Lee County, South Carolina Genealogy

Guide to  ancestry, family history and genealogy court records, deeds, maps, immigration, maps, military records, newspapers, obituaries, plantations, probate records, slaves, local archives, libraries, museums, churches, cemeteries, and Civil War records.

Lee County, South Carolina Record Dates
Lee County's civil records start the following years:

County Courthouse
Lee County Courthouse 123 Main Street Bishopville, SC 29010

Probate Judge 123 Main Street P.O. Box 24 Bishopville, SC 29010 Probate and marriage records

Clerk of Court 11 Court House Square Bishopville, SC 29010-1616 803-484-5341 Court and land records

Hours: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday - Friday

History
The county is named after Confederate General Robert E. Lee (1807-1870).

A brief history of Lee Countyonline

Parent County
1902--Lee County was created 25 February 1902 from Darlington, Sumter and Kershaw Counties. County seat: Bishopville

County Pronunciation

 * 1) Hear it spoken

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating South Carolina county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation South Carolina County Boundary Maps" (1682-1987) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

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.

Research Guides

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

African Americans
United States African Americans South Carolina African Americans

Known plantations South Carolina Plantations:


 * Black - also called Josey
 * Josey - also called Black
 * Plain Hill
 * Rose Hill
 * Smith's Grove - Lynchburg - also called Tanglewood
 * Stirrup Branch - Bishopville
 * Tall Oaks - Bishopville - also called S. McLendon House
 * Tanglewood - Lynchburg - also called Smith's Grove

Cemeteries

 * To view a cemetery list, see Lee County, South Carolina Cemeteries.
 * National Cemetery Administration

Census
1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Lee 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 Records

 * St. Philip’s Church, Bradford Springs, South Carolina describes the parish records held by the South Carolina Historical Society.

Court
Lee County has court records from 1902 that are held in the office of the Clerk of Court. Lee County was formed from Darlington, Kershaw and Sumter Counties so these also may need to be searched for records.

The South Carolina Archives and History Center has court records available on microfilm for Lee County.

DNA
DNA has been collected from men claiming descent from the following Lee County residents. FamilySearch has not independently verified the lineages of those tested.

Genealogy
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 Lee, South Carolina at World Connect, produces more than 1,500 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


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

Bibliography


 * Locklair - Brown, Gerald D. A Genealogy of a Locklair Family Mainly of the Old Sumter District of South Carolina - Present Day Sumter and Lee Counties. Hemingway, S.C.: Three Rivers Historical Society, 1995.
 * Smith - Smith, Jared M. The Legacy of J. Manly Smith, Sr.: First Sheriff of Lee County, South Carolina. Bishopville, S.C.: J.M. Smith, 1994. ; digital version at

Land
Because of South Carolina’s history as an agricultural state many residents owned land. For more information about types of land records see South Carolina Land and Property.

Tracing records through South Carolina county and district changes can be difficult. In general, for earliest records begin by searching the Charleston District, then your ancestor’s residential district, then neighboring districts, then the residential county, then neighboring counties. Not all districts and counties kept records. The following chart show where you may best expect to find land records for Lee County:

* Some Camden District records are included with Kershaw County records

* Sumter District records destroyed by fire 27 Nov 1801

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.

Civil War
Online Records
 * 1861-1865 - at FamilySearch — index
 * 1861-1865 - U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index (free)
 * 1861-1865 - U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index (free)

Regiments. Lee County did not exist during the Civil War. Present day Lee County was created 25 February 1902 from Darlington, Sumter and Kershaw Counties. During the Civil War, men from the area of Lee County mostly would have served in various regiments recruited in the counties of Darlington, Sumter and Kershaw. Counties were called districts during the Civil War.

Newspapers
Historic

The Library of Congress has identified the following historic newspapers for Lee County, South Carolina on their Chronicling America website. For publication details, including dates of publication, frequency, preceding and succeeding titles, and to find out which libraries have holdings, click on the newspaper title.


