Glen Mary Plantation
human settlement in Hancock County, Georgia, United States of America
Glen Mary is an historical home located in Hancock County, Georgia, near the town of Sparta. The home was listed on the Georgia Register of Historic Places in 1973, and on the National Register of Historic Places on May 8, 1974. As of 2013, Glen Mary is owned by Preservation America.
History
Theophilus Jackson Smith built the home on 2,400 acres (970 ha) in 1848 for his bride Mary Gonder. Glen Mary is Scottish for "Mary's Valley," and is a two-story Greek Revival house. Smith was a founding member of the Planters' Club of Hancock County, a pioneer agricultural society. He also served in the Georgia legislature and the Fifteenth Georgia Regiment during the American Civil War. Smith moved to Washington County and advertised Glen Mary for sale in 1859 in The Southern Recorder. Smith sold Glen Mary and 542 acres (219 ha) in 1869 to General Ethan A. Hitchcock and his wife Martha Rind Nicholls Hitchcock. General Hitchcock died at Glen Mary in 1870.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Glen Mary Plantation” is human settlement in Hancock County, Georgia, United States of America. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Glen, Mary and Plantation, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “human settlement in Hancock County, Georgia, United States of America” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q14686635. Authority coordinates are 33.276, -82.976. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1973, 1974, 2013 and 1848.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Glen Mary Plantation”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Glen Mary Plantation primary sources, Glen Mary Plantation archive and Glen research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Glen Mary Plantation”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Glen Mary Plantation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.