Couper family papers

Descriptive Summary
Title: Couper family papers
Creator: Cooper family
Inclusive Dates: 1775-1981
Language(s): English
Extent: 0.5 Linear Feet 1 document box
Collection Number: ms3072
Repository: Hargrett Library

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Collection Description

Historical Note

John Couper and his wife Rebecca Maxwell Couper lived at Cannon's Point, St. Simon Island, Georgia. They had five children: Ann Sarah, James Hamilton, William Audley, John Jr., and Isabella Hamilton. James Hamilton lived at Hopeton and Altama plantations, Glynn County, Georgia and his son, James Maxwell, lived in Brunswick and Atlanta.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of Couper genealogical materials, mostly for John Couper, Sr., James Hamilton Couper and James Maxwell Couper with related families of Thiesen, Traylor, Stiles, and Wylly. There are photographs of individuals and houses, letters, and printed material.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Couper family papers, ms3072, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.

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Related Materials and Subjects

Subject Terms

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Series Descriptions and Folder Listing

 

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John Couper family

Includes outline of family materials at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill; color drawing of Couper crest; photographs of John, rear of Cannon's Point House, painting of Cannon's Point; silhouette of Rebecca Couper; copies of photos of Midway Church, Christ Church and tombstones there; typed genealogical information for Couper, Way, Maxwell and Audley families; copies of correspondence from Reverend John Couper, Scotland [1775 & 78], from a man in Marseilles regarding olive trees [18]04, from John to brother 1828; and from John to Dr. James Troup re Roderick Mclntosh of Mallow; a copy of a Couper genealogical chart done by Margaret Davis Cate; and a newsclip of Queen Victoria's representative visit to Georgia in 1865.

John Couper, son of Reverend John, (born 1759 in Scotland and died 1850 in Glynn County Georgia). He married Rebecca Maxwell [(born 1775 in Liberty County, Georgia and died 1845 in St. Simons Island, Georgia), who was the daughter of Colonel James and Ann Way Maxwell, in 1792. Their children include Ann who married James Fraser; John Jr. who married Sophia Gibbs; and William Audley who married Hannah Page King.

 

1	2	James Hamilton Couper, son of John
		Clipping of Christ Church, Savannah, designed by Couper; photographs of Hopeton, Glynn County, of James Hamilton & Carolyn Wylly Couper, of a saw mill at Altama, and of a house at Altama; a sketch of Yale College by Couper; typescript copies of Altama by Margaret Davies Cate; information about James Hamilton Couper; copies of correspondence from JHC to Pappa in 1804, from JHC to James in 1851 about the death of William, from Robert to his brother in 1859, from Hamilton to sister Maggie in 1861, an extract from the minutes of the Board of Trustees, College of Charleston, about JHC's gift to the collection, 1861, from MKing to JHC about this donation, from Richard Corbin to family in France, from Robert to his father in 1862, from Robert to his brother James M. in 1863, and from JHC to John in 1864; JHCs Confederate tax; JHCs property inventory after his death in 1866; pages from Golden Isles about JHCs death; J Wylly to Jim in l916; and a newsclip regarding The Lodge, Brantley County.
	He was born in 1794 in Sunbury, Liberty County, Georgia and died in 1866 in Glynn County, Georgia. In 1827, James Hamilton Couper married Caroline Georgia Wylly, [1811-1897], the daughter of Alexander Campbell and Margaret Alexander Wylly. Their children were Hamilton, Margaret Wylly (who married Robert Stiles), Robert, Alexander, John Lord, Rebecca, and James Maxwell (who married Eudora Harper).

 

1	3	James Maxwell Couper, son of James Hamilton, grandson of John
		Photographs of James Maxwell and great granddaughter, of inside views of house on 29 Ponce de Leon, and of James Maxwell and Eudora Harper; stereocard of house in Brunswick; news clipping of death of Thomas Jefferson Harper, father of Eudora; typed family genealogical information on Scott, Wingfield, Mason, Hudson, Harper, Hairston, Stovall, Cabaniss, Clay, Perkins, and Wells; copy of list of books in JMC's library; J.G. Foster certification that he taking math at West Point, 1856; photocopies of correspondence from John L. in 1860, Caroline C. in 1861, Margaret C. in Stiles in 1861, Rebecca C. in 1862, Caroline C. in 1862, JMC to his father in 1862, appointment of JMC to Augusta Arsenal in 1864, JMC appointment as 1st Lieutenant, T.J. Harper to Dodie in 1865, from Joseph E Maxwell in 1885 recounting his visit to the Maxwell castle in Scotland, former slave to Mrs. JMC in 1886 and 1887 from Altama; incomplete manuscript letter from JMC to Eudora during the Civil War period; manuscript letters from JMC to wife in 1862, Mary C. to mother from Malbone in 1878, mother in Brunswick to "child," Mary in 1878, Mother to Mary, 12 March, and Mary C. to her mother, 18 June from Edgeworth School; a typed letter from Eudora to DeWitt Miller 1897 about Sidney Lanier; notes from story of JMC told about Slave Tom; news clipping of 1918 death of James Maxwell Couper; copy typed letter to/from Henderson to JMC, Jr. about Ohio flag in 1923; typed letter from Jack Stiles to JMC Jr. about flag, from John S Mayfield to JMC, Jr. in 1938 about Sidney Lanier and reply; MTTs version of JMCs escape from Vicksburg; and signed letter (ALS) from Mary Thiesen to Mary in 1981, with family info and from Mary T.T. to Mrs. William S. Burdell in the 1980s.
	James Maxwell Couper was born in 1837 in Hopeton and died in 1918 in Atlanta. He married Eudora Harper (born in 1841 in Mississippi and died in 1899 in Atlanta). Their children were Harper and Matilda (who both died young); Mary Harper (1863-1928) who married G.M. Traylor; James Hamilton Couper II (1866-1918) who married Caroline Land Trout (1869-1948); and James Maxwell Couper, Jr. (1874-1953) who married Sarah Little.

