South Carolina Emigration and Immigration

United States   U.S. Immigration    South Carolina    Emigration and Immigration

The People
About 80 percent of the settlers of colonial South Carolina were of English origin. Many of them came by way of Barbados and other colonies rather than directly from England. A group of Dutch settlers from New York came to South Carolina in 1671. Another smaller group was of French origin, mostly descendants of Huguenots, who came to the area beginning in 1680. More numerous were the Scottish dissenters, who were brought in beginning in 1682, and the Germans, who arrived during the eighteenth century. Blacks constituted a majority of the population from early colonial times until 1930. Indian wars drove most of the native Americans from the state, but there are still a few Catawba Indians in York County.

In 1664, a "group of Barbadians joined in an agreement to settle in Carolina." In the twentieth century, this document was kept in the South Carolina Historical Society Collection (reference V/29).

Several histories chronicle these Atlantic World links:


 * Alleyne, Warren and Henry Fraser. The Barbados-Carolina Connection. London: Macmillan Publishers Limited, 1988. 972.981 H2a
 * Kent, David L. Barbados and America. Arlington, Va.: C.M. Kent, 1980. 972.981 X2b

Settlement Patterns
The earliest settlements were on the coastal plain low country of South Carolina. Pushed by a desire to escape the Revolutionary War and pulled by a desire for land, settlers eventually poured into the Piedmont up country. Townships in eighteenth-century South Carolina were established as residences for foreign protestants of various nationalities. Many immigrants were of Ulster Scots, German, and Welsh descent. In 1770 the population of South Carolina was less than 50,000; by 1790 it had reached 140,000.

Early migration routes: Camden-Charleston Path· Catawba and Northern Trail· Catawba Trail· Charleston-Ft. Charlotte Trail· Charleston-Savannah Trail· Fall Line Road (or Southern Road)· Fort Charlotte and Cherokee Old Path· Fort Moore-Charleston Trail· Great Valley Road· King's Highway· Lower Cherokee Traders' Path· Middle Creek Trading Path· Occaneechi Path· Old Cherokee Path· Old South Carolina State Road· Secondary Coast Road· Unicoi Trail· Upper Road

Early settlement was blocked by thick forests. The best way through the trees was by river, or over Indian trails that were slowly improved into wagon and stagecoach roads. Use the above list of early migration trails to get a better understanding of where early South Carolina settlers came from and where they may have moved.

Almost immediately after statehood, South Carolina began to lose population to the westward movement. In the early 1800s, slaveholders moved to new, more fertile plantations in Alabama and Mississippi. In the 1820s, antislavery Quakers moved to the Old Northwest, especially Indiana.

South Carolina did not attract many overseas immigrants during the nineteenth century. State-sponsored recruiting efforts brought in a few hundred Germans between 1866 and 1868 and about 2,500 northern Europeans in the early 1900s.

Overseas Immigration
The major port of entry to South Carolina is Charleston. Others ports include Beaufort and Georgetown.

Brent H. Holcomb, CG, sums up the problem of finding South Carolina passenger lists:


 * "One of the questions mosts frequently asked about South Carolina records is 'Where are the shiplists?'. Your editor has seen many disappointed faces when he has explained that in the Colonial period they do not exist outside of the few actual lists in the South Carolina Council Journals and what might be gleaned from the texts of individual petitioners for lands."

Some early immigrant lists survive:


 * Revill, Janie. A Compilation of the Original Lists Protestant Immigrants to South Carolina, 1763-1773. Columbia, S.C.: State Co., 1939. ; 1968 reprint: ; digital version of 1996 reprint at World Vital Records ($).
 * "Some Emigrants to South Carolina 1727," The South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Summer 1986):133.

In the eighteenth century, many immigrants petitioned for headright lands in the Colony of South Carolina, see:


 * Holcomb, Brent H. Petitions for Land from the South Carolina Council Journals. (1734-1774) 7 vols. Columbia, S.C.: SCMAR, 1996-1999.

