McCormick County, South Carolina Genealogy

Guide to  ancestry, family history and genealogy court records, deeds, maps, immigration, maps, military records, newspapers, obituaries, plantations, probate records, slaves, local archives, libraries, museums, churches, cemeteries, and Civil War records.

County Courthouse
McCormick County Courthouse Hwy. 28, McCormick, South Carolina

Clerk of Court 133 S. Mine St. McCormick, SC 29835 Phone: 864-852-2195 Court and land records

Probate Court 133 S. Mine St., Rm. 101 McCormick, SC 29835 Phone: 864-852-2630 Probate and marriage records

Hours: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday - Friday

History
The county is named after American inventor (1809-1884).

Parent County
1916--McCormick County was created 19 February 1916 from Greenwood and Abbeville Counties. County seat: McCormick

County Pronunciation

 * 1) Hear it spoken

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating South Carolina county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation South Carolina County Boundary Maps" (1682-1987) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Places/Localities
The preceding list of places includes incorporated cities and towns, unincorporated towns and communities, and place names that may have been used in family histories. Some have well-organized records and even have web sites. Some are simply social communities with no official records, but which may be referenced in small-town newspapers. The list is provided to help researchers identify localities within the county. As records or histories of these localities are identified, a page will be added for each of these place names.

For further information (and links) on these populated places, please go to Populated Places, McCormick County, South Carolina

Research Guides

 * South Carolina Archives Summary Guide: McCormick County, available online, courtesy: South Carolina Department of Archives and History.
 * W.P.A. Inventory of the County Archives of South Carolina No. 35, McCormick County. Columbia, S.C.: S.C. Historical Records Survey Project, 1940.

African Americans

 * United States African Americans
 * South Carolina African Americans


 * Gilchrist, Claude. Tell Them that We Have Gone On: A Survey of African-American Cemeteries of McCormick County, South Carolina. n.p.: C. Gilchrist, 2004.

Known plantations South Carolina Plantations:


 * Badwell
 * Bath
 * Bradley
 * Cedar Hill
 * Cherry Hill
 * Cotton Level
 * Dornville
 * Dr. Murray's
 * Eden Hall
 * Ivy Gates - Troy
 * Mapleton
 * Oak Grove
 * Petigru
 * Pleasant Grove
 * Silk Hope

Cemeteries
There are many burial grounds in the county. To view a list, see McCormick County, South Carolina Cemeteries.


 * National Cemetery Administration

Census
1920 and 1930 federal population schedules of McCormick 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.

Church History and Records

 * An address delivered at New Bordeaux, Abbeville District, S.C., November 15, 1854: on the 90th anniversary of the arrival of the French Protestants at the place
 * The Huguenots of New Bordeaux

Court Records

 * Equity records of Old 96 and Abbeville district[s] (as on file in the Abbeville Courthouse, S. C.) vol. 1 : 1791-1849
 * South Carolina genealogical records : volume I, Abbeville District

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

Genealogy
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)


 * The Hard Labor section.

 General 

As of August 2010, a query for persons born in McCormick, South Carolina at World Connect, produces more than 900 results.

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


 * Wood, Willie Mae G. Old Families of McCormick County, South Carolina and Dorn Families of Edgefield, Greenwood and McCormick Counties. 2 vols. 1982.

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 * McCormick County, SC Family History and Genealogy Message Board (Ancestry)
 * list of Ancestry county message boards (Ancestry)
 * McCormick County, SC Genealogy Forum (GenForum)
 * South Carolina Genealogy Forum (GenForum)

 Bibliography 

Local History

 * Edmonds, Bobby F. The Making of McCormick County (McCormick, South Carolina : Cedar Hill, c1999 ). 447 pages. This is a narrative of the people during its making, how they interacted with each other, how they reacted to, failed to react to, or over reacted to the times, situations and events. Book at and Other Libraries.
 * Edmonds, Bobby F.McCormick County : Land of Cotton.  (McCormick, South Carolina : Cedar Hill, c2001), 490 pages. The stories presented were gathered from period newspapers and journals, letters, diaries, public records, and scholarly and general works. Book at and Other Libraries.

Land and Property
Because of South Carolina’s history as an agricultural state many residents owned land. For more information about types of land records see South Carolina Land and Property.

Tracing records through South Carolina county and district changes can be difficult. In general, for earliest records begin by searching the Charleston District, then your ancestor’s residential district, then neighboring districts, then the residential county, then neighboring counties. Not all districts and counties kept records. The following chart show where you may best expect to find land records for McCormick County:

* Abbeville deeds burned in 1873 while in storage

** Records of Pendleton/Anderson County should also be checked

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.

Migration
Early migration routes to and from McCormick County for European settlers included:


 * Savannah River pre-historic
 * Occaneechi Path pre-historic
 * Middle Creek Trading Path pre-historic
 * Fall Line Road about 1735
 * Augusta-Savannah Trail in Georgia 1740s
 * Augusta and Cherokee Trail in Georgia 1740s
 * Great Valley Road (south fork) 1740s
 * Charleston-Ft. Charlotte Trail about 1765
 * Fort Charlotte and Cherokee Old Path about 1765-1777

Civil War
Online Records
 * 1861-1865 - at FamilySearch — index
 * 1861-1865 - U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index (free)
 * 1861-1865 - U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index (free)

Regiments. McCormick County did not exist during the Civil War. Present day McCormick County was created 19 February 1916 from Greenwood and Abbeville Counties. During the Civil War, men from the area of McCormick County mostly would have served in various regiments recruited in its parent counties. Counties were called districts during the Civil War.

