What are some tips you have for SC Research

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Permalink Reply by Patricia Fleming Jarrett on July 14, 2009 at 8:58am

I am also researching Flemings in SC (and coincidentially Evans, but mine are in MS and came there from VA). I am just getting started, and am looking specifically for info on irish immigrants in Charleston. I will be going down there this week and have an appointment with the Catholic archdiocese's archives. They have church records for all of SC and archives of the Catholic Miscellany (first Catholic paper in the US). I ordered a book called Roman Catholic Ceathis in Charleston SC (not helpful for my family, but there are some Flemings listed). Also for backgrouind, I have read The Irish in the South by David Gleeson, and Shamrocks and Pluff Mud by Donald Williams--both books are very interesting.

I am wondering if you know where your Flemings came to this country from? I am looking for the county in Ireland that our family came from. I ordered the index to Griffiths Valuation, but it did not help much.

Permalink Reply by Debra Sandstrom Fleming on October 7, 2009 at 2:21pm

Hi Patricia! My Flemings are from Williamsbug SC and prior to that County Down Ireland. They are Scotch Irish Protestants so I am pretty sure they will not be among Catholic records. Are you sure your Flemings are Catholic?

Permalink Reply by Drew Smith on July 17, 2009 at 5:56pm

Debra, I think anyone in any state has the same problem if their ancestors lived in more than one modern county, since local societies tend to be focused primarily around modern county boundaries. At least the Old Edgefield District Genealogical Society covers a broader area, but you'll probably have to join the Columbia chapter, too, to cover that Richland history. I've not only got ancestors in Edgefield, but also in Laurens and Newberry, so I'd probably have to join at least 3 societies to cover them all, and possibly Old 96 and Dutch Fork as well! Drew

Permalink Reply by Greta Koehl on July 25, 2009 at 5:50pm

I have found a lot of wonderful online resources for South Carolina, including the State Archives, as well as some useful books that have been published, such as the transcriptions and abstracts done by Brent Holcombe and A. B. Pruitt. Greenville County is a dream for researchers (outstanding genealogical support by the Greenville Library) and Anderson County is pretty good, too.

Permalink Reply by MLDDIA on January 3, 2010 at 10:21am

Could you make a list of a few of the best online resources for SC and post it here, please.? Thank you. Mike Dunavant

Permalink Reply by Sonia L. Walker on August 8, 2009 at 2:43pm

Hi Debra,
At first I was a member of Old 96 because my ancestors were in Calhoun Falls, Abbeville Co, SC. When I tracked some back to Edgefield, I took out an associate membership to OEDGS. Old 96 didn't provide me with a great deal of hints, so I switched to OEDGS as my primary and then joined the African American Edgefield group when it began. I find the information in those two publications to be very interesting, even when it doesn't fit my line. I may try Old 96 as an associate again & see if I find it helpful. Sonia

Permalink Reply by Molly McKinley on August 20, 2009 at 9:40am

Our South Carolina family are from Union and Cherokee Counties.
What fun that was to try to find anything. We actually went to Gaffney and
to Spartanburg to do research. Both ot these places have wonderful
library sources. Spartanburg has a huge room filled with all sorts
fo records, Civil War (War of the Rebellion-lol), census, local wills
and land records and so much more. Gaffney houses the county
library and they also have a genealogy room filled with cemetery records,
wills and census plus lots of local records.
We were able to find many "blocked" family names there.
It was worth the 600 mile trip for the amount of documentation we were able to
get.

Permalink Reply by Brooks F Nelson on December 5, 2009 at 3:21pm

That is interesting because I have 2 ancestrial families that are from the Union County area of South Carolina my cousin Kerry Black and I are researching the Jacob Black family and the Mary Savage Families-

Jacob Black was born on 21,Febuary 1793 Union District Union County I have heard that his father's name was John Black but haven't confirmed or denied this

Mary Savage was born 15,March 1790- South Carolina
Married between 1811-1812 in Union County

My desendant is their oldest daughter Elizabeth Black- 16,January 1822 South Carolina(perhaps Union County)both my cousin and I have looked for information but have hit a snag- any suggestions??

Permalink Reply by Molly McKinley on December 11, 2009 at 10:07am

The best way that I have found to find a difficult ancestor is to find the most unusal last name in the line.
I have Black in my line from Ireland to Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Mississippi, Arkansas and Florida.
How I finally broke through was tracing the in-law names. The more uncommon the better. Also if you know where they were at a given time, have the spouse and children's names and birthdates, you can find them in the censu records and fill out your info that way. You may have to go page-by-page for some of them. My Gaffney's were spelled Gafny, Gafney, Gassney and the first name was sometimes M or Mcl or Michael. What fun I had trying to find them when I knew where they were at the given time of they census. By viewing a page at a time, I found not only them but other relatives who lived near by.
Hope this helps.
Molly

Permalink Reply by Julie Wingate on September 27, 2009 at 12:11pm

I just found this great blog about South Carolina research: http://www.thedeadlibrarian.blogspot.com/

I have already found some new records online from following links on this blog.

Good Luck to you all,
Julie
http://mypapasbook.blogspot.com/