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 William Ervine Sparkman Plantation Journal #681-z, 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

Purchased before 1940.

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.

• Agriculture--South Carolina.
• Cottage Plantation (S.C.)
• Georgetown District (S.C.)--History.
• Plantations--South Carolina.
• Rice--Planting--South Carolina.
• Slavery--South Carolina.
• Sparkman, James Ritchie, 1815-1897.
• Sparkman, M. A. E. Burgess, fl. 1830s-1840s.
• Sparkman, William Ervine, 1813-1846.
• Springwood Plantation (S.C.)
• Williamsburg District (S.C.)--History.

• James Ritchie Sparkman Books, #2732 Sparkman Family Papers, #2791 W. E. Sparkman Account Book, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina

This collection consists of one volume containing a wide variety of entries relating to Cottage Plantation and Springwood Plantation on the Black River in South Carolina. Entries can be classified according to three basic types of information. First, most entries are brief statements about agricultural activities on the plantations, especially Springwood, often distinguishing work performed by male and female slaves. W. E. Sparkman made these entries daily from March 1844 through January 1846. After his death on 1 February 1846, entries of this type continue, although less frequently, and were probably made by James Ritchie Sparkman, who had power of attorney over his brother's estate.

Many entries are of a second type, consisting essentially of scattered inventories of slaves, farm animals, equipment, and crops. Slave lists include birth and death records or dates and circumstances of purchase, accounts of blankets and clothing distributed, and work details. Inventories show that among the farm animals were horses, hogs, hound dogs, cattle, sheep, and poultry.

The third, and most infrequent, type of entry consists of brief narratives of legal arrangements or personal events. Among these are a discussion of Sparkman's acquisition of the two Black River plantations from his wife's family and friends, and an entry briefly describing efforts to maintain the plantations against incursions of Yankee invaders during the Civil War.

Also included is a copy of an 1888 lease of pine trees on Cottage Plantation for turpentine farming.