Florence County, South Carolina Genealogy

United States  South Carolina  Florence County

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

County Courthouse
Florence County Courthouse 180 N. Irby St. Florence, SC 29501-3431 Phone: 843-665-3031

Florence County Probate Court 180 N. Irby St. Florence, SC 29501 Phone: 843-665-3085 Probate and marriage records

Florence County Clerk of Court 180 N. Irby St. Florence, SC 29501 Phone: 843-665-3031 Court and land records

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

History
The county is named after Florence Harllee.

Parent County
1888--Florence County was created 22 December 1888 from Marion, Darlington, Clarendon and Williamsburg Counties. County seat: Florence 

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
Clarendon | Darlington | Dillon | Lee | Marion | Marlboro | Sumter | Williamsburg

Research Guides

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

Census
1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Florence 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.

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Florence

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 Florence, South Carolina at World Connect, produces more than 4,500 results.

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

Message Boards


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

Bibliography


 * [Keeffe] Hanna, Muriel K. Keeffe/Keefe/Keith Family of Florence and Marion Counties, South Carolina. Summerton, S.C.: M.K. Hanna, 2004.
 * [Lee] Brown, Gerald D. A Genealogy of a Lee Family Ancestry and Descendants of David Lee, Sr.: Mainly of Old Williamsburg District - Present Day Florence County, South Carolina. Hemingway, S.C.: Three Rivers Historical Society, 1995.

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

 * King, G. Wayne. "The Emergence of Florence, South Carolina, 1853-1890," The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 82, No. 3 (Jul., 1981), pp. 197-209. Digital version at JSTOR ($).

Newspapers

 * Ancestry.com. The Morning News Review [1924-1928] (Florence, South Carolina) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Ancestry.com. Florence Morning News [1929-1977] (Florence, South Carolina) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007. Available at Ancestry ($).
 * Ancestry.com. Morning News [1936] (Florence, South Carolina) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006. Available at Ancestry ($).

Florence County Information Portal

Web Sites

 * Family History Library Catalog
 * Florence County, South Carolina Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)