Charleston County, South Carolina Genealogy

United States South Carolina  Charleston County


 * From 1800 to 1868 this Charleston County was also known by the alias Charleston District.
 * Not to be confused with the overarching Charleston District that existed from 1768 to 1800.
 * Not to be confused with the much smaller Charleston (1785-1791) County abolished in 1791.

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

Note: City of Charleston birth and death records begin earlier. See Charleston County, South Carolina Vital Records.

County Courthouse
Charleston County Courthouse 4050 Bridgeview Drive North Charleston, SC 29405 Phone: 843-740-0801

Charleston County Probate Court 100 Broad St., Suite 381 Charleston, SC 29401-5030 Phone: 843-958-4030

Charleston County Register Mesne Conveyance 101 Meeting St. Charleston, SC 29401-2249 Phone: 843-958-4800

Charleston County Clerk of Court 100 Broad St., Suite 106 Charleston, SC 29401-2258 Phone: 843-958-5000

Historical Facts
Charleston District/County was first established in 1769 as Judicial District. Charleston County is the home to the city of Charleston (originally Charles Towne) which was first settled in 1670 by British and Africans from the Caribbean island of Barbados. Charleston was originally named in honor of King Charles II of England (1630-1685).

Charleston County of 1785 was small and it was abolished in 1791. The current Charleston County was created in 1800 when the Charleston County/District name was used again for a much larger county/district. This "version" was altered in 1878, by carving out the new Berkeley County. In 1897 Dorchester County was carved out, leaving the current boundaries of Charleston County.

Learn more about the history of Charleston County from the South Carolina State Library or from Carolana.com.

Parent County/Boundary Changes

 * 1769 - Charleston District created as one of seven original districts.
 * 1785 - Charleston divided into Berkeley, Bartholomews, Charleston, Colleton, Marion, and Washington Counties, which never became functional.
 * 1800 - Non-functional counties of Berkeley, Barhtolomews, Charleston, Colleton, Marion, and Washington were abolished and Charleston returned to its status as a district. Colleton District created from Charleston (covering different boundaries than the non-functional Colleton County).
 * 1868 - Charleston and all other districts became counties.
 * 1882 - Berkeley created from Charleston County.
 * 1893 - Charleston gained from Berkeley County.
 * 1911 - Charleston gained from Colleton County.
 * 1921 - Charleston gained from Berkeley and Dorchester Counties.
 * 1975 - Colleton gained from Charleston County.
 * 1987 - Colleton gained from Charleston County.

Even though Charleston's jurisdictional names have changed many times over the years, for the Colonial Period (1670-1776), the changes really did not affect record keeping. Most of the colony's public records were kept in the City of Charleston up through the year 1785.

For more information as well as maps of Charleston County through time, see the South Carolina State Archives or South Carolina County Maps and Atlases.

County Seat
The county seat of Charleston County is Charleston (originally Charles Town) which was founded in 1670 and is the oldest settlement in South Carolina.

County Pronunciation
.

Variant Spellings

 * Charles Town

Record Loss
Official negligence in the 1830s destroyed a large quantity of loose records of the court of general sessions. Northern "tourists," many of whom were members of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher's congregation from Brooklyn, New York, looted other material from both public and private repositories in Charleston in April 1865. Loose probate papers were apparently destroyed in Columbia in February 1865.

Places/Localities
The preceding list of places includes incorporated cities and towns, unincorporated towns and communities, and place names that may have been used in family histories. Some have well-organized records and even have web sites. Some are simply social communities with no official records, but which may be referenced in small-town newspapers. The list is provided to help researchers identify localities within the county. As records or histories of these localities are identified, a page will be added for each of these place names.