Prince George Parish, South Carolina

United States   South Carolina    Prince George Parish

This parish is also know as Prince George Winyah Parish.

Before the American Revolution, the state church of South Carolina was the Church of England (the Anglican Church, or Protestant Episcopal Church). Besides keeping parish registers, the church kept many records of a civil nature in their vestry books. The Vestry was as much a political body as a religious one. The wardens and commissioners were responsible for the roads, education, the poor and orphans, voting and collecting taxes in addition to their church duties.

Founded
Prince George Winyah Parish was created in 1721 from the northwest part of St. James Santee Parish, a part of Craven County. The original church was near Brown's Ferry on the Black River (Dunbar), Georgetown, SC. In 1734 that building was given to the new Prince Frederick Parish, and a new church for Prince George Parish was constructed later in Georgetown, Georgetown, SC.

Boundary
Borders: St. James Santee, North Carolina border since 1734, Prince Frederick since 1734, and All Saints since 1767 parishes. For a map, see: Early parishes in South Carolina. An overlay of districts is available at Carolana.com.

Areas Served: Prince George Parish served:


 * part of Craven County 1721-1734
 * expanded to the North Carolina border in part of Craven County 1734-1768
 * part of Georgetown District 1768-1800
 * and survives to the present

Modern equivalents: The original parish covered part of what is present-day Georgetown County. In 1734 the parish was expanded to include more parts of present-day Georgetown and Horry counties.

Cemetery

 * "Inscriptions from the Churchyard of Prince George Winyah Georgetown, South Carolina," The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Jul., 1930), pp. 184-208; digital version at JSTOR ($); Vol. 31, No. 4 (Oct., 1930), pp. 292-313; digital version at JSTOR ($).

Hundreds of the cemetery's old graves are described at Find A Grave. Includes transcripts and select photographs.

Hundreds of the cemetery's graves are also described at SCGenWeb.

Parish History
In a book review, Heritage Passed On was described as "of special interest to genealogists and church historians studying the Georgetown area," see:


 * Lumpkin, Sarah Parker. Heritage Passed On: History of Prince George, Winyah Parish. 1992.

For an early history of the parish, see Chapter 10, Prince George's Parish, Winyaw, pages 303-318, in:


 * Dalcho, Frederick. An Historical Account of the Protestant Episcopal Church in South Carolina from the First Settlement of the Province, to the War of the Revolution; with Notices of the Present State of the Church in Each Parish and Some Account of the Early Civil History of Carolina, Never Before Published. Charleston: E. Thayer, 1820. ; digital versions at Google Books; Internet Archive.

Parish Records
Marriages from the parish register have been abstracted in:


 * Holcomb, Brent H. and Thomas L. Hollowak. South Carolina Marriages, 1800-1820. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1981.

Websites

 * GenWeb
 * Prince George Winyah Episcopal Church (official site)
 * Prince George Winyah Church, The Historical Marker Database
 * Prince George Winyah Parish / Prince Frederick's Parish Marker, The Historical Marker Database