Rice C. Ballard papers, 1822-1888.

ArchivalResource

Rice C. Ballard papers, 1822-1888.

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 Rice 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. Other materials in the collection supplement the letters with details of the slave trade, Ballard's other financial activities, and plantation life.

About 5000 items (15.0 linear ft.)

Related Entities

There are 7 Entities related to this resource.

Clay, Henry, 1777-1852

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gc2thc (person)

Henry Clay Sr. (April 12, 1777 – June 29, 1852) was an American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the Senate and House. He was the seventh House speaker and the ninth secretary of state. He received electoral votes for president in the 1824, 1832, and 1844 presidential elections. He also helped found both the National Republican Party and the Whig Party. For his role in defusing sectional crises, he earned the appellation of the "Great Compromiser" and was part of the "Grea...

Boyd, Samuel S. (Samuel Stillman), 1807-1867

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69w4kws (person)

Quitman, John Anthony, 1798-1858

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ws9259 (person)

Army officer, governor, public official, and U.S. representative of Mississippi. From the description of Certificate and letter of John Anthony Quitman, 1850-1855. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79449461 John Anthony Quitman moved from Ohio to Natchez, Miss., in 1821, where he practiced law. He was a member of the State house of representatives (1826-1827), chancellor of the State (1828-1835), member and president of the State senate (1835-1836), acting governor of Mississip...

Armfield, John, fl. 1830-1859.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qp0cb8 (person)

Franklin, Isaac, 1789-1846

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60p54jf (person)

American Party

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65j16th (corporateBody)

One of the most famous incidents of anti-Catholic sentiment expression occurred August 11, 1834; non-Catholic rioters looted and burned the Ursuline Convent of Mount Benedict in Charlestown, MA. Anti-Catholic violence also erupted in Philadelphia when 13 people were killed in riots in 1835. Activities by the American Nativist Party in Kensington, Pennsylvania, in 1844 also sparked anti-Catholic riots. In the 1850s, the American Party, also known as the Know-Nothing Party, was partly founded on a...

Ballard, Rice C. (Rice Carter), -1860

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zt0t5z (person)

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...