Abstracts of select Irish immigrants found in Council Journals were published in:


 * "Some Irish Protestant Immigrants to South Carolina 1753 and 1754," The South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Winter 1989):25-29.

The Family History Library and the National Archives have fragmentary passenger lists for Charleston for 1820 to 1828 and for Port Royal for 1865. Abstracts:


 * Holcomb, Brent H. "Passengers Arriving at the Port of Charleston 1820-1829," The South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, Vol. 17, No. 4 (Fall 1989):183-189; Vol. 18, No. 1 (Winter 1990):13-21; Vol. 18, No. 2 (Spring 1990):75-83; Vol. 18, No. 3 (Summer 1990):133-145; Vol. 18, No. 4 (Fall 1990):195-201; Vol. 19, No. 1 (Winter 1991):13-23; Vol. 19, No. 2 (Spring 1991):79-91; Vol. 19, No. 3 (Summer 1991):127-137; Vol. 19, No. 4 (Fall 1991):189-198; Vol. 20, No. 1 (Winter 1992):11-21; Vol. 20, No. 2 (Spring 1992):83-93; Vol. 20, No. 3 (Summer 1992):143-153; Vol. 21, No. 1 (Winter 1993):21-27; Vol. 21, No. 2 (Spring 1993):81-87; Vol. 21, No. 3 (Summer 1993):151-159; Vol. 21, No. 4 (Fall 1993):205-213; Vol. 22, No. 1 (Winter 1994):29-37; Vol. 22, No. 2 (Spring 1994):99-105..

Reprinted in:


 * Holcomb, Brent H. Passenger Arrivals at the Port of Charleston, 1820-1829. 1994. Digital versions at Ancestry ($) and World Vital Records ($).

A few arrivals at Charleston are included in an index to passenger lists of vessels arriving at miscellaneous southern ports from 1890 to 1924 -.

Customs records for the ports of Charleston, Georgetown, and Beaufort are at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Several published records of pre-1900 immigrants are indexed in P. William Filby, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index (Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Company, 1981, 1985, 1986; . Supplements are issued annually. There are cumulative indexes.

Three major immigration databases are:


 * 1) Ancestry's Immigration &amp; Travel Records ($)
 * 2) Immigrant Servants Database
 * 3) Virtual Jamestown

English Immigrants
In lieu of colonial passenger lists regarding early settlers of South Carolina, genealogists must rely on evidence gleaned from a variety of sources to successfully trace immigrant origins.

The Prerogative Court of Canterbury in London proved the wills of many residents of South Carolina. For access, see South Carolina Probate Records. Heraldic visitations list some members of prominent English families who crossed the Atlantic. Expert Links: English Family History and Genealogy includes a concise list of visitations available online. Online archive catalogs, such as Access to Archives, can be keyword searched for place names, such as "South Carolina" and "Charleston," to retrieve manuscripts stored in hundreds of English archives relating to persons and landholdings in this former English colony. These types of records establish links between South Carolina residents and England, which can lead researchers back to their specific ancestral English towns, villages, and hamlets.

The multi-volume Calendar of Colonial State Papers Colonial, America, and West Indies (1574-1739), which is available for free online (see discussion in South Carolina Public Records), highlights many connections between England and South Carolina.

Remnants of passenger lists and other substitute sources are discussed below.

More detailed information on immigration sources is in the United States Emigration and Immigration. Records of other major ethnic groups, including French Huguenots, Ulster Scots, Jews, Quakers, and Catawba Indians exist.


 * Motes, Margaret Peckham. Migration to South Carolina, Movement from the New England and Mid-Atlantic States, 1850 Census. Baltimore, Md.: Clearfield, 2004. ; digital version at World Vital Records ($).
 * Scott, Kenneth. British Aliens in the United States During the War of 1812. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1979. ; digital version at Ancestry ($). [Identifies many British immigrants living in Charleston during the War of 1812.]

