Lee County, South Carolina Genealogy

United States  South Carolina  Lee County

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

County Courthouse
Lee County Courthouse 123 Main Street Bishopville, SC 29010

Probate Judge 123 Main Street P.O. Box 24 Bishopville, SC 29010 Probate and marriage records

Clerk of Court 11 Court House Square Bishopville, SC 29010-1616 803-484-5341 Court and land records

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

History
The county is named after Confederate General Robert E. Lee (1807-1870).

A brief history of Lee Countyonline

Parent County
1902--Lee County was created 25 February 1902 from Darlington, Sumter and Kershaw Counties. County seat: Bishopville

County Pronunciation

 * 1) Hear it spoken

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

Neighboring Counties

 * Chesterfield
 * Darlington
 * Florence
 * Kershaw
 * Sumter

Research Guides

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

African Americans
United States African Americans South Carolina African Americans

Cemeteries
Lee County in S.C. Cemetery Project, courtesy: South Carolina Genealogical Society. Personal name index and list of cemeteries in the county.

Census
1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Lee 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.

DNA
DNA has been collected from men claiming descent from the following Lee 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 Lee, South Carolina at World Connect, produces more than 1,500 results.

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

Message Boards


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

Bibliography


 * [Locklair] Brown, Gerald D. A Genealogy of a Locklair Family Mainly of the Old Sumter District of South Carolina - Present Day Sumter and Lee Counties. Hemingway, S.C.: Three Rivers Historical Society, 1995.
 * [Smith] Smith, Jared M. The Legacy of J. Manly Smith, Sr.: First Sheriff of Lee County, South Carolina. Bishopville, S.C.: J.M. Smith, 1994. ; digital version at Family History Archives.

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
Historic

The Library of Congress has identified the following historic newspapers for Lee 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.


 * Bishopville Eagle (Bishopville, S.C.) 1888-1893.
 * Bishopville Enterprise (Bishopville [S.C.]) 1886-1888.
 * Lee County Messenger (Bishopville, S.C.) 1923-1982.
 * Lee County Observer (Bishopville, S.C.) 1977-current.
 * Lee County Vindicator (Bishopville, Lee County, S.C.) 1902-1902.
 * The Leader and Vindicator (Bishopville, S.C.) 1902-1923.
 * The Mirror (Bishopville, S.C.) 1896-1897.

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:

Family History Centers
Family History Centers in South Carolina

Web Sites

 * Lee County, SCGenWeb
 * Lee County, South Carolina Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Lee County, South Carolina Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)