Record losses
The South Carolina Archives notes: Federal troops rifled and vandalized courthouse offices in 1865; many loose papers and volumes of the clerk of court (including early deeds to 1828) were destroyed. The files of the commissioner of equity were virtually wiped out, and loose probate papers left in disarray. At some later date, pre-1887 General Sessions Indictments were lost as well.
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 Horry 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 1801 until 1868 it was called Horry District, and its records from those years carry the district's name.
Wills and estates
- Bond books · Court of Ordinary1803-1818
- Estate papers · Probate Court1803-1931
- Inventories, appraisements, and sales books · Probate Court1803-1879
- Administration bond books · Court of Ordinary1819-1821
- Will books · Probate Court1819-1907
- Letters of administration books · Court of Ordinary1823-1840
- Guardian, trustee, and committee account books · Court of Equity1840-1862
- Real estate books · Probate Court1842-1873
Deeds and land
- Plat books · Commissioner of Locations1802-1879
- Conveyance books · Register of Mesne Conveyances1803-1977
- Mortgages and liens (indexes) · Register of Mesne Conveyances1875-1894
- Official bonds books · Register of Mesne Conveyances1876-1942
- Abstracts of agricultural lien books · Register of Mesne Conveyances1878-1909
- Homestead exemption files · Court of Common Pleas1883-1905
- Charters · Register of Mesne Conveyances1895
- Mortgage books (indexes) · Register of Mesne Conveyances1895-1901
- Bonds for titles · Register of Mesne Conveyances1903-1917
- Official bonds · Register of Mesne Conveyances1903-1947
- Labor contracts (index) · Register of Mesne Conveyances1909-1919
- Plat books · Register of Mesne Conveyances1913-1982
- Tax title deeds · Forfeited Land Commission1946
Marriages, births and deaths
- Marriage licenses · Probate Court1911-1950
- Lists of delayed certificates for births prior to 1915 · Clerk of Court1939-1960
Equity court (estate and land suits)
- Sales books of the Master · Master1841-1869
- Equity dockets · Court of Equity1842-1867
- Equity minutes · Court of Equity1842-1868
- Equity report books · Court of Equity1842-1867
- Stock books · Master1867-1868
- Equity dockets · Court of Common Pleas1869-1870
- Equity minutes · Court of Common Pleas1869
Confederate veterans and pensions
- Confederate pension rolls · Board of Honor1889-1916
- Confederate pension application books · Board of Honor1901-1919
- Minutes of the Board of Honor · Board of Honor1904-1914
Tax records
- Tax returns · Tax Collectorabout 1845-1851
- Treasurer's tax duplicate books · Treasurer1876-1960
- General cashbooks of the Treasurer · Treasurer1907-1963
- School funds cashbooks of the Treasurer · Treasurer1916-1952
- Auditor's tax duplicate books · Auditor1918-1920
- Tax sales books · Sheriff1926-1942
- General ledgers of the Treasurer · Treasurer1943-1961
- Check registers · Treasurer1951-1952
Elections and voters
- Election files · Clerk of Court1922-1952
Court records
- Minutes of the Commissioners of the Public Buildings · Horry District (S.C.). Commissioners of the Public Buildings1802-1851
- Civil journals · Court of Common Pleas1803-1915
- Abstracts of decrees in summary process · Court of Common Pleas1804-1870
- Abstracts of judgments · Court of Common Pleas1804-1912
- Criminal journals · Court of General Sessions1804-1951
- Execution dockets · Court of Common Pleas1804-1807
- Indictments · Court of General Sessions1804-1921
- Judgment books · Court of Common Pleas1804-1829
- Judgment rolls · Court of Common Pleas1804-1914
- Petitions to be excused from jury duty · Clerk of Court1804-1805
- Criminal dockets · Court of General Sessions1807-1936
- Summary process dockets · Court of Common Pleas1815-1870
- Rough civil journals · Court of Common Pleas1833-1841
- Pleadings and judgments · Court of Common Pleas1840-1902
- and 45 more series in the full listing
Schools
- Annual reports of the Commissioners of the Free Schools · Court of General Sessions1856-1858
- School funds cashbooks of the Superintendent · Board of Education1893-1952
- General cashbooks of the Superintendent · Board of Education1904-1908
- Register of claims · Board of Education1921-1924
- School bond register · Board of Education1922-1942
- Register of expenditures approved by the Superintendent · Board of Education1927-1952
- Teachers payrolls · Board of Education1932-1933
- Transcripts of proceedings in school district bond issues · Board of Education1937-1941
- Curriculum workshop booklet: a guide for teachers in elementary schools · Board of Education1943
- Voucher register (Conway school district nos. 1 & 19) · Board of Education1948-1949
- Desegregation file · Board of Education1965-1974
- Blueprints · Board of Education1971, 1975
County government
- Register of county officials · Clerk of Court1884-1913
- Commissions and appointments · Clerk of Court1914-1959
- New county proposal files · Clerk of Court1926-1927
Other records
- Coroner's inquisition books · Coroner1849-1874
- Sales books of the Sheriff · Sheriff1852-1928
- Executions of the Sheriff · Sheriffabout 1870-1925
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
- Horry 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: Horry 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, Horry" 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: Georgetown District, as Horry District; called a county since 1868
Records stay with the county that created them. If your ancestor lived here before 1801, 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.