With A. F. D. Gifford's death, Black Heath passed to William B. Ball (B. is for Bernard), the fifth and last owner of the estate. In the June 20, 1868 issue of the "Richmond Daily Dispatch", William B. Ball is listed as the administrator of A. F. D. Gifford. Ball was probably a friend of Gifford's as he was the administrator of his estate. W. B. Ball graduated from Jefferson Medical College and was a local doctor who served in the Midlothian area of Chesterfield County. At one point he was also one of three company doctors for the Midlothian Coal Mining Company. When the Civil War broke out he became a captain in Company B in the 4th Virginia Cavalry of the Confederate States Army. By 1862 he had been promoted to colonel. After the war he was a surgeon in Chesterfield County and the state commissioner of fish culture. He died on January 10, 1872 at the Exchange Hotel in Richmond. His wife died 28 years later, on April 4, 1900 in Richmond. Col. William B. Ball's administrator was C. H. Flournoy (C. is for Clarence), sheriff of Chesterfield County. Clarence H. Flournoy was from a prominent Huguenot Chesterfield family and was the sheriff of Chesterfield County from 1872-1880.