 

1	4	Stiles family
		Photograph of Malbone, near Cartersville, Georgia and typescript and manuscript abstracts from diary of Caroline Couper Stiles Lovell.

 

1	5	Thiesen family
		Photographs of Mary Traylor Thiesen [newspaper] in 1914, of Christine Thiesen in 1916, Jacqueline Thiesen Reynolds & family, George Traylor Thiesen, Eleanor Johnson Thiesen, Anna Maria Ustrup and Johannes Thiesen, Emilia Lupkes Thiesen, Christen Ustrup and children, Mary Couper Traylor [wedding] and John [Jack] Thiesen, Jack Thiesen, Georgia Tech, Gunston Hall, All Saints' Church, Mary, Jack and grandchildren, Shields and Reynolds children, Mary Couper Traylor and Jack Thiesen's wedding in 1912; membership cards of Mrs Thiesen; information on house at 29 Ponce de Leon and pictures; Thiesen / Traylor genealogy; Lupkes family; program for The History Class of 1884; copies of correspondence from RJT to and from George Wm McCarty in 1955 and Margaret Davis Cate in 1960, and Mary Traylor Thiesen in 1962 and 1963; and article about Jack Thiesen at death in 1963 as well as other articles.
	Mary Harper Couper (1863-1928), daughter of James Maxwell Couper, married George McDonald Traylor. They had one daughter, Mary Couper Traylor (born in 1891), who married R.J. Thiesen.

 

1	6	Traylor family
		Photographs of the Trelow family crest, Mary Harper Couper Traylor, George McDonald Traylor, Mary Couper Traylor, Margaret Couper Traylor, Eudora Couper Traylor, Frances Pardee Traylor, the home of Rev. and Mrs, John Cousins Traylor in Traylorsville, Virginia (with information), and "Beaver Creek," Martinsville, Henry County, Virginia (built by Col. George Hairston) with information; sheet with twelve family crests; article from Atlanta paper by Martha G. Anderson about demolishing Traylor home; typescripts of Mary Elizabeth Bailey Traylor's story of coming to Georgia from Henry County, Virginia; family genealogical information for Traylor, Cooper, Rowland, Hampton, Baldwin, Parke, Bailey, Norman, Cousins, Smith, Wood, Archer, Harris, de Bohun, Randolph, de Vere, Trouillart [Traylor], The Vikings, Charlemagne, de Mowbray, and Julius Caesar; pictures of and information about "Forest Home" near LaGrange; John Humphery Traylor memoirs including pictures of him and Mary Elizabeth Bailey; article and picture from Men of Mark; George M. Traylor from Atlanta Centennial Year Book; Mary Traylor Gates' memoirs and pictures of "Forest Home"; photocopy of letter by John Humphrey Traylor about guests at "Forest Home"; ALS from Ruth Hairston Early to Elizabeth Rowland Traylor 1924; photocopy of an obituary of George M. Traylor; and ALS from Mary T. to Mary dated 14 April.
	Mary Harper Couper (1863-1925), daughter of James Maxwell Couper, married George McDonald Traylor in 1885. Their children were Mary Couper Traylor (born in 1892) who married R.J. Thiesen (born in 1887); Margaret Couper Traylor (born in 1895) who married C.T. Dunham; Eudora Couper Traylor (born in 1897) who married W.A. Putnam; and Frances Pardee Traylor (born in 1906) who married Otney McClellan.

 

1	7	Wylly family
		Photographs of the Tannatt family (one of people is Susannah Cunningham Crooke who married Alexander Wylly); photocopy of a photograph of Mrs. John Morel (who married Richard Wylly of Savannah) and children; typescripts of family genealogical information for Crooke and Wylly; typescript of a letters from Mary Williamson Houstoun to her mother, Mrs. Jonathan Thomas from 1827 to 1828 [about the wedding of Caroline and James Hamilton Couper, description of clothes, food, personalities, etc.]; family information from Golden Isles; and a copy of a letter from Charles Spalding Wylly to Isabella Stiles Marshall in 1914; and a typescript of a letter from Frank Screven to Charles Mills and Margaret Screven Duke in 1956.

 

1	8	Bible records
		Photocopy of records beginning with marriage of George McDonald Traylor and Mary Harper Couper in 1837.

 

1	9	Published family material
		Pages from Golden Isles of Georgia, Our Todays and Yesterdays, and Early Days of Coastal Georgia; drawings officer plan of Cannon's Point; abstract of Title of Long Island/Glynn Isle [lots of information]; an article, "The Coupers of Cannon's Point" by Ann Giudici Fettner [Atlanta Magazine?]; copy of a 1965 article, "Cannon's Point Plantation 1793"; copy of a 1965 article, "Coast's Couper supplied tree for famed Ironsides"; copy of a 1966 article about General Winfield Scott; copy of a 1972 article, "Cannon's Point changes hands"; copy of a 1974 article "Archeologists uncover history of plantation days"; ALS from Berman to Mary [1981]; and an undated TLS from Mrs. Maitland Lee Griggs to Aunt Mary.