South Carolina African AmericansEdit This Page

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Introduction

This Wiki page describes research strategies, and major sources of information about African American families from South Carolina. As you read this Wiki page, also study the African American Research Wiki pages, which will help you understand more strategies, and the contents and uses of other African American genealogical records.

Many resources exist that document the lives of African-Americans. Visit this page often to learn about proven stategies and records which will help document African-American progenitors who lived in South Carolina.

A Research Strategy

Genealogical records may not document the names of ancestors per se, but they help to educate us about what life was like for them.

Associates background information. Research the lives of those with whom an ancestor socialized, worshipped, played, and worked. Search repositories for photographs, maps, biographies, journals, histories, and records that document the lives of your ancestors and their associates.

Geographical background information. It is important to research the geographical area and history of landmarks such as schools, churches, and businesses that an ancestor may have frequented.

Tracing the slave owner. The oral history of many African Americans reveals the former slave owning family. Sometimes further information can be gleaned about an ancestor by researching these families in conjunction along with African American ancestors. Research each member of the family group for possible clues. The following record-types have proven useful:

• wills
• estate records
• biographies
• land records
• journals
• local histories

Confederate Records

Confederate Compiled Service Records. During the Civil War, slaves served as cooks, body guards, and they had other duties. Servants were also left behind to keep the plantation runnning while the owner was absent. Researching the Confederate Compiled Service Records of former plantation owners may reveal more about the plight or whereabouts of an ancestor during this time period.

Confederate Citizens File

The Citizens File is a collection of Confederate records documenting the involvement of citizens and businesses that provided support to the Confederate government.

Amnesty Papers. When Andrew Johnson pardoned Confederates at the end of the Civil War on May 29, 1865, some had to apply for amnesty because they were not granted amnesty in the proclamation issued. The records containing these applications are often referred to as the Amnesty Papers.

To learn more about these three types of Confederate records which can be used to identify or verify plantation owners, see:

1. Confederate Compiled Service Record
2. Confederate Citizen Files
3. Amnesty Papers 1865-1867

Archives and Libraries

Museums with African American Collections

• Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, Charleston
• Old Slave Mart Museum, Charleston
• Penn Center, St. Helena Island
• Slave Relics Museum, Walterboro

Biography

• A. B. Caldwell, ed., History of the American Negro: South Carolina Edition (Atlanta, Ga.: A.B. Caldwell Publ., 1919). 757 pages of lauditory biographical sketches and portraits.

Census

1850

• Motes, Margaret Peckham. Free Blacks and Mulattos in South Carolina 1850 Census. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing co., Inc. Publisher's website.

1868 Agricultural Census

This census exists at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History for the following counties in SC:
Abbeville, Anderson, Barnwell, Beaufort, Charleston, Colleton, Darlington,
Edgefield, Fairfield, Georgetown, Greenville, Kershaw, Lancaster, Laurens,
Lexington, Marlboro, Newberry, Oconee, Orangeburg, Pickens, Richland,
Spartanburg, Sumter, Union, Williamsburg, and York.

1869 South Carolina State Population Census

The 1869 South Carolina State Population Census is available on microfilm at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History (SCDAH). It was the first census taken that lists the African American head of household by name. No other members of the household are named, however, it can be beneficial if an ancestor was not able to be located on the 1870 United States Census.

This index lists the number of children from 6 to 16 by race and gender, number of males over 21 by race, and number of persons of all ages by race and gender. Each of the following counties are available:

Abbeville, Anderson, Barnwell, Beaufort, Charleston, Chester, Chesterfield, Clarendon, Colleton, Darlington, Edgefield, Fairfield, Georgetown, Greenville, Horry, Lancaster, Laurens, Lexington, Marion, Marlboro, Newberry, Orangeburg, Pickens, Richland, Sumter, Union, Williamsburg, and York.

This record is missing for the counties of Kershaw, Oconee, and Spartanburg. See Document your ancestor before 1870 using 1869 SC State Census.

