Anderson County, South Carolina Genealogy


 * This article is about a northwestern South Carolina county. For other uses, see Anderson.

United States  South Carolina  Anderson County

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

History
The county was named after Revolutionary War hero Robert Anderson (1741-1813).

Parent County
1826--Anderson County was created 20 December 1826 from Pendleton District. County seat: Anderson

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
Abbeville | Elbert County, Georgia | Greenville | Hart County, Georgia | Laurens | Oconee | Pickens

Research Guides

 * South Carolina Archives Summary Guide: Anderson County, available online, courtesy: South Carolina Department of Archives and History.
 * South Carolina Archives Summary Guide: Pendleton District, available online, courtesy: South Carolina Department of Archives and History.
 * W.P.A. Inventory of the County Archives of South Carolina No. 4, Anderson County (Anderson) . Columbia, South Carolina : Historical Records Survey, 1939.

African American

 * Megginson, W.J. Black Soldiers in World War I: Anderson, Pickens and Oconee Counties, South Carolina; with a Discussion of Pensions for Civil War Slave Labor. Seneca, S.C.: Oconee County Historical Society, 1994.
 * Williams, Bvenitta J. African-American Cemeteries, Anderson County, South Carolina. Mansfield, Ohio: Family History Services, 1997.

Cemeteries
The book, Book of the Dead, by R.M. Smith is excellent for finding cemetery inscriptions in Anderson County as 22,000 names are listed in alphabetical order for the entire county. This book is 439 pages, covering 200 cemeteries including many private family cemeteries. Inscriptions include people born in the 1750s.

Pickens Chapel Cemetery

Census
1790 (Pendleton), 1800 (Pendleton), 1810 (Pendleton), 1820 (Pendleton), 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Anderson 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.

1800

The book, 1800 Census of Pendleton District, SC by William Stewart is an excellent book. It covers present day Anderson County, Pickens County and Oconee County. The author provides many annotations of people and families listed in this census, especially migration information before 1800 from Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina and after 1800 to Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas.

1820 Manufactures

The original manufactures schedules for South Carolina are kept at the NARA, Washington, D.C. FHL copies: 1024517 - 1024518.

Published abstract:


 * National Archives. Indexes to Manufactures Census of 1820. 1920; reprint, Knightstown, Ind.: Bookmark, 1977. 973 X2m 1820; digital version at Lineages. [Includes this county.]

1840 Revolutionary War Pensioners


 * A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services: With their Names, Ages, and Places of Residence, as Returned by the Marshalls of the Several Judicial Districts, Under the Act for Taking the Sixth Census. Washington, D.C.: Blair and Rives, 1841. 973 X2pc 1840;  2321; digital versions at U.S. Census Bureau and Google Books et. al. [See South Carolina, Anderson District on page 143.]

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Anderson

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 Anderson, South Carolina at World Connect, results in more than 45,000 entries. Persons born in Pendleton, South Carolina produces 25,000 additional results.

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


 * Cheek, Linda G. Families of Old Pendleton District, South Carolina. 4 vols. Greenville, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 2006-2007.
 * Simpson, Richard Wright. History of Old Pendleton District with a Genealogy of the Leading Families of the District. Covington, Tenn.: Bradford, Jesse Lee, [1913?]. ; ; 1978 reprint: ; digital version at World Vital Records ($). Genealogy Trails hosts a free online index to biographies found in this book.
 * Via, Eva Ann Wilson. Piercetown Cousins: History of Piercetown, Anderson County, South Carolina, 1835-1993, Including Wilson, Owen and 28 Allied Families. Baltimore, Md.: Gateway Press, 1993.

Message Boards


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

Bibliography


 * [Acker] Acker, George H. Descendants of Peter Acker and Wife Jane Sutherland, Settlers of 1787 in the Pendleton District of South Carolina. Cleveland, Ohio: G.H. Acker, 1966. Item 4
 * [Adams] Baldwin, Emma Grace. An Adams-Goolsby Genealogy: Some Descendants of Robert Adams of Virginia, Georgia, and Texas, 1624- 1982 ; and a Shirley Genealogy: Some Descendants of Thomas Shirley of Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Texas, 1612-1982. Tenaha, Texas: E.G. Baldwin, 1983.
 * [Corbin] Whitten, William C. Peter Corbin of Pendleton S.C. District and Descendants. Clemson, S.C.: W.C. Whitten, 1988.
 * [Davis] Mentzel, Laura W. Davis Families of the Savannah River Valley: Containing a Record of the Descendants of Van and Harmon Davis from 1725-1978, Covering the Counties of Newberry, Anderson, Pickens, Oconee Counties of South Carolina; Habersham, Franklin, Hart, Stephens, Polk, Paulding, Gwinnett Counties of Georgia. Salt Lake City, Utah: Hobby Press, 1978.
 * [Wright] Kay, William D. Robert Norris Wright, Esquire: 1812-1885, His Life and Four Generations of His Family, Anderson County South Carolina. Mt. Pleasant, S.C.: W.D. Kay, 2005.

Land
Land Ownership Maps -- The Library of Congress created an 1877 land ownership map for Anderson County and the state created a 1897 land ownership map. 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.

Local Histories

 * Vandiver, Louise Ayer. Traditions and History of Anderson County. Atlanta, Ga.: Ruralist Press, 1928. Digital versions at Ancestry ($) and World Vital Records ($).

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. The Wills from Pendleton District were transcribed as Anderson County.

Societies and Libraries
The Anderson County main library is located at 300 N. McDuffie Street, Anderson, S.C. 29621. Contact the library at 864 260-4500 for current hours. The South Carolina room is dedicated for genealogical research. It contains many local and family histories. Subscriptions to Ancestry Library Edition and Heritage Quest Online are available. Here is the web site for the Anderson County Library South Carolina room.

Websites

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