Lexington County, South Carolina Genealogy

United States  South Carolina  Lexington County

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

County Courthouse
Lexington County Courthouse 205 E. Main St. Lexington, SC 29072

Clerk of Court 205 E. Main St. Lexington, SC 29072 Phone: 803-785-8212 Court records

Register of Deeds 212 South Lake Drive, Suite 301 Lexington, South Carolina Phone: 803-785-8168 Land records

Probate Court 205 E. Main St., Suite 134 Lexington, SC 29072 Phone: 803-785-8324 Probate and marriage records

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

History
The county is named after the Revolutionary War Battles of Lexington and Concord. Lexington County lies in the Dutch Fork region of the state.

Parent County
1804--Lexington County was created in 1804 from Orangeburg District. County seat: Lexington

County Pronunciation

 * 1) Hear it spoken

Boundary Changes
"Rotating Formation South Carolina County Boundary Maps" (1682-1987) may be viewed for free at the My South Carolina Genealogy website. The maps rely on AniMap 3.0 software.

Record Loss

 * Pre-1839 land records are lost
 * Most pre-1839 probate records are lost

Neighboring Counties

 * Aiken
 * Calhoun
 * Newberry
 * Orangeburg
 * Richland
 * Saluda

Research Guides

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

African Americans
United States African Americans South Carolina African Americans

The 1860 slave schedule is abstracted in:


 * Trotter, Shirley F. Johnson. 1860 Census, Lexington County, South Carolina: With a Complete Index of Names Including the Mortality Schedule and the Slave Schedule. Lexington, S.C.: S.F.J. Trotter, 1991.

Cemeteries
Find A Grave - Lists many Lexington tombstone and cemetery records and some tombstone photos

Lexington County in S.C. Cemetery Project, courtesy: South Carolina Genealogical Society. List of cemeteries in the county.

Census
1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Lexington 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.

1820 Manufactures

The original manufactures schedules for South Carolina are kept at the NARA, Washington, D.C. FHL copies: 1024517 - 1024518.

Published abstract:


 * National Archives. Indexes to Manufactures Census of 1820. 1920; reprint, Knightstown, Ind.: Bookmark, 1977. 973 X2m 1820; digital version at Lineages. [Includes this county.]

1840 Revolutionary War Pensioners


 * A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services: With their Names, Ages, and Places of Residence, as Returned by the Marshalls of the Several Judicial Districts, Under the Act for Taking the Sixth Census. Washington, D.C.: Blair and Rives, 1841. 973 X2pc 1840;  2321; digital version at Google Book. [See South Carolina, Lexington District on page 142.]

1850

Census takers uncharacteristically recorded the birth town or county of residents on the first page of enumeration for this census year.

The returns have been published twice:


 * Harwell, Carolyn Lewis and Lexington Genealogical Association. Lexington County, South Carolina 1850 Census with Genealogical Data on Many Families. 1985. 975.773 X2h 1850
 * Buff, L.H., Margaret L. Hollis, Janice GartmanLee and Lexington Genealogical Association. Lexington County, South Carolina 1850 Census, Second Edition: With Genealogical Data on Most Families. 975.773 X2h 1850 1998

1860


 * Jones, Marvin D. 1860 Census, Lexington County, South Carolina. 2000. 975.773 X2j 1860
 * Trotter, Shirley F. Johnson. 1860 Census, Lexington County, South Carolina: With a Complete Index of Names Including the Mortality Schedule and the Slave Schedule. Lexington, S.C.: S.F.J. Trotter, 1991. 975.773 X2t 1860

1870


 * Trotter, Shirley F. Johnson and South Carolina Genealogical Society. Dutch Fork Chapter. 1870 Census, Lexington County, South Carolina with a Complete Name Index. Chapin, S.C.: Dutch Fork Chapter of the South Carolina Genealogical Society, 1989. 975.773 X2t 1870

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.

Genealogy
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 Lexington, South Carolina at World Connect, produces more than 20,000 results.

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


 * Gregg, E. Stuart. Miller, Lewis, King, Smith, Shealy--Some Families of the Old Lexington District Certain Lines of Descent from South Carolina Settlers, George Peter Miller, Charles Clark, David King, John W. Lewis, Henry Smith, Johann Caspar Mantz, Hans Amacher, Thomas Minnick, Hans Adam Summer, Johann Shely, and Some of Their Scions. Hilton Head Island, S.C.: E.S. Gregg, 1988.
 * Hammond, Wanda Amick and Lexington Genealogical Association. Lexington Lineage Charts, Volume 1 [South Carolina]. Lexington, S.C.: Lexington Genealogical Association, 1987.

Message Boards


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

Bibliography


 * [Ballington] Ballington, Lewis Clinton. The Ballington Family of Lexington County, South Carolina. S.C.?: L.C. Ballington, 2007.
 * [Butler] Memoirs of General William Butler: Including a Brief Sketch of His Father and Brother, Who Fell in the Revolution, at Cloud's Creek, Lexington District, S.C. Atlanta, Ga.: Jas. P. Harrison &amp; Co., Printers and Binders, 1885. Digital version at Internet Archive.
 * [Fox] Steadman, Joseph Earle. Ancestry of the Fox Family of Richland and Lexington Counties, South Carolina.
 * [Langford] Langford, George Shealy. Langfords in America Sketches on Early Arrivals and Migrations: Genealogical Recording on Descendants from Early Saluda River, South Carolina Families (Lexington, Newberry, Saluda and Old Edgefield Counties), 1773-1975: Some Related Families [of] Holley, Waters, Shealy, Timms, Robertson. College Park, Md.: Langford, 1977.
 * [Mathias] Hammond, Frederick L. The Family Heritage of Long John Mathias and Quilla Bouknight Mathias of Lexington County, S.C. Typescript.
 * [Shealy] Nichols, Carl W. "Shealy Family Gets a Biologic Birth Certificate," The South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Winter 2008):3-12.
 * [Wise] Bauer, William Rudolph. Reconstruction of the Genealogy of the Wise Family of the Congarees. Columbia, S.C.: W.R. Bauer, 2001.

