South Carolina Vital Records

Birth and Death Records Statewide registration of vital statistics began in January 1915. For information write to:

Office of Vital Records and Public Health Statistics 2600 Bull Street Columbia, SC 29201 Telephone: 803-734-4830 Fax: 803-799-0301 Internet: http://www.scdhec.net/administration/vr/

The current fees for obtaining copies of the state's records are listed in Where to Write for Vital Records: Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Divorces (Hyattsville, Maryland: U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services, 1984; updated, June 1986 FHL book 973 V24wv). Copies of this booklet are at the Family History Library and the Family History Centers. You can also write to the Office of Vital Records and Public Health Statistics (address above) for current information.

Copies of the state records are also available at the courthouse of each county starting in 1915. You can write to the county clerk for information. The Family History Library has not acquired these state records. The county clerks also have post-1915 delayed registrations of birth.

Earlier records were kept by some of the larger cities and are available from the appropriate county health department, except for a few major cities where the records are at the city health department. The Family History Library has microfilm copies of birth records, 1877 to 1901, and death records, 1821 to 1886, from the Board of Health for the City of Charleston.

Marriage Records Statewide registration of marriages began in July 1950. These records are located at the Office of Vital Records and Public Health Statistics (address above).

Before the statewide registration of marriages, the ordinary of the province could issue a marriage license, or banns could be published in the parish church. There are some marriage settlement records at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History from the 1760s to the 1880s. Marriage information was sometimes recorded in the records of the probate court in the early 1800s.

Marriage settlements were legal agreements, primarily made by women who had been married previously. The Family History Library has some of these records, 1785 to 1889, from the Department of Archives and History (FHL films 022512-20). Numerous South Carolina marriages have been abstracted from newspapers (see the “Newspapers” section of this outline). Another helpful publication is Brent H. Holcomb, South Carolina Marriages, Two Volumes (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1980-; FHL book 975.7 V2hsc). This covers 1688 to 1820.

County marriage license records begin about 1900 to 1910 and are in the custody of the probate judge. The Family History Library has some county marriage records on film and in published form. Charleston marriage records are available only from 1877 to 1887.

Divorce Records Divorce proceedings are kept by the county court. Divorce was illegal in South Carolina until 1949, and there are restrictions on the availability of the records. Write to the individual counties for information.