McCormick County, South Carolina Genealogy

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Guide to McCormick County, South Carolina Genealogy 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.


McCormick County, South Carolina
Map
Map of South Carolina highlighting McCormick County
Location in the state of South Carolina, United States Genealogy
Map of the U.S. highlighting South Carolina
Location of South Carolina in the U.S.
Facts
Founded February 19, 1916
County Seat McCormick
Courthouse


County Information[edit | edit source]


Description[edit | edit source]

The County was named for Cyrus McCormick. The County is located in the west central location of the state. [1]

McCormick County, South Carolina Record Dates[edit | edit source]

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records[2]
Birth* Marriage Death* Court Land Probate Census
1916 1916 1916 1916 1916 1916 1790
*Statewide registration for births and deaths began in 1915. General compliance by 1918.

County Courthouse[edit | edit source]

McCormick County Courthouse


McCormick County Courthouse
Hwy. 28, McCormick, South Carolina

Clerk of Court
133 S. Mine St.
McCormick, SC 29835
Phone: 864-852-2195
Court and land records

Probate Court
133 S. Mine St., Rm. 101
McCormick, SC 29835
Phone: 864-852-2630
Probate and marriage records

Hours: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday - Friday

History[edit | edit source]

CyrusMcCormick.jpg
The county is named after American inventor Cyrus McCormick (1809-1884). [3]

Parent County[edit | edit source]

1916--McCormick County was created 19 February 1916 from Greenwood and Abbeville Counties.
County seat: McCormick [4]


County Pronunciation[edit | edit source]

  1. Hear it spoken[5]

Boundary Changes[edit | edit source]

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.

Record Loss[edit | edit source]

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Places/Localities[edit | edit source]

Populated Places[edit | edit source]

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:[6]

Towns
Census-designated places


Resources[edit | edit source]

Archives and Libraries[edit | edit source]

Research Guides[edit | edit source]

African Americans[edit | edit source]

  • Gilchrist, Claude. Tell Them that We Have Gone On: A Survey of African-American Cemeteries of McCormick County, South Carolina. n.p.: C. Gilchrist, 2004. FHL Book 975.736 V3g

Known plantations South Carolina Plantations:

  • Badwell
  • Bath
  • Bradley
  • Cedar Hill
  • Cherry Hill
  • Cotton Level
  • Dornville
  • Dr. Murray's
  • Eden Hall
  • Ivy Gates - Troy
  • Mapleton
  • Oak Grove
  • Petigru
  • Pleasant Grove
  • Silk Hope

Cemeteries[edit | edit source]

Tombstone Transcriptions Online Tombstone Transcriptions in Print List of Cemeteries in the county
Findagrave.com Family History Library Findagrave.com
SCGenWeb WorldCat Billion Graves
SCGenWeb Archives FamilySearch Places
Tombstone Project
Billion Graves
See South Carolina Cemeteries for more information.

There are many burial grounds in the county. To view a list, see McCormick County, South Carolina Cemeteries.

Census[edit | edit source]

Historical populations
Census Pop. %±
1920 16,444 —
1930 11,471 −30.2%
1940 10,367 −9.6%
1950 9,577 −7.6%
1960 8,629 −9.9%
1970 7,955 −7.8%
1980 7,797 −2.0%
1990 8,868 13.7%
2000 9,958 12.3%
2010 10,233 2.8%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

1920 and 1930 federal population schedules of McCormick 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 History and Records[edit | edit source]


List of Churches and Church Parishes

Court Records[edit | edit source]

  • Equity records of Old 96 and Abbeville district[s] (as on file in the Abbeville Courthouse, S. C.) vol. 1 : 1791-1849 FHL Book 975.7 P2y
  • South Carolina genealogical records : volume I, Abbeville District FHL Book 975.73 P2t

DNA[edit | edit source]

DNA Double Helix.png
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[edit | edit source]

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 McCormick, South Carolina at World Connect, produces more than 900 results.

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

  • Wood, Willie Mae G. Old Families of McCormick County, South Carolina and Dorn Families of Edgefield, Greenwood and McCormick Counties. 2 vols. 1982. FHL Book 975.736 D2w v. 1

Mailing Lists

Free - subscription required to post or reply to any message

Message Boards

Free - registration/log in required, to post or reply to any message

Bibliography

Local History[edit | edit source]

  • Edmonds, Bobby F. The Making of McCormick County (McCormick, South Carolina : Cedar Hill, c1999 ). 447 pages. This is a narrative of the people during its making, how they interacted with each other, how they reacted to, failed to react to, or over reacted to the times, situations and events. Book at FHL 975.736 H2e and Other Libraries.
  • Edmonds, Bobby F.McCormick County : Land of Cotton. (McCormick, South Carolina : Cedar Hill, c2001), 490 pages. The stories presented were gathered from period newspapers and journals, letters, diaries, public records, and scholarly and general works. Book at FHL 975.736 H2ed and Other Libraries.

Land and Property[edit | edit source]

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 McCormick County:


Tracing Land Currently in McCormick County with Parent Counties and Districts [7]
Date Government Office  
1916-present McCormick County
1897-1916 Greenwood County
1873-1897 Abbeville County
1868-1873 Abbeville County Records Lost *
1800-1865 Abbeville District Records Lost *
1769-1800 Abbeville County (old) Records Lost *
1719-1769 Charleston District
1710-1719 Proprietary Land Grants

*Abbeville deeds burned in 1873 while in storage

** Records of Pendleton/Anderson County should also be checked


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.

