Carolina Family Roots: The South Carolina Archives And History Database

Friday, September 28, 2012

The South Carolina Archives And History Database

The South Carolina Archives and History Database is a much overlooked genealogical resource for many family historians researching South Carolina families.

The database contains six (6) separate distinct groups of records that can be search individually or the entire set at once.

Those six (6) distinct records groups are:
All
Combined Index to Records Series, 1675-1929
Criminal Court Records, 1769-1891
Legislative Papers, 1782 -1866
National Register Properties
Plats for State Land Grant, 1784 – 1868
Records for Confederate Veterans, 1909 – 1973
School Insurance Photographs, 1935 – 1952
Will Transcripts, 1782 – c. 1855

SEARCH METHODS:

You can search by:
Record Group:
Individual:
Location:
Topic:
Document:
Dates:

SEARCHING:
· If you do a RECORD GROUP search you can select the individual database or select ALL (default)

· To do an INDIVIDUAL Search; you select the Database or Default (ALL)
· Then enter LAST NAME, FIRST NAME (or INITIAL) i.e. Purvis, Gilbert

· To do a LOCATION SEARCH – enter Location, i.e. Chester County, Columbia

· When doing a TOPIC search just enter the topic i.e. marriage

All of these blocks will bring up an indexed list as you begin to type your information.

INITIAL SCREEN:

SEARCH FOR AN INDIVIDUAL:

Let’s say we want to search for Gilbert Purvis;

In the Individual Block we enter – Purvis,

We can see a partial list of Purvis surname from the database; we can select “Purvis, Gilbert” here or go ahead and type “Gilbert” in the block

Then we click on the “SEARCH” block at the bottom of the page

LOCATION SEARCH:

You can also combine the search elements to further limit a search to a specific location, date, name or topic.

Multiple Elements:

Here I entered, Purvis or Boatwright in Individual block – Just the SURNAME, you can also add first name and Chesterfield in Location.

The results were a list of 20 individual documents whereby the information you entered in the search block was found.

The screen print above is a list of Record 19 and 20 from the list of records available.
Pay close attention to the comments in the extreme right column.

For Record 19 of 20 this Column reads: No online image available

But

For Record 20 of 20 this Column reads: Online images available

When this columns reads ONLINE IMAGES AVAILABLE if you click on the statement ONLINE IMAGES AVAILABLE it will take you to a copy of the documents. The document then can be saved to your computer or printed.

Record 20 is the pension record of John P. PURVIS; when you click on the statement ONLINE IMAGES AVAILABLE, you will get the front & back of his application for a Civil War pension.