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= SC vital records page =

During the colonial period, the governor, as judge of the Ordinary [Probate] Court could issue a marriage license. Some of these licenses have been found. Generally, most individuals would have been married in the parish chuch after banns had been published. The Act of 1704 and the Church Act of 1706 recognized the Church of England as the established church and the state was divided into seven parishes. Although the ministers of the "Dissenter" religions, everyone not a member of the Church of England, retained their right to baptize and marry, the law required the registrar of the parish to record all marriages. Not all marriages were reported to the parish registrar. This was the law until the Episcopal Church was disestablished in 1778 when South Carolina adopted a new Constitution. The dissenter religions may have kept their own records concurrently with the established church during the colonial period. A few counties or cities may have earlier records than 1911. If they exist they would normally be in the custody of the county probate judge or in the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

In several cases there are marriage settlement records found at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History or in the records of the probate court of many counties. Marriage settlements were legal agreements, primarily made by women who had been married previously. These records were kept from the 1760s to the 1880s. Recording these documents with the Secretary of State became law in 1785. The Family History Library has some of these records, South Carolina Marriage Settlements, 1785 to 1889, from the Department of Archives and History.

= county page =

Marriage
In South Carolina, marriage records 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 Aiken County Church Records for more information.

There are some marriage settlements which were "pre-marital agreements." These were used to protect property for a second marriage. More information about these settlements and how to obtain them can be found in the Marriage section of the South Carolina Vital Records page. Most marriage settlements were recorded can be found in a microfilm collection at the South Carolina State Archives and at the Family History Library. How to order microfilm to a Family History Center. Sometimes these settlements are found in the deed books of various counties.

Many of the marriages in the