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Church Records


Parish registers from churches can provide information on birth and death dates, and marriages. Parish registers of a few early South Carolina churches are extant and some have been published. Published histories of churches occasionally include lists of births, marriages, or deaths. For these sources please check the card catalog in the Reference Room and other libraries.

For the catalog of the Archives holdings of church records, please consult the web version of The Guide to Church Records or the List of Church Records in the Summary Guide to Private Records notebook in the Reference Room. The South Caroliniana Library, also has a few church records. For a list of the library 's holdings please consult Allen H. Stokes, Jr., A Guide to the Manuscript Collection of the South Caroliniana Library (Columbia, S.C.: South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, 1982) or their on-line finding aid.

Records of Baptist Churches are available at Baptist Historical Collection, Furman University Library, Furman University, Greenville, S.C. 29613, and records of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches are available at the Historical Foundation of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches, P.O. Box 849, Montreat, N.C. 28757, (704) 669-7061. For lists of holdings, please consult Furman University Library, Baptist Historical Collection: Church Records on Microfilm (Greenville, S.C.: Furman University Library, [1992]),  or Historical Foundation of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches, South Carolina Records (Montreat, N.C.: Historical Foundation of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches, [1992] ). For listings of other sources for South Carolina church records please consult the following articles:

  • Childs, Margaretta and Leland, Isabella G. "South Carolina Episcopal Church Records." South Carolina Historical Magazine 84 (October 1983): 250-63.

  • Clayton, J. Glen. "South Carolina Baptist Records." South Carolina Historical Magazine 85 (October 1984): 319-27.

  • Cote, Richard N. "South Carolina Presbyterian Records." South Carolina Historical Magazine 85 (April 1984): 145-52.

  • Cote, Richard N. "South Carolina Religious Records: Other Denominations." South Carolina Historical Magazine 86 (January 1985): 50-61. Includes the following churches:
    • African Methodist Episcopal Church;
    • Congregational, Unitarian and Universalist Churches;
    • the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ);
    • French Protestant (Huguenot) Church;
    •  Jews;
    • Lutheran Church;
    •  Roman Catholic Church;
    • Society of Friends (Quakers)