RESEARCH NOTES
Please note that modern vital records (birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses)
were not kept at the State level until the 1900s. South Carolina researchers must search through individual
county records, newspapers, church/parish records, and Bibles for birth, marriage and death records prior to the 1900s.
South Carolina did not require birth certificates until 1
January 1915. These records are held by the
Bureau of Vital Statistics
Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC)
J. Marion Sims Building, 2600 Bull Street
Columbia, S.C. 29201
(803) 734-4830.
The state required marriage licenses beginning 1 July 1911.
The probate judge's office in the county courthouse holds
licenses issued before 1950. Both the Bureau of Vital Statistics
and the county courthouse have copies of licenses issued after 1 July 1950.
Marion and Dillon County Marriage Records
Some published resources for Marion County marriages include:
- "Marriage Licenses, 1803-30,"
Pee Dee Queue, v. 4, No. 2 (Feb 1980)
- "Memoranda of Marriage Licenses, 1803-20,"
Pee Dee Queue, v. 6, No. 7 (Jul 1982)
- "Marriage Licenses, 1800-1829, Court of Ordinairy",
South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, v.64, No.1 (Jan 1963)
- "Marriages, 1841-42 (Selected),"
Carolina Genealogist, No.21 (Winter 1975)
Past issues of the Pee Dee Queue can be ordered from the chapter by writing to:
Pee Dee Chapter of the SCGS
P.O. Box 1428
Marion, S.C. 29571
- DILLON (Upper Marion) County Marriages
Please note that Dillon County was formed from Marion County in 1909/10. Such marriage
"records" as exist for early Dillon County residents
will be found in Marion County records.
Marriage records for Dillon County from c. 1913 on can be obtained by writing to:
Office of the Judge of Probate
401 W. Main Street
Dillon, S.C. 29536
- MARION County Marriages
Marriage records for Marion County from c. 1913 on can be obtained by writing to:
Office of the Judge of Probate
201 Court Street
Marion, S.C. 29571
Tel: (843) 423-8244
(This office also holds some Marriage Licenses for 1800-1802, 1809, 1811, 1813, 1817, 1859)
Marriages Database
Includes a list of Dillon and Marion County marriages compiled by me from various sources, as well as individual
contributions by fellow researchers. In some cases it duplicates the information found elsewhere,
but it also presents the material in a surname-indexed format
and provides the opportunity for you to submit a single marriage record.
Please take advantage of this opportunity to share your data with other
Dillon and Marion County researchers, and please cite your source.
Death certificates were required beginning 1 January 1915 and
are restricted from the public for fifty years. The
Archives has
the certificates from 1915 to the year before the fifty year
restriction. DHEC holds certificates after the
fifty year restriction.
Archives & History Center
8301 Parklane Road
Columbia, SC 29223
Vital Statistics
Department of
Health and Environmental Control (DHEC)
J. Marion Sims Building
2600 Bull Street
Columbia, S.C. 29201, (803) 734-4830.
Deaths Database
Dates of death for your ancestors may be found in various resources: Bible
records, obituaries / newspaper abstracts, family papers,
on tombstones, and in such resources as the Diary of Simeon Campbell
and, occasionally, church records. Please explore these alternate resources available on
the Dillon and Marion web sites; the database below will contain only information transcribed
from modern death certificates for Marion County.
| MARION COUNTY DEATH CERTIFICATES |
|---|
| A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
H |
I |
J |
K |
L |
M |
| N |
O |
P |
Q |
R |
S |
T |
U |
V |
W |
X |
Y |
Z |
Although divorce before 1868 was not legal, a legislative act
or the district courts of equity could grant divorce or separate
maintenance but did so only rarely. From 1868 to 1878, when a
legislative statute again outlawed it,
divorce could be obtained in the courts of common pleas. Divorce
was legalized in 1950, and the office of the clerk of court in
the county where the divorce was granted
holds those records. Since July 1962, duplicate divorce records
have been filed with DHEC.
Parish registers from churches can provide information on
birth and death dates, and marriages. Parish registers of a few early
South Carolina churches are extant and some have been published.
Published histories of churches occasionally include lists of
births, marriages, or deaths.
Records of Baptist Churches are available at Baptist Historical
Collection, Furman University Library, Furman University,
Greenville, S.C. 29613, and records of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches are
available at the Historical Foundation of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches,
P.O. Box 849, Montreat, N.C. 28757, (704) 669-7061.
Excerpts of birth, marriage and death information pertaining to Old Marion County (Dillon and Marion).
LINKS:
Back to Marion County Homepage
Copyright © 1996-2004 Victoria Proctor. All rights reserved.
