Newberry County, South Carolina Genealogy

United States  South Carolina  Newberry County

Quick Dates
Newberry County's civil records start the following years:

County Courthouse
Newberry County Courthouse 1226 College St. Newberry, SC 29108

Clerk of Court 1226 College St. P.O. Drawer 10 Newberry, SC 29108 Phone: 803-321-2110 Court and land records

Probate Court 1309 College St. Newberry, SC 29108 Phone: 803-321-2118 Probate and marriage records

Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday - Friday

History
The origin of the county's name is unknown.

Parent County
1795--Newberry County was created in 1795 from District 96. County seat: Newberry 

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

 * Fairfield
 * Greenwood
 * Laurens
 * Lexington
 * Richland
 * Saluda
 * Union

Research Guides

 * South Carolina Archives Summary Guide: Newberry County, available online, courtesy: South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

African American

 * Greisser, Edith. African-American Cemeteries, Newberry, South Carolina. 2004?.
 * Heinegg, Paul. "'Other Free' Heads of Household in the 1790 South Carolina Census, by County," Free African Americans.com. [Includes free blacks in Newberry County.]
 * Motes, Margaret Peckham. Blacks Found in the Deeds of Laurens &amp; Newberry Counties, SC: 1785-1827 Listed in Deeds of Gift, Deeds of Sale, Mortgages, Born Free and Freed. Abstracted from Laurens County, SC Deed Books A-L and Newberry County, SC Deed Books A-G. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2002. Digital versions at Ancestry ($) and World Vital Records ($).

Census
1800, 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Newberry 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.

1790

 * Sease, David Edmond and Edith Greisser. Federal Census Newberry South Carolina 1790, 1800, 1810. 2007. 975.739 X2s

1800

 * Sease, David Edmond and Edith Greisser. Federal Census Newberry South Carolina 1790, 1800, 1810. 2007. 975.739 X2s

1810

 * Sease, David Edmond and Edith Greisser. Federal Census Newberry South Carolina 1790, 1800, 1810. 2007. 975.739 X2s

1820

 * Greisser, Edith. 1820 Federal Census Newberry, South Carolina. 200-?. 975.739 X2g 1820

1820 Manufactures
The original manufactures schedules for South Carolina are kept at the NARA, Washington, D.C. FHL copies: 1024517 - 1024518.

Published abstract:


 * National Archives. Indexes to Manufactures Census of 1820. 1920; reprint, Knightstown, Ind.: Bookmark, 1977. 973 X2m 1820; digital version at Lineages. [Includes this county.]

1830

 * Greisser, Edith. 1830 Federal Census Newberry County, South Carolina. 200-?. 975.739 X2g 1830

1840

 * Greisser, Edith. 1840 Federal Census Newberry County, South Carolina. 200-?. 975.739 X2g 1840

1840 Revolutionary War Pensioners

 * A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services: With their Names, Ages, and Places of Residence, as Returned by the Marshalls of the Several Judicial Districts, Under the Act for Taking the Sixth Census. Washington, D.C.: Blair and Rives, 1841. 973 X2pc 1840;  2321; digital version at Google Books. [See South Carolina, Newberry District on page 142.]

1850

 * Wicker, Eleanor Clyburn et al. Newberry County, South Carolina, 1850 Census with Genealogical Data on Many Families. Newberry, S.C.: Newberry County Historical Society, 1985. 975.739 X28w 1850

Church
The following Newberry County church records have been indexed on the International Genealogical Index:

DNA
DNA has been collected from men claiming descent from the following Charleston County residents. FamilySearch has not independently verified the lineages of those tested.

Genealogy
More than 25 genealogies have been published about Union County families. To view a list, visit Newberry County, South Carolina Genealogy.

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

 * O'Neall, John Belton. The Annals of Newberry: In Two Parts. Newberry, S.C.: Aull &amp; Houseal, 1892. Digital version at Ancestry ($).
 * Page, Thomas H. The History of Newberry County, South Carolina. Vol. I: 1749-1860. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1973. 975.739 H2p.


 * Reviews:
 * By Daniel W. Hollis in The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 75, No. 1 (Jan. 1974):53-55. Digital version at JSTOR ($).
 * By Eric Russell Lacy in The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 40, No. 2 (May 1974):341-341. Digital version at JSTOR ($).
 * By W.W. Abbot in The Journal of American History, Vol. 60, No. 4 (Mar. 1974):1096. Digital version at JSTOR ($).
 * By Richard K. MacMaster in The American Historical Review, Vol. 79, No. 4 (Oct. 1974):1251-1252. Digital version at JSTOR ($).


 * Page, Thomas H. The History of Newberry County, South Carolina. Vol. II: 1860-1990. 975.739 H2p v. 2.


 * Reviews:
 * By Allan D. Charles in The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 94, No. 2 (Apr. 1993):148-149. Digital version at JSTOR ($).
 * By G. Wayne King in The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 60, No. 1 (Feb. 1994):145-147. Digital version at JSTOR ($).

General

 * "State militia court martial, 1818," Old Newberry District Quarterly, Winter 2002, Volume 11, Issue 4. Old Newberry District Chapter, South Carolina Genealogical Society : Newberry, SC.

Revolutionary War

 * "Pensioners in county, 1840," Old Newberry District Quarterly, Winter 2002, Volume 11, Issue 4. Old Newberry District Chapter, South Carolina Genealogical Society : Newberry, SC.
 * "Daniel Dewalt, Sr., Tory in War," Old Newberry District Quarterly, Summer 1999, Volume 8, Issue 2. Old Newberry District Chapter, South Carolina Genealogical Society : Newberry, SC.
 * "Loyalists in the Southern Campaign," Old Newberry District Quarterly, Spring 1999, Volume 8, Issue 1. Old Newberry District Chapter, South Carolina Genealogical Society : Newberry, SC.
 * "Revolutionary War claims," Dutch Fork Digest, July 1989, Volume 4, Issue 3. Dutch Fork Chapter, South Carolina Genealogical Society : Chapin, SC.
 * "Stub incidents, 1786," Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, December 1948, Volume 82, Issue 12. Daughters of the American Revolution " Washington D.C.
 * "Revolutionary soldiers, Newberry," American Irish Historical Society Journal, 1913, Volume 12. American Irish Historical Society Journal : New York, NY.

War of 1812

 * List of Pensioners on the Roll, January 1, 1883; Giving the Name of Each Pensioner, the Cause for Why Pensioned, the Post-Office Address, the Rate of Pension Per Month, and the Date of Original Allowance... Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1883. 973 M2Lp v. 5; digital versions at Google Books and Internet Archive. [See Vol. 5, South Carolina, Newberry County, p. 187. Identifies War of 1812 veterans living in this county in 1883.]

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.

The organization Strictly By Name provides free online indexes to early Newberry District/County estate records. They offer a record retrieval service to photocopy and transcribe microfilm copies of the original documents for a small fee. Available indexes:


 * Newberry District Estate Records, Book A: 1787-1796
 * Newberry County Estate Records, Book B: 1800-1814
 * Newberry County Estate Records, Book C: 1800-1803
 * Newberry County Estate Records, Book D: 1803-1815
 * Newberry County Loose Estate Records 1790s-1820s

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
 * South Carolina Genealogy Trails: Newberry County
 * Newberry County, South Carolina Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)