7
\\ arrenton, a very good house... 8
Mrs. Walker's, very good If
Booth's, said to be good 1
[.onrsburgh Hills, good :.... 14
Price's <j
Rogers, good house a
Rogers1 Bridge l
Raleigh. P. Casso, not very good II
Mark Myeth's, gooil 1G
Hogens, tolerable 8
Atkin's. very indifferent 5
Sprolie's Ferry. Cape Fear River,
no house 3
Payton's, very bad 13
Fayetteville. Col. Dekeiser's. very
K°od n
Consolles, a good house, 1802 1G
l.iunbeJton, Martin's, very good. IS
Row land's \j
SOUTH CAROLINA-
Watson's,* indifferent 11
Barrlield's AliUsy Little Peedee.
Fort fi
Squire Hodge's, indifferent 3
Rob Dunham, good but an old
Jacob' 11 s
Godboth, bad 16
Brittou'a Ferry, B.g Pee Dee, in-
different 7
Rlack Mingo, Mrs Robinson, very
bad : .... 1C
Potato Kerry, Black River 12
l.anueiiu's Ferry, San tee 14
Uuger's Bridge, Eastern Branch
Cooper liiver I.i
PUBLIC L!
TILL
X.
JOHN BALL'S CHILDREN AND GRAND
CHILDREN.
John Ball, Jr., the eldest child of John Ball,
was born Sept. 12th, 1782, at Pumpkin Hill, accord-
ing to his grandfather's memorandum. He received
a good education, finishing with a course at Harv-
ard or Yale. At one time he entertained the idea
of studying for the ministry, which his uncle Elias
does not seem to have approved. Possibly he
thought his nephew not altogether suited to this
vocation. His advice was, "Marry Betsey Bryan,
and I will settle you at Comingtee." If John Ball
had felt himself really called to the ministry, he
was not the man to have given it up. He must have
been merely thinking about it, for he took the ad-
vice about Betsey Bryan — doubtless not at all un-
willingly— and was duly settled at Comingtee.
This marriage with his cousin Elizabeth Bryan
— daughter of Lydia — took place in 1804. They
had five children — Elias, Lydia Jane, Elizabeth
Brjan, Eleanor Simons, and John Coming. It
seems to have been a happy marriage, though their
married life was a short one. She died of apoplexy
in September, 1812, scarcely a fortnight after little
John Coming's birth.
135
Not quite two years after her husband married
Mrs. Ann Simons, widow of Thomas Simons, and
daughter of the Keating Simons who had been his
uncle Elias's friend, and who was now the husband
of his aunt Eleanor — the Miss Nelly of our former
acquaintance. By this marriage there were three
children — Ann, Keating Simons, and Judith Bois-
seau. The last died at the age of three.
Under his father's will John Ball was left an
executor and the guardian of his half brothers and
sisters, the eldest of whom was but eleven, and the
youngest a posthumous child, who, however, lived
but a year. This onerous trust he fulfilled faith-
fully and well, managing the estate with great
judgment, so that the heirs, as they came of age,
possessed a considerable amount of property.
He was a man of exemplary character and of
deep religious feeling. Upright, firm, and just, but
also kind and generous, he was alike esteemed by
his neighbors and beloved by his friends. He died
of country fever, contracted at Comingtee, in June,
1834. His widow was gifted with administrative
ability almost equal to his own. Against the ad-
vice of some of her friends, she kept the planta-
tion, and with the assistance of competent over-
lookers, managed it with success. She also died
of a like disease, in June, 1840.
Isaac Ball, the second son, was born in 1785.
As we saw, he came into possession of Limerick
on his uncle's death. At that time he was living
at Midway, an inland rice plantation a few miles
from Limerick. A few months after his uncle's
136
ISAAC BALL
Born September 6th, 1785 Died December 2nd, 1825
death, in November, 1810, he married his cousin
Eliza Catherine Poyas, a grand-daughter of John
Coming Ball's daughter Elizabeth. They settled
at Limerick, and lived a happy and useful life there
for fifteen years.
For several years there were no children, and
they adopted a little nephew of Mrs. Ball — James
Poyas — whom they brought up as their own child.
Nearly eight years after their marriage, a son was
born, then a daughter, then three more children —
William James, Jane and John. The two elder
children died in the same year, 1824, aged six and
four, respectively. And the crushing blow of the
husband's and father's death followed in 1825.
The widow continued to reside at Limerick dur-
ing the winter season, spending the summers in
the city. The plantations had now become so sickly
for the whites in the hot months, that the planters
generally moved their families to the city during
the summer, occasionally visiting the plantations
themselves to look after their business. Thence
came many cases of country fever, and the loss of
valuable lives. Mrs. E. C. Ball lived to see these
children grow up and marry, and to survive one
of them. She saw her elder grandchildren, too,
grow to man's estate, and come in comparative
safety through the dangers of war; and she died
at Limerick, April 1st, 1865, beloved, and in an
honored old age. She was a woman of deep and
unaffected piety, and a blessing to all who sur-
rounded her.
The patriarchal life at Limerick — the hospitable
137
mansion full of happy guests ; the negroes, scarcely
considered as slaves, but rather as dependents at-
tached to the family (a feeling which they fully
shared) ; the domestic servants present at family
prayers; the religious instruction given on Sun-
days to the other negroes; the constant care of the
sick and aged, all these have passed away. Only
the memory of this household life remains, deeply
imbedded in the hearts of those who witnessed it.
It is related as a proof of the attachment of Mr.
Isaac Ball's slaves that on one occasion, on his
return from a long journey, they actually took him
from the carriage and carried him home on their
shoulders.
William James Ball, son of John Ball, was
next in age to Isaac. He went to Edinburgh to
study medicine in 1804, graduated in September,
1808, and went to London to pursue his studies in
the great hospitals there. But soon after his ar-
rival in that city he developed a case of quick con-
sumption, the seeds of which had evidently been in
his system for several months. His physician or-
dered him to the Island of Madeira, the voyage
home being considered too much for him in his weak
state of health. He died and was buried in that
island, in December, 1S08.
Only seven of John Ball's children by the second
marriage lived to grow up, and all of them married.
Caroline Olivia, the eldest, married, at the age
of seventeen, her relative, John Laurens. She died
in 1828, when only twenty-three, leaving two chil-
dren— John and Caroline Laurens.
138
ELIZA CATHARINE BALL, nee POYAS
Mrs. Isaac Ball Died April ist, 1867
The next, Alwyn, was the eldest son by this
marriage. He married, very early in life, Esther
McClellan, and had five children, three of whom
lived to grow up — Martha Caroline, Isaac, and
Alwyn. Mr. Alwyn Ball lived at Elwood, a plan-
tation a little above Comingtee. I have heard my
uncle, Col. K. S. Ball, speak of him often. He saw
a good deal of this young uncle, and liked him very
much. Mr. Alwyn Ball had a passion for hunting;
he had also a gift for music, and was a fine per-
former on the violin. Col. Ball often spoke of the
beautiful "touch" which made his playing some-
thing not to be forgotten ; he was not musical him-
self, but the memory of his uncle's playing re-
mained unfaded after the lapse of many years. He
described him as a handsome man, not very tall,
and with delightful manners. Mr. Alwyn Ball built
the house in Cordesville (the summer Pineland vil-
lage), which was afterwards purchased by his
nephew, K. S. Ball. It was a quaint-looking build-
ing, with an enormous shed which covered the wide
piazza as well as the house, and gave it somewhat
the appearance of an East Indian bungalow.
Mr. Alwyn Ball died in Charleston, in the sum-
mer of 1835, before he had quite completed his
twenty-eighth year. The house in which he died
was situated on a part of the lot now occupied by
the St. Francis Xavier Infirmary, and I believe is
still in existence. He was buried in the family
cemetery at Strawberry, the remains being taken
up by boat. Col. Ball has often described the
funeral procession, as it wound its slow way along
139
the streets to the wharf. First went the hearse,
and behind it walked Josh, his faithful servant
and huntsman, leading his master's hunting horse,
saddled and bridled. With them were his favorite
dogs, two couple of deer-hounds. The elder couple
seemed to realize the state of affairs, for they kept
near the coffin from the first, following quietly,
close beneath the hearse, while the younger ones
strayed around a little, as dogs will do. Then came
the carriages with the mourners and friends. When
the coffin was placed on its trestles on the bow of
the boat, the dogs seemed to feel that they must
guard it, and all the way up the river, one or other
of them lay curled up directly under the coffin — if
one dog moved away, another immediately took its
place. When the coffin was being lowered into the
grave, Josh carried out his last directions by sound-
ing a long blast on his hunting-horn; which, if I
remember rightly, was then thrown into the grave.
Mrs. Alwvn Ball afterwards married Mr. Ed-
ward Gamage.
The next was Hugh Swinton Ball, born in
1808. He married Miss Anna Channing, daughter
of Walter Channing, of Boston. They had several
children, all of whom died very young. His wife
and himself both perished in the wreck of the
steamer Pulaski, on their wav from New York to
Charleston. The boilers exploded on the night of
the 14th of June, 1838; the vessel was blown to
pieces, and many of the passengers were lost. Soon
after their death, a lawsuit, which lasted several
years, arose about the property. As the survivor
140
ALWYN BALL
1807-1835
was to inherit the bulk of it, the question was,
which one was the survivor — a question not easily
decided after a scene of such confusion and terror.
