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.

Processed by: Buck Beasley and Tim West, June 1990

Encoded by: Eben Lehman, February 2006

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, December 2009; Nancy Kaiser, October 2020

Conscious Editing Work by: Patrick Cullom, July 2020. Updated abstract, subject headings, biographical note, scope and content note, and container list.

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

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.
• Altama Plantation (Ga.)
• Batteries (Ordnance).
• Canals--Georgia.
• Corn--Georgia.
• Cotton--Georgia.
• Couper, J. Hamilton (James Hamilton), 1794-1866.
• Elizafield Plantation (Ga.)
• Enslaved persons--Georgia--Registers.
• Glynn County (Ga.)--History--19th century.
• Hopeton Plantation (Ga.).
• Orchards--Georgia.
• Peas--Georgia.
• Plantations--Georgia.
• Rice--Georgia.
• Slavery--Georgia.
• Slavery--United States--History--19th century--Sources.
• Sugar cane--Georgia.

• Couper Family Papers (186-z)
• William Audley Couper papers (3687)
• Elizafield Plantation Record, 1838-1861 (3213-z)

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 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.

Couper died 3 June 1866.

James Hamilton Couper of Glynn County, Ga., was a white manager and part owner of Hopeton, Altama, and Elizafield plantations that were based on a workforce of more than fifty enslaved people. The collection of four volumes documents the names of enslaved people and transactions about them, as well as operations of Hopeton, Altama, and Elizafield plantations. There are names of other enslavers, crop records, and some notes on Couper’s daily life. Additionally, Couper was a scientific agriculturalist and some of the volumes contain extracts from agricultural journals and observations related to the crops grown at the plantations; chiefly cotton, rice, sugar cane, corn, and peas.

Oversize volumes (SV-185/1-2)

Microfilm (M-185/1-2)