James Hamilton Couper was an American planter and in this occupation his life was mostly spent. He was manager and part owner of Hopeton, Altama, and Elizafield plantations.
Background
James Hamilton Couper was born on March 04, 1794 at Sunbury, Georgia, United States. He was the son of John and Rebecca (Maxwell) Couper. John Couper emigrated to Georgia from Scotland, and, in partnership with a boyhood friend, James Hamilton, acquired (1804) an extensive tract of land on the southern bank of the Altamaha River about sixteen miles from Brunswick, Georgia. The name “Hopcton” was given to this plantation of some 2, 000 acres. John Couper also owned a large plantation on St. Simon’s Island known as Cannon’s Point. He became a wealthy and influential citizen of the community. Indeed he was one of the leaders in the most influential group of seaboard planters.
Education
James graduated from Yale in 1814 and then he spent some time in Holland studying the Dutch methods of water control.
Career
About 1815 Couper was made manager of the Hopeton estate in Georgia. His father failed in business in 1826. The partner, Hamilton, assumed all of John Couper’s liabilities in return for a half interest in the Hopeton property. James Hamilton Couper, the following year (1827), bought from Hamilton a half interest in the Hopeton plantation and remained as manager of the whole. He also in time inherited his father’s place at Cannon’s Point and acquired other interests in his own right. In his heyday James Hamilton Couper had the supervision of 1, 500 slaves and the management of extensive properties owned by others in addition to his own important plantations.
Couper’s distinction derives from the fact that he was one of the first American planters to conduct his operations on the basis of scientific research and experimentation. Not content with following time-honored methods, he blazed the way for his contemporaries and successors in the great coastal plantation area. The diking and drainage system established by him at Hopeton became the model followed by all rice planters. Couper’s experiments in agricultural lines were of much interest and importance.
At first his efforts were devoted principally to the production of sea island or long staple cotton. He found, however, that because of the richness of the soil, the plant grew too late in the season for proper maturing. He thereupon shifted to sugar cane as his leading crop. In 1829 he erected at Hopeton the most complete and modern sugar mill in the South. After 1838 Couper and most other Georgia planters practically abandoned sugar growing for rice.
Couper made extensive experiments in the production of olive oil. His father had set out a grove of olive trees at Cannon’s Point. The son demonstrated that olive growing was practicable on the Island despite losses from occasional heavy frosts. He was furthermore the pioneer in the crushing of cotton seed for oil. The United States Census states that the first cotton-seed oil mill was established in 1837, but by 1834 Couper was operating two such mills, one at Natchez, Mississippi, the other at Mobile, Alabama.
Couper undertook many other experiments in the way of introducing and acclimatizing exotic plants, notably in the introduction of Bermuda grass, now the principal grass of Georgia. Many noted travelers from Europe visited him at Hopeton and Cannon’s Point. These visitors were unanimous in their praise of his agricultural system, his management and treatment of slaves, and expressed wonder at the bounty of his hospitality, the extent and beauty of his orchards and gardens. So well did he systematize his time that he had ample leisure for reading and for practising the art of conversation, of which he was a master. His library was large and well chosen.
The Civil War rudely interrupted this life. The slaves were freed, work abandoned, the plantations fell into decay, the primeval forests and the uncontrolled water reclaimed the coastal areas. Every rice plantation on the Savannah, Ogeechee, and Altamaha rivers was ultimately abandoned. He died in 1866, broken in health and fortune.
Achievements
Personality
Couper was one of the South's planter aristocrats; he had impeccable manners, a graceful way in conversation, an extensive library, and high social prestige.
Connections
Couper was married to Miss Wylly. Five of his sons went into the Confederate army. Two of them died in the service, the eldest, Hamilton, a graduate of Yale University, and John, a gifted artist.