Joshua john ward biography

American politician

Joshua John Ward, of Georgetown County, South Carolina, is known as the American who enslaved the most people in the early 1850s,^[1] dubbed "the king of the rice planters".^[2]

In 1850, Ward enslaved 1,092 people;^[2] Ward enslaved the most people in the United States before he died in 1853.

In 1860, Ward's heirs (his estate) enslaved 1,130 or 1,131 people.^[1][2]

The Brookgreen Plantation, where Ward was born and later lived, has been preserved. In 1992, it was designated a National Historic Landmark District. The house and plantation are part of a park, Brookgreen Gardens.

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Family

Ward was born November 24, 1800, at the Brookgreen Plantation, South Carolina, the son of Joshua Ward, a planter and banker, and his wife Elizabeth Cook.^[3]

Ward married Joanna Douglas Hasell in South Carolina on March 14, 1825. They lived chiefly with their family at Brookgreen Plantation.

Ward die James H. Hammond NOQ