Levin W. Ballard (b. circa 1775 - d. 1842)
MSA SC 5496-004556
War of 1812 Claimant, Calvert County, Maryland
Biography:
Levin W. Ballard was born circa 1775 in Maryland to Levin Ballard Sr. and Elizabeth Wheeler. Ballard graduated from the University of Maryland Medical School in 1819.
Like many Marylander's of the time, Levin Ballard was a slave holder. Ballard's father Levin Ballard, Sr. owned Charles Ball, known for his slave narrative, for a short period of time. Ballard purchased Ball from the children of his former master, Jack Cox. However, a man named Gibson had also purchased Ball, which eventually led to a court case between him and Ballard. Ballard eventually won and Charles Ball served as his slave for three years. In 1805, he sold Charles Ball to a slave trader from Georgia. Charles Ball later wrote a narrative account of his life as a slave in Maryland. Ball described Ballard as bad tempered and verbally abusive toward him, although he was never beaten by his master.In 1810, Ballard owned fourteen slaves in Calvert County. In 1817, Ballard purchased a negro man named Nace from Rinaldo Johnson. He owned twelve slaves in 1820.
During the War of 1812, the slave Charles Stewart fled from Ballard's plantation to the British ships. Stewart and his wife Sarah, a slave of Elizabeth Wheeler Ballard, escaped with their four young daughters to British Ships lying in the Patuxent River. Levin Ballard went to the British ships to inquire about his enslaved man and the slaves of his mother. At that point Ballard was ordered to be arrested by British Lieutenant Hawkins. Levin W. Ballard was detained until the British barges left Lower Marlboro. Stewart eventually settled in Nova Scotia. In 1828, Ballard filed a claim against the British on behalf of his deceased mother Elizabeth and himself to receive reparations for the lost slaves. Elizabeth Ballard had thirteen slaves escape from her property during the late war. Ballard, a Justice of the Peace, also recorded the depositions submitted by other claimants from Calvert County who lost slaves during the war. Another claimant, Thomas T. Simmons of Anne Arundel County, conveyed his lost property unto Levin Ballard. William Wirt was the agent who handled Ballards case.
Levin Ballard died February 27, 1842 unmarried
and childless. The inventory of Levin Ballard's estate lists sixteen slaves
ranging in age from two months to fifty-two years old. The slaves were
Daniel (48), Pompy (52), John (33), Jim (30), Robert (21), George (14),
Caroline (20), Mary (8 months), Rachel (24), Jim (7), Sally (5), Harriet
(37), Ann Maria (16), Sophia (7), John Henry (6), and Harriet (two months).
Robert Kent of Anne Arundel county was named administrator of his estate.
Ballard's slaves were sold at public auction along with other personal property
|
Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!
|