Sumter Genealogy Records
Sumter genealogy research draws on Sumter County records, as Sumter is the county seat of Sumter County in the central South Carolina coastal plain. The city is named for General Thomas Sumter, the Revolutionary War partisan leader. Sumter County was formed in 1800 from Camden District, and the city grew as the county seat and a regional railroad and commercial center. All official genealogy records for Sumter residents are held at the Sumter County Probate Court and Register of Deeds. The Sumter County Library and Sumter County Museum are the primary local resources for Sumter genealogy research.
Sumter Quick Facts
Sumter County Library for Sumter Genealogy
The Sumter County Library at 111 N Harvin Street, Sumter, SC 29150 maintains local history and genealogy collections that serve as the primary research resource for Sumter genealogy. Phone: (803) 773-7273. The library holds city directories, local newspapers, census records, and compiled family histories specific to Sumter and Sumter County. The library's genealogy collection documents the families of the central South Carolina coastal plain region, including the agricultural families who farmed the rich lands around Sumter through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Researchers can access microfilm of local newspapers and other reference materials that help reconstruct family histories from the period before state vital records registration began.
The Sumter County Museum at 122 N Washington Street, Sumter, SC 29150 preserves the history of Sumter County including artifacts, photographs, and documents that document the community's development from the colonial era through the twentieth century. The museum holds materials related to the plantation families of the antebellum period, the Civil War experience in the Sumter area, and the development of the modern city. The Sumter-Lee Genealogy Club supports researchers working on families from Sumter and Lee counties and maintains research resources and compiled records specific to this region of the South Carolina coastal plain.
Sumter's position as the county seat means that all official genealogy records for the area are centralized at the courthouse, supplemented by the museum and library collections that document the community's long history in the South Carolina coastal plain.
Sumter County Records for Genealogy
The Sumter County Probate Court at 141 N Main Street, Sumter, SC 29150 holds marriage licenses from July 1, 1911 through June 30, 1950 and estate records from the county's 1800 formation. Phone: (803) 436-2227. For Sumter marriages from July 1950 onward, contact the South Carolina Department of Public Health at 2600 Bull Street, Columbia, SC 29201. Phone: 803-898-3630. Estate records from Sumter County document the families who settled in the area after its formation from Camden District and provide a continuous record through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The Sumter County Register of Deeds at 141 N Main Street maintains land records dating back to 1800 when the county was established. Phone: (803) 436-2223. The SCDAH Online Records Index includes land grant plats from the Camden District period that predate Sumter County's formation, providing land history for the area going back into the eighteenth century. Researchers tracing families from the Sumter area who were present before 1800 should consult the Camden District court records and colonial land plats held at SCDAH to fill in the pre-county record gaps.
Sumter Vital Records
South Carolina required birth and death registration starting January 1, 1915. The South Carolina Department of Archives and History holds Sumter County birth records for 1915 to 1918 online and death records for 1915 to 1963. The South Carolina Department of Public Health holds vital records from 1915 to present at 2600 Bull Street, Columbia. Phone: 803-898-3630.
The free South Carolina death index for genealogy covers Sumter County deaths from 1915 through 1967. Records for Sumter city residents are filed under Sumter County. For Sumter genealogy before 1915, church records and census data are the primary sources. Sumter had active Episcopal, Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian congregations whose records document vital events from the early nineteenth century. The Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter and other historic Sumter congregations hold or have deposited records that help researchers trace families before South Carolina's vital records system began in 1915.
The SCDAH Online Records Index is an excellent starting point for Sumter County genealogy, providing access to land plats and early records from both the Sumter County period and the earlier Camden District era.
Nearby Counties
Sumter is the county seat of Sumter County. Neighboring counties include Lee and Clarendon, both of which were formed partly from Sumter County territory.