Be Sure to Visit my new 1900 Galveston Storm Website at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootseb.com/~barnette 

COLONIAL SOUTH CAROLINA LAND RECORDS RECORDED IN CHARLESTON

 Prior to the establishment of the county court system in South Carolina in 1785 all land transactions were recorded in Charleston. The original recorded deed records remain in the Office of the Register of Mesne Conveyance in the Charleston County Courthouse. After 1785 when the county courts began functioning deeds were recorded on the local level and may be found in the county courthouse where the land was situated.

 During the border surveys between North Carolina and South Carolina conducted in 1764 and 1772 many lands thought to be in North Carolina, particularly many in Anson County,  were found to actually be in South Carolina. Consequently, many of the North Carolina, "North Patents" were re-recorded in the Charleston land books.

 In the period beginning 1783 a number of deeds from the Commissioners of Forfeited Estates and the Commissions of Confiscated Estates were recorded in the Charleston records. These deeds were the reselling of land taken from British Loyalists of the American Revolution.

 Also included in the deeds recorded in Charleston are records of grants or patents, relinquishment of dower rights by wives of grantors, memorials of the chain of land title and even the 1777 Last Will and Testament of Moses Bass whose original Will later burned with the Georgetown Courthouse.

SC ARCHIVES ON THE INTERNET

 The South Carolina Department of Archives and History houses and preserves over 300 years of South Carolina historical documents. It is located at 8301 Parklane Road, Columbia, SC 29223 and is open Tuesday through Friday from 9 A.M. to 9 P.M., on Saturday from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M., on Sunday from 1 P.M. to 6 P.M. and closed on Mondays.

 They may be reached by telephone at 803-896-6100 or visit them on the Internet at http://www.state.sc.us/scdah/

CEMETERY AND TOMBSTONE STUDIES

 Learn about cemeteries, tombstone artwork and epitaphs in a two session class taught by Paula Perkins Parke. Cemetery Searching & Answers from the Tombstone is a two part class offered by Leisure Learning.  The first session will be held from 7 P.M. to 9:30 P.M. Tuesday June 26 at Leisure Learning's 2990 Richmond Avenue campus. The concluding session will be held in a local cemetery the following weekend.

 For more information about this class and to register, contact Leisure learning at 713-529-4414

FAMILY TREE MAKER SOFTWARE CLASS

 Paula Perkins Parke will teach an Organizing Your Family Research With Family Tree Maker Software class from 6 to 9 P.M. Wednesday June 27. This one-time class will be held at the Grace Presbyterian Church, 10221 Ella Lee near Sam Houston Tollway.

 Through demonstrations, students will learn step by step instructions to organize and document family information and sources. For more information and to register, contact Becky Morris at 713-267-5091.

SURFING THE INTERNET

 Mic Barnette  will lead a Surfing the Internet for Genealogy class at Houston Community College's 1681 Cartwright Missouri City campus. This class is a live three hour virtual tour of some of the best genealogical websites on the Internet. It will be held Wednesday June 27 from 1 to 4 P.M. For more information and to register, contact HCC at 281-835-5539.

MAKING SENSE OF THE CENSUS

 Paula Perkins Parke will offer a class describing and explaining information found in census records that is genealogically rewarding. Making Sense of the Census: Tips, Types and Repositories will discuss the normally used population schedules and the underused special schedules of the Federal censuses plus state, territorial and other censuses.

 This class will be offered at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church, 11612 Memorial Drive from 6:30 to 9:30 P.M. Thursday June 28. For more information and to register contact the MDPC Adult Education office at 713-953-2550 extension 194 or extension 301.

NEWS FROM THE BOOK SHELF

 During the 1930's Clara A. Langley under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration compiled four volumes of abstracted land records containing the records of the Register of the Province of South Carolina, 1719-1772.

 Of the four compiled volumes, three are available for $38.50 each, plus postage from Southern Historical Press, P.O.Box 1267, Greenville, SC 29602-1267 or by telephone at 1-800-233-0152. They are: Volume 1 (1719-1740) Books A-T; Volume 3 (1755-1768) Books QQ-HHH and Volume 4 (1768-1772) Books III-ZZZ. The fourth volume, Volume 2 (1740-1755) Books V-PP, will be available again in the near future.

 By publishing three volumes of South Carolina Deed Abstracts, South Carolina genealogical publisher, Brent Holcomb, has completed the South Carolina Deed Abstract series and continued getting into print the remaining colonial deed records not published by Clara Langley under the auspices of the WPA in the 1930's. While the deeds in these books were recorded between 1773 and  1788 some of them date as early as 1703.

 The following three volumes of deed abstracts are available from Brent Holcomb, SCMAR, Box 21766, Columbia, SC 29221. South Carolina Deed Abstracts 1773-1776 (Deed Books F-4 through X-4) ($35), South Carolina Deed Abstracts 1776-1783 (Deed Books Y-4 through H-5)  ($35) and South Carolina Deed Abstracts 1783-1788 (Deed Books I-5 through Z-5) ($50).