Hampton 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.

County in South Carolina.

Description
The County was named for Confederate Civil War general Wade Hampton, who in the late 1870s was elected as governor of South Carolina. The County is located in the southwest area of the state.

County Courthouse
Hampton County Courthouse 1 Courthouse Square Hampton, SC 29924

Hampton County Clerk of Court 1 Courthouse Square Hampton, SC 29924 Phone: 803-914-2250 Court and land records

Hampton County Probate Court 1 Courthouse Square Hampton, SC 29924 Phone: 803-914-2183 Probate and marriage records

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

History
The county is named after U.S. Congressman Wade Hampton (1752-1835) of South Carolina.

Parent County
1878--Hampton County was created 18 February 1878 from Beaufort County. County seat: Hampton

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.

Variant Spellings

 * Hompton

Record Loss

 * 1890 Lost census

Populated Places
For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Neighboring Counties
Allendale | Bamberg | Beaufort | Colleton | Effingham County, Georgia | Jasper | Screven County, Georgia

African Americans
United States African Americans South Carolina African Americans

Known plantations South Carolina Plantations:


 * Bear Head Tract
 * Belmont - Garnett
 * Bo Peep
 * Boggy - Estill
 * Bonnywood
 * Bostick - Estill
 * Broxton Bridge
 * Buckfield - Yemassee
 * Cotton Hall
 * Cubbage Hill
 * Cypress Vale
 * Gravel Hill - Garnett
 * Gregorie Farms
 * Gregory
 * Groton - Solomons Crossroads
 * Hamilton Ridge
 * Ingleside
 * Jericho
 * New Castle
 * Oak Grove - Brunson
 * Oak Ridge
 * Pleasant Hill
 * Possum Corner
 * Sunny Side
 * Upper Place
 * Woodside - Estill
 * Woodstock - Shirley

Research Guides

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

Cemeteries

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

Census
1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Hampton 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
All Saints’ Church, Hampton, South Carolina describes parish records held by the South Carolina Historical Society.

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

Family Histories
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 Hampton, South Carolina at World Connect, produces more than 2,500 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


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

Bibliography

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 Hampton County:

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.


 * Sherrard, Thomas H. A Working Plan for Forest Lands in Hampton and Beaufort Counties, South Carolina. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1903. Digital version at Google Books.

Local Histories

 * Lewis, Carolyn Baker. "The World around Hampton: Post-Bellum Life on a South Carolina Plantation," Agricultural History, Vol. 58, No. 3, Symposium on the History of Rural Life in America (Jul., 1984), pp. 456-476. Digital version at JSTOR ($).
 * Hampton County Tricentennial Commission. Both Sides of the Swamp, Hampton County  ([S.l.] : Hampton County Tricentennial Commission, c1970 ), 191 pages. Not from classic sources but from quotations from letters and diaries, articles, editorials, speeches, songs and legends, the legends of memory bequeathed from one generation to another and, includes some biographies, pages 164-179. Book found at  and Other Libraries.

War of 1812

 * List of Pensioners on the Roll, January 1, 1883; Giving the Name of Each Pensioner, the Cause for Why Pensioned, the Post-Office Address, the Rate of Pension Per Month, and the Date of Original Allowance... Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1883. 973 M2Lp v. 5; digital versions at Google Books and Internet Archive. See Vol. 5, South Carolina, Hompton County [sic], p. 185. Identifies War of 1812 veterans living in this county in 1883.

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)
 * Civil War Soldiers of Hampton County. South Carolina GenWeb. Internet site. Lists men who were from Hampton County, the military units they served in and some brief info about them.

Regiments. Civil War service men from Hampton County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies and regiments that were formed with many men from Hampton County:


 * - 2nd Battalion, South Carolina Cavalry Reserves, Company B (also known as the Marion Men of Combahee)
 * - 3rd Regiment, South Carolina Cavalry, Company A (also known as the Marion Men of Combahee), Company E (also known as the Calhoun Mounted Men or Calhoun Minute Men), and Company F (also known as the St. Peter's Guards)

Newspapers
Historic

The Library of Congress has identified the following historic newspapers for Hampton 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.


 * Farmer's Review (Hampton, S.C.) 1911-1913.
 * Hampton County Guardian (Hampton, S.C.) 1879-current.
 * Hampton County Herald (Hampton, S.C.) 1916-1919.
 * The Hampton County Democrat (Yemassee, Hampton County, S.C.) 1937-1978.
 * The Hampton County News (Hampton, S.C.) 1910-1913.
 * The Hampton County News Herald (Brunson, S.C.) 1887-1890.
 * The True South (Brunson, S.C.) 1875-1875.
 * The Varnville Enterprise (Varnville, Hampton County, S.C.) 1892-1899.

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.

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
 * 1782-1866 - South Carolina, Will Transcripts 1782-1866 at findmypast — $, index

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 Hampton 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 Hampton 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 Hampton 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 - Hampton County, South Carolina Marriage Licenses, ca. 1911-1950 - index and records
 * 1911-1954 - Hampton County, South Carolina Marriage Registers, 1911-1954 - 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 Hampton 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.

Libraries
Hampton County Library Address: 12 Locust Street Hampton, SC 29924 Telephone: (803)943-7528 Catalog: Click here Library Hours: Monday - Thursday 11:00 am -to 7:00 pm, Friday 11:00 am to 5:00 pm,Saturday 10:00 am to 2:00 pm

The Hampton County Library is part of the Allendale, Hampton, Jasper Regional Library System. The regional system headquarters is in Allendale. The libraries in this system share their catalog.

Museums
Hampton Museum and Visitors' Center Address: 15 Elm St. E. Hampton, SC 29924 Phone: (803) 943-5318 E-mail: hmvc9891@yahoo.com Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., 1st Sunday of the month 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., other times by appointment Genealogy sources: There are over 50 books to assist with family history and the museum has inventoried over 125 cemeteries. An alphabetical list of people in all cemeteries is available. There re also 5,000 or more photographs to assist in research

Exhilits: There are a number of ehibits in the Museum

Family History Centers

 * Family History Centers in South Carolina

Websites

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