South Carolina Genealogy Research Using SCL Resources

This collection contains Bible records for a number of South Carolina families. They date from the late 1700s to the late 1900s. The Bible records contain information on births, marriages, deaths, and other notable events that occurred within the families.

This searchable collection of Columbia (S.C.) City Directories from 1859 is an invaluable source for historians and genealogists. City directories offer an alphabetized listing of residents and businesses as well as a street-by-street listing of occupants.

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) Transcripts of Tombstone Inscriptions in South Carolina is a collection of 67 microfiche format negatives that were filmed by the South Carolina Historical Society in 1981. Designated as Series SCHS 50-278, this collection is comprised of thousands of cemetery tombstone transcriptions, handwritten or typed on individual cards, arranged alphabetically by surname, except for one group included in the appendix. The transcriptions represent nearly 4,000 individuals buried in 350 historical cemeteries across the state of South Carolina.

Legal documents and other papers reflect the family's involvement with a gold mining operation in Union County, S.C., during the late 19th century known as West Mining Company, as well as personal correspondence; business documents; baptism, confirmation, marriage services, registers provided by funeral homes; diplomas ranging from kindergarten through post-graduate college; religious tracts and certificates of confirmation re the Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian Church and other denominations; genealogical charts; a rubber stamp bearing the name A.H. Berg; and magazines such as The Horseless Age, 1902, Parks' Floral Magazine, 1918, Motorboating, 1920, and Radio News, 1927. Pamphlets among the papers vary widely in subject matter-religion to building boats and pilot rules for certain inland waters of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

Research files of genealogical information compiled for Bowden's book, Four Connor Generations in South Carolina, 1790-1920 (published 2014). Cartons include correspondence, photocopies and other papers about the Connor family of Abbeville District (S.C.) and elsewhere, including family members who migrated elsewhere prior to 1850; files on specific lines: those of Leonidas Docithius Connor (1829-1899) and Caroline Lucinda McCants Connor (1828-1913); and of Jefferson McCants Connor and Helen May Wells Connor (1861-1926).

In addition to Andrea's extensive correspondence files with his clients, this collection preserves Andrea's notes and photocopies compiled from wills, deeds, marriage records and other legal documents; family Bibles; pedigree charts; and cemeteries and church records. Files include documents related to soldiers of the colonial period and various evolutionary War records, including rosters and pension lists. Folders may also contain materials on related family lines and vary in extent from a few sheets to 300 pages.

The 1567 manuscripts in this collection document the economic and political activities of Lewis Malone Ayer (1769-1863), who served with Francis Marion in the Revolutionary War, and of his son, Lewis M. Ayer, Jr. (1821-1895), who served in the Confederate Congress. Topics discussed date to the Colonial era, the Revolutionary War, the Early National period, and the antebellum and Civil War periods. Correspondence with factors, merchants, and other planters shows the growth, especially during the first three decades of the 19th century, of the elder Ayer's plantation holdings, which included cotton and timberlands.

The collection consists of approximately 18.75 linear feet (15 cartons plus an oversized flat file folder) of materials that document Nancy Crockett's research interests in the families and history of Lancaster County, South Carolina. The collection includes correspondence, land grants, photographs, plats, and wills. Materials are arranged in the following series: Surnames, Topical Files, Speeches, Writings, Audio/Visual Materials, and Printed Materials.

The papers of the Reverend Oliver Hart (1723-1795) span the years 1741 to 1795 and include correspondence, diaries, and sermon notes from colonial and Revolutionary periods in Charleston, S.C. The collection is arranged chronologically in the following series: correspondence and miscellaneous papers; journals and diaries; photographs; publications; and sermons and sermon notes.

Essay the success of African-American undertakers in Columbia, S.C., circa 1895-1930, and the factors that contributed to the growth of that industry. Topics discussed include impact of segregation in funeral homes and elsewhere, and biographical sketches of several individual undertakers.

Changing American traditions of mourning -- Church Street and vicinity: First Baptist Cemetery, French Huguenot Churchyard, and St. Philip's Churchyard -- Meeting Street and vicinity: First Scots (Presbyterian) Cemetery, St. Michael's Episcopal Cemetery, Circular Congregational Churchyard, and St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church Cemetery -- King Street and Archdale Street: Gateway Walk, Unitarian Church Cemetery, St. John's Lutheran Church Cemetery, and St. Peter's Episcopal Church Cemetery -- Calhoun Street and North: Second Presbyterian Church Cemetery, African-American funeral homes, Bethel United Methodist Cemetery, Brown and MacPhelah Fellowship Societies, Elizabeth Jackson (marker), Cathedral of St. Luke & St. Paul Episcopal Cemetery, and Coming Street Hebrew Cemetery (Beth Elohim) -- Outside downtown Charleston: Magnolia Cemetery.

Records include baptisms, membership rolls, minutes of church meetings, church constitution, and church covenant, covering 1809 through 20 October 1840.

A collection of church records from Darlington, Florence, Lee, and Marion counties. Includes rosters of church members, lists of pastors, church covenants, and histories of Lake Swamp and Mechanicsville Baptist Churches. Information was compiled by Leola Wilson Konopa and Lansing Weaver, members of the Dr. Henry Woodward Chapter of the Daughters of the American Colonists.

Cleveland County, North Carolina will abstracts, 1841-1910

Names are in chronological order and alphabetical order. Page column information includes deceased names, dates, arranged by, & comments.

South Carolina publications Columbia SCMAR, 2012.

Inventory of church records compiled by Don Johnson, consulting archivist.

"Volumes I & II were entered in the original books by date of service."

Church records, 1779-1953 (4 volumes), of Zion Lutheran Church, founded during the colonial era in Lexington County (S.C.), and of St. Michael's, established, 1814. Volumes record membership lists, minutes, doctrinal disputes and withdrawl and dismissal of members from the congregation at Zion as new churches began at St. Michael's and elsewhere.
Includes entries documenting the career of Rev. Godfrey Drehr (1789-1875), first minister of St. Michael's, which was founded by Drehr for Lutherans who prefered services conducted in English [Some sources misspell his name as "Dreher"].

Business records of a funeral home that served multiple generations of the African-American community of Columbia (S.C.), consisting of 14 volumes of business ledgers and funerary records, 1921-1971, and 46 cartons of business files, 1956-2014, containing funeral planning documents, financial information, death certificates, and funeral service programs. Select portions of this collection will be sealed per state law until 50 years after the creation date.

Papers, 1868-1988, tracing the career of artist Marcus Ammen (1831-1912) in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, with supporting documents, biographical information and research files on his activities, including two photographs of the artist as a younger and older man.

The marriage license bonds of Accomack County, Virginia, from 1774 to 1806

The marriage license bonds of Northampton County, Virginia, from 1706 to 1854.

Marriages of Robertson County, Tennessee, 1839-1861.

Scrapbook of newspaper clippings, typescript essays, and other materials re civil rights activism of Williams and others; African American history in S.C. and United States; the role of African Americans in S.C. politics; the Clarendon County school integration case that became known as Briggs v. Elliott; and A.P. Williams' candidacy for Richland County Council and the S.C. House of Representatives.

Spartanburg County, South Carolina will abstracts, 1787-1840

Minutes of quarterly church conferences, including reports of finances, Sunday school and church attendance, and scattered records of baptisms, deaths, members received and dismissed.