Joshua John Ward, of

Georgetown County, South Carolina Georgetown County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 63,404. Its county seat is Georgetown, South Carolina, Georgetown. The count ...

, is known as the American who was the largest slaveholder at the time of his death in 1853,The Sixteen Largest American Slaveholders from 1860 Slave Census Schedules
, Transcribed by Tom Blake, April to July 2001, (updated October 2001 and December 2004 – now includes 19 holders) dubbed "the king of the rice planters"."Boundaries and Opportunities: Comparing Slave Family Formation in the Antebellum South"
Damian Alan Pargas, ''Journal of Family History'', 2008; 33; 316, In 1850, Ward owned 1,092 enslaved people; In 1860, Ward's heirs (his estate) inherited 1,130 or 1,131 slaves. The Brookgreen Plantation, where Ward was born and later lived, has been preserved. In 1992, it was designated a

National Historic Landmark District A National Historic Landmark District (NHLD) is a geographical area that has received recognition from the United States Government that the buildings, landscapes, cultural features and archaeological resources within it are of the highest signific ...

. The house and plantation are part of a nature and sculpture garden,

Brookgreen Gardens Brookgreen Gardens is a sculpture garden and wildlife preserve, located just south of Murrells Inlet, in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The property includes several themed gardens featuring American figurative sculptures, the Lowcountry Zo ...

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. Ward married Joanna Douglas Hasell in South Carolina on March 14, 1825. They lived chiefly with their family at Brookgreen Plantation. Joshua John Ward died there on February 27, 1853.Joshua John Ward / Joanna Douglas Hasell
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Career

Born into the

planter class The planter class was a Racial hierarchy, racial and socioeconomic class which emerged in the Americas during European colonization of the Americas, European colonization in the early modern period. Members of the class, most of whom were settle ...

, Ward was taught the skills and knowledge to take on such responsibilities as an adult. He was likely tutored at home as part of his education. During his life, Ward inherited Brookgreen Plantation and acquired several others, using the land for

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

production, the major commodity crop in antebellum South Carolina. Ward became politically active in the Democratic Party, which plantation owners dominated in the antebellum years. Ward was elected as the 44th

lieutenant governor of South Carolina The lieutenant governor of South Carolina is the second-in-command to the governor of South Carolina. Beyond the responsibility to act or serve as governor in the event of the office's vacancy, the duties of the lieutenant governor are chiefly ce ...

, serving from 1850 to 1852 under Governor John Hugh Means.

Legacy

Brookgreen Plantation has been preserved as part of Brookgreen Gardens Park. The plantation and its contributing buildings were designated

in 1992 after being listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1978.

References

Ben Horry, Lowcountry Lives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Joshua John 1800 births 1853 deaths Lieutenant governors of South Carolina People from Georgetown, South Carolina American slave owners South Carolina Democrats 19th-century American politicians