Colleton County, South Carolina Genealogy

United States  South Carolina  Colleton County County in South Carolina Lowcountry.

Quick Dates
Colleton County's civil records start the following years:

County Courthouse
Colleton County Courthouse 101 Hampton Street Walterboro, SC 29488

Colleton County Probate Court 188 N. Walter Street P.O. Box 1036 Walterboro, SC 29488 Phone: 843-549-7216 Marriage and probate records

Colleton County Clerk of Court 101 Hampton Street P.O. Box 620 Walterboro, SC 29488 Phone: 843-549-5791 Court and land records

Hours: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday - Friday

History
The county is named after Sir John Colleton, 1st Baronet (1608-1666). King Charles II appointed him one of the Lords Proprietor of Carolina in 1663.

Parent County
1798--Colleton County was created in 1798 from Charleston District. County seat: Walterboro 

Boundary Changes
"Rotating Formation South Carolina County Boundary Maps" (1682-1987) may be viewed for free at the My South Carolina Genealogy website. They rely on AniMap 3.0 software.

Record Loss

 * Pre-Civil War land records are lost

Neighboring Counties

 * Allendale
 * Bamberg
 * Beaufort
 * Charleston
 * Dorchester
 * Hampton
 * Orangeburg

Research Guides

 * South Carolina Archives Summary Guide: Colleton County, available online, courtesy: South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

African Americans
United States African Americans South Carolina African Americans

Cemeteries
There are more than 100 burial grounds in the county. To view a list, see Colleton County, South Carolina Cemeteries.

Census
1800, 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Colleton County are available online. For tips on accessing census records online, see South Carolina Census. If you're having trouble finding your ancestors in online indexes, try checking printed indexes. Created by local experts familiar with the area's families, these indexes are often transcribed more accurately than online nationwide indexes.

See South Carolina Population Schedule Indexes: Fiche, Film, or Book for more information about statewide printed indexes.

1800


 * Jarrell, Lawrence E. Early Colleton, South Carolina Census Complete Transcription of the Federal Census Records; 1790 Charleston District Census, St. Bartholomew's, St. George's-Dorchester; St. Paul's and St. John's-Colleton Parishes 1800 Colleton District Census--St. Bartholomew's, St. George's-Dorchester and St. Paul's Parishes; 1810 Colleton District Census. High Point, N.C.: Alligator Creek Genealogy Publications, 1998. 975.79 X2j

1810


 * Jarrell, Lawrence E. Early Colleton, South Carolina Census Complete Transcription of the Federal Census Records; 1790 Charleston District Census, St. Bartholomew's, St. George's-Dorchester; St. Paul's and St. John's-Colleton Parishes 1800 Colleton District Census--St. Bartholomew's, St. George's-Dorchester and St. Paul's Parishes; 1810 Colleton District Census. High Point, N.C.: Alligator Creek Genealogy Publications, 1998. 975.79 X2j

1820


 * Jarrell, Lawrence E. 1820 Colleton, South Carolina Census. High Point, N.C.: Alligator Creek Genealogy Publications, 1998. 975.795 X2j 1820

DNA
DNA has been collected from men claiming descent from the following Colleton County residents. FamilySearch has not independently verified the lineages of those tested.

Genealogy
It is anticipated that this bibliography will eventually identify all known family histories published about residents of this county. Use this list to:


 * Locate publications about direct ancestors
 * Find the most updated accounts of an ancestor's family
 * Identify publications, to quote Elizabeth Shown Mills, about an ancestor's "FAN Club" [Friends, Associates, and Neighbors]

General
As of August 2010, a query for persons born in Colleton, South Carolina at World Connect, results in more than 20,000 entries.

Surname indexes to Leonardo Andrea's Files | Folders | Resources are available online, courtesy: The Andrea Files: South Carolina Genealogical Research. Learn more.

