Fairfield County, South Carolina Genealogy

United States  South Carolina  Fairfield County


 * This article is about a county in South Carolina. For other uses, see Fairfield (disambiguation).

History
The county name is derived from the fair fields within its bounds.

Parent County
1798--Fairfield County was created in 1798 from Camden District. County seat: Winnsboro

Boundary Changes
"Rotating Formation South Carolina County Boundary Maps" (1682-1987) may be viewed for free at the My South Carolina Genealogy website. They rely on AniMap 3.0 software.

Neighboring Counties
Chester | Kershaw | Lancaster | Newberry | Richland | Union

Cemeteries
Descendants of Abner Ross and Mary "Polly " Whitaker of Fairfield District, SC - Robertson Cemetery near Shrine Circle

Centerville Cemetery Interments, Ridgeway, Fairfield County, South Carolina

Salem Presbyterian Church Cemetery, (Salem Crossroads), Blair, South Carolina

Census
1800, 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Fairfield County are available online. For tips on accessing census records online, see South Carolina Census. If you're having trouble finding your ancestors in online indexes, try checking printed indexes. Created by local experts familiar with the area's families, these indexes are often transcribed more accurately than online nationwide indexes.

See South Carolina Population Schedule Indexes: Fiche, Film, or Book for more information about statewide printed indexes.

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Ridgeway
 * Winnsboro

Family Histories
It is anticipated that this bibliography will eventually identify all known family histories published about residents of this county. Use this list to:


 * Locate publications about direct ancestors
 * Find the most updated accounts of an ancestor's family
 * Identify publications, to quote Elizabeth Shown Mills, about an ancestor's "FAN Club" [Friends, Associates, and Neighbors]

General

As of August 2010, a query for persons born in Fairfield, South Carolina at World Connect, produces more than 18,000 results.

Surname indexes to Leonardo Andrea's Files | Folders | Resources are available online, courtesy: The Andrea Files: South Carolina Genealogical Research. Learn more.

Bibliography


 * [Ashford] Ashford, Charlie Rabb. Some of the Ancestors and Descendants of James and George Ashford, Jr. of Fairfield County, South Carolina. Starkville, Miss.: unknown, 1987. Digital version at Ancestry ($).
 * [Thompson] Beckman, Ludwig A. Alexander Thompson of Fairfield District, South Carolina: The Genealogical Record of His Descendants. Ellisville, Miss.?: unknown, 1950. Digital version at Ancestry ($).

Land
Plats For State Land Grants 1784-1868

This series consists of recorded copies of plats for state land grants for the Charleston and the Columbia Series with their certificates of admeasurement or certification. All personal names and geographic features on these plats are included in the repository's On-line Index to Plats for State Land Grants

The South Carolina Constitution of 1790 required the surveyor general to maintain offices in both the new capital at Columbia and in Charleston. The surveyor general began to use separate volumes for recording plats in his Columbia office in 1796. Before that, all plats were recorded in the set of volumes begun in Charleston in 1784. After 1796, most plats for land grants in the Upper Division of the state were recorded and filed in Columbia. The surveyor general chose to make the Columbia volumes a continuation of the state plat volumes begun in Charleston and gave the initial Columbia volume the number thirty-six to correspond with the number of the volume that had then been reached in the Charleston series. As a result, there are volumes numbered thirty-six through forty-three from each office, but the records in them are not duplicative.

Also included are the Plan Books containing Plats and Plans.

Local Histories

 * Ederington, William. Ederington's History of Fairfield County, South Carolina: A Manuscript History published in the News &amp; Herald, a newspaper of Winnsboro, Fairfield County, South Carolina, in installments, on the dates as indicated with each installment herein. Tuscaloosam sic, Ala.: Willo Pub. Co., 1961.

Probate
The South Carolina Department of Archives and History has microfilms or typescripts of wills, inventories, bills of sale, power of attorneys, bonds, notes, administrations, judgments, and sales records. They have placed Will Transcriptions for 1782 to 1855 online. Index searchable by name and the image is available.


 * Will of John Lee of Little River, Fairfield Co., S.C. 1786. MSS., South Carolina Archives, Kershaw County Wills, Vol. 1 of Wills not recorded, pp. 59-61. Item 37

Web Sites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Family History Library Catalog
 * Fairfield County, South Carolina Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)