The court finally decided in favor of the plaintiffs
— Mrs. Ball's family — the evidence (as I have
heard) showing that Mrs. Ball's voice had been
heard in the darkness calling for Mr. Ball ; and the
presumption was, that, had he been living at the
time, he would have answered her. By this de-
cision, not only his wife's property, which was con-
siderable, but more than half of his own, went to
the plaintiffs. His intention had been to leave his
plantation, Pimlico, to his nephew, Elias Nonus
Ball, son of his brother Elias Octavus; but the
plantation and negroes had to be sold for division.
His nephew, however, found himself in possession
of a very comfortable property on coming of age.
Elias Octavus Ball, the next in age, was born
in 1809. He married Amelia Waring, daughter of
Dr. Edmund Thomas Waring. They had four chil-
dren, all of whom lived to grow up. He, too, died
as a comparatively young man.
Next came Susanna Splatt Ball, who married
Mr. William E. Haskel, and died in the thirty-first
year of her age, leaving six children.
Eliza Lucilla Ball came next. She married
Robert Dewar Simons, who died soon after. There
were no children. She survived him several years,
dying in 1849.
The last was Lydia Catherine, who married Mr.
Thomas Waring, a brother of Mrs. E. O. Ball's.
They had twelve children, eight of whom died un-
141
der the age of eight years, and most of thein in
infancy. She died in 1858, aged forty- two.
JOHN BALL'S GRANDCHILDREN.
Of John Ball, Jr.'s children by the first mar-
riage, Elizabeth (Betsey, as she was called) and
Eleanor died young. The latter lived with Mr.
and Mrs. Keating Simons — "Miss Nelly" being the
one for whom she was named. She seems to have
been a very attractive child.
Elias, the eldest son was the second Dr. Ball in
the family. He studied in the Charleston Medical
College and entered upon the practice of his pro-
fession ; but he died too early to have made any
mark as a physician. He married Catherine Cordes
Dawson, and left one daughter, Elizabeth Carolina,
who married Capt. Edmund T. Shubrick.
Lydia Jane married Francis Malbone Waring,
another brother of Mrs. E. O. Ball's, and died in
her thirty-fourth year, leaving three children, one
of whom died in boyhood.
John Coming, the youngest child by the first
marriage, lived at Strawberry Ferry, and died in
the late spring of 1845. He never married.
Ann, the eldest of the second wife's surviving
children, married Dr. Elias Horry Deas, and died
in Cordesville, of consumption, in her forty-fifth
year. She left two children, a son and a daughter.
Keating Simons Ball, the other surviving child,
and the second old bachelor in the family, lived to
the age of seventy-three — being one of the few Balls
142
h
'
MRS. ALWYN BALL
(Esther McClellan)
who have passed the limit of three-score and ten.
He was the owner of Comingtee, where all his life
was passed, except that part of it spent in acquir-
ing his education; and he is so identified with the
place, that it scarcely seems as if its history would
be complete without a brief sketch of his life and
character.
He was born Feb. 24th, 1818, and was always
a delicate child, suffering from severe illnesses.,
both in childhood and youth. Indeed, at no time
of his life could he have been said to enjoy perfect
health. He was educated at the Charleston College ;
studied medicine in the office of Dr. B. B. Simons,
the leading physician in the city, and then at-
tended the Charleston Medical College. He only
took one course of lectures, and then left to assume
charge of the plantation, without completing his
medical education, a step which he often regretted
in after life. He was devotedly attached to his
chosen profession, and to the end of his life gave
freely and gladly of his time and knowledge to
those who sought his help, and were too poor to pay
for medical attendance.
After his mother's death, in 1840, he lived en-
tirely in the country, spending most of the sum-
mer months in the village of Cordesville, and the
rest of the year at Comingtee. Twice at least, be-
tween this time and 1860, he suffered so severely
from chill and fever that his health was almost en-
tirely broken up; and he was, besides, once on the
verge of death from congestive fever. Visits to the
Virginia Springs restored his health in great meas-
143
ure, though he always continued to suffer from at-
tacks of chill and fever. He was for some time a
Lieutenant Colonel in the Militia, and fulfilled the
duties of the position faithfully. His health did
not admit of his going into active service during
the Confederate War; but he joined a company for
local defence, called the Etiwan Rangers.
In 1866, when Gen. Potter's army passed through
the country (an event from which the negroes still
date occurrences, under the title of "When de Union
come troo" ) , the house at Comingtee escaped being
pillaged and burnt by negroes and camp-followers
— as so many other houses were — by its being near
headquarters and by its being visited by several
of the officers, who, meeting with a courtesy which
was unfailing to friend or foe, gave a paper of
protection. The following summer, when the small
pox was raging among the negroes from one end
of the parish to the other, and there was no physi
cian to call in, Col. Ball attended the sick unwear
ingly, often driving miles to visit them, and never
shrinking from exposing himself to the most pesti-
lential atmosphere.
At the end of this war, as at the end of the Revo
lution, life had to be taken up anew, but under
very different circumstances. The labor was not
only demoralized but utterly irresponsible, and
apparently unable to realize the necessity of self-
support. Under these conditions Col. Ball strug-
gled along as best he could, having additionally to
contend with infirm health, advancing years, and
sight that was already beginning to fail; and last,
144
ELIZA LUCILLA BALL
Mrs. Robt. Dewar Simons
Born August 13th, 1814 Died November lot, 1849
but by no means least, with a plantation that,
owing to unpropitious seasons, was heavily en-
cumbered with debt. He did not succeed in the
planting, and finally rented out the plantation to
Mr. J. C. Porcher, through whose courtesy he re-
tained a home in that part of the house which had
been added by his father. (The original lessees
were Messrs. Heyward and Porcher, but the former
withdrew in a few years.)
Another severe illness — blood-poisoning, con-
tracted from a carbuncle which he was dressing
for a patient — resulted in the stiffening of the
fingers of his right hand, and a still more enfeebled
state of health. Two years before his death he lost
his sight almost entirely, an affliction which he felt
deeply but which he bore with Christian cheerful-
ness and courage. From that time his health failed
rapidly, and after months of intense suffering,
borne with patience and fortitude, he passed to his
rest and reward on the 20th September, 1891, at
his house in Cordesville. He, too, sleeps with his
fathers in Strawberry Cemetery.
Col. Ball served as a magistrate both before and
after the war, until the institution of Trial Jus-
tices; and was at different times Warden, Vestry-
man, and Chairman of the Vestry, in his Parish —
positions which he filled with diligent conscien-
tiousness.
Of a most affectionate disposition, devoted to his
relatives, loyal to his friends, kind-hearted, open-
handed, unselfish, the soul of hospitality, and gen-
erous almost to a fault, the ever ready and sympa-
145
thetic nurse and helper in sickness and trouble,
he will live in the memories of all who have ever
known him.
The eldest surviving child of Isaac Ball was
William James Ball, who succeeded his father
at Limerick upon coming of age. He married quite
early in life. His first wife was Julia Cart, a lady
whose charm of manner was equal to her beauty
of face. They were, indeed, a singularly handsome
young couple — as their portraits testify. Limerick,
like Comingtee, kept its hospitable doors always
open, and guests were as welcome in the busy,
happy household as at the bachelor's solitary fire-
side. There were five children, the youngest of
whom died in infancy. Mrs. Julia Ball died in the
summer of 1858, after some years of ill-health, and
was interred at Strawberry.
Near the close of the war Mr. Ball married his
cousin, Mary Huger Gibbs. They continued to live
at Limerick, making their summer home in Cordes-
ville.
Until the war, Mr. Ball had been a prosperous
planter ; but with changed conditions came changed
circumstances and as one industry after another
failed, his means became more and more straitened.
But he bore his reverses with dignity and cheerful-
ness, and his doors were as wide open as ever, with
that truest ideal of hospitality, which welcomes
guests into the family life, confident that they "seek
not yours, but you."
With the summer of 1890 came a marked and
rapid decline in his health, and after long suffer-
146
HUGH SWINTON BALL
Born October 18th, 1808 Drowned June 14th, 1838
ings, borne with Christian patience, he "fell asleep"
on the 26th of April, 1891, aged 70.
Mr. William J. Ball was a sincere Christian and
devoted Churchman. Like his cousin, K. S. Ball,
he was at different times and for many years vestry-
man, warden, and chairman of the vestry. Every
summer, for twenty-five years, from the close of the
war till his health failed utterly, he held regular lay
services in the Cordesville chapel on alternate Sun-
days— as the rector divided his time between the
summer villages of Cordesville and The Barrows.
He was a remarkably fine reader and conducted the
service with the utmost thoroughness, dignity and
earnestness — three qualities which he carried into
all church and parish matters, as well as into daily
life. He was a man of cultured taste and marked
individuality, and was always a prominent figure
in the parish. Like the patriarchs of old, he "dwelt
in the midst of his brethren," nearly all of the fami-
lies in Cordesville being related to him, and at least
half of the inhabitants being his children and
grandchildren. He was ever a most loyal friend
and affectionate relative, and no man held more
firmly the esteem and respect of his neighbors. Not
soon will the presence and influence of this Chris-
tian gentleman be forgotten ; and sorely has he been
missed in the parish, as well as in the homes of his
many friends and kinsfolk.
