Records that survive
These are the record series of Oconee 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. Oconee County became a district only in January 1868, months before South Carolina's districts were renamed counties, so records from before then are with Pickens District.
Wills and estates
- Estate papers · Probate Courtabout 1868...1958
- Real estate books · Probate Court1868-1928
- Bond books · Probate Court1869-1941
- Cashbooks of the Probate Judge · Probate Court1869-1948
- Sales books of the Probate Court · Probate Court1881-1949
- Inventories, appraisements, and sales books · Probate Court1896-1925
- Journals of the Probate Court · Probate Court1901-1946
- Returns books · Probate Court1901-1947
- Letters books · Probate Court1915-1921
- Inventories and appraisements books · Probate Court1920-1949
- Administration bond books · Probate Court1929-1950
Deeds and land
- Conveyance books of Pendleton District (transcripts) · Register of Mesne Conveyances1789-1828
- Conveyance books of Pickens District (transcripts) · Register of Mesne Conveyances1828-1868
- Conveyance books · Register of Mesne Conveyances1868-1926
- Plat books · Register of Mesne Conveyances1869-1920
- Lands devised books · Probate Courtabout 1883-1932
Marriages, births and deaths
- Marriage licenses · Probate Court1911-1950
Equity court (estate and land suits)
- Equity bills · Court of Common Pleas1869-1876
Confederate veterans and pensions
- Distribution of state pension fund books · Clerk of Court1909-1919
Tax records
- Auditor's tax duplicate books · Auditor1868-1930
- Assessor's returns of taxable personal property · Auditor1870
- Delinquent tax sales books of the Auditor · Auditor1881-1883
- School fund cashbooks of the Treasurer · Treasurer1894-1927
- Bond registers · Auditor1904-1923
- Cancelled bonds, coupons, and notes · Treasurer1904-1964
- Reports of automobile licenses issued · Auditor1914-1916
- Cashbooks of the Auditor · Auditor1925-1937
- Treasurer's tax duplicate books · Treasurer1927-1959
- General cashbooks of the Treasurer · Treasurer1930-1933
- School funds cashbooks of the Auditor · Auditor1930-1933
- Bond ledgers · Auditor1934-1951
- Statement of taxes and cash in the Sheriff's office · County Council1941-1942
Elections and voters
- Voter registration books · Clerk of Court1938-1964
Court records
- Minutes of the County Council · County Council1868
- Criminal journals · Court of General Sessions1869-1953
- Indictments · Court of General Sessions1869-1950
- Judgment rolls · Court of Common Pleas1869-1950
- Civil journals · Court of Common Pleas1921-1976
- Minutes of the Sinking Fund Commission · Sinking Fund Commission1931-1956
Schools
- General cashbooks of the Superintendent · Board of Education1878-1911
- General ledgers of the Superintendent of Education · Board of Education1911-1950
- Special control cashbooks of the Superintendent · Board of Education1924-1951
County government
- Account books of the County Council · County Council1919-1935
- General ledgers of the County Council · County Council1929-1933
- Cashbooks of the Sinking Fund Commission · Sinking Fund Commission1930-1931
- County accounts · Comptroller1932-1960
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
- Find Oconee 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: Oconee 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, Oconee" 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: Pickens County
Check the parent county for earlier records: Pickens County
Records stay with the county that created them. If your ancestor lived here before 1868, 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.