Free People of Color

The place to start free African American studies is:

• Paul Heinegg, Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware] at http://freeafricanamericans.com/ (accessed 22 October 2010). About 2,000 pages of family histories based on colonial court order and minute books 1790-1810 census records, tax lists, wills, deeds, free Negro registers, marriage bonds, parish registers, and Revolutionary War pension files.

Heinegg has also prepared these lists:

• Heinegg, Paul. "'Other Free' Heads of Household in the 1790 South Carolina Census, by County," Free African Americans.com. Extracts from census arranged by enumeration districts.
• Heinegg, Paul. "'Other Free' Heads of Household in the 1800 South Carolina Census, by County/District," Free African Americans.com. Extracts from census arranged by enumeration districts.
• Heinegg, Paul. "'Other Free' Heads of Household on the 1810 South Carolina Census, by Family Name," Free African Americans.com.Extracts from census arranged by enumeration districts.

1875 Agricultural Census

This record exists for the following townships in SC:
Aiken (Silverton Township), Beaufort (Lawton, Pocotaligo, and Bluffton
Townships), Charleston (Sullivan s Island and Moultrieville Townships),
Clarendon (New Zion and Midway Townships), Darlington (Colfax, Fludd, and
Grant Townships), Marlboro (Bennettsville, Brownsville, Red Bluff, and Hebron
Townships), Newberry (Stoney Battery, Cannon, Caldwell, Maybinton, Hellen, and
Newberry Townships), and Sumter (Middleton and Statesburg Townships).

Funeral Homes

Columbia

• Leevy's Funeral Home for African Americans
• Johnson-Bradley Funeral Home for African Americans

Genealogy

• The Never-ending Road: American Roma (Gypsy), Travellers, & "Others": Early Native American Indian Remnants & Other SC Ethic Groups.
• Lowcountry Africana (@LCAfricana) is dedicated to documenting the family and cultural heritage of African Americans in the historic rice-growing areas of South Carolina, Georgia and extreme northeastern Florida.
• 150 Years Later, Collier, Melvin J., pub. 2011. Available here: 150 Years Later. This resource will be very useful for identifying research techniques and historical documentation available for discovering ancestors who were former slaves. Specific resources often overlooked are cited and are useful for research in Abbeville County, SC. Methods for identifying ancestors migrating to Mississippi prior to 1865 have also been cited.

History

South Carolina African American History and Resources has timelines and lessons on topics like slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Twentieth Century.

Newspapers

The Richland County Public Library has The Palmetto Leader on microfilm, an African-American newspaper. It contains articles submitted by individuals and churches from many counties across the state. Only the obituaries have been indexed and the index is available online.

Military

Civil War (1861-1865)

See South Carolina in the Civil War for information about South Carolina Civil War records, web sites, etc. with links to articles about the South Carolina regiments involved in the Civil War. The regimental articles often include lists of the companies with links to the counties where the companies started. Men in the companies often lived in the counties where the companies were raised. Knowing a county can help when researching the families of the soldiers. See United States Colored Troops in the Civil War to learn about the regiments and units that served from South Carolina.

The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System allows name searching for soldiers. The result set gives the regiment for each soldiers. Then you can check the regiment page to determine counties. Often knowing the counties that had men in a regiment will help you determine if a soldier was your ancestor.

1869 Militia Enrollments

See the Online-Index at South Carolina Department of Archives and History to access the Militia Enrollments of men between the ages of 30 and 45. Enter you male ancestor's last name and then first name, and suggestions will appear below the box as you type his name. Enter the county where your ancestor was living at this time, and click "search" leaving all other fields blank. Online images are available for these records. Notice in the following example, the men are listed in alphabetical order, and they are not separated by race:
MILITIA ENROLLMENTS OF MEN BETWEEN THE AGES OF 30 AND 45 FOR ABBEVILLE COUNTY

This record is useful for documenting African American male ancestors who were born between 1824 and 1839.