Isaac Ball's only daughter, Jane, married John
G. Shoolbred, who lived but a few months. She
had one son, who has passed away before her.
Honored and beloved, she still lives.
147
John, the youngest son, was the owner of Hyde
Park and married his cousin, Maria Louisa Gibbs.
He died of country fever in 1852, at the early age
of twenty-six — beloved by all, and leaving behind a
beautiful memory to the widow and son who sur-
vive him.
Taking up the descendants of the second mar-
riage: Alwyn Ball left three children. The only
daughter, Martha Caroline, married Mr. Bulow,
who died a few years after, leaving two boys.
Isaac, the elder son, married Miss Caroline Rut-
ledge and lived in Charleston. He died compara-
tively young, leaving a son and a daughter.
Alwyn, the younger son, married Miss Alicia S.
Butler of Dublin, Ireland, and settled at the North.
He had one daughter and five sons — one of whom,
Alwyn Ball, Jr., owns Comingtee and resides at
Rutherford, N. J.
Elias O. Ball's four children all grew up and
married. Amelia, married Dr. Hugh Rutledge.
Elias Nonus, as we have seen, inherited a fortune
from his uncle, H. S. Ball. On coming of age he
bought Dean Hall plantation, nearly opposite Com-
ingtee, where he planted until the war began; he
then went into the army. Just about the beginning
of the war he married Miss Odenheimer, daughter
of the Bishop of New Jersey. After the general
break-up in 1865 he moved to Pennsylvania, where
he died in 1872. A son and a daughter survived
him. The son has since died.
Sophia Malbone married William H. Odenhei-
mer, who had come South and held a position in the
148
MRS. WM. E. HASKELL, n:i- SUSANNAH S. BALL
Married March 4th, 1828
Born December 2nd, 1810 Died June 23rd, 1841
Confederate navy. They had one son. Lieut. Oden-
heimer was ordered to report on board a vessel in
English waters and ran the blockade from Charles-
ton in the little steamer Juno. The fate of the
Juno was never known; she was not heard of again,
and it was supposed that she foundered at sea.
Mrs. Haskell left seven children : Olivia, who p^f
married Win. L. Venning; Charlotte, wTho mar-
ried Benj. B. Simons; M. Caroline, who married
B. Gaillard Pinckney; E. Lucilla, who married
Hutson Lee; Lydia Catherine, who has remained
single; and William E., who married Emma Hay-
ward.
Only four chidren survived Mrs. Waring — Lydia
Catherine, who is single; Thomas Malbone, who
married Fanny Simons ; and Angeline and Susan,
both of whom died in early womanhood. Angeline
had joined an Episcopal sisterhood and died in
Mobile, Alabama.
149
XI.
COMINGTEE FIFTY OR SIXTY YEARS
AGO.
Time workes changes everywhere; but the trans-
formation wrought at Comingtee during the latter
half of the last century was so great that one who
had known it only in its palmier days might well
have failed to recognize it at present. Perhaps the
best way to realize how great the difference is,
would be to present a sketch of the plantation as it
was in the forties and fifties.
Approaching it by steamer, the first thing that
struck the eye was its extreme neatness and orderli-
ness. The thresher, the barn, the wooden story of
the brick pounding-mill, the Stoke negro houses,
were all white, with red doors and windows. A trim
schooner lay at the threshing-mill wharf — her
usual berth — or was perhaps taking in a load from
the pounding-mill, where the busy pestles kept
rising and falling; while the clink of hammers re-
sounded from the "cooper-shop'' behind the mill,
where all the barrels were made. The steamboat
wharf was here by the pounding-mill, and the mill-
yard was shaded by several fine live oaks, one or two
of which drooped over the water.
150
BRICK POUNDING MILL AT COMINGTEE
Proceeding up the road towards the dwelling-
house, we first notice, on the left, some low ground
leading down to the mill-pond, with two pretty
oaks beyond. This is "Cuffee's Dam." "Missis'
Groun' •" lay to the right. A little further on we
come to the "Robintation Tree," a tall and once ex-
tremely handsome live-oak standing on the edge of
the right-hand side of the road. The great bough on
the east was cut down by the negroes about thirty
years ago to get the honey from a hive of wild bees
that had unfortunately setted in it; but the other
half remained "a thing of beauty" until the great
storm of 1893 robbed it of its last claim to special
attractiveness. The "Robintation," we must ex-
plain, was a ghost of a style peculiar, apparently,
to the Ball negroes or the Ball habitat, as the only
similar one that I ever heard of haunted the road
near Kensington and was known as the "Sonieting
in KinVton Path." The Robintation appeared
first as a small animal, like a cat or a dog crossing
the road at this point ; it grew, as you looked, into
something as large as a hog; and then into some-
thing as large as a calf. What it became after that
no one could ever tell — for no one ever stopped
long enough to see.
Opposite the Robintation Tree, at some little dis-
tance, is the negro burying ground, a grove of tall
hickories, white oaks, etc. Shade and silence reign
there, and under the carpet of fallen leaves lie gen-
eration upon generation of a simple people, who
were, in the main and according to their lights,
faithful and attached to their masters.
151
Here and there on this side of the road were
some fine live oaks, only a few of which are left.
One large and apparently very old tree still stands
on the side of the road not far from the site of the
old corn-house; another one farther down, and
nearly as fine, was destroyed by fire about twenty
years ago. On the other side the open cornfield
was dotted with occasional live oaks, all of which
have long since disappeared.
The corn-house and the Comingtee barn were
still standing and in use in those days. In the corn-
house the provisions of corn and rice and peas were
stored. Some, at least, of the Comingtee rice crop
was brought to this barn and threshed there by
flail, before steam threshers were known.
The wagon road from Stoke entered the avenue
opposite the big sycamores, as it still does; but
there was a "short path" up to the house through
the orchard. Just inside the orchard, at this lower
end, were two large poultry houses where the tur-
keys, fowls and guinea fowls lived; and near by
was a tiny pond, which, the children were always
warned, was "very deep."
Mounting the slope to the yard, you entered the
latter behind a cabin of two rooms, with a chimney
in the middle. I cannot say what was the original
purpose of this house, but I always knew the south-
ern half of it as the wash kitchen, and the other
part as the shot-house. In the latter were kept the
shot and powder used on the plantation — of which
the bird-minders alone required no little quantity;
and there were two great chests, one of which, tra
152
WM. JAMES BALL
Born October 14th, 1821 Died April 26th, 1891
dition says, was Capt. Coming's sea chest. It is
probable that the hoes, axes, etc., for plantation
use were also kept here.
On the north edge of the road was a shallow cir-
cular pond, called the Bee-house pond ; the beehives
stood under a shed on the opposite side of it. On
the yard side of the pond was "Daddy Surrey's"
house, a double negro house, part of which was the
residence of an old negro, one of those faithful,
honest servants who were trusted and honored by
the family through a long life. On this north side
of the yard was a motley collection of buildings.
Here stood the detached brick oven, called into
requisition when the house was full of guests; here
was the "carpenter's shop ;" and here the fattening
coop and the pigeon house, substantial structures
of no small size.
On the top of the slope, and quite near the dwell-
ing-house, stood the two-story kitchen, containing
four large rooms with great, yawning fire-places,
and having a brick-floored piazza in front. The
western room was the kitchen, in which a smaller
brick oven was built into the side of the chimney.
It was from this room, doubtless, that Plenty, the
cook, would send out one of the kitchen boys to race
round the building holding the roast pig aloft on
the spit, so that the cold air might give it just tho
proper degree of crispness. The corresponding
room was the "sausago room ;" and it presented a
busy scene in hog-killing time. On the long table
that ran down the length of the room lay piles of
red and white pork readv for the chopping blocks,
153
of which there were two or three — solid sections of
live oak, on which the cleavers of the men servants
fell almost as regularly as the pestles in the mill.
There, too, were great oblong trays of chopped
meat, into which Mamn Mary Ann and Maum
Maria, with possibly a junior helper or two, were
kneading the pepper and salt, while in the frying-
pan in the depths of the chimney, bits of the mixture
were sizzling to test the seasoning. Here, too, were
the big balance scales in which the meat was
weighed, and the smaller scales by means of which
the proportion of pepper and salt was meted out.
The room above this was called "Possum Hall" ;
it was roughly fitted up as a bedroom in which the
boys of the family could be quartered when the
house overflowed with guests. And surely never
was there a jollier place of exile. Over the kitchen
was the "Mangleroom." It contained little besides
the mangle through which the house linen and table
linen was passed instead of being ironed.
On the eastern side the knoll sloped suddenly
down to the large pond, which was oblong, and
embraced two small islands, with a live oak and
some cedars growing on each. The pond was
bordered by large cedars and weeping-willows. On
the bit of level land between the pond and the
slope, stood the meathouse, the dairy, and the
smokehouse. In the first the cured bacon was
hung on hooks in the ceilingbeams; and in the
last, the bacon and hams were smoked previous to
bagging and hanging. On the crest of the hill and
on the way leading to the creek and the reserves,
i54
MRS. WM. J BALL, neC- JULIA CART
Born November 20th, 1823 Died July 12th, 1858
stood another "double house," half of which was
the Blacksmith's Shop, and the other half his resi-
dence.
