Records that survive
These are the record series of Pickens 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 1826 until 1868 it was called Pickens District, and its records from those years carry the district's name.
Wills and estates
- Estate papers · Court of Ordinary1828-1865
- Will books · Court of Ordinary1828-1864
- Real estate books · Court of Ordinary1829-1859
- Guardian, trustee, and committee account books · Court of Equity1841-1868
- Bond books · Probate Court1842-1884
- Inventories, appraisements, and sales books · Probate Court1842-1872
- Journals of the Court of Ordinary · Court of Ordinary1842-1867
- Letters books · Court of Ordinary1842-1868
- Returns books · Probate Court1842-1875
- Derelict estate account books · Court of Equity1858-1868
Deeds and land
- Conveyance books · Register of Mesne Conveyances1828-1976
- Plat books · Commissioner of Locations1828-1882
- Plat books · Register of Mesne Conveyances1917-1971
Equity court (estate and land suits)
- Equity papers · Court of Equityabout 1830-1868
- Equity bills · Court of Equityabout 1832-1868
- Equity decrees and reports books · Court of Equity1832-1841
- Equity minutes · Court of Equity1832-1868
- Bond books · Court of Equity1835-1866
- Receipt books · Master1838-1842
- Equity report books · Court of Equity1841-1868
- Sales books of the Master · Master1841-1859
- Equity petition dockets · Court of Equity1844-1854
- Equity decrees (decision in the Kirksey vs. Packard case) · Court of Equity1846
- Minutes of the Master · Master1854-1868
- Equity decree books · Court of Equity1858-1868
- Equity minutes · Court of Common Pleas1869-1870
- Equity bills · Court of Common Pleas1870-1871
Confederate veterans and pensions
- Confederate pension applications · Board of Honor1914-1933
- Confederate pension rolls · Board of Honor1922-1956
- Medal of Honor dedications for soldiers from Pickens County · County Council2015
Tax records
- Auditor's tax duplicate books · Auditor1899-1925
- Treasurer's tax duplicate books · Treasurer1915-1935
- Tax execution books of the Treasurer · Treasurer1917-1921
Elections and voters
- Election files · Clerk of Court1894...ca.1965
- Voter registration books · Clerk of Court1948-1963
- Voter registration certificates · Clerk of Court1948-1967
Court records
- Civil journals · Court of Common Pleas1828-1907
- Criminal journals · Court of General Sessions1828-1885
- Judgment books · Court of Common Pleas1828-1841
- Miscellaneous indexes · Clerk of Court1829-1871
- Trial papers · Court of Magistrates and Freeholders1829-1862
- Minutes of the Commissioners of the Roads · Pickens District (S.C.). Commissioners of the Roads1830-1868
- Minutes of the Commissioners of the Free Schools · Pickens District (S.C.). Commissioners of the Free Schools1837-1851
- Civil dockets · Magistrates Court1840-1867
- Citizenship petitions · Court of Common Pleas1851-1871
- Coroner's inquisitions · Court of General Sessions1856-1859
- Writs of habeas corpus for conscription law violations · Clerk of Court1865
- Minutes of the County Council · County Council1868-2015
- Lis pendens books · Court of Common Pleas1876-1894
County government
- Claims against the county · County Council1881-1892
- Ordinances of the County Council · County Council1971-1992
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
- Pickens 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: Pickens 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, Pickens" 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: Pendleton District
Later formed partly from Pickens County: Oconee County
Records stay with the county that created them. If your ancestor lived here before 1826, 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.