The Ball Family Blanket Book, 1835-1840, is a bound volume kept by or for members of the Ball family. The volume includes yearly lists of blankets given to enslaved persons. Blankets are sometimes noted as being "first quality" or "second quality."
"Plantation Book, Drayton Hall" describes the division of labor among slaves, crops grown, and provisions supplied to laborers, from January through June, 1844.
The Robert F.W.Allston Memorandum Book covers the years 1848 and 1849, documenting payments made by Robert Allston, a record of cattle on Waverly, Nightingale Hall and Matanza (later known as Chicora Wood) Plantations and mentions of enslaved people who are referenced by first name. The book also includes loose papers and newspaper clippings on politics, the electoral college and a written statement surrounding the different views over slavery between the northern and southern states.
The Baptism Book for Enslaved People at Walworth and Leamington Plantations, 1848-1853, is a record of enslaved men, women and children who were baptized under officiating ministers Rev. William Dehon and Rev. Christopher D. Gadsden. The book also makes notations regarding enslaved persons who were dead upon receiving baptism. The last two pages are entries about the enslaved persons who underwent the rite of confirmation.
The John Ball Memo Book, 1850-1851, is a bound volume listing crops at Hyde Park Plantation and the Villa as well as miscellaneous accounts for corking a dock, grass for cows, seeds for the garden, blue denim cloth, tobacco, ticking, shoes, molasses, tea and other household items. Also included is a list of men defaulting on militia duty and patrol service for January, March and April of 1851.
The Robert F.W. Allston Account Book, 1853-1855, records the numerous payments, receipts, debts and purchases and yearly crop information for Chicora Wood, Waverly and Nightingale Hall Plantations. Also included in the book are sections on births, deaths and marriages for enslaved people, writing down the first name of the men and women who married.
The Robert F.W. Allston Account Book covers the years 1857-1859 discussing Chicora Wood and Nightingale Hall Plantations. The book includes information on acres of land, stock and cattle, payments and accounts, a purchase of forty-one enslaved persons and the number of enslaved persons at each plantation in which they are listed as dependencies. Book includes a second use with passages written from the back of the book towards the front.
The Robert F.W. Allston with Robert Adger and Co. Account Book, 1860, is a journal recording household and grocery expenses for Robert Allston. Among the lists includes items for enslaved persons such as cloth and toothbrushes. Many entries also contain records of payments to specific individuals.
The Robert F.W Allston Account Book, 1860-1861, documents payments, a recipe to help cure rabies, stocks for Nightingale Hall and Chicora Wood Plantations and the names, births and deaths of enslaved people. The book also includes diary entries for when Robert Allston visited Manassas, Virginia at the Battle of Bull Run during the Civil War, recording conversations he had about the battle, the atmosphere of the army camps and the death of General Barnard E. Bee.
The Robert W. Allston 1862 Journal consists of entries discussing accounts, prices of items, land papers and a task performed by the enslaved persons Sawney, Mathias and Scipio.