On the top of the hill at the south was a large
stable with a hayloft above, and a shed for the
mules on one side. In front of it was a long, nar-
row building called the cart-house; and behind it
was yet another "double house," where the man in
charge of the stable lived. The carriage house was
at the foot of the hill on this side. Between it and
the stable were a large pecan tree and a beech ; and
at the corner of the yard beyond it was a little gate
with pointed posts, leading to the fields. The south-
ern side of the yard was bounded by the garden and
orchard fence. Half-way down the slope, between
the house and the dairy, was a row of great trees,
white oak, walnut, hickory and pig-nut.
We have already alluded to the avenue proper,
which led to the public road along the western
branch. Part of this, next the yard, is still bor-
dered by fine old sycamores ; but a still longer space
on the other side, after passing the sick-house
(which also has been already alluded to) was once
bordered by goodly cedars — most of which have
passed into the making of fence posts. At the Rice
Hope line there used to be an ornamental white
gate, where some ghost was supposed to dwell;
horses almost always shied in passing it, even those
belonging to the place. They kept up the practice
after the gate was down, and have been observed to
prick up their ears and look uneasy long after every
vestige of gate and fence had disappeared. The
*55
rest of the avenue has right of way through the Rice
Hope fields. The other fork, or So'boy Avenue, led
over a bridge and causeway across the reserve to
the river road along the eastern branch. At the
top of the little clay hill beyond the reserve was a
gate, called the So'boy Gate.
In those days the Comingtee house consisted of
two parts — the colonial brick dwelling called the
"Old House" and the modern wooden addition
known as the "New House."
It is needless to go again into the question of who
built the Old House; we content ourselves with
glancing at the ouside and then at the inside to see
the arrangement of the rooms and furniture. The
house fronts the west and a continuous piazza ran
from the northern gable of the Old House to the
eastern gable of the New. Against the wall were
long wooden benches, painted blue. Those on the
Old House piazza — for things never changed their
places at Comingtee — were evidently of oak and
showed by their style that they were genuine an-
tiques. In front of the house still stands a large
live oak, whose branches, unless often trimmed,
covered the piazza shed.
A marked peculiarity of the Old House was the
irregular size of the windows. The east and west
windows were all of normal size, but those in the
south gable on the first floor were much larger,
while those in the closet above were very narrow,
and the garret window in each gable was really
tiny. Mounting the brown stone steps, and entering
the double-leaved front door, we come into the hall
156
JOHN BALL
Born September i, 1825 Died July nth, 1852
way, or "entry." Opposite was the staircase, and
under the landing the back door — wide enough, but
necessarily so low as to compel a tall man to stoop.
Under the staircase another low door led to
the cellar. There were two rooms on this floor:
the southern, familiarly known as the "Old Hall,"
was divided from the entry by a partition of panel-
led wood against which hung most of the family
portraits. The floor was covered with much-worn
grey and white oil-cloth, over which the carpet was
spread in winter. This oil-cloth must have been
laid down for generations, for, when an attempt was
made to take it up, parts seemed almost incorpor-
ated with the flooring boards. The fire-place was of
cavernous size, and was furnished with large brass
andirons and fender, burnished and shining like
gold. The high wooden mantel-piece was very nar-
row, and had circular projections to accommodate
gilt and white china jars, kept full of fresh pine,
branches of which also hung from four hooks in
the ceiling. Two mirrors, with carved frames and
beveled edges, faced each other from the wall-spaces
between the east and west windows; plain wooden
book-shelves were fastened to the wall in one chim-
ney jamb and the tall old clock stood like a sent-
inal in a "catacornered" position in the southwest
angle of the other. The windows were strikingly,
and very gracefully, draped with heavy white cur-
tains, edged with ball-fringe: Never, elsewhere,
have I seen others so draped and arranged.
The furniture consisted of a mahogany centre-
table, two antique card tables — one under the book-
157
case and the other under the west mirror; a large
rocking chair; and heavy mahogany chairs with
carved backs. An inlaid and quite ornamental
piano stood against the partition; and, under the
other mirror, was a stuffed sofa made on the plan-
tation by "old Hackliss," (Hercules) an African
who had been taught the carpenter's trade. A
square seat ; also of plantation make, stood on each
side of the fire-place. (These, I believe, have dis-
appeared some years since.)
Before the New House was built, the old "butler"
doubtless occupied a place of honor in this room,
as it was the dining room.
Opposite was a room, apparently meant for a par-
lor, for the wall above the mantel-piece was elabor-
ately panelled in wood; but not within the memory
of man has it been used except as the best bed-
room. The bed was a stately structure with carved
mahogany posts, and hung with the characteristic
chintz curtains of former days whereon birds with
wonderful plumage were depicted, perched among
the branches of marvellous flowering trees. When
the curtains were drawn the bed was completely
shut in, like a square tent enclosed on all sides and
overhead.
On the second floor, were two bed-rooms, and a
third room much smaller, secured by taking in the
end of the passage-way with a wooden partition.
Both larger rooms had big fire-places ; and the chim-
ney jambs were made into light closets which part-
ly answered the purpose of dressing-rooms. The
garret also had three rooms, exactly corresponding
i53
JANE BALL
Married January 27th, 1842, to John G. Shoolbred
Born May 14th, 1823 Died February gth, 1905
to those on the second floor. It had never been
ceiled ; but the south room was sometimes used as a
bed-chamber. The north garret was for a long
period the wine-room, fitted up with capacious bot-
tle-racks, whereon many dozens of old Madeira
had ripened, through the years. Under the house
was a cellar of two rooms, and in the larger one a
huge fire-place.
The Old House, particularly the north room up-
stairs, had the reputation of being haunted. Strange
and unaccountable noises were often heard; but
no one, I believe, ever claimed to have seen any-
thing ghostly; except a negro girl, who, after the
war, averred that she frequently saw ladies and
gentlemen coming down the stairs and going out.
But, as according to her report they invariably van-
ished through the second story window, her testi-
mony was supposed to be of doubtful value, and
she was credited with a lively imagination.
159
XII.
PLANTATION INDUSTRIES AND OLD
SERVANTS.
Probably, one reason why planters made money
in former days is that so much was produced within
the plantation itself, nothing being bought that
could there be grown or made; hence the money
realized from the crop was clear gain, except what
was paid out for clothing and groceries. The large
quantities of corn, peas, and potatoes, planted on
the highland, nearly, if not quite, supplied the
year's provisions for the negroes. A number of
hogs were raised, and enough bacon cured to meet
the needs of the white family and sometimes in
part, also, those of the plantation. A herd of cat-
tle furnished milk and butter, and a well-stocked
poultry -yard, turkeys, ducks, geese, fowls, and eggs.
The feathers from the geese were made into pillows
and feather-beds ; and the wool from the sheep, into
most comfortable mattresses.
There were always skilled mechanics of various
kinds on the plantation. Besides the barrels for
the pounding-mill, the cooper's shop furnished cy-
press or cedar tubs, buckets, pails, and piggins, of
every size and sort ; so that a "bought bucket" was
rare. These were not only strong and serviceable,
but some were beautifully finished. The carpen-
160
ters could not only construct the flood-gates and
rice-field trunks, and build the negro houses, but
make the plantation wagons and carts, and do
work, requiring great neatness of finish. Very cred-
itable pieces of furniture were sometimes made
hj them. The wooden addition to the dwelling
house was built and completed, inside and out, by
these plantation carpenters ; — even as I have heard
to the window-sashes. The blacksmiths made and
mended what ever of wrought iron was used on the
place; and could do finer work on occasion; I have
been told that some of the iron-wire nursery fenders
in the house were of their making. Among these
mechanics was always to be found one, capable of
being miller to the pounding-mill, or engineer tc
the thresher; and the simpler repairs to the ma
chinery were done at home.
If a boy showed an aptitude for any branch of me-
chanics, he was put to learn in that "shop ;" and if
he developed a special gift, he was bound apprentice
to a master-mechanic in the city, and taught the
trade thoroughly. In general, if a boy had a native
'bent' for any special branch of service, he was
taught that; — if prompt and neat, he was "taken
into the house" and put under the butler for train
ing; — if fond of horses, he was employed about the
stable; — if he liked to run after the cattle, he was
made "cattle-minder's boy." And, if any girl show
ed an aptitude for any branch of domestic service/
she likewise was put in training; and in this way,
some were always being fitted to take the places of
others who were growing old and incapable.
161
Baskets were also made on the plantation, gen-
erally by some of the old men. Large round rush-
baskets sewed with oak, were much used in the mill
and barn-yard. There were also baskets for domes-
tic use; some round or oval, deep and with covers;
others shallow, without covers; and yet others
smaller, woven of grass and sewed with strips of
palmetto. Some of these were really tiny; and
some had "steeples," — i. e. a second and smaller
basket worked on the cover of the other, and having
a cover of its own.
