William Ervine Sparkman Plantation Journal, 1833-1888

Summary

Creator:
Sparkman, William Ervine, 1813-1846.
Abstract:

William Ervine Sparkman, South Carolina rice planter of the Georgetown and Williamsburg districts on the Black River, married M.A.E. Burgess in December 1836. He was the brother of James Ritchie Sparkman (1815-1897).

The collection is a plantation journal containing a wide variety of entries documenting work at Springwood and Cottage plantations, both on the Black River in South Carolina. Entries continuing after Sparkman's death in 1846 were probably made by his brother, James Ritchie Sparkman, and his widow, M.A.E. (Burgess) Sparkman, and possibly also by an overseer.

Extent:
1 item
Language:
Materials in English
Library Catalog Link:
View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Scope and content:

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.

Acquisition information:

Purchased before 1940.

Processing information:

Processed by: Lisa Tolbert, June 1990

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

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.

Access and use

Restrictions to access:

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to use:

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

No usage restrictions.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], in the William Ervine Sparkman Plantation Journal #681-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Location of this collection:
Louis Round Wilson Library
200 South Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Contact:
(919) 962-3765
wilsonlibrary@unc.edu