Record losses
The South Carolina Archives notes: Records were evacuated to Columbia in February 1865, where fire destroyed them. Virtually no pre-1865 records survived.
Compare the years below for gaps. Where records are missing, try the parent county or district, state records such as land grants and tax lists, church records and newspapers. See Burned Counties.
Records that survive
These are the record series of Colleton County held at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History in Columbia, in the original or on microfilm, with the office that kept each and the years covered. A span can include gaps. From 1800 until 1868 it was called Colleton District, and its records from those years carry the district's name.
Wills and estates
- Estate papers · Probate Court1854-1904
- Will books · Probate Court1865-1977
Deeds and land
- Plat books · Commissioner of Locations1802-1834
- Conveyance books · Register of Mesne Conveyances1866-1924
- Plat books · Register of Mesne Conveyances1897-1922
- Abstracts of conveyances to the Forfeited Land Commission · Sheriff1925-1930
Marriages, births and deaths
- Marriage books · Probate Court1911-1973
- Marriage licenses · Probate Court1911-1951
Equity court (estate and land suits)
- Equity papers · Court of Equity1824-1861
- Equity decrees · Court of Equity1861
Confederate veterans and pensions
- Confederate veterans' enrollment books · Clerk of Court1902
Tax records
- Property tax returns · Auditor1868-1883
- General cashbooks of the Treasurer · Treasurer1869-1888
- Tax notices for realty · Auditor1869
- Tax receipt books · Treasurer1869-1889
- Tax executions of the Treasurer · Treasurer1875-1932
- Tax execution books of the Treasurer · Treasurerabout 1886-1887
- Abstracts of collectible tax executions · Sheriff1920-1928
Elections and voters
- Voter registration books · Clerk of Court1882
Court records
- Bar dockets · Clerk of Court1801-1834
- Petitions to be excused from jury duty · Clerk of Court1803-1825
- Correspondence of the Clerk of Court · Clerk of Court1822
- Papers · Court of Common Pleas1822-1833
- Civil journals · Court of Common Pleas1833-1839
- Summary process dockets · Court of Common Pleas1840-1849
- Jurors and witnesses pay stubs · Court of Common Pleas1887
- Minutes of the County Council · County Council2012-2015
Schools
- Classroom registers · Board of Education1932-1935
- Book fee receipts for Big Gate School · Board of Education1935-1936
County government
- List of persons on the 1880 census for Colleton County · Clerk of Court1880
- Account books of the County Council · County Council1906-1910
Other records
- Receipt books · Sheriff1896-1897
- Abstracts of nulla bona executions · Sheriff1920-1931
See the full list at the South Carolina Archives
Source: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Summary Guide to County Records. Many county offices keep their own older books too, so ask the county as well. South Carolina required marriage licenses from July 1, 1911, and statewide birth and death registration began in 1915.
Where to find the records
- Find Colleton County's official website
We haven't checked this county's website yet, so this opens a web search. Look for an address ending in .gov, then find the probate judge, the register of deeds and the clerk of court.
- The probate judge
Wills and estates (from 1868; before that, the Court of Ordinary), and marriage licenses from July 1911.
- The register of deeds
Deeds and mortgages. The office was called the Register of Mesne Conveyances (RMC) until 1998, and in most counties the clerk of court records deeds instead.
- The clerk of court
Civil and criminal court records, and in some counties the old equity court's files on estate divisions and land disputes.
- The South Carolina Department of Archives and History
Older county records in the original or on microfilm, plus colonial and state land grants and plats, and Confederate pension applications.
- South Carolina Archives: Colleton County recordsfree
Every record series the state archives holds for this county, with its years, office and microfilm.
- South Carolina Archives Online Records Indexfree
Search by name for land grants and plats, Confederate pension applications, will transcripts and other records, many with images.
- FamilySearch Catalogfree
Search by place for "South Carolina, Colleton" to find filmed and digitized records, many viewable free online with a FamilySearch account.
Offices change their hours and access rules; call before you visit.
Boundaries and parent counties
Formed from: Charleston District, as Colleton District; called a county since 1868
Later formed partly from Colleton County: Dorchester County
Records stay with the county that created them. If your ancestor lived here before 1800, search the parent county. The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries shows each boundary change.
Research tip
Until the early 1780s, South Carolina's wills were recorded in Charleston for the whole colony, so look there for an ancestor who died before then. Before 1868, the equity court's suits over estate divisions and land often name every heir.