South Carolina Genealogy

I know, buildings can be rebuilt, but there is something undeniably sad about such a beautiful structure being intentionally burned as the Lancaster County Courthouse. I hear there are charges in the case, it is arson. The good news is that no one was injured and it sounds as though no records were lost in the blaze, but still… it’s a sad sight. More at the mad genealogist. Maybe I’m sensitive to the issue particularly because where I live in Western North Carolina there are some courthouses that have been burned several times over the years. Many records in those counties are nonexistent until very recently due to the courthouse burnings. “It’s a burned records county” has become a term that ends many questions starting with a “have you looked for a ?”

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It’s a somber switch to write one week about independence and the next to write about slavery. Such is the dichotomy of the history of our country. Freedom was established early for some, but not all. We can take pride and solace in the fact that over the generations that idea of freedom has been expanded to all citizens. It’s a somber feeling to be in the Old Slave Market of Charleston. I remember visiting there about 12 years ago. It’s very humbling and there is a sense of heartbreak and pain in every stone. I seem to recall being left speechless just being there.

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I ran across this listing at about.com and thought you might find it interesting. I wish everyone a happy and thoughtful observance of our Nation’s Birthday.

South Carolina 4th of July Events.

Also… I have made a habit in recent years of listening to a reading of the Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July. I’m particularly fond of the reading by the Jefferson interpreter at Monticello. Scroll down on Monticello podcasts page to Jefferson’s Words: Two Declarations and hear Bill Barker’s reading of the Declaration of Independence. (Direct mp3 link here.)

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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Georgetown County, SC has a great online initiative in their Georgetown Digital Library. Currently they have just a few collections for searching or browsing. These collections though represent a treasure trove of materials. Two of the collections (Morgan and Trenholm AND the Baruch Collection) are mostly historical photos from donated collections. However there is a collection of scans of Indentures. Unfortunately the ones I browsed through are just scans and not transcribed, but… they are searchable by the abstract of who is involved in the contract.

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I know I’ve looked at old mortality schedules and had to scratch my head and go look up what certain terms were. I thought it might be useful to start compiling a list here. (Who knows, this may become a page sometime…) Not a complete list certainly – but it might be a handy reference

Abasia – inability to walk or stand
Abdominal Angina – sudden severe recurring stomach pain in the elderly. Could mean diverticulitis
Ablepsy – Blindness
Abortus Fever – Brucellosis
Affrighted – Frightened to death – likely stress induced stroke or heart attack
Ague – Intermittent fever – commonly associated with Malaria

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The County Page highlight Continues…. This week the Aiken County, SC Genealogy resource page. Aiken County was created in 1871 from Edgefield, Orangeburg, Barnwell and Lexington Counties. It was named for the president of the South Carolina railroad, William Aiken. The town of Aiken was established as a depot on the South Carolina rail line between Hamburg (on the Savannah River) and Charleston, this would become the county seat. In the 1870s the area became a resort for the well to do from the north. The Savannah River Site was established in Aiken County in 1950 as a nuclear bomb plant.

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On June 14, 2008 the Oconee Heritage Center will be staging the Newry Folk Festival in Newry, SC. (West of Greenville, SC near Lake Keowee.) There will be crafts and music throughout the day as well as a fiddle, banjo and guitar competition at the old mill store. The date of the festival marks the 114th anniversary of the first time one of the wheels was turned by water at this water powered mill. Newry sprung up as a textile town around the first mill there which was founded by William Ashmead Courtenay in 1893. Courtenay had located his mill along the Little River and named the location Newry after the Irish place that his ancestors had come from.

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Most people still think of cameras just in the context of taking pictures of people to label and document the family history. But with the flexibility of digital cameras (and the ability to cram hundreds if not thousands of shots on a digital memory card), it’s a shame that many people overlook digital cameras (and camcorders) as a great means for documenting other interesting things about the family history. One example is this…

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The Old Darlington District Chapter of the South Carolina Genealogical Society keeps the Hartsville Genealogical Research Library in Hartsville, SC near Darlington, SC. One of the things that makes it an interesting/unusual location for a Genealogy library is that it’s housed in a 1907 train depot. Their site has information on their hours and coming events (genealogical society meetings.) They also have details on some of the materials that they have published.

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