The Ball negroes were always well fed, well
clothed, and well treated. Clothing was distribut-
ed twice a year, — cotton osnaburgs in summer, and
in winter thick "Welsh Plains,'' — called by the
negroes "white woolen." Six or seven yards was
the ordinary amount for adults; the children were
measured for their share. The cloth, held by one
end on the forehead, at the roots of the hair, passed
over the head and down the back until it touched
the ground at the heels; then doubled and cut off,
it gave ample measure. I have often myself seen
the process when a child. Blankets were given
every third year from the time of birth to the time
of death : — smaller ones to the children, and full-
sized to the adults. These were generally Duffield
blankets. Contracts with the overseer were drawn
up and signed by both planter and overseer, — de-
fining the latter's duties and privileges, and enjoin-
ing proper treatment of the negroes. (See Appen-
dix.)
162
OLD SERVANTS AT COMINGTEE.
It seems scarcely fair to close this memoir with-
out some reference to the faithful old negroes, iden-
tified with the place and the family, and who were
instrumental in rendering plantation life safe and
pleasant as it was.
On all of the Ball plantations, were certain
families of negroes who seemed above the average;
intelligent, faithful, trustworthy, and much at-
tached to their masters and their families, which
latter returned their devotion by the fullest
confidence, respect, and consideration. Some of
these people are rather shadowy to me, though very
real to those who told me of them ; while others are
equally real to myself. First comes the name of
"Jenny Buller," — frequently met with in the plan-
tation records of the second Elias Ball, and some-
times in Lydia Child's little memorandum-book.
Jenny must have had marked characteristics. In
the note-book it is stated that she was sent to a
physician "to be cured of a sore leg," and came
back. The result of this doctoring does not appear
to have been a "cure," for she ultimately lost the
leg and hobbled around on a wooden stump : — "do-
ing as much work as a man," as her great-grand-
daughter has often told me with pride. She had
manv children, some of whose descendants are still
living. The family, as a general rule, were proud
and high-tempered, but intelligent and trust-
163
worthy; and many of them were prominent about
the plantation and in the household.
Next comes the name of "Hackliss." Of him,
however, I know nothing, except that he was an
African by birth and a carpenter by trade. Some
of his work still speaks for him in an old sofa at
Comingtee.
"Old Marcus" and "Old Bristol" were both fine
carpenters. The former was small, and peppery-
tempered ; he kept a strap hanging up in the carpen-
ter's shop as a persuader for the benefit of his
apprentices, — and, incidentally, for any of the
plantation children who made a noise or disturbance
in the yard. It is even said that he did not hesitate
to order "the boys of the family" out of the shop
when they "pestered" him in his work.
"Old Bristol" had a general supervision of the
yard, especially during the owner's absence. He
had charge of the valuable or pet horses left in the
country in summer, doctored the sick ones, and had
an eye on things generally. Overseers might grum-
ble about him in their letters, but dared not inter-
fere. Indeed the master felt far more assured of
Bristol's reliability than of theirs.
"Old Violet" was another 'character' of those
days. She held the responsible position of planta-
tion nurse, and was unusually competent for its
duties, having received some instruction under a
physician. She knew what simple medicines to
give for various ailments and could weigh and meas-
ure them out. Her services were often in request
in the white families of the neighborhood.
164
Violet's son, 'Josey,' was the "body-servant" of
Col. K. S. Ball, and one, more faithful and devoted,
never lived. He played with his young master when
they were both boys ; and, as they grew up, became
his valet, huntsman, butler, and "right-hand-man"
in every way. He was a skilled and fearless rider,
yet very careful of his horses, was an admirable
"driver" in a deer-hunt and was equally at home in
the care of his master's horses, dogs, guns, vehicles,
military equipments, or dining-table. He died in
the prime of life from the kick of a mule, received
a few days after a bad fall in the woods while out
hunting. Josey was fearless in other respects
than his riding. He used to tell how, when
quite a young man, he was told to take a
horse and fetch the doctor for his mother,
who was dangerously ill. It was midnight,
and when he got into the heavy sand under the
sycamores, he saw a dark object rolling and grunt-
ing in the road before him. His first impulse was to
turn back, but he remembered his mother and called
to it. It kept on approaching, — he called again,
and still the strange apparition advanced. At the
third challenge, he drew his large hunting knife
and swore that, ghost or man, if it did not get out of
his way he would jump off his horse and stab it.
Then the ghost arose, and begged him not to tell
on him. He was an old negro man, who was out
after hours, — doubtless on some predatory expedi-
tion, and had taken this way of avoiding recogni-
tion. Most negroes, in Josey's place, would have
165
fled at hearing the first grunt, without waiting to
explore the mystery.
'Maum Mary Ann' was the housekeeper at Com-
ingtee for Col. K. S. Ball. She had the keys of store-
room and pantry, "gave out" the meals, made the
bread, and supervised the household generally. She
was fat and black, with clean white palms and a
cheerful face. I never saw her without a large
white apron and a bright-colored "head-handker-
chief." Her husband, "Cappen Dannill," was the
patroon of the plantation schooner.
"Daddy Surrey" was Maum Mary Ann's brother,
and was a prominent figure on the plantation. An
old man, when I first recollect him, rather small,
with regular features, always dressed in a suit of
grey woolen, and very clean and neat. He was
held in high respect, from the heads of the family
down. He had charge of the cattle, with subor-
dinates under him ; and when the family boys came
up for the December and April holidays, he had
charge of them also — to go out shooting, for Daddy
Surrey knew all about guns and game and such
things, — in fact, there seemed to be few matters,
about which he did not know. He lived to the age
of ninety-three. One of his sons, Daniel Pinckney,
was also faithful to the family through troublous
times. Another son succeeded him as cattle-minder.
'Brawley Asgill' began as "hog-minder." He
lived in the times that tried men's souls, — and
could not rise quite superior to them ; he professed
and retained a certain amount of faithfulness to
his master, but it was of a modified kind. As a
166
preacher, he had considerable influence on the plan-
tation; and, though tricky, was of great use, after
the war, in inducing the hands to sign contracts
for the next year's labor, — something which they
were often unwilling or slow to do. He and his
wife, 'Binah,' lived in the picturesque little cabin
on Indian Spring Hill, fronting the So 'boy Road.
About fifty yards from his house he built a rough
little clap-board church, in which he preached, up
to the time of his death. His sorrowing congrega-
tion resolved that he should have a grand funeral ;
and one of them was promptly given funds and
despatched to Charleston, with directions to re-
turn that very evening and bring a fine coffin. But
evening came, and no coffin; the next day passed,
and the last possible train arrived, but still no
messenger and no coffin. At last the interment
could no longer be delayed, so a rough box was
hastily improvised by the carpenter, and the funeral
proceeded. Before it was quite over, the tardy mes-
senger arrived with a grand coffin. But it was too
late to use it for him; so the heads of the congre-
gation economically decided that it should be put
up on the rafters of the church, to wait for the de-
mise of his widow. Some years afterwards, when,
a new church being built near the public road, the
old one was taken down, and the coffin was turned
over to old Binah's own keeping. Having no other
place to put it, she shoved it under the bed, and
kept grist and sugar in it. She told me herself,
that one day she sent out all of her grandchildren,
and got into it to see if it would fit. She was actu-
167
ally buried in it. Had she ever heard of the great
Emperor Charles V. and his similar experiments
with his royal coffin?
One of Jenny Buller's descendants, Hagar, was
my nurse. Though much of her life was spent away
from Comingtee, she deserves mention here, from
her faithfulness to the family and her attachment
to the place ; for Comingtee has always been "home"
to every one, white and black, born or raised there.
She was most capable, efficient in all branches of
domestic work — a devoted child's nurse, an admir-
able and untiring sick-nurse, a good seamstress, a
fine washer and clear-stareher, and an excellent
pastry-cook. She had the family interests at heart,
but had almost too decided a taste for managing,
which kept her from being popular with the other
servants. At the general break-up in 1865, she ran
actual risk of life for her faithfulness — and with
her died the last of the "old Maumas" of Comingtee.
OTHER OLD SERVANTS.
As has been remarked, the relations of the Balls
to their slaves seem alwavs and everv where to have
been marked by kindness and good-feeling; and
thus was a reciprocal attachment, on the part of
the slaves to their owners, and they were proud
of the "family." Indeed, it was no slight tie that
bound together those whose ancestors for a hundred
year had occupied the same relative positions. From
the first Ball down to the days of Emancipation —
168
and afterward — the same consideration, on the one
hand, and loyalty on the other, have been manifest-
ed. We mention a few of these faithful servants,
who, though not connected with Comingtee, are
still identified with the history of the Ball family.
Perhaps the name that stands out above the
others is "Dolly.." We know little about her, but
enough to show that she was thought well of in the
family. Perhaps she had "minded" the children,
and been a faithful nurse in illness. The ministra-
tions of such humble friends of the family — they
were surely no less — have soothed many a bed of
suffering; and in death their hands have tenderly
performed the last offices. "Dolly" probably began
her career at Comingtee, for the first mention of her
is a memorandum made by the second Elias of the
birth of some of her children ; but in 1748 he notes,
"Dolly and her children went to St. James to live."
And in a letter of 1774 he says, "Poor old Dolly
died Monday night, aged 62."
In later days, "Old Maum Mary of Kensington"
is well worthy of mention. She was the faithful
nurse of John and Isaac Ball, and was like a humble
friend of the family. The younger generation call-
ed her "Grand-Mauma;" and she was highly
thought of by all. When she grew old, she was
entirely exempted from work, had a house appro-
priated to her use at Kensington, and land to plant,
— and hands were sent to work the land when neces-
sary. One of her grand-daughters, a namesake of
her own, lived with her and waited on her, having
nothing else to do. WThen Kensington was sold
169
after Mr. E. O. Ball's death, the purchaser, Dr.
