Links to Genealogy Resources

-- Website devoted to African American genealogy, to researching African Ancestry in the Americas in particular and to genealogical research and resources in general.

-- Address: 125 Bull Street.
-- Hours: 10:00-5:00, Monday–Friday (closed 12:30-1:30).
-- Parking: lot in rear of building.
-- Phone: 843.953.7609.
-- Collections of the African American experience in Charleston, the Lowcountry and SC including manuscripts, photos, and microfilms. Some collections are available at the College of Charleston’s Addlestone Library.

-- Website sponsored by the Magnolia Plantation Foundation of Charleston, South Carolina, is entirely dedicated to records that document the family and cultural heritage of African Americans in the historic rice-growing areas of South Carolina, Georgia, and extreme northeastern Florida, an area that scholars and preservationists have identified as a distinct culture area, home to the rich Gullah/Geechee culture.

101 Meeting Street, Suite 300
(843) 958-4200

-- Address: Historic Courthouse 84 Broad Street, Third Floor (entrance is on opposite side by courtyard).
-- Hours: 8:30-5:00 Monday-Friday
-- Parking: County Parking Garage - enter at 85 Queen Street (if full, try the City of Charleston Parking Garage at 93 Queen Street).
-- Phone: (843)958-5030
-- Probate records from 1786 to present - older files are WPA typed copies of wills, then microfilm and currently are files that have not been scanned.

-- Address: 68 Calhoun Street (entrance on Calhoun Street and from parking garage under building).
-- Hours: 9:00-8:00, Monday-Thursday; 9:00-6:00, Friday-Saturday; 2:00-5:00, Sunday
-- Parking: Parking garage under building (if full, try Gaillard Auditorium with an entrance on 32 Alexander Street).
-- Phone: 843.805.6956
-- Extensive amount of material for genealogists researching South Carolina and surrounding states. Please contact them prior to your visit. Copies of wills from 1671-1871 and inventories and miscellaneous records from 1687-1785. Access to all of the South Carolina Gazette newspaper. They have city directories, maps/plats, census records, genealogical materials, vertical files, and newspapers.

-- Address: 101 Meeting Street, Room 200 (entrance is at back of building through the parking garage).
-- Hours: 8:30-5:00, Monday-Friday
-- Parking: County Parking Garage - enter at 85 Queen Street (if full, try the City of Charleston Parking Garage at 93 Queen Street).
-- Phone: 843 958-4800
-- Prior to the formation of counties in SC all land records were recorded at this office. This would include Georgia and North Carolina until they became their own states. Documents begin in 1719 and continue to present. The 1719-1799 index is by name but there is no legal description. Legal descriptions do begin in the 1800 to 1880 index. Staff available to guide you to the Historical Room and its resources but are not available to do research for you.
Propriety, royal and state grants and plats are located at the South Carolina Department of Archives and not in this office.

-- Address: 164 King Street.
-- Parking: Small parking lot at rear of building (if full, try County Parking Garage at 85 Queen Street or City of Charleston Parking Garage at 93 Queen Street).
-- Hours: 9:30-5:30, Monday-Friday; 9:30-2:00, Saturday.
-- Phone: 843.723.9912.
-- America's third oldest library founded in 1748. Private library with various annual membership levels - for non-members, there is a $20 daily use fee. Check the Research Services page for more info. Large collection of manuscripts, newspapers, biographical information and books.

Judicial Center, 100 Broad St., Suite 106, Charleston SC 29401
(843) 958-5000
Records of civil action from 1856 to date.

-- Address: 1519 Sam Rittenburg Blvd, Charleston (located in West Ashley in rear of LDS Church building).
-- Hours: 10:00-7:00, Tues-Thu; 10:00-2:00, Fri; by appointment, Sat.
-- Parking: Lot in rear of Church house (left-most door when looking at church from rear parking lot).
-- Phone: 843.766.6017
-- Largest Family History Center east of the Mississippi River. Open to all - call ahead to verify hours of operation. 1500+ print items, 350+ microfilms and 500+ microfiche not otherwise available on the FamilySearch website. Access to numerous subscription-based genealogy websites. Monthly genealogical training classes and annual workshop.

-- Address: 40 East Bay Street.
-- Hours: by appointment only.
-- Parking: Closest garage, 140 East Bay Street.
-- Phone: 843.724.3646.
-- Information on the history and architecture of houses, buildings and plantation for Charleston and the Lowcountry - files include histories, deeds, newspaper articles, photographs, architectural drawings, plats and maps

-- Address: 138 Logan Street, Charleston.
-- Hours: 9:00-2:00, Monday-Friday.
-- Parking: City Parking Garage, 93 Queen Street.
-- Phone: 843.723.3235 (please contact them prior to your visit)
-- Large collection of materials covering the history of French Protestants from around the world.

-- Address: 205 Calhoun Street, Charleston (on 3rd floor of Addlestone Library)
-- Hours: 9:00-5:00, Monday-Friday
-- Parking: (closest garage) St. Philip Parking Garage, 81 St. Philip Street (elevator on St Philip Street; external stairs on west side of garage)
-- Special collections for the South Carolina Historical Society as well as the College of Charleston. Review their Reading Room Policies and very helpful Introduction to Archival Research beforehand for a smoother visit and use of your time. Reviewing their Family History and Genealogy Guide will also help you plan your visit to the library.

401 Pinckney Street, McClellanville.
Acclaimed as one of the finest small town museums in the state, the Village Museum opened in April 1999. Exhibits demonstrate a time line of history beginning with villages of the Seewee Indians and the settlement at Jamestown, S.C. by the French Huguenots, through the rice planting on the great Santee plantations, to the establishment of the town of McClellanville as a coastal resort. Their Family History Room has abundant information for genealogists researching families in St. James-Santee Parish and the surrounding areas.

-- Address: 175 Ashley Avenue, Charleston
-- Hours: by appointment only 10:00-4:00, Monday-Friday
-- Parking: closest garage - Rutledge Tower, 158 Ashley Avenue.
-- Phone: 843.792.2288
-- Special collections and rare book library devoted to the history of health sciences. Within collections are biographical information of the people in the medical field such as photos, wills, pedigree charts, and burial information.

-- Message boards pertaining to South Carolina and hosted by Ancestry.com (messages are available to all but you must be registered to post a message).

-- The National Genealogical Society (NGS) Book Loan Collection features more than 28,000 books including more than 10,000 published family histories. The opportunity to access these published family histories through inter-library loan is unparalleled in the genealogical community.

-- Free website with South Carolina genealogical information hosted by the Genealogy Trails History Group.

-- Genealogical information for Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties

NPS and partner organizations are actively computerizing information on Civil War Servicemen for your use.

-- SCIWAY (pronounced "sky-way") is an acronym for the South Carolina Information Highway, which asserts itself as the largest and most comprehensive directory of South Carolina information on the Internet.

8301 Parklane Road Columbia, SC 29223

The main page to link to state-wide information. Part of the USGenWeb Project, a non-profit organization.