Greenwood County, South Carolina Genealogy

United States  South Carolina  Greenwood County

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

County Courthouse
Greenwood County Courthouse 528 Monument Street Greenwood, SC 29646

Greenwood County Clerk of Court 528 Monument St., Room 114 Greenwood, SC 29646 Phone: 864-942-8546 Court and land records

Greenwood County Probate Court 528 Monument St., Room 205 Greewood, SC 29646 Phone: 864-942-8625 Probate and marriage records

Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday - Friday

History
The county is named after Greenwood Plantation.

Parent County
1897--Greenwood County was created 2 March 1897 from Abbeville and Edgefield Counties. County seat: Greenwood 

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 | Edgefield | Laurens | McCormick | Newberry | Saluda

Research Guides

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

Cemeteries

 * Andrews Cemeteries
 * Bethel Methodist Church Cemetery
 * Bethlehem Cemetery
 * Bold Springs Baptist Church Cemetery
 * Cedar Grove Cemetery
 * Crossroads Cemetery
 * Damascus Baptist Church Cemetery
 * Douglass Family Cemetery
 * Dunns Creek Cemetery
 * Edgewood Cemetery
 * Elmwood Cemetery
 * Evening Star Cemetery
 * Fairview Cemetery
 * Fellowship Baptist Cemetery
 * First Mount Moriah Baptist Cemetery
 * Friendship Cemetery
 * Friendship Pentecostal Holiness Church Cemetery
 * Gaulden Family Burying Ground
 * Greenwood Cemetery
 * Greenwood Mausoleum
 * Greenwood Memorial Gardens
 * Greenwood Memorial Gardens
 * Hillcrest Cemetery
 * Hodges Cemetery
 * Hodges Family Cemetery
 * Holloway Family Cemetery
 * Horeb Baptist Church Cemetery
 * Hunt Acres
 * Immanuel Lutheran Church Columbarium
 * Kinards Methodist Church Cemetery
 * Lebanon Cemetery
 * Lower Cane Cemetery
 * Lyon-Lipford Cemetery
 * Magnolia Cemetery
 * Mathews Cemetery
 * Mathews Fields
 * Morris Hill Cemetery
 * Mount Carmel UMC (Kirksey Community)
 * Mount Lebanon United Methodist Church Cemetery
 * Mount Olive Cemetery
 * Mount Pleasant Cemetery
 * Mount Sinai Cemetery
 * Mountain Creek Baptist Church Cemetery

Census
1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Greenwood 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 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 Greenwood, South Carolina at World Connect, produces more than 3,500 results.

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


 * Watson, Margaret J., Harry Legare Watson, and Louise M. Watson. Greenwood County Sketches: Old Roads and Early Families. Greenwood, S.C.: Attic Press, 1982. ; digital version at World Vital Records ($).

Message Boards


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

Bibliography


 * [Dorn] Wood, Willie Mae G. Old Families of McCormick County, South Carolina and Dorn Families of Edgefield, Greenwood and McCormick Counties. 2 vols. 1982.

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.

Local Histories
Greenwood County: A History by Ann Herd Bowen, Greenwood, S.C.: The Museum, 1992

Newspapers
Greenwood County Obituary Index

Societies and Libraries
[http://www2.youseemore.com/Greenwood/default.asp? Greenwood County Library] 106 N. Main St. Greenwood, SC 29646 864-941-4650 Sunday Monday - Wednesday Thursday - Saturday 2pm - 5:30pm 9am - 9pm 9am - 5:30pm

Ninety Six Branch Library 118 Cambridge St. South Ninety Six, SC 29666 864-543-4749 Monday               Tuesday-Friday 9am-7:30pm          9am-5:30pm

Ware Shoals Community Library 54 South Greenwood Ave. Ware Shoals, SC 29692 864-456-2813 Monday                 Tuesday                  Wednesday-Friday 7:30am-5:30pm       7:30am-7:30pm        7:30am-5:30pm

Web Sites

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