World War I

The goal of the 371st Historical Society, located in Columbia, SC,  is to unite with descendants of the 371st, 369th, 370th and 372nd Infantry Regiments. The Society collects, preserves and maintains artifacts, books, films, papers, photographs, relics, video disks and other articles touching on the past history of the 371st Infantry Regiment its allies and affiliates and of Black Soldiers who served in the Military Services of the United States. Visit 371st Historical Society, World War I.

Plantation Records

• Records of southern plantations from emancipation to the great migration. Series C, Selections from the South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina; Ira Berlin; Ariel W Simmons; South Caroliniana Library; Bethesda, MD: LexisNexis, ©2004
• At various libraries (WorldCat) A genealogical index to the guides of the microfilm edition of Records of Ante-bellum Southern Plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War / compiled by Jean L. Cooper; [Bloomington, Ind.]: 1stBooks, ©2003.
• Lowcountry Africana: South Carolina Plantation Slave Records on Footnote.com
• Restore the Ancestors Indexing Project: SC Estate Inventories on Footnote.com.

Probate Records

Reconstruction

The following are a wealth of resources which may be used to understand the era of Reconstruction. These resources also lead to actual testimonies given my African Americans and former slave owners. The sworn Congressional testimonies provide a great deal of oral history about specific individual experiences and events.

• Hurrah for Hampton!: Black Red Shirts in South Carolina during Reconstruction By Edmund L. Drago (Google Books)
• The Miscellaneous Documents of the Senate of the United States...‎1877  (Google Books)
• Congressional serial set By United States. Government Printing Office  (Google Books) See also Angela McComas, Congress and My Family History (12 minute online video) FamilySearch Research Classes Online, and Mid-Continent Public Library Midwest Genealogy Center, 2010.
• Evidence taken by the Committee of Investigation of the Third Congressional...(Google Books)

School Records

Records for extinct African American schools can also be found at the South Caroliniana Library on the campus of University of South Carolina.

Record types include:

• Documents generated by the school
• Student report cards
• School histories
• Newspaper clippings

See list of Extinct Schools

Voting Registers

• South Carolina Voting Registers after the Civil War list African American males separately. They may be the first African American record after slavery.

Other Sources

• Helsley, Alexia Jones. South Carolina's African American Confederate pensioners, 1923-1925 (Columbia, South Carolina : Alexia J. Helsley, c1998), 140 pages. Listed alphabetically by the person's last name, each entry includes "the petitioner's name, his address, the outfit with which he served, the captain or other officer under whom he served, his length of service," the name of the person who signed the affidavit, and other relevant information included on the applications for pension. At various libraries; FHL 975.7 M2he

Online Resources

• Afrigeneas. Online South Carolina African American collections includes guide to African Ancestry in South Carolina and the the following resources: African American Death Records Database; African American Marriage Records Database; Census Records; Slave Data Collection
• The Andrea Files
• Most Overlooked Record-Types in South Carolina
• Road Trip! Through SC Civil Rights History "Road Trip! Through South Carolina Civil Rights History is an interactive Web site designed to help teachers and students learn about the people, events and importance of the civil rights movement in South Carolina from the 1940s to the early 1970s."
• South Carolina Department of Archives and History Online Records Index (SCDAH)
• Search the holdings at SCDAH
  Search for these specific records: Freedmen's, freeholders, negro, manumissions, arrest warrants, marriage licenses,
• South Carolina Deaths 1915-1943 More information at South Carolina Deaths, 1915-1945 (FamilySearch Historical Records)
• South Carolina Deaths 1944-1955 More information at South Carolina Deaths, 1944-1955 (FamilySearch Historical Records)
• South Caroliniana Library: Manuscript Division
• South Carolina Slave Trader's List
• A Bibliography of African American Family History at the Newberry Library
• In My Father's House Are Many Mansions: Family and Community in Edgefield, South Carolina.
• South Carolina Resources at AfriGeneas
• We Contribute 

Family History Library1771-1868 Bills of Sale of Slaves and Manumissions: South Carolina.

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Ninth Census of the United States: Statistics of Population, Tables I to VIII Inclusive (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1872), 60-61. Digital version at Internet Archive; FHL Book 973 X2pcu.