J. B. Irving, offered her the privilege of retaining
her home there as long as she lived. But she de-
clined, saying she would rather go to "the family,"
and moved to Hyde Park, where she lived for the
rest of her life. When feeble and infirm, she was
kept supplied with ale and other things to cheer
her up.
The second Mary was a woman grown when her
grandmother died. She became a house-servant in
Mrs. Deas' family, and was a worthy descendant of
the faithful old woman. The close of the war found
her with her young mistress in Greenville, S. C,
far from her home and friends; there were many
hardships and discomforts, and no money with
which to pay wages. When told that she was free
to go where she liked, and that it was impossible to
offer her wages if she remained, her answer was,
"Missy, your grandparents stood by my grand-
mother, and I will stand by you." And she did; —
serving at first for a bare support, and afterwards
for such moderate wages as the family could afford.
She returned with them to Charleston; and when
the work grew rather heavy for her, she retired to
Comingtee, and lived with her relatives, helping
herself by various odd jobs — for she was no idler —
and receiving in need whatever help could be given
by her former owners. She finally bought with
her savings a few acres of land at the Saw Mill,
and in conjunction with her nephew, built a house.
There she died, only a few years ago, faithful and
devoted to the last. She never married, and was
170
ALWYN BALL
1834
what is rarest among negros, an irreproachable
"old maid."
Nat, who belonged to Mrs. Shoolbred, was a great-
grandson of "Old Maum Mary," and was equally
faithful to his owners. He followed his young
master and the three "boys" from Limerick through
all the hardships of camp life, stuck to them
throughout, up to the surrender at Greensboro',
N. C, and came back to Quinby, to take up life
where he had left it. He continued to be the right-
hand man of the family until his master's death,
and is now entrusted with the care of the property
there.
Neither must old "Josh Lovely" be forgotten. He
was Mr. Alwyn Ball's huntsman, and as fond of
hunting as his master, to whom he was much at-
tached. He was a daring rider, and would risk any-
thing when well mounted. Of course, he sometimes
got falls, but escaped without serious injury. One
of the "bays" (low, swampy land, thickly over-
grown), between Cordesville and Midway, was
called "Josh's Drive," because in a wild dash
through it while "driving" the deer, he had such a
terrible fall that he was brought out for dead.
After the war he was a bricklayer and plasterer,
and lived at The Bluff. He died a few years ago, in
a good old age. It was a pleasure to see him ride,
even when quite an old man, he "sat" his thin lit-
tle pony with such style.
Many an old negro retained not only a consider-
able amount of feeling for the family, but of pride
in it ; and has been heard to boast, even after Eman-
171
cipation, of being "a Ball nigger." In the general
upsetting of all order in the early days of 1865,
there were many to whom family possessions in the
shape of blankets, clothing, etc. (more valuable
then than jewels), were entrusted for safe-keeping;
articles which were being taken from the whites by
the soldiers, and given to the negroes; and every
such article was brought back as soon as the coast
was clear.
It would take a large volume to record the faith-
ful acts of all those faithful servants. Name after
name, and deed after deed, recurs to my mind —
Ben's long journey, undertaken in the vain hope of
saving the mules under his care — Friday's driving
off and saving the whole herd of cattle for "Mis'
chillun." * * * But I forbear. Memory has
led me too far afield, perhaps, already.
******
Having now brought down the Account of the
Ball Family to the generation immediately pre-
ceding my own, I feel that some apology may be due
for the length of the story; and I know not how
better to apologize than in the words of the great
historian.
"A lively desire of knowing and recording our an-
cestors so generally prevails, that it must depend
on the influence of some common principle in the
minds of men. We seem to have lived in the per-
sons of our forefathers. * * * Fifty or a hundred
years may be allotted to an individual, but we step
forward, beyond death with such hopes as Religion
and Philosophy will suggest — and we fill up the
172
MRS. ALWYN BALL
(Alicia Sarah Butler;
1832— 1897
silent vacancy that precedes our birth, by asso-
ciating ourselves to the authors of our existence.
Our calmer judgment will rather tend to moderate
than to suppress the pride of an ancient and worthy
race."
173
APPENDIX.
JOHN BALL'S PAPER.
"The following account of the Ball family wrote
by John Ball, the son of Elias Ball, and grandson
of Elias Ball, the first of the family who settled in
South Carolina, at the plantation called Coming's
Tee, now in the possession of my brother Elias.
I often conversed with my Father about his
Father, and endeavored to collect the family affairs,
with intent to write this Genealogy for the satisfac-
tion of my posterity. I was 26 years of age pre-
vious to my Father's decease ; my Father was about
40 years old at the death of his Father ; so that the
tradition handed to me. which I now commit to
paper is pretty good for two generations antecedent
to myself. My children and their descendants (for
whom only I write this) must not expect elegant
language, or even that this writing will be free from
grammatical errors, as my education was too much
neglected by my fond Father, never being taught
even the English grammar; but I hope one of my
sons will put this work into better language, and
continue the genealogy, with an injunction for its
continuation from generation to generation, which
may the great Creator of the universe bless and
174
COMINGTEE PLANTATION
Present House
prosper in every generation, as my Father and
Grandfather have been blessed with temporal bles-
sings.
But to proceed —
My Grandfather, Elias Ball, was second son to
William Ball, a farmer in the county of Devonshire
in England. Captain John Coming, who com-
manded a vessel in the American trade, got grants
at different times for land, among others was the
plantations of Coming's Tee and Fish Pond, and a
very considerable part of where the city of Charles-
ton is now built on. Captain Coming was an uncle
to my grandfather. He desired one of his nephews
to come out to Carolina. The elder brother William
could not bear the idea of coming among the sav-
ages of America, so Elias, the second son, who was
a bold and enterprising youth, came to South Caro-
lina during the reign of William and Mary. Cap-
tain Coming's vessel was lost on or near Charleston
bar, himself and crew saved themselves in the long-
boat ; some censures that fear caused the loss of the
vessel stimulated the Captain to undertake a peri-
lous voyage to England to vindicate his character.
He raised and decked his long-boat, and did abso-
lutely go to England in her. When hailed in river
Thames, his answer could not be credited, so mirac-
ulous did the voyage appear. He afterwards settled
in South Carolina, on the plantation called Com-
ing's Tee now in the possession of my brother. At
his decease his widow had his estate. She was an
aunt to my grandmother Ball, and to my grand-
uncle, John Harleston. At her death the estate
175
was jointly between my grandfather and grand-
uncle aforesaid. On the division of the Estate my
grandfather committed a capital error in re-
nouncing to his brother-in-law, John Harleston, his
part of the lands in Charleston, formerly called
Coming's point, but now Harleston's, in lieu of
which he got the country lands that was settled,
without running the risk of getting Fishpond in-
stead of Comingtee. At that early period there
were very few houses in Charleston, and to think
of the lands at Coming's point being built on, I sup-
pose my grandfather thought was looking too far
forward, therefore chose rather to give up so dis-
tant a prospect for the certainty of an immediate
habitation and ready-cleared fields. Fishpond at
that time being an undivided, uncleared, and unset-
tled part of the same tract. The River swamps in
those days and for a long time after were not
known to be of any value.
My Grandfather was about 18 or 20 years old
when he came to Carolina ; he married when he was
about Twenty-two years old to Elizabeth Harleston,
sister to the above-mentioned John Harleston,
which family was last from Ireland, but originally
an English family, that had gone over in or about
the troubles of Charles the first, of whose party was
that family, and, of course, shared in the misfor-
tunes of his unlucky friends and followers. My
Grandfather had many children by Elizabeth his
wife; only four of whom lived to enter the matri-
monial state, viz. :
1st. Anne Ball was born January 20th, 1701.
176
She married when about 15 years old to a Captain
Daws who was 60 years old. He had been an
officer in the Navy. My Aunt had no issue by him.
They lived together several years, and the old Cap-
tain left her all his estate, which was considerable,
the lands on which the village of Hamstead now
stands being part of it. My Aunt afterwards mar-
ried George Austin, merchant, by whom she had a
Son and Daughter. The former died without issue,
the daughter married John Moultrie, Esqr., Lieut.-
Governor of East Florida, while that country be-
longed to the British Nation. The two eldest sons
who came in for all old Austin's Estate, are John
Moultrie, Esqr., of Aston Hall in Shropshire, who
has married Catherine Ball, daughter of Elias Ball,
formerly of Wambaw, South Carolina, but now of
Bristol in England. The second son, James Moul-
trie, M. D., who has the Ashepoo Estate of Austin,
has married his cousin, Catherine Moultrie, daugh-
ter to Alexander Moultrie, Esqr., Attorney General
to the State. She died June 7th, 1765.
2nd. Elias Ball was born December 22nd, 1709,
and was married the 28th day of January, 1747, to
Lydia Chicken, widow of George Chicken, daughter
of Isaac Child, and grand-daughter to James Child,
the founder of Childbury Chapel and School. By
her my father has 3 sons and two daughters, viz. :
Elizabeth Ball, born 22nd March, 1748, and died
the 30th of September, 1750.
