Rice Carter Ballard (1800 - 1860)

Born 7 Jun 1800 in Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States

Ancestors

Died 31 Aug 1860 at age 60 in Louisville, Jefferson, Kentucky, United States

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Biography

Rice Carter Ballard was born in Fredricksburg, Virginia on 7 Jun 1800 to Benjamin Ballard and Anne Graham Heslopp. He was a slave trader based in Richmond, Va., who worked in partnership with the large slave trading firm of Isaac Franklin and John Armfield. He was a planter with several plantations in the Mississippi Valley.

Rice C. Ballard Papers from the University of North Carolina

University of North Carolina

The Southern Historical Collection at the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library

Collection Number: 04850

Collection Title: Rice C. Ballard Papers, 1822-1888

"Rice Carter Ballard (c. 1800-1860) was a slave trader based in Richmond, Va., who worked in partnership with the large slave trading firm of Isaac Franklin and John Armfield in the late 1820s and early 1830s. By the early 1840s, Ballard had settled down as a planter with several plantations in the Mississippi Valley. He married Louise Berthe around 1840 and made his home in Louisville, Ky. Ballard and his wife had three children: Ella (b. 1841), and twins Ann Carter and Charlotte Berthe (b. 1847). The collection includes letters, financial and legal materials, volumes, and other material documenting Rice Ballard's life as a slave trader and planter. Letters include several from Henry Clay about court cases involving the legality of the slave trade and one from Mississippi Governor John Anthony Quitman about payment of a debt. Letters and financial records, 1820s-early 1830s, document day-to-day operations of the interstate slave trade among Ballard in Richmond, Va., John Armfield in Alexandria, Va., and Isaac Franklin in Natchez, Miss., and New Orleans, La. Records, 1840s-1860, document Ballard's administration, in partnership with Judge Samuel S. Boyd, of a number of cotton plantations in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi, especially Karnac, Magnolia, and Outpost. There are many letters from Boyd, from the overseers at the various places, and from Ballard's cotton commission merchants in New Orleans. Letters discuss the slaves, improvements on the plantations, family life, politics (including especially the Know-Nothing Party), and financial arrangements. Also included are letters to and from Louise Ballard about her life in Louisville, Ky. There are also three letters from slaves, 1847, 1853, and 1854, all from women asking Ballard for help with emancipation or with pending sales of themselves or others. Volumes and other materials in the collection supplement the letters with details of the slave trade, Ballard's other financial activities, and plantation life."

See: Space:The_Slaves_of_Rice_C._Ballard_and_Samuel_S._Boyd

Letters Regarding the Abuse of Slaves

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3436.html

https://blackthen.com/horrific-letters-to-slave-owner-r-c-ballard-regarding-abuse-of-the-female-slave/

From the papers of Rice C Ballard - This article examines the lives "fancy girls," a little known group of high-end, enslaved women who were sold for use as concubines or prostitutes during antebellum America. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/blacwomegendfami.5.1.0017

Marriage

He married Louise Cabois Berthe (b. Natchez, MS 1826; d. 23 Aug 1886) in Louisville, Kentucky around 1840. They had three children: Ella Ballard Bullock (b. 1841, married Wm F. Bullock, d. 24 Nov 1922), and twins Ann Carter (b. 9 Oct 1848 - d. 1923) and Charlotte Berthe (b. 9 Oct 1848).

After his death Louise marries James Hart Purdy.^[1]

Property and Partnerships

In 1831, Franklin and Armfield brought on Rice Ballard, as a third partner in their slave trading company. The company stationed him in Richmond, where he worked out of a private jail, purchasing more enslaved people and sending them down the James River to Norfolk, where they were added to the vessels dispatched by Armfield as they headed south. ^[2]

Ballard moved from Virginia to Natchez, Mississippi in the fall of 1836. Ballard seems to have stopped trading in slaves by the early 1840s, following his marriage. By the early 1840s, Ballard was beginning to purchase plantations in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas in partnership with Judge Samuel S. Boyd of Natchez. He spent the remainder of his life managing these plantations.