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.

General

 * "Lexington District militia petition, 1825," South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, Winter 2003, Volume 31, Issue 1. Brent Holcomb : Columbia, SC.
 * "Militia list, 1847," Lexington Genealogical Exchange, Summer 1985, Volume 5, Issue 1. Lexington County Genealogical Association : Lexington, SC.

Revolutionary War

 * "Saxe Gotha and Dutch Fort revolutionary patriots," Lexington Genealogical Exchange, Spring 1985, Volume 4, Issue 4. Lexington County Genealogical Association : Lexington, SC.

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, Lexington County, p. 186. Identifies War of 1812 veterans living in this county in 1883.]
 * "Pension records applications," Lexington Genealogical Exchange, Winter 1996, Volume 15, Issue 3 and Winter 1995, Volume 14, Issue 3. Lexington County Genealogical Association : Lexington, SC.

Newspapers
Historic


 * Batesburg-Leesville News (Leesville, S.C.) 1921-1924.
 * Leesville News (Leesville, S.C.) 1906-1911.
 * Leesville Sun (Leesville, S.C.) 1905-1906.
 * Leesville Twin-County News (Leesville, S.C.) 1913-1921.
 * Lexington County Chronicle (Lexington, S.C.) 1992-current.
 * Lexington Dispatch-News (Lexington, S.C.) 1917-1919.
 * Lexington Telegraph (Lexington C.H., S.C.) 1853-1856.
 * Our News Letter (Summit, S.C.) 1894-1906.
 * Semi-Monthly Tribune (Leesville, S.C.) 1889-1890.
 * South Carolina Temperance Advocate and Register of Agriculture and General Literature (Columbia, S.C.) 1841-1854.
 * South Carolina Temperance Standard (Lexington, S.C.) 1854-1855.
 * South Carolina Temperance Standard (Lexington, S.C.) 1877-1877.
 * Southlan (Brookland, S.C.) 1895-1896.
 * The Batesburg Advocate (Batesburg, S.C.) 1901-1911.
 * The Batesburg Herald and the Leesville News-Advocate (Batesburg, S.C.) 1913-1918.
 * The Batesburg Sentinel (Batesburg, S.C.) 1889-1889.
 * The Carolina News (Chapin, S.C.) 1896-1904.
 * The Cayce-West Columbia Journal (West Columbia-Cayce, S.C.) 1987-1988.
 * The Chapin Times (Chapin, S.C.) 1976-current.
 * The Congaree Chronicle (West Columbia, S.C.) 1941-1942.
 * The Dispatch-News (Lexington, S.C.) 1919-current.
 * The Enterprise (Batesburg, S.C.) 1910-1915.
 * The Independent News of Irmo (Irmo, S.C.) 1980-current.
 * The Irmese Independent (Irmo, S.C.) 1978-1980.
 * The Journal (West Columbia, S.C.) 1960-1987.
 * The Leesville Lancet (Leesville, S.C.) 1897-1898.
 * The Lexington County Journal (West Columbia, S.C.) 1987-1987.
 * The Lexington Dispatch (Lexington, S.C.) 1870-1917.
 * The Lexington Flag (Lexington, S.C.) 1857-1861.
 * The Lexington News (Lexington, S.C.) 1915-1917.
 * The News-Advocate (Leesville, S.C.) 1911-1913.
 * The Peoples Advocate (Batesburg, S.C.) 1895-1895.
 * The Southern Headlight (Batesburg, S.C.) 1924-1924.
 * The Summerland Headlight (Batesburg, S.C.) 1924-1925.
 * The Summit Courier (Summit, S.C.) 1876-1879.
 * The Twin-City News (Batesburg, S.C.) 1925-current.
 * The Weekly Advocate (Batesburg, S.C.) 1895-1896.
 * The Weekly News (Lewiedale, S.C.) 1885-1888.
 * This Way (Batesburg, S.C.) 1894-1897.

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:


 * Lexington Genealogical Exchange (Family History Library book 975.773 D25l .)
 * South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research (Family History Library book 975.7 B2sc .)

Probate
Lexington County Probate Court Online Indexes (Estate and Marriages)

Estate (1865-1994) Male Marriage (1911-1987) Female Marriage (1936-1987)

Original sources
Tax duplicate books survive. Copies of years 1868-1876:.

Published abstracts

 * Tax Executions, 1803,Carolina Herald and Newsletter, Voo. 30 (Jan. 2002).

Marriage Records

 * Probate Court Marriage Records Index (1911-1987)

Family History Centers
Family History Centers in South Carolina

Web Sites

 * Lexington County, SCGenWeb
 * Lexington County, South Carolina Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Lexington County, South Carolina History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (My South Carolina Genealogy)
 * Lexington County, South Carolina History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (My South Carolina Genealogy)