Edgefield County, South Carolina Genealogy

United States  South Carolina  Edgefield County

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

County Courthouse
Clerk of Court Court and Land records on-line documents and index at landaccess.com

Probate Court Probate and marriage records

Contact: Edgefield County, South Carolina 124 Courthouse Square Edgefield, SC 29824 Phone: 803-637-4000 Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday - Friday

History
The county takes its name from the fact that it is located on the edge of the state.

Parent County
1785--Edgefield County was created in 1785 from District 96. County seat: Edgefield 

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
Aiken | Columbia County, Georgia | Greenwood | McCormick | Richmond County, Georgia | Saluda

Research Guides

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

African American

 * Burton, Vernon. "Race and Reconstruction: Edgefield County, South Carolina," Journal of Social History, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Autumn, 1978), pp. 31-56. Digital version at JSTOR ($).
 * Heinegg, Paul. "'Other Free' Heads of Household in the 1790 South Carolina Census, by County," Free African Americans.com. [Includes free blacks in Edgefield County.]

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

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 version at U.S. Census Bureau and Google Books et. al. [See South Carolina, Edgefield District on page 142.]

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 Edgefield, South Carolina at World Connect, produces more than 50,000 results.

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


 * Rowland, Arthur Ray. Neighbors of North Augusta and Its Geographical Ancestors including Hamburg Township and Schultz Township in Edgefield County and Aiken County, South Carolina : from U.S. census records, 1850-1900. North Augusta, S.C.: RR Books, 2006.