Rice C. Ballard owned a great deal of property: In Louisville, KY; in New Orleans, LA, Chico, Arkansas, Shelby County,Tennessee and Warren County, Mississippi. (see sources)

Slave Manifests

On the Brig Tribune^[3] in March 1832, 88 enslaved people were shipped from the Port of Norfolk, Virginia to New Orleans by Mr. Rice C. Ballard and Mr. Isaac Staples. The master of the ship was Isaac Staples.

On the Brig Uncas^[4], 15 Oct 1834, Ballard along with Armfield, Franklin and others transported 181 enslaved people from Alexandria, Virginia to New Orleans. Master of the Brig: Nathaniel Boush.

Space:Slaves_Transported_by_Franklin_&_Armfield_on_the_Ship_UNCAS

1850 and 1860 Slave Schedules

See Space:The_Slaves_of_Rice_Carter_Ballard

Death

He was buried at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky on 1 September 1860 (Section F, Lot 121, Grave 2-A).

Sources

1. ↑ Pennsylvania probate record; Probate Place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Description; Notes: Wills, No 779-811, 1872
2. ↑ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/men-who-made-slavery-big-business/618628/
3. ↑ https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1562/images/31204_188990-00076?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=be9f7302570d5884967cc4926bc8ab92&usePUB=true&_phsrc=LNb9&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.1985969.1698625723.1627067195-1935565849.1626785766&pId=395884
4. ↑ Ancestry.com. New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., Slave Manifests, 1807-1860 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors. Original data:Slave Manifests of Coastwise Vessels Filed at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1807–1860. NARA microfilm publication M1895, 30 rolls. Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

• University of North Carolina, The Southern Historical Collection at the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, Collection Number: 04850, Collection Title: Rice C. Ballard Papers, 1822-1888
• Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
• Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/67719944/rice-carter-ballard : accessed 23 July 2021), memorial page for Col Rice Carter Ballard (1800–31 Aug 1860), Find a Grave Memorial ID 67719944, citing Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA ; Maintained by M&B❤Family (contributor 46983123)
• Yates Publishing. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
• The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC; Slave Manifests of Coastwise Vessels Filed at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1807-1860; Microfilm Serial: M1895; Microfilm Roll: 7
• "United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1850 ", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HR7Y-V52M : 15 February 2020), R C Ballard in entry for MM9.1.1/MVC4-2BN:, 1850.
• Mississippi, Warren County Probate Records: Administrators' Accounts, Bonds, Letters; Guardian Bonds, 1842-1939; Author: Warren County (Mississippi). Chancery Clerk; Probate Place: Warren, Mississippi
• Probate Records (Shelby County, Tennessee); Author: Tennessee Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions (Shelby County); Probate Place: Shelby, Tennessee
• https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9176/images/007643442_00430?usePUB=true&_phsrc=SmX1&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=2472296
• Probate Records, 1840-1931; Author: Arkansas. Probate Court (Chicot County); Probate Place: Chicot, Arkansas
• (On 19 July 1875, 184 pages) Mississippi, Warren County General Probate Court Docket, 1810-1940; Author: Mississippi. Probate Court (Warren County); Probate Place: Warren, Mississippi

See also:

Ballards of Spotsylvania County blog: https://ballardofvirginia.com/the-children-of-thomas-ballard-of-james-city-county-virginia-william-ballard-of-york-caroline-counties-virginia-c-1668-c-17/bland-ballard-sr-of-spotsylvania-county-virginia-c-1700-1791/benjamin-ballard-of-spotsylvania-county-virginia-c-1725-1814/

The Atlantic article, The Men Who Made Slavery Into Big Business: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/men-who-made-slavery-big-business/618628/

Louise C Ballard's Obit, Newspapers.com: https://www.newspapers.com/image/32521703/?image=32521703&words=&article=2a70475e-50a9-4011-8e97-e2aa229668ed&focus=0.071802124,0.6934488,0.18931696,0.79170877&xid=3355&_ga=2.6305970.1698625723.1627067195-1935565849.1626785766&ancestry=true

PORTLAND WHARF Place of profound historical significance: http://badwaterjournal.com/Bad_Water_Journal/Portland.html

Green, Sharony. “‘Mr Ballard, I Am Compelled to Write Again’: Beyond Bedrooms and Brothels, a Fancy Girl Speaks.” Black Women, Gender Families, vol. 5, no. 1, 2011, pp. 17–40. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/blacwomegendfami.5.1.0017