South Carolina Ancestors
Welcome to the Lowcountry Africana South Carolina Ancestors page, where we present records and resources for SC research. We hope you find some great resources here to keep your research moving forward!
Remembering Isaac Seabrook, Company C 21st USCT, Edisto Island, SC
Remembering Isaac Seabrook, Company C 21st USCT Isaac Seabrook, born on Edisto Island about 1840, enlisted in the United States Colored Troops (USCT) in Hilton Head, SC on May 11, 1863 [1]. Isaac was one of six young men born on Edisto who enlisted that day. The...
Hopkins Turnout (Columbia), SC Register of Sick and Wounded, Freedmen’s Bureau Hospital, 1866-1867
In the years between 1865 and 1872, the Freedmen's Bureau provided inpatient and outpatient medical care to Freedmen and poor whites at hospitals established in the former slaveholding states. The register below, transcribed by Alana Thevenet, records the names of...
Register of Sick and Wounded, Freedmen’s Bureau Hospital, St. Helena and Ladies Island, 1866 – 1867
The Freedmen's Bureau provided many services to Freedmen and poor white refugees during its operations in the former slaveholding states. In the years between 1865 and 1872, the bureau established hospitals and provided inpatient and outpatient medical care to many...
Why Do Public History at Plantation Sites?
Plantations were the sites of unspeakable tragedies - unrelenting labor from sunup to sundown and in many cases, violence and rape. Enslaved people lived in houses where an entire family shared a small, single room with a fireplace and nothing more. In some...
Charleston, SC Freedmen’s Labor Contracts, 1865-1866, Part 1
Freedmen's Labor Contracts Charleston County, SC, Contracts Records of the Field Offices for the State of South Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1868 NARA Record Group 105 M1910, Reel 63, Target 12 TITLE OF CONTRACT: P.M.C. Earnest...
SC Freedmen’s Bureau Records: USCT Bounty Claims
USCT Bounty Claims and the Information They Contain Above: Announcement of Additional Military Bounties, Charleston Daily News, 12 Nov 1866 1 USCT Bounty Claims Bounties were monetary or material incentives paid for enlisting in the military, or rewards for...
African American Genealogy: Searching Online Records in SC? Don’t Forget These Valuable Resources!
FamilySearch South Carolina Collections (current to Dec 2013): FamilySearch Collections: Title Records Last Updated South Carolina, Births and Christenings, 1846-1935 14,805 9 Mar 2012 South Carolina, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865...
Marriage and Divorce Records for Charleston, Strawberry Ferry, Johns Island, and Camden, 1865-1866
Source: United States, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. Marriage and Divorce Records for Charleston, Strawberry Ferry, Johns Island, and Camden, 1865-1866. South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Series Number .F601301, Record Group Number...
Marriage Notices from Charleston African American Newspapers
MARRIED In this city, by Rev. T.W. Lewis, Andrew Smalls to Tena Palmer. 10th Harry White to Marg't Green. Nov. 17, John Moore to Nancy Ann Ore(?). Nov 23, Joseph Richardson to Anna Lawrence. On Sunday, 17th Inst., by Rev. Jacob Legare, Mr. Joseph...
Newly Released SC Probate Records: a Treasure Trove for African American Genealogy
FamilySearch recently released more than 875,000 digital images of South Carolina county probate records. These new records, previously available only in county probate offices or on microfilm, may now be browsed online at FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org)....
Index of Crop Liens, James Island, Charleston County, SC, 1885 to 1894
Immediately following the Civil War, group labor contracts were the means by which the transition from slave to paid agricultural labor was made. After the Freedmen's Bureau withdrew from the southern states, contract labor gave way to tenant farming and the crop lien...
South Carolina Historical Society Finding Aids Online
The South Carolina Historical Society, one of the richest archives for Lowcountry genealogy research, has placed their finding aids online. Planning a research trip to Charleston? Be sure to bookmark the South Carolina Historical Society's Finding Aids page so you can...
Accessing and Navigating the New FamilySearch Collection "South Carolina, Freedmen’s Bureau Records, 1865-1872"
FamilySearch Has Digitized Freedmen's Bureau Records for South Carolina Social networks are abuzz today with the happy news that FamilySearch has digitized all 106 rolls of the microfilm series Records of the Field Offices for the State of South Carolina, Bureau of...
