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William Ellison Jr, born April Ellison, (C. April, 1790 – 5 December 1861) was a cotton gin maker and blacksmith in South Carolina, a free negro and former slave who achieved considerable success in business before the American Civil War. He eventually became a major planter and one of the medium property owners, and certainly the wealthiest "black" property owner, in the state. He held 40 slaves at his death and more than 1,000 acres of land. From 1830-1865 he and his sons were the only free blacks in Sumter County, South Carolina to own slaves. The county was largely devoted to cotton plantations and the majority population were slaves. Ellison and his sons were among a number of successful free people of color in the antebellum years, but Ellison was particularly outstanding. His master (and likely father) had passed on social capital by apprenticing him to learn a valuable artisan trade as a cotton gin maker, at which Ellison made a success. He took a wife at the age of 21. After buying his own freedom when he was 26, a few years later Ellison purchased his wife and their children, to protect them from sales as slaves. The Act of 1820 made it more difficult for slaveholders to make personal manumissions, but Ellison gained freedom for his sons, and a quasi-freedom for his surviving daughter. During the American Civil War, Ellison and his sons supported the Confederate States of America and gave the government substantial donations and aid. A grandson fought informally with the regular Confederate Army and survived the war. ==Early life and education== William Ellison, Jr. was named "April" by his master when born into slavery about 1790 on a plantation near Winnsboro, South Carolina. The name indicated the month he was born, which was a common slave-naming practice at the time.〔(Cynthia Ridgeway Parker, "Ellison Family Graveyard" and "William Ellison" ), photos and transcriptions, bio of William Ellison, 2009, Rootsweb, accessed 14 January 2012〕 In 1800-1802 the mixed-race boy was documented as owned by William Ellison of Fairfield County, the son of Robert Ellison, a planter. Either man could have fathered April.〔 William Ellison apprenticed April at age 10 to a cotton gin maker, William McCreight of Winnsboro. This would provide him with a valuable, highly skilled trade to make a living as an adult. Cotton gins were in demand, integral to profitable processing of short-staple cotton. Invention of the cotton gin at the end of the 18th century led to the widespread cultivation of short-staple cotton across the upland areas of the Deep South, establishing the Black Belt and stimulating widespread changes in land use. Hundreds of thousands of new settlers were attracted to the region, and they created pressure for the federal government to conduct Indian removal throughout the Southeast and what became known as the Deep South. This also resulted in the forced migration of more than one thousand slaves from the Upper south to the Deep South through the domestic slave market, as slaves were sold to develop and labor on the new plantations. April completed his apprenticeship after six years, and continued to work at the shop as a hired hand. Most of his earnings went to his master, as April was a slave who was "hired out." But, it appears April was allowed to keep a portion of his fees, as he later purchased his freedom from Ellison. April continued to learn the variety of complex skills related to cotton gin making and repair. He also learned blacksmithing. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Ellison」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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