Editing Henry Laurens (section)

==Marriage and family==
Laurens married Eleanor Ball, also of a South Carolina rice planter family, on June 25, 1750. They had thirteen children, many of whom died in infancy or childhood.<ref>Wallace, p.180</ref> Eleanor died in 1770, one month after giving birth to their last child. Laurens took their three sons to England for their education, encouraging their oldest, [[John Laurens]], to study law. Instead of completing his studies, John Laurens returned to the United States in 1776 to serve in the American Revolutionary War.