FamilySearch Digitizes Freedmen’s Bureau Records for SC
FamilySearch this week digitized all 106 rolls of the microfilm series Records of the Field Offices for the State of South Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1872 (NARA Micropublication M1910). This new collection of 118,737 images is one...
Join Lowcountry Africana ~ Unearthing Treasures: Tracing African American Ancestors at the South Carolina Historical Society
Please join Lowcountry Africana for a very special seminar at the South Carolina Historical Society, "Unearthing Treasures: Tracing Your African American Ancestors at the South Carolina Historical Society" on Saturday, November 9, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. What's special...
Beaufort County, SC Voter Registrations, Prince Williams Parish Registration Precinct, Peeple’s Election Precinct, 1868
Source: South Carolina, Secretary of State, Records Deposited with the Secretary. Abstracts of Voter Registrations Reported to the Military Government, 1868. South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Record Group 213000, Series No. S 213103 Indexed by Alana...
Beaufort County, SC Voter Registrations, Prince Williams Parish Registration Precinct, Pocotaligo Election Precinct, 1868
Source: South Carolina, Secretary of State, Records Deposited with the Secretary. Abstracts of Voter Registrations Reported to the Military Government, 1868. South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Record Group 213000, Series No. S 213103 Indexed by Alana...
Beaufort County, SC Voter Registrations, Prince Williams Parish Registration Precinct, Whippy Swamp Election Precinct, 1868
Source: South Carolina, Secretary of State, Records Deposited with the Secretary. Abstracts of Voter Registrations Reported to the Military Government, 1868. South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Record Group 213000, Series No. S 213103 Indexed by Alana...
7 Days of Juneteenth 2013~ Day 1: Beaufort, SC Voter Registrations, Elders on 112 Plantations
The Juneteenth holiday, one of the oldest Emancipation Day celebrations in the United States, commemorates the events of June 18 and 19, 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, took possession of the state and...
Freedmen’s Bureau Register of Destitutes (Rations Lists) by Plantation, Moncks Corner Subdistrict, SC, 1867
Freedmen's Bureau Rations Lists (Register of Destitutes) Charleston District, Moncks Corner Sub-District Records of the Field Offices for the State of South Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1872 NARA Record Group 105 M869, Reel 89...
Beaufort County, SC Voter Registrations, Prince Williams Parish Registration Precinct, Gardner’s Corner Election Precinct, 1868
Source: South Carolina, Secretary of State, Records Deposited with the Secretary. Abstracts of Voter Registrations Reported to the Military Government, 1868. South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Record Group 213000, Series No. S 213103 Indexed by Alana...
Beaufort County, SC Voter Registrations, First Registration Precinct, Chisolm’s Election Precinct, 1868
Source: South Carolina, Secretary of State, Records Deposited with the Secretary. Abstracts of Voter Registrations Reported to the Military Government, 1868. South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Record Group 213000, Series No. S 213103 Indexed by Alana...
Index of USCT Bounties Paid, South Carolina, 1866-1868
Source: Records of the Field Offices for the State of South Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1872 (NARA Micropublication M1910), Reel 23 Names of 166 USCT veterans who were paid bounties from 1866-1868 ~ Please...
Honoring William Parsons, First USCT Soldier to Fall in Battle in SC
The first military action of the United States Colored Troops in South Carolina was an expedition organized by Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson, commander of the 1st SC Infantry (later redesignated 33rd USCT). From January 23 to February 1, 1863, the 1st South...
Freedmen’s Bureau Record Breaks Through the 1870 Brick Wall for SC African American Genealogy
So rarely does a record from Reconstruction actually connect freed people to a former slaveholder. When we find records like this we are so excited. We are very excited today, because we found another! This record is a part of the "Pre-Bureau" records for South...
Join Lowcountry Africana at Magnolia Plantation Feb 9, 2013 for a Seminar on Tracing Reconstruction-Era Ancestors
Learn About the Records That Will Help You Trace African American Ancestors Back Beyond 1870 ~And~ Receive Personal Genealogy Advice from a Panel of Experienced Lowcountry Researchers! Please join us at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens on Saturday, February 9 for the...
