Examples of the enormous wealth of Southern slave owners includes Joshua John Ward of Georgetown County, South Carolina. He owned 1,130 slaves and controlled six large plantations. In 1850, he grew of rice earning his nickname as the "King of the Rice Planters". Another was Stephen Duncan. He was the wealthiest cotton planter before the Civil War. Over his lifetime he owned more than 2,000 slaves. He owned 15 plantations, the largest one used 858 slaves.