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16. Colonial and State Records


are located in microfilm Drawers 89-104. This section contains a wide variety of colonial and later state period records, but only selected series mainly of interest to genealogists will be described in here. Refer to the Microfilm Lists Notebook and handouts on top of this microfilm cabinet for full listings. Note that FIVE of the Combined Indexes on microfilm in this section may be viewed in updated versions on the Archives computer [On-Line Indexes] at MAP KEY 1, and they are designated [On-Line Indexes] in brackets in this guide.

  • Drawer 89 contains the Consolidated Index, c. 1675 - 1929 [On-Line Indexes], also called the Combined Alphabetical or COM Index that combines 28 record series on one index in alphabetical order by the individual’s name and by geographic place name with some cross-referenced series. See the handout sheets to this COM Index which includes colonial plats, grants, memorials, deeds, judgment rolls, Revolutionary War records, bills of sale, and other important records most of which are located in Drawers 89-93.

  • Drawers 92 - 95 house the Proprietary, Royal, and State Miscellaneous Records, 1671 - 1875; these are state-wide recorded documents such as bills of sale, etc., indexed in this section and at MAP KEYS 3, 7, & 9. You can find colonial period criminal court records in microfilm Drawer 93, which contains the S.C. General Sessions Combined Index [On-Line Indexes] and the General Sessions Journal, 1769-1776 (on microfilm rolls ST 339 and ST 340 ).

  • Drawers 95-96 contain the W.P.A. Will Transcripts, 1671-1868, that are indexed in two volumes at MAP KEY 3. At the end of this collection of wills, you will find on microfilm rolls ST 565 to ST 567, the Combined Index to Will Transcripts (incomplete), 1782-ca.1855 [On-line Indexes], which cross-references the names that appear in the wills. Drawer 96 contains the State Plats Combined Index, 1784 -1868 [On-Line Indexes], and State Plats Collection - these are state-wide surveys of vacant land usually sold by the State of South Carolina. State Grants are the formal titles to the land and they appear in this same drawer and in Drawer 97, where the indexes are located on film rolls ST 659, ST 659A, and ST 659B.

  • Drawer 99 contains the important but often over-looked Combined Index to General Assembly Legislative Papers, 1776 -1877 [On-Line Indexes], which includes name and subject indexes to thousands of petitions (located in drawers 104-105) directed to the South Carolina Legislature to charter churches, societies, or to build bridges, roads, or to review other important local or state matters.

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