A letter from Elias Ball IV at Limerick Plantation to Elias "Wambaw" Ball III exiled in Bristol, England on James Gordon receiving rice, charters send to Comingtee Plantation to receive rice, a frost ruining a supply of rice, a request for "negro" clothing and plantation tools and Elias Ball IV's feelings on laboring.
Published in 1790, the city directory for Charleston includes a city plan from 1788, a street reference to accompany the city plan, alphabetical listings of residents with occupations and addresses, meetings of lodges and societies, a list of corporation, signals at the fort, and the revenue system of the United States. The directory is 56 pages long and features on fold-out city plan illustration.
Papers consist of technical and mechanical drawings, formulae and notes, and other items. Drawings in pencil and ink (some hand-colored) depict a marsh plow, a windmill, a canal, Dutch yachts, an Amsterdam canoe (pontoon?), a trunk (irrigation device), a chakram (water-raising machine of India), a "double canoe" of Polynesia, a Venetian well (or cistern), a rice mill, a horse hoe, a gunpowder mill, a Welsh carr (carriage), the "bear" (plowing device?), and other devices. Some of these drawings may have been sent to Thomas Pinckney by William Vans Murray (U.S. foreign minister at The Hague in the 1790's). Several drawings (of the double canoe, Venetian well, chakram, the bear, and Amsterdam canoe) are accompanied by notes and descriptions. Formulae and instructions are for making cement for china, cottonseed oil, paints, oil compost, milk paint, and other products. Other items include a printed description of "Goodsell's Patent Hemp and Flax Dresser, & Grain Thrasher," a printed description of Benjamin B. Bernard's threshing machine (ca. 1808), a print depicting three bridges (bears the printed signature of Lewis Wernwag), a printed article entitled "Remarks on the Culture of Barrilla," a copy of a letter (1802) to Henry Laurens from N. & D. (Nathan and David) Sellers concerning a rolling screen for cleaning rice, and newspaper clippings.
A letter from Ralph Izard invites Grimke to Scheveling Plantation, advises him to avoid Combahee ferry, and mentions the pox and children in quarantine.
A letter from Elias Ball IV at Limerick Plantation to Elias "Wambaw" Ball III exiled in Bristol, England on an account between the Balls and James Gordon, Elias Ball IV's tiredness, the rice and corn crops, planting 225 acres of rice at Comingtee Plantation, and debt.
Survey of Midway Plantation owned by John Ball Esq. The survey shows locations of rice fields, canals, dams, floodgates, pinelands, reservoirs, banks, the settlement situated on high land, roads, and "Lanneau's Ferry" also known as Lenud's Ferry.
Includes day-to-day management of Drayton plantations, (particularly Drayton Hall, Jehossee and Long Savannah), focusing on crops, livestock, labor, and the movement of these between estates. Charles describes (in brief) meeting and dining with President George Washington, receiving plant specimens from Thomas Jefferson, a visit from Andre Michaux, the winding up of Bob Savannah plantation, lease of plantation on the Wateree River, abuse of slaves, sending slaves from Drayton Hall to reside at Jehossee, family deaths, division of the deceased's estates and family acrimony.