A standard work on early South Carolina immigrants, which includes some passenger lists, is now also widely available on the Internet:


 * Hotten, John Camden. The Original Lists of Persons of Quality: Emigrants; Religious Exiles; Political Rebels; Serving Men Sold for a Term of Years; Apprentices; Children Stolen; Maidens Pressed; and Others Who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600-1700, with Their Ages, the Localities Where They Formerly Lived in the Mother Country, the Names of the Ships in which They Embarked, and Other Interesting Particulars; from MSS. Preserved in the State Paper Department of Her Majesty's Public Record Office, England. London: the author, 1874. Digital versions at Ancestry ($); Google Books and Internet Archive; 1983 reprint: 973 W2hot 1983

Brandow published an addendum to Hotten's work:


 * Brandow, James C. Omitted Chapters from Hotten's Original Lists of Persons of Quality ... and Others Who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600-1700. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2001. Digital version at Ancestry ($).

Peter Wilson Coldham has published several volumes of English records that identify, among other American immigrants, those destined for South Carolina. Many English indentured servants completed labor terms in South Carolina. Coldham's works are indexed in Filby's Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s (digital version at Ancestry ($)).


 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. British Emigrants in Bondage, 1614-1788. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Pub. Co., 2004. CD-ROM no. 2150.
 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. The Bristol Registers of Servants Sent to Foreign Plantations, 1654-1686. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1988. 942.41/B2 W2c; digital versions at Ancestry ($); Chronicle Barbados (Barbados entries only); Virtual Jamestown.
 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. The Complete Book of Emigrants: 1607-1776. n.p.: Brøderbund, 1996. CD-ROM no. 9 pt. 350; digital version of select portions at Virtual Jamestown.
 * "Convicts to South Carolina 1728," The South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Spring 1992):82.

Runaway advertisements for colonial indentured servants often yield immigration data. The Early South Carolina Newspaper Database indexes these records.

African Immigrants
The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database Internet site contains references to 35,000 slave voyages, including over 67,000 Africans aboard slave ships, using name, age, gender, origin, and place of embarkation. The database documents the slave trade between Africa, Europe, Brazil, the Caribbean, and the United States.

Records of blacks are listed in the Family History Library Catalog Place Search under the heading SOUTH CAROLINA - SLAVERY AND BONDAGE and under the heading SOUTH CAROLINA - MINORITIES.

Scottish and Irish Immigrants
David Dobson has dedicated many years to establishing links between Scots and their dispersed Scottish cousins who settled throughout the world. For South Carolina connections, see:


 * Dobson, David. Directory of Scots in the Carolinas, 1680-1830, Volume 1. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1986. ; digital version at World Vital Records ($).
 * Dobson, David. Directory of Scots in the Carolinas, 1680-1830, Volume 2. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004. Digital version at World Vital Records ($).

Additional studies include:


 * Motes, Margaret Peckham. Irish Found in South Carolina 1850 Census. Baltimore, Md.: Clearfield, 2003. ; digital version at World Vital Records ($).
 * Stephenson, Jean. Scotch-Irish Migration to South Carolina, 1772: Rev. William Martin and His Five Shiploads of Settlers. Strasburg, Va.: Shenandoah Publishing House, 1971. ; digital version at World Vital Records ($).

German Immigrants
The following internet site has potentially useful information: German Roots (Port of Charleston).

American Immigration
Many settlers from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina migrated down into South Carolina during the colonial period. The Great Valley Road, which passed through the Shenandoah Valley was a popular route.

Virginia Immigrants
Bell published a series of articles about Southside Virginians who migrated to eighteenth-century South Carolina:


 * Bell, Mary McCampbell. "Some Migrations from Virginia to South Carolina," The South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Spring 1983):97-102; Vol. 12, No. 1 (Winter 1984):19-21; Vol. 12, No. 2 (Spring 1984):94-99; Vol. 13, No. 3 (Summer 1985):127-129.

Westward Migrants
Free native-born South Carolinians, alive in 1850, who had left the state, resettled as follows:

Robertson compiled a list of South Carolinians living in Kansas in 1860:


 * Robertson, Clara Hamlett. Kansas Territorial Settlers of 1860 Who were Born in Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina: A Compilation with Historical Annotations and Editorial Comment. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1976. ; digital version at World Vital Records ($).