Message Boards

 * Colleton County, SC Family History and Genealogy Message Board (Ancestry)
 * Colleton County, SC Genealogy Forum (GenForum)

Deeds
Antebellum deed books are lost; however, a guide has been published to help researchers study the pre-Civil War period:


 * McElligott, Carroll Ainsworth and Ronald J. McElligott. A Guide to the Pre-Civil War Land Records of Colleton County, South Carolina: Abstracts of Land Records Executed Prior to 1 January 1866 from the Direct Index to Deeds, 1865-1974. Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 2000. 975.795 R2m

Plats For State Land Grants 1784-1868
This series consists of recorded copies of plats for state land grants for the Charleston and the Columbia Series with their certificates of admeasurement or certification. All personal names and geographic features on these plats are included in the repository's On-line Index to Plats for State Land Grants

The South Carolina Constitution of 1790 required the surveyor general to maintain offices in both the new capital at Columbia and in Charleston. The surveyor general began to use separate volumes for recording plats in his Columbia office in 1796. Before that, all plats were recorded in the set of volumes begun in Charleston in 1784. After 1796, most plats for land grants in the Upper Division of the state were recorded and filed in Columbia. The surveyor general chose to make the Columbia volumes a continuation of the state plat volumes begun in Charleston and gave the initial Columbia volume the number thirty-six to correspond with the number of the volume that had then been reached in the Charleston series. As a result, there are volumes numbered thirty-six through forty-three from each office, but the records in them are not duplicative.

Also included are the Plan Books containing Plats and Plans.

French and Indian War

 * Weir, Robert M. "Muster Rolls of the South Carolina Granville and Colleton County Regiments of Militia, 1756," The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 70, No. 4 (Oct., 1969), pp. 226-239. Digital version at JSTOR ($).
 * "Muster rolls of Colleton co. regim., 1756," South Carolina Historical Magazine, October 1969, Volume 70, Issue 4. South Carolina History Society : Charleston, SC. Book 975.7 B2s.

War of 1812

 * List of Pensioners on the Roll, January 1, 1883; Giving the Name of Each Pensioner, the Cause for Why Pensioned, the Post-Office Address, the Rate of Pension Per Month, and the Date of Original Allowance... Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1883. 973 M2Lp v. 5; digital versions at Google Books and Internet Archive. [See Vol. 5, South Carolina, Colleton County, p. 184. Identifies War of 1812 veterans living in this county in 1883.]

Revolutionary War

 * "Revolutionary War Volunteer Roll, 1775," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, March 1930, Volume 18, Issue 1. National Genealogical Society : Arlington,VA.

Newspapers
Historic


 * The Colleton and Beaufort Sun (Walterboro, S.C.) 1859-186?.
 * The Colleton Democrat (Walterboro, S.C.) 1877-1880.
 * The Colleton News (Walterboro, S.C.) 1908-1911.
 * The Colleton Press (Walterboro, S.C.) 1880-1890.
 * The Colleton Standard (Walterboro, S.C.) 1889-1890.
 * The Press and Standard (Walterboro, S.C.) 1890-current.
 * The Southern Star (Walterboro, S.C.) 1885-1887.
 * The Walterboro News (Walterboro, S.C.) 1873-1877.

Current

Colleton County Newspaper Index

Periodicals
Tap into the minds of local experts. Editors of genealogical periodicals publish unique sources that researchers new to their area may not encounter. Periodicals at various levels (county, region, and state) may carry articles useful to research in this area. For this county, see:


 * Rice Planter
 * South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research

Probate

 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. North American Wills Registered in London 1611-1857. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2007. [Includes wills of residents of Colleton County proved in London, see place-name index. These records often help establish an immigrant's place of origin.]

Published abstracts:

 * [1760] "Colleton County excerpts from 1760 SC Tax List," available online, courtesy: SCGenWeb. [The original "Records of the Receiver - General Accounts of Quit Rents Paid" are kept at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.
 * [1768] Quit Rent Rolls. [Includes Colleton County; begins on page 255.]
 * [1785] St. Andrew's Parish Tax Returns, 1785, South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Spring 1977).
 * [1785] St. Bartholomew's Parish Tax Returns, 1785, South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Summer 1977).
 * [1785] St. Paul's Parish Tax Returns, 1785, South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Spring 1977); Vol. 5, No. 3 (Summer 1977).
 * [1809] Return of the Poor Tax Collected by John Mikell, 1809, South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Spring 2007).

Colleton
Family History Centers in South Carolina

Web Sites

 * Colleton County, SCGenWeb
 * Colleton County, South Carolina (Government Site) Includes Property and Tax Search for recent residents
 * Colleton County, South Carolina Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Colleton County, South Carolina Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)