Cindy, I got the book from the library, but I am sure you and purchase it from Amazon.com, it was published in 1998 and won the National Book Award. It just happened I picked up the book, then heard two interviews with Edward Ball on Public Radio, about the book and his family. Slaves in the Family. He has a long discussion of the names people took when they were freed, almost none of the people took the name Ball, even people who were Ball descendants. In my own case, when I tried to find people who had belonged to my Dew and McKee ancestors, I only found two families with the McKee surname, and at least 7 families composed of about 32 people had belonged to the McKees. I found a deed that listed all of William McKee's "property" in 1854, it included all of his people by name, age and family group, but I was unable to match them to any of the families I found in the 1870 census. I have found some Dew families, but I do not have a list to match to. I, too, had thought many slaves took their owners surnames, but apparently this is an urban myth, and in most cases they selected other names. Ball mentions that slaves usually had only one name. Only when there were two people on the books with the same given name, was a second name added. The Balls had two men named Thomas and differentiated them by calling one Tom Black and the other Tom White. This probably happened becauese one man had lighter skin than the other man. "Surnames" like that could be carried into freedom without a second thought. The Ball plantations were on the Cooper River, both branches, in South Carolina. The Ball family kept copious records, these are on deposit in several archives in South Carolina--they are listed in the book. Here is a quote from the book: "In the end, one or two people on each plantation took the name Ball, while most black families on Ball lands made other choices including Aiken, Anton, Ash, Bennett, Black, Broughton, Brown, Bryan, Campbell, Cigar (or Segar), Coaxum, Collins, Dart, Drayton, Easton, Ellington, Evans, Fayall, Ferguson, Fleming, Ford, Fork, Frost, Gadders, (or Gethers), Gadsden, Gaillard (Gillard), Gainey, Gamble, Garrett, Garsing, Gibbes, Gilbert, Gillon, Graham, Green, Guinness, Hamilton, Harleston, Harris, Hasgill (Haskell), Heyward (Haywood), Horlbeck, Irving, Jenkins, Johnson (Johnston), Jones, Ladson (Ladsdon), Lance, Lash, Lawrence (Laurence), London, Lonesome, Lovely, Lucas, Martin, Matthews, Maxwell, McKnight, Middleton, Miles, Miller, Moultrie, Nelson, Nesbitt ( Nesbeth), Oliver, Owens, Parker, Pickney, Poyas, Prichard, Randolf (Randolph), Read, Richardson, Rivers, Roberson (Robertson), Ribinson, Roper, Royal (Ryall), Scott, Seymour, Shepherd, Simmons, Simon, Singleton, Stewart, Thompson, Vandross (Vanderhorst), Wade, Waring, Warren, Washington, Watson, Waylan, White, Wigfall, Williams, Wilson, and Withers." If you are interested in the McKee Deed, it is posted on the Noxubee County GenConnect Deed Board. It happens that two of William McKee's granddaughters were the first and second wife of my gg-grandfather, Willis Chandler White. Marleen Van Horne