Couper of Glynn County

John Couper was married to Rebecca Maxwell in 1793 of Liberty County, Georgia. John died 1850 at his plantation called Cannon's Point.

The Couper family from Scotland established itself in Glynn and McIntosh Counties where it established large rice and plantations which were so popular in the low country along the Georgia coast. Before the War Between the States, a number of plantations rose to prominence in Liberty, McIntosh and Glynn Counties, simply by growing large staple crops such as rice and cotton.

John Couper was born 9 March 1759 in Lochwinnoch, Scotland, and died 24 March 1850 in Glynn County, buried in the Christ Church Cemetery on St. Simon's Island. Wife, Rebecca Maxwell, a daughter of Colonel James Maxwell, was born 16 March 1775 and died on 7 April 1845 in Glynn County, buried in the Christ Church Cemetery on St. Simon's Island. This family rose to success when John Couper established the Hopeton Plantation on St. Simon's Island along the Altamaha River in 1804. For many years, the tabby house of Hopeton stood in Glynn County. Issue:

• James Hamilton Couper was born 4 March 1794 and died on 3 June 1866 in Glynn County, buried in the Christ Church Cemetery on St. Simon's Island. He married Caroline G. Wylly, a daughter of Alexander and Margaret Wylly, Caroline was born on 24 May 1811, and died on 31 December 1897 in Glynn County, buried in the Christ Church Cemetery on St. Simon's Island. Issue:

  1. Hamilton Couper, born 11 January 1829, died 8 November 1861 in Glynn County, buried in the Christ Church Cemetery on St. Simon's Island.
  2. Alexander Wylly Couper, born 13 February 1833, died 9 July 1905 in Glynn County, buried in the Christ Church Cemetery on St. Simon's Island..
  3. John Lord Couper, born 4 June 1835, died 24 August 1862, buried in the Christ Church Cemetery on St. Simon's Island.
  4. James Maxwell Couper, born 1837, served as a Confederate officer during the War Between the States, and afterwards, returned to Glynn County to supervise rice production.
  5. Margaret W. Couper, born 1839.
  6. Robert H. Couper, born 1841 in Glynn County.
  7. Rebecca J. Couper, born 1843 in Glynn County.
  8. William Couper, born 11 August 1844, died 16 April 1867 in Glynn County, buried in the Christ Church Cemetery on St. Simon's Island.

  William Audley Couper was born in 1817, died 1888. In 1845, he was married to Hannah Page King (died 1896), the daughter of Anna Matilda Page and Thomas King; granddaughter of William Page. From the time of his marriage or earlier, Couper managed Hamilton, a plantation on St. Simon's Island, Georgia, owned by Isabella Corbin. Couper's wife was the daughter of Thomas Butler King (1800-1864) and Anna Matilda Page King (d. 1859) of Retreat Plantation, also on St. Simon's Island. The Couper's children were Anna, King, Butler, William Page, John Audley, and Rosalie. Couper later removed to Ware County, Georgia.
  
  During the 1840s and 1850s Hannah Page King Couper often visited her King relatives, especially her mother, Hannah Timmons King, at Retreat Plantation.
  
  The Coupers lived at Hamilton Plantation until 1856, when they moved to Savannah for approximately two years. In Savannah, Couper was in business with his nephew, John Fraser. The family then returned to Hamilton and stayed there until 1861, when St. Simon's Island was taken over by federal troops. They moved, with their relatives the Kings, to Carteret's Point and then to Ware County, both in Georgia. After the war, the Coupers returned to Carteret's Point and later lived in Marietta, Georgia.
  
  In 1871, the Coupers' daughter Anna married Charles MacLean Marshall (1847-1911). Marshall was born in Danzig, then located in Prussia, of British parents. The Marshalls apparently lived abroad until 1883 when they moved to Rome, Georgia. The Marshalls' children were William Audley, Helen, and Percy. William Audley Marshall and Helen Marshall did not marry.

Hopeton Plantation
Ruins of old John Couper plantation on the north end of St. Simon's Island. Couper first resided in a small house built ca 1738 by Daniel Dannon but later (1804) Couper built a two and half story tabby mansion. It was here that the Couper's entertained lavishly, including Fanny Kemble, wife of Pierce Butler and Aaron Burr, among others.

The family built several plantations, located on the tributaries of the Altamaha River, in McIntosh and Glynn Counties, which were described as a model rice and sugar Plantation of the early 19th century. Hopeton is best remembered as the home of James Hamilton Couper. "A pioneer in the agricultural and industrial development of Georgia and the South," James Hamilton Couper was an archaeologist, a geologist, a conchologist, architect and historian -- a man whose abilities and accomplishments would be recognized in any time. James Hamilton Couper (1794-1866), manager and part owner of Hopeton, Altama, and Elizafield plantations in Glynn County, Georgia, was a noted scientific agriculturalist. Crops at Hopeton were chiefly cotton, rice, sugar cane, corn, and peas. James Hamilton Couper was noted for his scientific articles on management of orchards, canal excavation, and voltaic batteries. James Hamilton Couper was sent by his father to Yale University, where he studied methods of water control and land reclamation, and was graduated in 1814. In 1827, he was ready to return to Hopeton and take over its management as well as the Altama and Elizafield plantations, which he either added to or carved from Hopeton. Hopeton was all but destroyed during the Civil War, when lack of attention to the plantation's dikes led to major flooding. The family had their own teacher, a Mr. George Adams from Newhampshire, England, who resided with them.

Last Will and Testament of James Hamilton Couper dated 1863, Glynn County

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Ref: 30,638 Burials in Georgia by Jeannette Holland Austin; 1850 Glynn County Census; LWT of John J. Couper (1844-52), Glynn County.