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Collection Number: 02732

Collection Title: James Ritchie Sparkman Books, 1839-1925

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


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Size 4 items
Abstract James Ritchie Sparkman was a South Carolina rice planter and physician of the Pee Dee River area of Georgetown District, S.C. He was the brother of William Ervine Sparkman (1813-1846), and married Mary Elizabeth Heriot, daughter of physician Edward Thomas Heriot. The collection is four account and record books documenting Sparkman's plantation and medical activities. The collection consists of Sparkman's financial record as executor of the Edward Thomas Heriot estate, which included the Dirleton, Mont Arena, and Northampton plantations on the Pee Dee River; his "Secretary's Record of the Planters Club on Pee Dee"; a ledger from his Birdfield Plantation, including a copy of the will of Sextus Tertius Gaillard (fl. 1881); and a medical daybook, which includes several entries for freedmen.
Creator Sparkman, James Ritchie, 1815-1897.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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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 James Ritchie Sparkman Books #2732, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alternate Form of Material
Microfilm copy available.
Additional microfilm: All or part of this collection is also available on microfilm from University Publications of America as part of the Records of ante-bellum southern plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War, Series J.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Mrs. W. B. Sparkman of Greenville, South Carolina, in March 1944.
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.
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Processed by: Lisa Tolbert, June 1990

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, January 2010; Dawne Howard Lucas, April 2021

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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.

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This collection documents James Ritchie Sparkman's activities as a rice planter and physician in the Pee Dee River area of the Georgetown District, South Carolina. Entries in several of the four volumes suggest business ties with his brother, William Ervine Sparkman. The volumes are arranged chronologically according to the last dated entry. They also are available on microfilm.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse James Ritchie Sparkman Books, 1839-1925.

Folder 1

Edward Thomas Heriot Estate, 1854-1859

Accounts range over several years showing plantation expenses, settlement of debts, and the assets of the estate, which included Dirleton, Mont Arena, and Northampton plantations. The volume concludes with an account of the division of the estate among seven heirs. 113 pages.

Folder 2a

"The Secretary's Record of the Planters Club on Pee Dee, Nov. 1939," 1839-1861

James R. Sparkman served as secretary of this agricultural club from its founding in 1839 to 1844, when William E. Sparkman became secretary and James took over his job as treasurer. This volume opens with a membership list, 1839, of founders' names and residences which includes W. E. Sparkman and E. T. Heriot. Entries from 1839 to 1844 consist of minutes of meetings, resolutions, and copies of correspondence, including a letter to Martin Van Buren, making him an honorary member, and Van Buren's acknowledgment of same, 1842. From 1844 to 1861, entries are chiefly accounts kept by James Sparkman as treasurer. Accounts kept by W. E. Sparkman as treasurer, 1841-1842, are included at the end of the volume. 276 pages (24-267 are blank).

Folder 2b

Enclosures removed from Planters Club Volume, 1839-1859

Chiefly membership lists.

Folder 3a

Ledger, Birdfield Plantation, 1844-1863 and 1925

James R. Sparkman's account with factors Robertson & Blacklock showing plantation expenses for supplies, equipment, and services using his rice crop as credit. The volume includes entries by W. E. Sparkman. One entry at the end of the volume is an account dated 1925. 85 pages.

Folder 3b

Enclosure removed from Birdfield ledger

Holograph copy of will of Sextus Tertius Gaillard, planter of Black River, Georgetown District, South Carolina. An annotation dates the will 1881 and indicates that J. R. Sparkman was an executor.

Folder 4a

"Daybook and Journal, 1871," 1871-1878

Accounts for James R. Sparkman's medical practice, showing names of individuals treated, brief descriptions of procedures performed, and costs of treatment. Several accounts are with freedmen. 209 pages.

Folder 4b

Enclosures removed from medical daybook

Chiefly medical accounts, including some with freedmen, and requests for physician's services. There is also an 1873 schedule of the Exchange Beef Club in Plantersville, South Carolina, showing "dates of killing."

Reel M-2732/1

Microfilm

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