 * Bishopville Eagle (Bishopville, S.C.) 1888-1893.
 * Bishopville Enterprise (Bishopville [S.C.]) 1886-1888.
 * Lee County Messenger (Bishopville, S.C.) 1923-1982.
 * Lee County Observer (Bishopville, S.C.) 1977-current.
 * Lee County Vindicator (Bishopville, Lee County, S.C.) 1902-1902.
 * The Leader and Vindicator (Bishopville, S.C.) 1902-1923.
 * The Mirror (Bishopville, S.C.) 1896-1897.

Periodicals
Tap into the minds of local experts. Editors of genealogical periodicals publish unique sources that researchers new to their area may not encounter. Periodicals at various levels (county, region, and state) may carry articles useful to research in this area. For this county, see:

Probate
Probate is the “court procedure by which a will is proved to be valid or invalid” and encompasses “all matters and proceedings pertaining to the administration of estates, guardianships, etc.” Various types of records are created throughout the probate process. These may include, wills, bonds, petitions, accounts, inventories, administrations, orders, decrees, and distributions. For further information see probate records;in South Carolina.

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.

Early probate records of Lee County may be found in records of Camden and Cheraws District, which are both extinct. They may also be found in the now-defunct Craven County. See James C. Pigg's compilation of Cheraw[s]/Chesterfield District wills, 1750-1865 &amp; Abstracts from the Court of Common Pleas, 1823-1869 for some Lee County probate records, formerly recorded in Cheraws District.

Online Probate Records
 * 1670-1980 - South Carolina Wills and Probate Records 1670-1980 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * 1671-1977 - at FamilySearch — images
 * 1732-1964 - at FamilySearch — images

Taxation
Tax-related records are kept by the offices of the county Assessor, Auditor, Sheriff, and Treasurer. Taxes were levied on real and personal property and can help establish ages, residences, relationships, and the year an individual died or left the area. They can be used as substitutes for missing or destroyed land and census records.


 * South Carolina Department of Archives and History tax lists for Lee County.

Vital Records
Birth, marriage, and death records were not recorded by South Carolina until the 1900s, thus leaving a lack of vital records. Substitute records, when available, are used to obtain this information. These substitute records including newspapers, court records have been added to this section, when applicable.

Birth
State-wide birth registration began in 1915. For a copy of a birth from 1915 or later, contact the South Carolina Department of Health. The Lee County Health Department also has copies but they provide only an abbreviated form with limited information. For more information, see the South Carolina Vital Records page.


 * 1766-1900 - at FamilySearch — images

Marriage
In South Carolina, marriage licenses were not required by local governments until 1 July 1911. However, in the 1700s, the Church of England parish churches were required to record all marriages - even if the couple were not members of the denomination. Not all churches recorded these marriages and some have not survived. See South Carolina Vital Records for more information.

The [hhttp://leecountysc.org/directory/departments/ Lee County probate court] holds marriage licenses issued from 1 July 1911 to the present. Statewide registration of marriages began in July 1950 and the South Carolina Division of Vital Records has copies of licenses issued after 1 July 1950 through November 2009.

Newspapers are used as a substitute to locate marriage information. See South Carolina Newspapers.

Marriages - Indexes and Records


 * 1911-1950 - Lee County, South Carolina Marriage Registers, 1911-1950 - records
 * 1911-1950 - Lee County, South Carolina Marriage Licenses, 1911-1950 - index and records
 * There are several online marriage indexes containing miscellaneous marriage records found in some counties of South Carolina listed on the South Carolina Vital Records page.

Death
State-wide death registration began in 1915. For a copy of the death certificates from 1915 or later, contact the South Carolina Department of Health. The Lee County Health Department only has copies for deaths occurring in the last 5 years. For more information, see the South Carolina Vital Records page.

Deaths - Indexes and Records
 * 1915-1965 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * \State-wide South Carolina Death Indexes. There are several online death indexes covering all of South Carolina listed on the South Carolina Vital Records page.

Family History Centers

 * Family History Centers in South Carolina

Web Sites

 * Lee County, SC History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Genealogy Inc)
 * Lee County, SCGenWeb
 * Lee County, South Carolina Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Lee County, South Carolina Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)