Elias Ball, born the 10th April. 1752— this is my
elder Brother — he is now an old bachelor.
The third was Isaac Ball, born 11th of May, 1754,
177
and died at Kensington 5th January, 1776. The 4th
was Lydia Ball, born 13th January, 1757. She was
married to Edward Simons, Esqr., the 17th Octo-
ber, 1771. Mr. Simons died in October, 1775. And
my sister was married to Mr. John Bryan in Feb-
ruary, 1783. They are both living and have one
daughter. (Named Elizabeth. She married her
cousin, John Ball, Jr. Lydia also had a son, John
Bryan, born in 1791. This account of my Grand-
father's was evidently written about 1791. W. J.
Ball.) The fifth was myself, John Ball, born the
10th July, 1760. Married the 20th January, 1780,
to my cousin, Jane Ball, the daughter of my Uncle,
John Coming Ball and Judith, his wife — and have
five sons, viz. ; 1st, John Ball born September 12th,
1782; 2nd, Elias Ball, born March 1st, 1784; 3rd,
Isaac Ball, born September 6th, 1785 ; 4th, William
James Ball, born April 28th, 1787; 5th, Edward
Ball, born July 3d, 1788. 6th, a still-born child in
May 1791. My mother died April 1st, 1765, aged
43 years and 6 months. My Father died August
8th, 1786, aged 76 years, 7 months and 6 days.
3d. Elizabeth Ball, born Aug. 31st, 1711. She
first married John Ashby, — then John Vicaridge,
and lastly to Richard Shubrick, by the latter hus-
band she left one son Richard Shubrick, who lives
in England, and I am told has a large family. She
died in Charleston, Sept. 4th, 1746.
4th. John Coming Ball, born Aug. 25th, 1714,
was married to Catherine Gendron, Oct. 25th, 1742.
1st. — Elias Ball their son was born May 11th 1744
— this is the Elias Ball of Wambaw (but now of
178 •
MRS. JOHN BALL, nee JANE BALL
Born September 29th, 1761 Died October 5th, 1804
Bristol in England) whose estate was confiscated
by the Jacksonborough Assembly ; he married Cath-
erine Gaillard (in 17G6— daughter of Theodore
Gaillard and Eleanor (Cordes) W. J. B.) by whom
he had five daughters (and 2 sons W. J. B.). The
eldest of them is married to John Moultrie Esqr.
of Aston Hall in Shropshire, the others not yet
married. 2nd.— Elizabeth Ball, born Feb'y Cth,
1746. She married Henry Smith, Esqr. of Goose
Creek, by whom she left four daughters, viz. ; Cath-
erine, married to Dr. John Ernest Poyas, Elizabeth,
single, Harriet, married to Richard Scott, Esqr.,
Mary Ann, single.
3rd was John Coming Ball, who died an infant.
4th was William Ball, also died an infant. 5th,
Catherine Ball, born July 12th, 1751, was married
to Major Benjm Smith (Major B. Smith's first
wife was Elizabeth Ann Harleston, daughter of
Nicholas Harleston & Sarah (Child) W. J. B.)
She died without leaving issue. 6th — Anne
Ball, born June 2nd, 1753. She married Rich-
ard Waring, Esqr., of Dorchester, who has left her
a widow without child. Catherine Ball, wife of J.
C. Ball, died September 23d, 1755. John Coming
Ball married his second wife, Judith Boisseau, July
29th, 1756. John Coining Ball their son was born
December 24th, 1758, he is now living. (Died
October, 1792, on Long Island, N. Y. W. J. B.).
Jane Ball, their daughter and my wife, born Sep-
tember 29th, 1761, and was married to her cousin,
John Ball, January 20th, 1780, and has five sons as
before mentioned. Eleanor Ball, their daughter,
179
born (after the death of her father), March 20th,
1765. She married Mr. John Wilson, merchant, no
child and now a widow. (She afterwards married
Mr. Keating Simons and had no children. Died
March 20th, 1827. W. J. B. ) .
My uncle, John Coming Ball, died October 21st,
1764, aged 50 years and 2 months. My aunt, Judith
Ball, died August 2nd, 1772, aged 41 years. Both
of my Uncle's wives were descendants of French
Refugee Families that settled in this country after
the Revocation of the Edict of Nantz.
5th. Eleanor Ball, daughter of Elias Ball and
Mary his wife, (Born April 17th, 1731 — died May
22nd, 1770. W. J. B.). .Married Col. Henry
Laurens, by whom she left two sons and two daugh-
ters.
1st, John Laurens, who was the justly celebrated
Col. John Laurens in the American Revolution.
2nd, Martha Laurens, a most amiable and accom-
plished woman. She is now the wife of Dr. David
Ramsay.
3rd, Henry Laurens, Jr., of Mepkin, member of
Assembly for St. John's Parish, and a Justice of
Quorum.
4th, Eleanor Laurens, now the wife of his Excel-
lency Charles Pinckney, Esqr., Governor of this
State.
The mother of my Aunt Laurens was my Grand-
father's second wife; her maiden name was Mary
Delamere, by whom he had many children. (The
records give the names of 7. W. J. B.), but only
one that lived to be grown up.
180
I have heard my Father say that my Grandfather
was a ureal sportsman in shooting and fishing. Was
bold and resolute; and had frequently commanded
scouting parties after Indians. A Commission, from
one of the former Governors under the Lords Pro-
prietors, for that purpose is now in my possession.
At the age of Seventy, while in one of The forts
in Charlestown, in time of an alarm, he offered to
turn out and take a wrestle with any of (he veterans
in the Fort. He was ahout 7~> or 7<> years old when
he died.
My Father and Fnele, John 0. Hall, were honest,
peaceable, domestick men. Their ambition was to
live happy and contented in private life. They re-
sided chiefly on their plantations, Kensington and
Flyde Park, that they might be near each other, as
there ever subsisted the utmost harmony and broth-
erly affection between them. They were very easy,
indulgent masters, which united to their not being
of an enterprising disposition, prevented that accu-
mulation of property which was so favourable in
their younger days; especially on taking up grants
of valuable lands, vast bodies of fertile swamps were
then vacant. They each of them, however, had the
happiness to leave a pretty beginning for their
children.
Note. — "James Child, of Childbury, formerly of
the parish of Amersham, in the county of Berk,
who making some opposition to Lord Chancellor
Jeffries, was thereby obliged to fly. He came to
Carolina for refuge, where he spent the remainder
181
of his days. His son Isaac was the only one of his
children that came to America."
(This paper is copied from a copy taken from the
original by Mr. W. J. Ball, of Limerick Plantation.
A. S. D.).
ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT made February,
1818, between John Ball, Planter, and Arthur
McFarland, Overseer.
Aeticle 1. John Ball will pay Arthur McFar-
land at the rate of two hundred and fifty dollars
per Annum as wages, provided he discharges his
duty faithfully as an Overseer — superintending
Back-river plantation.
Article 2. Arthur McFarland shall have one-
third of the hogs raised at Back-river plantation
and one-half of the poultry raised on the said plan-
tation during his superintendance.
Article 3. Arthur McFarland shall have liberty
to keep one horse, which shall be fed in the same
manner that the plantation horses are fed, and shall
have the milk of one cow from the first of October
to the first of May, and the milk of four cows from
the first of May to the first of October every year
during his superintendance.
Article 4. John Ball will let Arthur McFarland
have a boy to wait on him and a woman to cook and
wash for him.
Article 5. Arthur McFarland engages on his
part for and in consideration of the foregoing wages
and privileges to be active and diligent in promoting
the interest of John Ball — taking care of the ne-
182
groes; especially when sick — treating them when
well with moderation and humanity — and is on no
occasion to beat them with sticks — when necessary
always to correct with switches.
Article 6. John Ball reserves to himself the
right of discharging Arthur McFarland from his
employ at any time that he should think A. Mc-
Farland's conduct deserving of such treatment, and
in such case will only pay up to the time of such
discharge.
In witness of our agreeing to the above six arti-
cles, we hereunto sign our names.
Arthur McFarlane.
John Ball.
It is considered by John Ball that
Arthur McFarlane is to have Bread
Kind for his family use, such as Rice,
Corn, and Potatoes.
Note. — No ill treatment was permitted. I know
for a fact that an overseer was immediately dis-
charged when a child of six who had seen him kick-
ing an offending negro, rushed to his father and re-
ported the occurrence.
183
CHART A.
2 Ann
i Capt. P. Dawes
2 George Austin
Eleanor
Elias
Lydia Chicken
Elizabeth
i John Ashby
2 John Vicaridge
(Emigrant, 169S.)
1 Elias Ball
Eliz. Harleston
2" George
! S| Eleanor
g-| John Moultrie
14 Elizabeth
15 Elias
i 6 Isaac
17 L,ydia
1 Edw. Simons
2 John Bryan
18 John
1 Jane Ball
2 M. C. Swintou
3 Richd. Shubriek J- C
John Coining
1 Cath. Geudron
Richard
19 Elias
Cath. Gaillard
20 Elizabeth
Henry Smith
Mary Delamare }■
2 Judith Boisseau ]-
7] Sarah
8 Delamare
9] William
10 George
Eleanor
Col. Hy.
