Richland County, South Carolina Genealogy

United States  South Carolina  Richland County

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

Parent County
1799--Richland County was created in 1799 from Kershaw District. County seat: Columbia 

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

 * No census: 1800
 * Lost census: 1890

Neighboring Counties
Calhoun | Fairfield | Kershaw | Lexington | Newberry | Sumter

Research Guides

 * South Carolina Archives Summary Guide: Richland County, available online, courtesy: South Carolina Department of Archives and History.
 * W.P.A. Inventory of the County Archives of South Carolina No. 40, Richland County (Columbia). Columbia, S.C.: S.C. Historical Records Survey Project, 1940. ; digital version at Family History Archives.

African American

 * Heinegg, Paul. "'Other Free' Heads of Household in the 1790 South Carolina Census, by County," Free African Americans.com. [Includes free blacks in Richland County.]

Census
1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Richland 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
The Inventory of (SC) Church Archives 1937-1939 is available for free online, courtesy: South Caroliniana Library. Richland County's W.P.A. reports are included.

LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Columbia

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]

Family Histories at the Columbia SC Stake Famliy History Center by Surname is linked to WorldCat where possible and includes histories of families from surrounding counties.

General

As of August 2010, a query for persons born in Richland, South Carolina at World Connect, produces more than 9,000 results.

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


 * Hopkins, Laura Jervey. Lower Richland Planters: Hopkins, Adams, Weston and Related Families of South Carolina. Hopkins, S.C.: Hopkins, 1976.

Message Boards


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

Bibliography


 * [Adams] Campbell, Julia Courtenay. Descendants of Joel Adams and Grace Weston of The Fork, Richland County, South Carolina. Typescript, microfilmed 1971. Item 7
 * [Benson] Smith, Leonard H. "Enigmas #6: Joshua Benson of Massachusetts and Joshua Benson of South Carolina: Coincidence or Bigamy?" The American Genealogist, Vol. 69, No. 3 (Jul. 1994):165-170.
 * [Brown] Terrar, Edward. Genealogical Information about the Brown and Related Gibson, Raines, Tompkins, Mann Families in Blythewood/Doko (Richland/Fairfield, Co.), South Carolina. Silver Spring, Md.: E. Terrar, 1992.
 * [Fox] Steadman, Joseph Earle and Shirley Faucette. Ancestry of the Fox Family of Richland and Lexington Counties, South Carolina.

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.

Newspapers
Richland County Public Library Obituary Index

Richland County Public Library offers an online obituary index for The State and the Palmetto Leader newspapers. The index is a work in progress. Additional years are added as they are completed. An online request form is available to request the full text of an obituary.

Richland County Public Library Local Magazine and Newspaper Index

This index contains records from several Columbia magazines and clippings found in the Walker Local History Room vertical files.

The State

The following Columbia newspapers have been digitized by the South Caroliniana Library and made available online for free through the Chronicling America website:


 * Columbia Phoenix (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1865
 * Columbia Phoenix (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1865
 * The Columbia Daily Phoenix (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1865
 * Tri-Weekly Phoenix (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1875
 * The Daily Phoenix (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878

Probate
The South Carolina Department of Archives and History has microfilms or typescripts of wills, inventories, bills of sale, power of attorneys, bonds, notes, administrations, judgments, and sales records. They have placed Will Transcriptions for 1782 to 1855 online. Index searchable by name and the image is available.

Vital Records

 * Marriage License Inquiry: Online index of Richland County Marriages from 1911 to the present.

Societies and Libraries
South Caroliniana Library 910 Sumter St. University of South Carolina Columbia, S.C. 29208

Telephone for Main Office: (803) 777-3131 FAX South Caroliniana Library: (803) 777-5747 Email sclref@mailbox.sc.edu with any questions regarding South Caroliniana Library and its holdings.

Web Sites

 * Richland County USGenWeb project May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.


 * Family History Library Catalog


 * The Dead Librarian Walker Local History Room Librarian, Debbie Bloom, keeps South Carolina researchers up to date on new online resources for genealogical research. The blog highlights online obituary indexing provided by South Carolina public libraries.


 * Richland County Public Library Walker Local History Room
 * Richland County, South Carolina Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * South Caroliniana Library (About SCL)