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Vital Records:
 

Birth records

South Carolina did not require birth certificates until 1 January 1915

Vital Records
Marlboro County Health Dept
Parsonage Street Extension
Bennettsville, SC 29512
If the county does not hold the record you seek, you can write to: 
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. Direct mail queries to DHEC.

Federal records:

Federal Census. Population Schedules. South Carolina, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930. Indexed. The census schedules list the age of the individual, enabling the researcher to estimate an approximate year of birth. The 1900 schedule includes the month and year of birth.

County records:

Marlboro County Probate Judge
P.O. Box 455
Bennettsville, S.C. 29512
Tel: (843) 479-5610
The Probate Judge holds the marriage and probate records.

Marlboro County Magistrate
211 N. Marlboro Street
Bennettsville, S.C. 29512
Tel: (843) 479-5620

Marlboro County Circuit Judge
P.O. Box 1114
Bennettsville, S.C. 29512
Tel: (843) 479-5617

Marriage records

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. 

More information on scattered sources for marriages and a general history of record keeping on the subject can be found in Ruth S. Green and Charles H. Lesser, "South Carolina Marriage Records", South Carolina Historical Magazine 79 (April 1978): 155-62, call number: F 266.S58.

Brent H. Holcomb has abstracted and published marriages listed in the Journal of the Court of Ordinary, 21 December 1764-29 August 1771, and many of the marriages recorded in the Miscellaneous Record series of the Secretary of State. See South Carolina Marriages, 3 vols (1688-1820), (Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1980), call number: F 268.H64.

Related marriage records may be found in renunciations of dower and marriage settlements. Records of marriages may be found in county deed of conveyance books and estate record books; records of these marriages, however, are usually un-indexed.

Divorce records

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.
 

Death records

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.
 

LINKS:

South Carolina Death Indexes 1915-1952
An index to South Carolina death certificates is online at the DHEC web site!
The data from 1915 through 1949 requires the DjVu plugin to view, and since each index page is an image file in the DjVu format, browsing these years is a bit slow for dial-up connections. The indexes for 1950-1952 are in "web page" format -- much quicker to view.

NOTE:
--The DjVu plugin can be downloaded from the site and takes very little time to download and install.
--These are INDEX pages, NOT the actual death certificates, but you will find name, date of death, age at death, and county of death.

Social Security Death Index

Federal Census. Mortality Schedules. South Carolina, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880. Indexes, 1850, 1860. These census schedules list those persons who died during the twelve months preceding 1 June of the census year. The census, arranged by county, lists the name of the decedent, age, sex, race, marital status, birth place, occupation, cause of death, and month of death.

Additional death records may be found in individual county estate papers, will books, and estate record books; usually, however, these records give only an approximate date of death.
 

Church records

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. For lists of holdings, please consult Furman University Library, Baptist Historical Collection: Church Records on Microfilm (Greenville, S.C.: Furman University Library, [1992]), call number CD 3509.F8 or Historical Foundation of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches, South Carolina Records (Montreat, N.C.: Historical Foundation of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches, [1992] ), call number CD 3509.H5. For listings of other sources for South Carolina church records please consult the following articles:

Childs, Margarita and Leland, Isabella G. "South Carolina Episcopal Church Records." South Carolina Historical Magazine 84 (October 1983): 250-63.

Clayton, J. Glen. "South Carolina Baptist Records." South Carolina Historical Magazine 85 (October 1984): 319-27.

Cote, Richard N. "South Carolina Presbyterian Records." South Carolina Historical Magazine 85 (April 1984): 145-52.

Holcomb, Brent H.
St. David's Parish, SC Minutes of The Vestry 1768- 1832, Parish Register 1819-1924.Southern Hist. Press, 1979.

Marlboro County-Pee Dee Association. Salem Baptist Church, 1797-1930.microfilm.
 

Newspapers Records

Early Marlboro County Newspaper Records

Warren, Mary Bondurant. South Carolina Newspapers 1760
 

More Published Records

Thomas, J.A.W.
History of Marlboro County, SC
Order from:
Marlborough Historical Society
123 South Marlboro Street
Bennettsville, SC 29512-4031
Tel: (843) 479-5624

Drake, Elizabeth C.
Cemetery Records of Marlboro County, South Carolina, Second Edition 1984
Order from: Marlborough Historical Society
123 South Marlboro Street
Bennettsville, SC 29512-4031
Tel: (843) 479-5624

FHC film 0855218

Wills, marriage, birth, death notices, and several Marlboro family Bible citations

Holcomb, Brent H.

Marriage and Death Notices from Columbia, SC Newspapers 1792- 1839.
Southern Historical Press.

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