James Coker
Class of 1856
Hometown: Hartsville, SC
- Graduated The Citadel in 1856, and studied heredity, genetics, and the scientific principles of farming at Harvard prior to starting his career in agriculture.
- Coker enlisted in the CSA in 1861, and fought with the 6th and 9th South Carolina Regiments at the First Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Malvern Hill, Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Harpers Ferry, and Antietam. In October 1863, Coker was seriously wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga, and taken prisoner.
- After the Civil War, Coker became a successful business man starting the Darlington Manufacturing Company, the Hartsville Cotton Mill, the Hartsville Oil Mill, the Pedigreed Seed Company, Darlington National Bank.
- Coker perfected the process for turning southern pine into pulp for making paper products and in the 1880s established the Carolina Fiber Co., and the company that became the Sonoco Products Co., which produced cone-shaped yarn carriers that store and transport yarn and are still in wide use today.
- Coker founded the school which became Coker College for women in Hartsville, S.C. in 1908.