12; Mary
13 Sou
I,aurens \ Z
w
Edward
^'Elizabeth
£ I John Ball
;- p John
B i Miss Legari
I I See Chart B
L I See Chart C
46
47
48
49j
5°,
5'
52
fl
21 John Coining
22 William
23 Catherine
Maj.Benj. Smith
24 Ann
Richard Waring
25 Jane
26 John Coining
27 David
28 Jane
John Ball
29 Eleanor
1 John Wilson
2 Keating Simons
John
Miss Manning
Martha
Dr. David Ramsay
Henrv
Eliza Rutledge
Mary Eleanor
Gov. Chas. Pinckney
Catherine
John Moultrie
Jno Coming
Elias
I,ydia
J. Slater
Elizabeth
— Kisher
Ann
— Shutf
Eleanor
Henry
Son
Catherine
Dr. I. E. Poyas
Elizabeth
Judith Ann
Harriet
Maty Ann
Sarah
Jane Ball
184
DATES FOR CHART A.
Chart No. Born.
1. Elias Ball (About) 1675
2. Ann 1 70 1
3. Eleanor 1707
4. Elias 1709
5. Elizabeth 171 1
6. John Coming- 1714
7. Sarah 1722
S. Delamare ) 723
9. William 1726
10. George 1 728
11. Eleanor
T2. Mary 1733
13- Son 1734
14. Elizabeth 1748
i.;- Elias 1752
16. Isaac 1754
17- Lydia 1757
18. John T760
19. Elias 1744
20. Elizabeth 1746
21. John Coming 1747
22. William 1750
23. Catherine 1751
24. Ann 1753
25- Jane 1757
26. John Coming 1758
27. David 1760
28. Jane 1761
29. Eleanor 1765
46. Catherine 1766
47. John Coming 1768,
48. Elias 1769
49. Lydia 1770
50. Elizabeth 1773
51- Anne 1775
=12. Eleanor 1779
18S
Died.
75i
765
724
786
746
764
737
725
727
731
748
750
810
776
843
817
822
787
75<>
750
774
826
760
792
760
804
827
828
771
769
Married.
(1) 1700 (2) 1721
(1) 1716 (2)-(3)
1747
(l)-(2)
(0 1/4-'
(1) 1771
(0 1780
1765
1764
1773
1771
1780
(l)-(2)
1729 (3)
(2) 1756
I770 1750
(2) 1782
(2) 1805
1793
CHART B.
50
John Ball
1 Jane Ball
53
Elias
1 75
Elizabeth Carolina
Catherine C. Dawson
j Edmund J. Shubrick
John Ball
3
E. C. Harleston
John
1 Elizabeth Bryan
r
Lydia Jane
I
' B
Ann Simons
F. M. Waring
Lewis Simons
Edmund Thomas
Fiaucis Malbone
55
Elizabeth Bryan
56
Eleanor Simons
57
John Coming
58
Ann
) Jf Ann Simons
J p Henry Deas
Dr. E. H. Deas
2 Ann Simons
r
"> 1
59
Keating Simons
60
Judith Boisseau
31 Elias
61
Isaac
62
Eliza Catherine
76
William James
Catherine J. Gibbs
77
Isaac
63
William James
[*
Mary L. Moultrie
John
Julia Cart
A Edith Prioleau
79
Elias
Mary H. Wilson
80
Francis Guerin
81
Eliza Catherine
82
Maria Louisa
32 Isaac
Eliza C. Poyas
(
Mary H. Gibbs
83
85
86
87
Jane
James P. Foster
Mathurin Guerin
R. Julia Locke
Mary
Lydia Child
Eleanor
64
Jane
Jno. G. Shoolbred
21
) 5=
n
John Gibbes
88|Isaac
65 John
1 89 John Coming
J Ann H. Simons
Maria L. Gibbs
90
Mathurin Guerin
33 William James
34 1 Edward
2 M. C. Swinton )■ \ See Chart C
186
DATES FOR CHART B.
Chart No. Born.
30. John 1782
31. Elias 1784
32. Isaac 1785
33. William James 1787
34. Edward 1788
53- E1ias 1805
54. Lydia Jane 1807
55. Elizabeth Bryan 1809
56. Eleanor Simons 181 1
57. John Coming 1812
58. Ann 1815
59. Keating Simons 1818
60. Judith Boisseau 1820
61. Isaac 1818
62. Eliza Catherine 1821
63. William James 1821
64. Jane 1823
65. John 1825
75. Elizabeth Carolina 1830
76. William James 1842
';•/. Isaac 1844
78. John 1846
79. Elias 1848
80. Francis Guerin 1850
Si. Eliza Catherine 1864
82. Maria Louisa 1866
83. Jane 1867
84. Mathurin Guerin 1869
85. Mary 1871
86. Lydia Child 1873
87. Eleanor 1878
88. Isaac 1847
89. John Coming 1848
go. Mathurin Guerin 1850
Died.
834
797
825
808
796
834
841
826
817
845
859
891
823
824
824
891
852
896
880
Married.
(1) 1804 (2) 1814
1850
1894
1847
1852
1810
1829
1827
1838
(1) 1842 (2) 1862
1842
1846
1850
1868
1869
1869
1891
1891
1893
1877
187
CHART C.
John Ball
Jane Ball
35
36
37
38
See Chart B
Caroline Olivia
John Laurens
Martha Angeline
j-iijohn
» I Eliza R. Laurens
5 Caroline
g| 1 J. W. Read
»i I 2 Lieut. Maffit, U. S.
66 Martha Caroline
T. L. Bulow
67 Jno. Alwyn
63 Mary Catherine
69
Alwyn
Esther McClellan
70
Isaac
C. A. Rutledge
Alwyn
Alicia Butler
Hugh Swinton |
Anna C. Channiug j I Infants
71
M. C. Swinton }-
39 Elias Octavus
Amelia Waring
7-'
73
7!
Amelia Waring
D. H. Rutledge
Elias Nonus
Annie Odenheimer
■f
1
td
T. Lionel
1
0
John Charles
Louisa
t
91
Laura Rutledge
John Alwyn
92
Emlie G. Fraser
93
Esther Sarah
Wm. A. Butler
94
Wm. Carol
1 Isabelle Fraser
\
2 M. H. Tompkins
95
Alwyn
Rebecca O'Brien
96
Jno. Isaac
97
Lionel McClellan
Augusta A. Hunt
93
Dillon Edward
Cynthea E. Hunt
Amelia Waring
John
X
g
Hugh Rose
I
Elias Ball
»
1
Maria
r-
Kate Waring
n
Susan Rose
Jas. Rose
99|Annie Odenheimer |
I ' J. C. Brewster (
f 100 Elias Hugh Swinton
101 1 Margaret Mary
40 Susanna Splatt
Win E. Haskell
41
42
Hugh Swinton
!
[02
Elias Duodecimus
Kosa Lucas
[03: Rosa Adela
O
a
n
Sophia Malboue
W. H. Odenheimer
f
3
--
2
r.
Wm. Henry
Susan Olivia
i
•-1
W. L. Yenning
t
Charlotte
:
B. B. Simons
Martha Caroline
1
1'.. G. Pinckney
(
Kliza Lucilla
Hutsou Lee
i
l.vdia Catherine
Win. Hlnathan
f
Emma Heyward
Alphonso Coming
Eliza Lucilla
R. Dewar Simons
43 Lvdia Catherine
T. M. Waring
CTQ
44 Edw. William
45 Angeline
Edmund Thomas
Martha Caroline
Wm. Edward
Lydia Catherine
Sophia
Thomas Malbone
Fannie C. Simons
Caroline Angeline
John Ball
Susan Ball
Francis H.
Edward A.
Canny Lucilla
188
DATES FOR CHART C.
Chart No. Born.
35. Caroline Olivia 1806
36. Martha Angelina 1806
37. Ahvyn 1807
38. Hugh Swinton 1808
39. Elias Octavus 1809
40. Susanna Splatt 1810
41. Alphonso Coming 1812
42. Eliza Lucilla 1814
43. Lydia Catherine 1816
44. Edward William 1816
45. Angeline 1818
66. Martha Caroline 1827
67. John Alwyn 1828
68. Mary Catherine 1830
69. Isaac 1831
70. Ahvyn 1834
71. Amelia Waring 1832
72. Elias Nonus 1834
7S- Hugh Swinton 1836
74. Sophia Malbone 1837
91. Louisa Rutledge 1854
92. John Alwyn 1855
93. Esther Sarah 1856
94. William Carol 1858
95. Alwyn 1859
96. John Isaac i860
97. T.ionel McClcllan 1862
98. Dillon Edward 1866
99. Annie Odenheimer 1865
100. Elias Hugh Swinton 1867
101. Margaret Mary 1872
102. Elias Duodecimus 1868
103. Rosa Adela 1871
Died.
1828
1816
1835
1838
1843
1841
1822
1849
1858
1816
1819
1829
1832
1852
1892
1872
1891
1882
Married.
1823
1861
1885
1872
1830
1832
1850
1853
1853
1861
1862
189
AD 1908
Plan of Ball Cemetery
AT
Strawberry
BALL CEMETERY AT STRAWBERRY
- If.
S x
_ a
a S
C/5 *■
yS
*_/■ ■ V « •_/