Message Boards


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

Bibliography


 * [Berry] Dowling, Bobbie Berry. John Jackson Berry from Edgefield, South Carolina to Cherokee County, Texas. Jacksonville, Texas: Bobbie Berry Dowling, 1983.
 * [Burt] Burt, James Claude. Records of the Burt Family, 1665-1860, York County, Virginia and Edgefield County, S. Carolina. MSS. Microfilmed 1969. Item 3
 * [Cogburg] Raisty, Jewell Cogburn. The Family of John Cogburg (ca 1745-1810) of Edgefield District, South Carolina. Typescript, 1965. Item 1
 * [Day] Dotson, Carl F. and Flora Belnap Dotson. Report on the Day Family of Edgefield County, South Carolina. Typescript. Microfilmed 1976. Item 16
 * [Day] Dotson, Flora B. New Information on the Day Family of Edgefield County, South Carolina. [Boise, Idaho]: F.B. Dotson, 1996.
 * [Dorn] Wood, Willie Mae G. Old Families of McCormick County, South Carolina and Dorn Families of Edgefield, Greenwood and McCormick Counties. 2 vols. 1982.
 * [Garrett] Rumph, Thedoshia Juanita Harvey. Hattie Garrett, Born a Salve [i.e. Slave] in Charleston, S.C. Migrated to and Died Free in Edgefield, S.C. Pemberton, N.J.: T.J.H. Rumph, 1999.
 * [Glover] Glover, James A. and Anna O. Glover. Glover Genealogical Record of James Glover as the First Generation was of Oxford, Granville Co., North Carolina; William Glover and Martha G. Atwood as the Second Generation were of Granville Co., North Carolina; Zachariah Glover and Elizabeth Henderson as the Third Generation were of Edgefield, South Carolina and Covington, Indiana; William Glover and Catherine Walker as the Fourth Generation were of Covington, Indiana. MSS., 1947.
 * [Holly] MacDowell, Dorothy K. The Holly/Holley Family: Early Barnwell &amp; Edgefield Districts, South Carolina. Aiken, S.C.: D.K. MacDowell, 198-?.
 * [Huskey] Reagan, Donald B. Smoky Mountain Clans. 3 vols. Knoxville, Tenn.: D.B. Reagan, 1978-1983. FHL FAM HIST Book 929.273R22b 1978. [The Huskey family is discussed in Vol. 1.]
 * [Jennings] Jennings, Thomas Ernest and Sarah Hattie Hazel Delgado. Jennings, the Descendants and Ancestors of Robert B. Jennings, Senior, and His Wife, Tabitha (Lockhart) Jennings: Robert B. Jennings, Senior, Born 1763, Prince Edward County, Virginia, Died After 16 November 1815, Will Probated March 1816, Edgefield, District, South Carolina: Tabitha (Lockhart) Jennings, Born 31 July 1778, Lincoln County, Georgia, Died 8 July 1847, Chickasaw Co., Miss. Arlington, Texas: T.E. Jennings, 1988.
 * [Jennings] Konde, Alice and Paul M. Crocker. Some Descendants of John Jennings, ca. 1740/45-ca. 1819, of Fairfield and Edgefield Districts, South Carolina. Port St. Lucie, Fla.: A. Konde, 1989.
 * [Jones] Phelps, Dallas LeRoy. Descendants of Robert D. Jones of Edgefield Co., S.C. Camden, S.C.: D.L. Phelps, 2000.
 * [Jones] Phelps, Dallas LeRoy. Descendants of William A. Jones of Edgefield and Saluda County, S.C. 2003. Item 109
 * [Langford] Langford, George Shealy. Langfords in America: Sketches on Early Arrivals and Migrations: Genealogical Recording on Descendants from Early Saluda River, South Carolina Families (Lexington, Newberry, Saluda and Old Edgefield Counties), 1773-1975: Some Related Families [of] Holley, Waters, Shealy, Timms, Robertson. College Park, Md.: Langford, 1977.
 * [Long] Evans, Eytive Long. A Documented History of the Long Family, Switzerland to South Carolina, 1578-1956, Including Allied Families: A Documentary Record of the Long (Lang) Family of Newberry, Edgefield, and Saluda Counties, South Carolina, Including Many Allied Families. Decatur, Ga.: Bowen Press, 1956.
 * [Lott] Reeves, Hilda Lott. Lott Family Genealogy: As Descended from Jesse Lott of Edgefield, South Carolina. Wetumpka, Ala.: H.L. Reeves, 2001. ; digital version at Family History Archives.
 * [Lovelace] Lovelace, David S. The Lovelace Family and Some Connections: from Edgefield, South Carolina to Baltimore, Maryland. Johnston, S.C.: Old Edgefield Pub. Co., 2003.
 * [May] Woodson, Hortense, John A. May and May Family Association. Charles May and His Descendants, Who Settled at Mays Cross Roads in Old Edgefield County, S.C. Edgefield, S.C.: Edgefield Advertiser Press, 1956.
 * [Merchant] Phelps, Dallas LeRoy. Descendants of William Merchant (1740-1809) of Edgefield County, South Carolina. Camden, S.C.: D.L. Phelps, 2006. ; digital version at Family History Archives.
 * [Merchant] Phelps, Dallas LeRoy. The Merchant-Padgett Family: of Edgefield and Saluda County, South Carolina. Camden, S.C.: D.L. Phelps, 2008.
 * [Nicholson] Timpson, Roger Hill and Bettis C. Rainsford. Nicholson Family Reunion: May 2, 1998, Oakley Park, Edgefield, South Carolina. 1998.
 * [Ouzts] Ouzts, H.C. and Constance Marie Timmerman. The Ouzts Family in America: Edgefield, South Carolina Roots. 2 vols. Edgefield, S.C.: Ouzts Family Association, 2007.
 * [Padget] Paget, James Suddarth and Dallas LeRoy Phelps. Watson-Smith-Padgett Families of Edgefield and Saluda Counties, South Carolina. 1995. Item 19
 * [Padget] Phelps, Dallas LeRoy. Descendants of Mark Manuel Padget, Edgefield County, South Carolina. Camden, S.C.: D.L. Phelps, 1998.
 * [Padget] Phelps, Dallas LeRoy. Descendants of Job Padget, Sr. of Edgefield County, S.C. (1760-1837). Camden, S.C.: D.L. Phelps, 1999.
 * [Padget] Phelps, Dallas LeRoy. Descendants of Job Padgett of Edgefield County, S.C. (1760-1837). Typescript. Microfilmed 2000. Item 17
 * [Padget] Phelps, Dallas LeRoy. Descendants of Mahlon Mauzon Padgett of Edgefield County, S.C. Typescript. Microfilmed 2001. Item 6; digital version at Family History Archives.
 * [Padget] Phelps, Dallas LeRoy. Descendants of Henry Padget, Sr. of Edgefield County, South Carolina (1780-1830). Camden, S.C.: D.L. Phelps, 2006. ; digital version at Family History Archives.
 * [Padget] Phelps, Dallas LeRoy. The Merchant-Padgett Family: of Edgefield and Saluda County, South Carolina. Camden, S.C.: D.L. Phelps, 2008.
 * [Timmerman] Hanna, Muriel K. Zimmerman/Timmerman Family History: of Edgefield County South Carolina and Thurgen Switzerland and Germany. Murrels Inlet, S.C.: M.K. Hanna, 2005.
 * [Watson] Paget, James Suddarth and Dallas LeRoy Phelps. Watson-Smith-Padgett Families of Edgefield and Saluda Counties, South Carolina. 1995. Item 19
 * [Walker] Walker, Legaré. The Walker Family, Originally of the Yeocomico River Section of Nothumberland (Subsequently Westmoreland) County, Virginia: Stemming from William Walker (1622/23-1657) and Through One of His Descendants, Joseph Rabley Walker (1768-1816), Who Immigrated from Mecklenburg County in that State to South Carolina, Circa 1806, and Settled in Edgefield County Near the Town of that Name: ... Summerville, S.C.: L. Walker, 1945. Item 2
 * [Walker] Russell, Judith F. and Frances Bateman. Children and Grandchildren of Samuel and Martha-Jefferson Bell Walker, Edgefield, South Carolina, 1770-1820: Related Families, Beams, Eddins, Farrow, Holloway, Mays, Mitchell in Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee. Bogart, Ga.: Julian Rose Pub., 2003.
 * [Walker] Russell, Judith F. The Descendants of Martha-Jefferson Bell and Samuel Walker, Edgefield, South Carolina: With Related Families Allen, Bealle, Bearns, Bell, Branch, Caldwell, Couch, Driskel, Easter, Eddins, Farrell, Farrow, Garrett, Halley, Hart, Hicks, Holloway, Jefferson, Johnson, Jones, Mays, Mayson, McCracken, McGee, Miller, Mitchell, Nobles, Pfifer, Shivers, Simms, Smith, Stith, Talbot, Todd, Tucker, Turner, Walker, Williamson, Wise, Wright and Wynne. Bogart, Ga.: Julian Rose Pub., 2007.
 * [Watson] Paget, James Suddarth and Dallas LeRoy Phelps. Watson-Smith-Padgett Families of Edgefield and Saluda Counties, South Carolina. 1995. Item 19
 * [Zimmerman] Hanna, Muriel K. Zimmerman/Timmerman Family History: of Edgefield County South Carolina and Thurgen Switzerland and Germany. Murrels Inlet, S.C.: M.K. Hanna, 2005.