Penn Center Heritage Symposium 2010
The annual Penn Center Heritage Days Celebration, held the second weekend in November each year, is a celebration of the unique Gullah-Geechee cultural heritage and the history of the Penn School on St. Helena Island, SC. The Penn Center Heritage Symposium explores a...
1850 Census Slave Schedule, Beaufort District, SC
Source: United States Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules of the Seventh Census of the United States, 1850, South Carolina. 1850 South Carolina Federal Population Census Slave Schedules - Abbeville, Anderson, Barnwell and Beaufort Counties. Reel 0861....
List of Discharges [USCT] Received from T. Hurley and Now On Hand at Freedmen’s Natl. Bank, Freedmen’s Bureau Field Report, South Carolina, 1869
Source: Records of the Field Offices for the State of South Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1872 (NARA Micropublication M1910), Reel 22 Names: Ballard, Charles Barber, Jacob Blanchard, Benj. Brown, George Brown,...
Labor Contract W.J. Randolph and Freed Men and Women on the Pope Place Plantation, St. Helena Island, Beaufort District, SC, 1865
Source: Records of the Field Offices for the State of South Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1872 (NARA Micropublication M1910), Reel 59 Names: Randolph, W.J. Randolph, William J. Williams, C.F. Haywood, Chas. F. White, Will Pope,...
Freedmen’s Labor Contract, School Farm Number 12, Orange Grove Plantation, Ladies Island, SC, 1865
Source: Records of the Field Offices for the State of South Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1872 (NARA Micropublication M1910), Reel 59 Names: Blake, Milton Stoney, Titus Stoney, Alice Seabrook, Daphne Aiken, Minta Hogan, Leah Orchard,...
South Carolina, Freedmen’s Bureau Field Report: Bounty Claim Correspondence for Blake, March; Blake, Michael; Jenkins, Bob; Williams, Rd; Cruel, Ranty; Blake, Robt; Edwards, Jos H.; Seabrook, Edwd; Brown, Jonas; Harris, Mike; Saplin, James, 1869
Names: Drew, Wm. P. Howard, O.O. Ballock, Ew. Blake, March Blake, Michael Jenkins, Bob Williams, Rd. Edwards, Jos H. Blake, Robt. Seabrook, Edwd. Cruel, Ranty Brown, Jonas Harris, Mike Saplin, James DeKnight, W.F. Scoville, N.R. Edie,...
South Carolina, Freedmen’s Bureau Field Report: USCT Bounties Paid During March, 1869
Source: Records of the Field Offices for the State of South Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1872 (NARA Micropublication M1910), Reel 22 Names Harris, Luke Sanders, Anthony Grimble, Taylor Seabrook, Joseph Stewart, Milton Wynn,...
Records Relating to the Issuance of Rations: List of Destitutes, Hilton Head Island, SC, 1866-1867
Source: Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of South Carolina Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1870 (NARA Micropublication M869), Reel 38 View pdf (may take a few moments to load) Records Relating to the...
List of Destitute Persons Who Will Need Rations and Seed on Port Royal, Ladies, St. Helena, Paris, and Cat Islands, Beaufort District, SC, ca. 1867
Source: Records of the Field Offices for the State of South Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1872 (NARA Micropublication M1910), Reel 60 Black Orphan Sarah Washington Flora Hannah Tony Bina Chaplin Doll...
Grant, Joseph. Bounty Claim Correspondence, Beaufort, SC, 1864
Names Grant, Joseph Williams, Geo. A. Taggard, F.W. Thomas, L. Hawks, D. Zelley, Daniel W. Walter, W.D. Crawford, A.M.L.
Freedmen’s Labor Contract, Myrtle Bush Plantation, Beaufort District, SC, 1867
Source: Records of the Field Offices for the State of South Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1872 (NARA Micropublication M1910), Reel 60. On February 5, 1867, T.C. Randolph entered into an agreement with freed men and women to...
Freedmen’s Labor Contract: Middleton’s Hobonny Plantation, Beaufort, SC, 1866
Source: Records of the Field Offices for the State of South Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1872 (NARA Micropublication M1910), Reel 60. On March 24, 1866, Williams Middleton, owner of Hobonny Plantation on the...