St. Michaels Parish, South Carolina

United States South Carolina  St. Michael's Parish

History
Built on the site of St. Philip's Parish Church in Charleston, which was destroyed by a hurricane in 1710.

Before the American Revolution, the state church of South Carolina was the Church of England (the Anglican Church, or Protestant Episcopal Church). Besides keeping parish registers, the church kept many records of a civil nature in their vestry books. The Vestry was as much a political body as a religious one. The wardens and commissioners were responsible for the roads, education, the poor and orphans, voting and collecting taxes in addition to their church duties.

Founded
St. Michael's Parish (Charleston, Charleston, SC) was created in 1751 in part of Berkeley (1682-1768) County.

Boundary
Borders: St. Andrew's, St. James Goose Creek, St. Philip's parishes, and the Atlantic Ocean. For a map, see: Early parishes in South Carolina. An overlay of districts is available at Carolana.com.

Areas Served: St. Michael's Parish served:


 * part of Berkeley (1682-1768) County 1706-1768
 * part of Charleston District 1768-1800
 * part of Washington County 1785-1791
 * part of Charleston County 1800-1882
 * part of Berkeley County 1882-1898
 * part of Charleston County since 1898

Modern equivalents: The original parish covered a small part of what is present-day Charleston County.

Research Guides

 * South Carolina Archives Summary Guide: St. Philip's and St. Michael's Parishes, available online, courtesy: South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

Cemetery

 * Jervey, Clare. Inscriptions on the Tablets and Gravestones in St. Michael's Church and Churchyard, Charleston, S.C. To Which is Added from the Church Records a List of Interments of Persons to Whom There are No Stones. Columbia, S.C.: The State Company, Publishers, 1906. Digital version at Google Books.

More than 600 of the cemetery's graves are described at Find A Grave. Includes transcripts and select photographs.

Parish History
For an early history of the parish, see Chapter 4, St. Michael's Church, pages 165-243, in:


 * Dalcho, Frederick. An Historical Account of the Protestant Episcopal Church in South Carolina from the First Settlement of the Province, to the War of the Revolution; with Notices of the Present State of the Church in Each Parish and Some Account of the Early Civil History of Carolina, Never Before Published. Charleston: E. Thayer, 1820. ; digital versions at Google Books; Internet Archive.

Beesley's guide is on Ancestry:


 * Beesley, Charles Norbury. Beesley's Illustrated Guide to St. Michael's Church, Charleston, S.C. Charleston, S.C.: Presses of Southern Print. &amp; Pub. Co., c1939. Digital version at Ancestry ($).

Additional histories:


 * Williams, George W. St. Michael's, Charleston, 1751-1951. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1951.

Parish Records
A variety of records were kept about St. Michael's Parish, including: list of pew holders, minutes, accounts, and burials. They were still held at the church in 1952. Copies:. Some of the records have been abstracted:


 * The Minutes of St. Michael's Church of Charleston, S.C., from 1758-1797. Abstracted by South Carolina Society of Colonial Dames of America, Historical Activities Committee.

Websites

 * St. Michael's Church - The Historic Church located in Charleston, SC (official site)
 * St. Michael's Episcopal Church Marker, The Historical Marker Database