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

 * Burton, Orville Vernon. In My Father's Are Many Mansions: Family and Community in Edgefield, South Carolina. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1985. 975.737/E1 H6b [Burton analyzes census data on every resident of Edgefield County between 1850 and 1880.]
 * Chapman, John Abney. History of Edgefield County from the Earliest Settlement to 1897. Newberry, S.C.: Elbert H. Aull, Publisher and Printer, 1897. Digital version at Internet Archive.

Migration

 * Dumont, Louise M. "Migrants from Edgefield County, S.C. 1842-1852," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 57, No. 2 (June 1969):105-108. 973 B2ng v. 57

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 organization Strictly By Name provides free online indexes to early Edgefield County wills. They offer a record retrieval service to photocopy and transcribe microfilm copies of the original documents for a small fee. Available indexes:


 * Edgefield Will Books A and B: 1787-1818
 * Edgefield Will Book C: 1818-1831

Additional Edgefield County probate resources include:


 * Lesley Prey, comp. Edgefield County, South Carolina Wills, Books 1-2 [1836-1853] [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Available at Ancestry ($). Original data: Edgefield County, South Carolina Wills, Book D, 1-2. For more information, see.

Vital Records
Marriage


 * English, Elizabeth D. "Marriage and Death Notices from the Edgefield Hive: Jan.-Dec. 1830, Vol. 1," The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Jan., 1941), pp. 25-27. Digital version at JSTOR ($).

Death


 * English, Elizabeth D. "Marriage and Death Notices from the Edgefield Hive: Jan.-Dec. 1830, Vol. 1," The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Jan., 1941), pp. 25-27. Digital version at JSTOR ($).

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