South Carolina genealogy records

Births and deaths

Birth and death certificates were required in South Carolina beginning January 1, 1915. Copies from 1915 to the present come from the South Carolina Department of Public Health. The SC State Library notes that SCDAH has put the birth certificates for 1915 to 1918 online, and that SCDAH also holds records for the counties that registered some births before 1915.

Death certificates become public records after fifty years, according to the State Library, and copies of death certificates more than fifty years old are also available at SCDAH. More recent certificates must be ordered from the Department of Public Health. An index to deaths from 1915 to 1962 is available from the department.

Before 1915, look for deaths in church registers, cemetery records, newspapers, and estate files. An estate opened in the county probate records can help narrow down when someone died.

Marriages and divorces

Marriage licenses were required from July 1, 1911. Licenses from July 1, 1950 to the present are issued by the Department of Public Health, while licenses from 1911 to 1950 must be requested from the probate judge's office in the county where the marriage took place. SCDAH holds some earlier marriage records, and its marriage settlements, agreements about a wife's property made before or after a wedding, can document a couple long before licenses existed.

Divorce has an unusual history here. The State Library says divorce was legal in South Carolina from 1868 to 1878 and from 1950 on. Divorce records from 1950 to 1962 come from the clerk of court in the county where the divorce was granted, and those from July 1, 1962 on are with the Department of Public Health. SCDAH has a few early divorce records.

Census records

SCDAH lists census records first among the best government records for proving relationships, together with county probate records, county land records, county equity court records, and state death certificates. Federal census schedules are the usual first step for placing a family in a county and a household.

For African American families, SCDAH holds slave census schedules, federal and state census returns, 1868 voter registrations, free Negro capitation tax books, manumission records, and South Carolina Land Commission records. Most of the 1890 federal census was destroyed in a 1921 fire, but the special schedules of Union veterans and their widows survive for South Carolina.

Land grants and plats

South Carolina land was granted by headright under the Lords Proprietors, then under royal rules after the colony passed to the Crown, and from 1784 by the state. Under the 1784 act a settler found vacant land, got a warrant of survey from the Commissioner of Locations in his district, had a deputy surveyor draw a plat with the metes and bounds, and then received a grant signed by the governor. SCDAH explains that state grants were mostly purchases of vacant land, paid in cash or with indents, promissory notes issued for military service or supplies, though several hundred bounty grants were given free to veterans of South Carolina's Continental regiments.

The state plats from 1784 to 1868, from both the Charleston and Columbia offices, are scanned and searchable by personal name, date, and location in the SCDAH Online Records Index. Each entry names the person, the adjoining landowners, and the surveyor. Because neighbors are named, a plat can place a family on a specific creek even when the grantee is someone else. These plats are especially valuable for counties such as Abbeville, Beaufort, Chesterfield, Colleton, Georgetown, Lexington, and Orangeburg, which lost part or all of their land deeds in the 19th century.

Wills, estates, and equity courts

County probate records, meaning wills, inventories, and estate papers, are among the most useful sources before 1915, and SCDAH holds early wills and inventories among its collections. Equity court records deserve a look too: SCDAH names county equity court records among the best government records for establishing relationships between people.

Because several counties lost records to war, fires, or natural disasters, check what survives for your county before assuming a record never existed, and use state level records, such as the plats, to fill the gap.

Newspapers and military records

Historical Newspapers of South Carolina offers free access to local and regional papers from 1815 on, and Chronicling America at the Library of Congress has more than 300,000 searchable pages of South Carolina newspapers. The South Caroliniana Library at the University of South Carolina has the most complete microfilm collection of the state's newspapers, from every county.

SCDAH also holds military records, and the indents mentioned above were issued to pay for military service or supplies. Its research room accepts genealogy research requests through a form on its website.