posted 12-19-2008 10:13 AM            

Ball appears to be a common name found throughout the colonies. As this gentleman
appears to have been an owner of a Plantation in Virginia, the working arrangements need to be discussed. On large plantations labor was divided by specialties and one of these specialties was Silversmithg. As retail stores were not within close proximety and having purchases shipped from Europe took months to arrive, many needed items were made on the plantation by slaves. It is known that quite a few slaves were Silversmiths. Note the listing of items by specialty i.e. Joyner shop, Dary, silversmith shop. It is entirely possible that this William Ball was the Plantation owner who owned slaves trained in Silversmithing, Cabinetmaking and whatever else was required to furnish whatever was needed. I am not saying William Ball was not a Silversmith but just suggesting an alternate possibility.

posted 12-20-2008 06:10 PM            

That's not to say it's not significant information, just that there's no reason to read from that inventory that this Ball was a silversmith.

My colonial Virginia library is all packed up, but as I recall William Ball is a reasonably well known figure. But this is a century later than most of my research in Virginia.

(later addition): It occurs to me that given the limitations of written communication I should make very clear that I meant here a sincere "Sorry...", not facetious.