Other Resources
 * Cook, H. T. The Hard Labor Section. (S.l.: W.C. Kirkland?, 1993). 90 [40] pages. The Hard Labor area includes Greenwood &amp; McCormick counties. Includes lists of militiamen and confederate soldiers. Book at and Other Libraries.

World War II

 * World War II Honor List

Newspapers
Historic

The Library of Congress has identified the following historic newspapers for McCormick County, South Carolina on their Chronicling America website. For publication details, including dates of publication, frequency, preceding and succeeding titles, and to find out which libraries have holdings, click on the newspaper title.


 * McCormick Messenger (McCormick, S.C.) 1902-current.
 * The Advance (McCormick, S.C.) 1885-1886.
 * The McCormick Advance (McCormick, S.C.) 1886-1887.
 * The McCormick News (McCormick, S.C.) 1887-1894.

Obituaries

 * 1846-1860: Marriage and Death Notices from the Abbeville Banner, 1846-1860 by E. Don Herd ▲  - 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:


 * Annals of Edgefield District
 * Transactions of McCormick County Historical Society

Probate Records
Probate is the “court procedure by which a will is proved to be valid or invalid” and encompasses “all matters and proceedings pertaining to the administration of estates, guardianships, etc.” Various types of records are created throughout the probate process. These may include, wills, bonds, petitions, accounts, inventories, administrations, orders, decrees, and distributions. For further information see probate records in South Carolina.

The South Carolina Department of Archives and History features a statewide Will Transcriptions, 1782 to 1855, database online. Includes a searchable index by name, with digitized images.

A probate record collection of Abbeville District, which includes early records of Marlboro County:


 * South Carolina genealogical records: volume I, Abbeville District

Online Probate Records
 * 1670-1980 - South Carolina Wills and Probate Records 1670-1980 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * 1671-1977 - at FamilySearch — images
 * 1732-1964 - at FamilySearch — images
 * 1782-1866 - South Carolina, Will Transcripts 1782-1866 at findmypast — $, index

Taxation
Tax-related records are kept by the offices of the county Assessor, Auditor, Sheriff, and Treasurer. Taxes were levied on real and personal property and can help establish ages, residences, relationships, and the year an individual died or left the area. They can be used as substitutes for missing or destroyed land and census records.

Vital Records
Birth, marriage, and death records were not recorded by South Carolina until the 1900s, thus leaving a lack of vital records. Substitute records, when available, are used to obtain this information. These substitute records including newspapers, court records have been added to this section, when applicable.

Birth
State-wide birth registration began in 1915. For a copy of a birth from 1915 or later, contact the South Carolina Department of Health. The McCormick County Health Department also has copies but they provide only an abbreviated form with limited information. For more information, see the South Carolina Vital Records page.


 * 1766-1900 - at FamilySearch — images

Marriage
In South Carolina, marriage licenses were not required by local governments until 1 July 1911. However, in the 1700s, the Church of England parish churches were required to record all marriages - even if the couple were not members of the denomination. Not all churches recorded these marriages and some have not survived. See South Carolina Vital Records for more information.


 * The McCormick County probate court holds marriage licenses issued from 1 July 1911 to the present. Statewide registration of marriages began in July 1950 and the South Carolina Division of Vital Records has copies of licenses issued after 1 July 1950 through November 2009.
 * Abbeville District, South Carolina marriages, 1777-1852
 * McCormick County, South Carolina marriage license affidavits to obtain licenses and the marriage license, ca. 1916-1952
 * McCormick County, South Carolina marriage licenses,1916-1950

Newspapers are used as a substitute to locate marriage information. See South Carolina Newspapers.

Marriages and Marriage Substitutes - Indexes and Records


 * 1777-1852 - Abbeville District, South Carolina Marriages, 1777-1852  ▲ - McCormick was once in Abbeville District; index
 * 1846-1860 - Marriage and Death Notices from the Abbeville Banner, 1846-1860 by E. Don Herd ▲  - index


 * There are several online marriage indexes containing miscellaneous marriage records found in some counties of South Carolina listed on the South Carolina Vital Records page.

Death
State-wide death registration began in 1915. For a copy of the death certificates from 1915 or later, contact the South Carolina Department of Health. The McCormick County Health Department only has copies for deaths occurring in the last 5 years. For more information, see the South Carolina Vital Records page.

Deaths and Death Substitutes - Indexes and Records


 * 1846-1860 - Marriage and Death Notices from the Abbeville Banner, 1846-1860 by E. Don Herd  - index
 * 1915-1965 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * State-wide South Carolina Death Indexes. There are several online death indexes covering all of South Carolina listed on the South Carolina Vital Records page.

Family History Centers

 * Family History Centers in South Carolina

Websites

 * McCormick County, SC History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Genealogy Inc)
 * McCormick County, SCGenWeb
 * McCormick County, South Carolina Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * McCormick County, South Carolina Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)