Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the J. Hamilton Couper Plantation Records #185-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Available on microfilm from University Publications of America as part of the Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations series.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mrs. W. S. Lovell of Birmingham, Ala., prior to 1960.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Account books.
• Agricultural innovations.
• Agriculture--Georgia--History--19th century.
• Batteries (Ordnance).
• Canals--Georgia.
• Corn--Georgia.
• Cotton--Georgia.
• Couper, J. Hamilton (James Hamilton), 1794-1866.
• Glynn County (Ga.)--History--19th century.
• Hamilton, James, d. ca. 1837.
• Hopeton Plantation (Ga.).
• Orchards--Georgia.
• Peas--Georgia.
• Plantations--Georgia.
• Rice--Georgia.
• Slavery--Georgia.
• Sugar cane--Georgia.

• See also Couper family papers; William Audley Couper papers; Elizafield Plantation record in the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

James Hamilton Couper was born 4 March 1794, the son of John and Rebecca Maxwell Couper. His father emigrated from Scotland to Georgia and established Hopeton Plantation along the Altamaha River in Glynn County in 1804.

James Hamilton Couper graduated from Yale University in 1814, and then studied methods of water control and land reclamation in Holland. He returned to Hopeton in 1827 and took over the management of that plantation, as well as of Altama and Elizafield plantations, which he either added to or carved from Hopeton.

James Hamiton Couper was a prominent seaboard planter, but is primarily remembered for his application of the scientific method to agriculture. He studied the culture of a number of crops that he wished to introduce to the area or improve. These ranged from such Southern staples as cotton and rice to more exotic possibilities like olives. He was apparently among the first producers of cottonseed oil.

Hopeton was all but destroyed during the Civil War, when lack of attention to the plantation's dikes lead to major flooding. Couper died 3 June 1866.

This collection consists of plantation owner and scientific agriculturalist  James Hamilton Couper's four volumes from Hopeton Plantation, Glynn County, Ga.: a ledger, 1826-1853, of personal and plantation accounts; a journal, 1838-1854, of similar accounts; crop records, 1818-1831, chiefly for cotton, rice, sugar cane, corn, and peas; and "Notes on Agricultural and Rural Economy," containing extracts from agricultural journals, information from friends, and notes of Couper's own experiences. Among additional subjects noted or discussed in these volumes are expenses for slaves, the estate of James Hamilton (d. ca. 1837), orchards, canal excavation, and voltaic batteries.

Oversize volumes (SV-185/1-2)