The J. D. Copeland Building was built 1891 after the original store (along with most businesses in Bamberg) was damaged by a fire in 1888. Jefferson Daniel Copeland Sr. was a planter and a pioneering merchant of Bamberg. He was a leading buyer of cotton in the area and later a director of the Bamberg Banking Company. He also served in the Civil War. When he died in 1920, J. D. Copeland Jr. took over the business and would become a very prominent business man.
Location: Bamberg, South Carolina
My great grandfather, JD Copeland, I, started this store in Bamberg in 1891. My grandfather ran it until he passed in 1952. My father ran it until he passed away at age 45 in 1963. My grandmother, who owned the building, sold it then. The Copeland Company building still stands in downtown Bamberg. I found out the current owner lives or lived in Huntersville, NC. I tried multiple times unsuccessfully to get in touch with him just to see if I could look inside the old building. Perhaps he stopped paying taxes so it is unknown who owns it. I am the last of the Copelands. I have no heirs so when I pass, the name will die with me. But until the building collapses, my name will proudly still be seen on top of the building.
Nice job with the images all around South Carolina.
Sincerely,
J.D. Copeland
Boone, NC
Hello–
Was this store basically a hardware store? My father Thomas S. Rice, whose family was from Bamberg, worked there in the early 1940s (according to his draft registration card of 1942, when he was only 19). My grandfather, W.T. Rice, also worked there in earlier years, I believe. I have a photograph that might be that store in the 1930s or 1940s, if that should be of interest to you–my grandfather is in that picture. I don’t think the photo shows the name on the building.
Interesting, as I know very little about my father’s background or family.
LL Rice