Cherokee County, South Carolina Genealogy

United States  South Carolina  Cherokee County

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

County Courthouse
Cherokee County Courthouse 125 E. Floyd Baker Blvd. Gaffney, SC 26342 Phone: 864-487-2562

Cherokee County Probate Court 1434 North Limestone St. Gaffney, SC 29341 Phone: 864-487-2583 Hours: 8:30 am - 5 pm Mon.- Fri. Marriage and Probate records

Cherokee County Clerk of Court 125 E. Floyd Baker Blvd. Gaffney, SC 29342 Phone: 864-487-2571 Hours: 8:30 am - 5 pm Mon. - Fri. Court records and Deeds.

History
The county is named after the Cherokee Native American tribe.

Parent County
1897--Cherokee County was created 25 February 1897 from Union, York and Spartanburg Counties. County seat: Gaffney 

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.

Neighboring Counties

 * Cleveland County, North Carolina
 * Rutherford County, North Carolina
 * Spartanburg
 * Union
 * York

Research Guides

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

African American

 * Malone, Samuel Lorenzo and Ola Copeland. Black Families in Cherokee County, South Carolina, as Taken from 1910-1920 Federal Census. Spartanburg, S.C.: Reprint, 1993.

Cemeteries
Cherokee County in S.C. Cemetery Project, courtesy: South Carolina Genealogical Society. List of cemeteries in the county.

Census
1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Cherokee 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.

See Cherokee County, SC census assignments, including links to transcribed files [The USGenWeb Census Project®]

Church
Cherokee County Churches identifies dozens of churches in the area, courtesy: South Carolina Genealogical Society.

LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Gaffney

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.

Family Histories
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 Cherokee, South Carolina at World Connect, results in nearly 10,000 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


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

Bibliography


 * [Mullinax] Mullinax, Jack D. The Mullinax Family of Northern South Carolina (York, Union and Cherokee Counties) and Southern North Carolina (Cleveland, Gaston and Lincoln Counties). Chesnee, S.C.: Chesnee Hardware, 1983.
 * [Williams] Williams, Johnny Lee. Descendants of Edward Williams, Sr.: of Spartanburg County, South Carolina (now Cherokee County, South Carolina). Attalla, Ala.: J.L. Williams, 2000.

Land
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.

Revolutionary War

 * "Battle of King's Mountain diagram, 1780," Pastmaster Journal of the Mountain Empire, June 2005, Volume 2, Issue 4. Ms Shelby Ireson Edwards : Bristol, VA.
 * "Over Mountain Men at the Battle of Kings Mountain, 1780," Gaston County Historical Bulletin, 2003, Volume 49, Issue 2. Gaston County, North Carolina Historical Society : Gastonia, NC.
 * "Battle of Kings Mountain," Sandy Valley Heritage, November 2000, Volume 19, Issue 4. Big Sandy Valley Historical Society : Hagerhill, KY 41222.
 * "Events to battle of Kings Mountain," Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, August 1985, Volume 119, Issue 7. Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine : Washington, D.C. Book 973 B2dar.
 * "Battle of Cowpens," Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, November 1973, Volume 107, Issue 9. Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine : Washington, D.C. Book 973 B2dar.

Web Sites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Family History Library Catalog
 * Cherokee County, South Carolina Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)