Maps[edit | edit source]

Elbert CountyLincoln CountyColumbia CountyEdgefield CountyGreenwood CountyAbbeville CountySC McCORMICK.PNG
Click a neighboring county
for more resources



Migration[edit | edit source]

Early migration routes to and from McCormick County for European settlers included:[8]

Military[edit | edit source]

Civil War[edit | edit source]

Online Records

Regiments. McCormick County did not exist during the Civil War. Present day McCormick County was created 19 February 1916 from Greenwood and Abbeville Counties. During the Civil War, men from the area of McCormick County mostly would have served in various regiments recruited in its parent counties. Counties were called districts during the Civil War.

Other Resources

  • Cook, H. T. The Hard Labor Section. (S.l.: W.C. Kirkland?, 1993). 90 [40] pages. The Hard Labor area includes Greenwood & McCormick counties. Includes lists of militiamen and confederate soldiers. Book at FHL 975.73 D2c and Other Libraries.

World War II[edit | edit source]

Newspapers[edit | edit source]

Historic

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

Obituaries[edit | edit source]

Periodicals[edit | edit source]

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 Records[edit | edit source]

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.”[10] 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.

The South Carolina Department of Archives and History features a statewide Will Transcriptions, 1782 to 1855, database online. Includes a searchable index by name, with digitized images.

A probate record collection of Abbeville District, which includes early records of Marlboro County:

Online Probate Records

Taxation[edit | edit source]

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.

Vital Records[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

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 McCormick 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.

Marriage[edit | edit source]

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.

Newspapers are used as a substitute to locate marriage information. See South Carolina Newspapers.

Marriages and Marriage Substitutes - Indexes and 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[edit | edit source]

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 McCormick 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 and Death Substitutes - Indexes and Records

Societies, Libraries and Museums[edit | edit source]

Family History Centers[edit | edit source]

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a family history center.

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

Websites[edit | edit source]

Wikipedia
 Wikipedia has more about this subject: McCormick County, South Carolina

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ "McCormick County, South Carolina" in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCormick_County,_South_Carolina." accessed 27/06/2019
  2. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), McCormick County, South Carolina. Page 611-615 At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002; Alice Eichholz, ed. Ancestry’s Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources, Third ed. (Provo, Utah: Ancestry, 2004), 607-608.
  3. ↑ List of counties in South Carolina
  4. ↑ WorldCat 50140092 FHL Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed.] (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002)
  5. ↑ Voice of Phillip Stalvey, resident of Myrtle Beach, S.C. (2011).
  6. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "McCormick County, South Carolina," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCormick_County,_South_Carolina#Communities, accessed 27 December 2019.
  7. ↑ Schweitzer, George K. , South Carolina Genealogical Research (Knoxville, Tennessee: s.p. 1985), 39-42, FHL book 975.7 D27s
  8. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), 847-61. (FHL Book 973 D27e 2002) WorldCat entry., and William E. Myer, Indian Trails of the Southeast. (Nashville, Tenn.: Blue and Gray Press, 1971), 12-14, and the book's pocket map "The Trail System of the Southeastern United States in the early Colonial Period" (1923). (FHL Book 970.1 M992i) WorldCat entry.
  9. ↑ Herd, Jr., E. Don, Marriage and Death Notices from the Abbeville Banner, 1846-1860, (S.l. : s.n.), c1980.
  10. ↑ Henry Campbell Black, Black's Law Dictionary, 5th ed. (St. Paul, Minnesota: West Publishing Co., 1979), 1081, "probate."
  11. ↑ Lucas, Silas Emmett, Abbeville District, South Carolina Marriages, 1777-1852, Easley, SC: Southern Historical Press, c1979.
  12. ↑ Herd, Jr., E. Don, Marriage and Death Notices from the Abbeville Banner, 1846-1860, [S.l. : s.n.], c1980.
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Links to South Carolina-related articles
Topics
Counties
Extinct
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Overarching
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that became
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Major
Repositories
South Carolina Dept. of Archives and History · South Carolina State Library · South Carolina Historical Society · Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina Archives · Camden Archives and Museum · Charleston County Public Library · Charleston Library Society · Darlington County Historical Commission · Greenville County Library System Hughes Main Library · Orangeburg County Historical Society Library · South Carolina Genealogical Society · South Caroliniana Library · Sumter County Genealogical Center · Dallas Public Central Library · Chattanooga Public Library Downtown · National Archives at Atlanta · Santa Cruz Public Library Downtown
Migration
Routes
Savannah River · Augusta and Cherokee Trail · Augusta-Savannah Trail · Augusta-St. Augustine Trail · Camden-Charleston Path · Catawba and Northern Trail · Catawba Trail · Charleston-Ft. Charlotte Trail · Charleston-Savannah Trail · Cisca and St. Augustine Trail  · Cisca and St. Augustine Trail · Coosa-Tugaloo Indian Warpath · Fall Line Road · Fall Line Road · Fort Charlotte and Cherokee Old Path · Fort Moore-Charleston Trail · Great Valley Road · King's Highway · Lower Cherokee Traders' Path · Lower Creek Trading Path · Middle Creek Trading Path · Occaneechi Path · Old Cherokee Path · Old South Carolina State Road · Savannah-Jacksonville Trail · Secondary Coast Road · Tugaloo-Apalachee Bay Trail · Unicoi Trail · Upper Road · Ports:  Beaufort · Charleston · Georgetown



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