South Carolina Genealogy

Apologies for this off topic post, but it is a matter of conscience. In recent months I’ve seen numerous tv ads for certain lenders advertising quick cash. It almost always sounds like it’s the perfect fix for an emergency situation like an unexpected car repair or whatever. With such difficult economic times I know a lot of people are in tight spots. I hope none of my readers would fall prey to this westernsky scam (some search for information by name as the westernsky.com scam after their website address) or the money mutual scam. Why would I go so far as to call them a scam? Better than 100% APR interest from Western Sky Financial and Money Mutual isn’t directly a lender they just sell your information to numerous other lenders to get you spammed to pieces.

Really, 28% credit card debt is better than their loans. Somehow they manage to get around the usury laws…. Always check the APR % on any loan you apply for!

I do have some on topic material coming up that I hope to get posted in the next couple of days. Thanks for indulging me in this off topic warning.

I guess most of us think about family around the holidays. Whether it’s the childhood memories or the new memories we create as we get older. It’s not too late to think about a genealogy related holiday gift for your wife or family. (Not that the microwave oven or duvet cover wouldn’t be appreciated. I’ve probably mentioned lulu.com before. They are a self publishing site. In fact, it’s almost scary how easy it really is to get your writings in print there.

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So, if you’re not already thinking about Christmas gifts for your family, you probably will be soon. So, how can you work your genealogy research into gifts for the family? Let’s face it you spend many, many hours each year with your research, maybe there’s a good way you can package and give some of that to other members of your family. After all, I suspect they’re part of the reason you’re spending all this time researching, so you can tell them about their ancestors. Well, here’s an idea… cafepress.com let’s you put pictures on all sorts of products, coffee mugs, shirts, etc. One good idea might be a family picture from many years ago on a coffee cup… but there might be some better gift ideas if you dig through their site. In order to do that, you will need to sign up for an account, upload your photo(s) and choose the products you want to place it on.

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Each state seems to have their own terms for breaking down the state into geographical regions. South Carolina is no different. As you research you may come across these terms. Upstate, Piedmont and Midlands and Low Country (or lowcountry). It really is fairly straightforward. The upstate is the corner of South Carolina up near North Carolina and Tennessee. The piedmont is merely an extension of the plateau that runs south from Virginia through North and South Carolinas that separates the Appalachian Mountains from the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The midlands are that same central area of South Carolina, but may not cover all the counties that border with NC or further to the Southwest with Georgia.

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You have probably noticed the many google rss feeds that I use on this site. It’s really easy to let google do a lot of your “news reading” for you these days and you don’t have to have anything fancier than an email address and a web browser to set things up. First off, visit news.google.com and type in a search that you want to keep informed about. (South Carolina Genealogy for instance). Then when the result comes up…

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