Record losses
The South Carolina Archives notes: In 1862, Georgetown's records were sent to Chesterfield courthouse for safekeeping. Union troops destroyed them there in March 1865.
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 Georgetown 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 1769 until 1868 it was called Georgetown District, and its records from those years carry the district's name.
Wills and estates
- Estate papers · Probate Court1831-1940
- Probate records books · Court of Ordinary1862-1865
- Journals of the Probate Court · Probate Court1865-1892
- Will books · Probate Court1865-1954
- Real estate conveyance books · Auditor1871-1884
Deeds and land
- Conveyance books · Register of Mesne Conveyances1862-1924
- Plat books · Register of Mesne Conveyances1866-1936
- List of lands forfeited to the state · Treasurer1870-1883
- Mortgages, liens, and miscellaneous records (index) · Register of Mesne Conveyances1871-1873
- Charter books · Register of Mesne Conveyances1879
- Abstracts of liens · Register of Mesne Conveyances1881-1902
- Register of limited partnerships · Register of Mesne Conveyances1882-1895
- Mechanics' liens books · Register of Mesne Conveyances1883-1895
Marriages, births and deaths
- Return of marriages in the town of Georgetown · Probate Court1884-1899
- Marriage books · Probate Court1911-1966
- Register of deaths · Coroner1913-1916
Equity court (estate and land suits)
- Equity records (general index) · Court of Equity1861-1868
- Equity bill dockets · Court of Equity1866-1868
- Equity file books · Court of Equity1866-1868
- Equity minutes · Court of Equity1866-1868
- Equity bill dockets · Court of Common Pleas1869-1872
- Equity file books · Court of Common Pleas1869-1887
- Equity minutes · Court of Common Pleas1869-1871
- Equity records (general index) · Court of Common Pleas1869-1872
Confederate veterans and pensions
- Confederate pension rolls · Board of Honor1903-1914
Tax records
- Tax execution books of the Sheriff · Sheriff1867-1896
- Assessor's returns of taxable personal property · Auditor1868-1870
- Assessor's returns of taxable real property · Auditor1868-1870
- Auditor's tax duplicate books · Auditor1870-1963
- Delinquent tax sale lists books · Treasurer1870-1892
- School funds cashbooks of the Treasurer · Treasurer1873-1891
- Fifteen percent delinquent tax lists · Treasurer1877-1902
- Nulla bona tax lists · Treasurer1879-1886
- General ledgers of the Treasurer · Treasurer1880-1894
- Tax execution books of the Treasurer · Treasurer1882-1923
- Treasurer's tax duplicate books · Treasurer1882-1883
- Annual county tax settlements of the Treasurer · Treasurer1894-1907
- Tax abatement books · Auditorabout 1917-1921
Elections and voters
- Voter registration books · Clerk of Court1882-1895
Court records
- Memoranda · Magistrates Court1783-1785
- Abstracts of lost judgments · Court of Common Pleas1850-1860
- Register of medical practitioners · Clerk of Court1856-1988
- Abstracts of judgments · Court of Common Pleas1865-1894
- Rules books · Court of Common Pleas1865-1870
- Abstracts of decrees in summary process · Court of Common Pleas1866-1870
- Appearance books · Court of Common Pleas1866-1870
- Civil journals · Court of Common Pleas1866-1984
- Criminal dockets · Court of General Sessions1866-1908
- Criminal journals · Court of General Sessions1866-1916
- Issue dockets · Court of Common Pleas1866-1871
- Pleadings and judgments · Court of Common Pleas1866-1911
- Civil dockets · District Court1867-1868
- Confessions of judgment before the clerk · Court of Common Pleas1867-1896
- and 24 more series in the full listing
Schools
- Account books of the School Commissioner · Board of Education1873-1881
- List of approved and rejected past due school claims · County Council1889
- Claims audited · Board of Education1890
County government
- List of poor assisted by the County Commissioners · County Council1869-1889
- List of road overseers · County Council1875-1895
- Ledgers of the Palmetto Lumber Company · Palmetto Lumber Company (Georgetown County, S.C.)1879-1883
- Daybooks of the County Council · County Council1897-1904
- General ledgers of the County Council · County Council1897-1905
- Chain gang books · County Council1903-1926
- Liquor sales records · Board of Control1904
- Cashbooks of the County Council · County Council1906-1907
Other records
- Sales books of the Sheriff · Sheriff1789-1936
- Writ books of the Sheriff · Sheriff1789-1954
- Coroner's inquisition books · Coroner1866-1916
- Execution books of the Sheriff · Sheriff1867
- Jail books of the Sheriff · Sheriff1881-1960
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
- Georgetown County official website
Hours, addresses and phone numbers for the probate judge, the register of deeds and the clerk of court, and any online record search the county offers.
- 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: Georgetown 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, Georgetown" 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: One of the seven original judicial districts of 1769; called a county since 1868
Records stay with the county that created them. If your ancestor lived here before 1769, 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.