Charleston Orphan House Index, 1796-1929

Scope and Content

The present collection represents the activity of the Charleston Orphan House from its inception in 1790 to its removal from the city in 1951, the bulk of the records represent the years 1800 through 1930. When the Charleston Orphan House officially closed in September 1951, the institution was continued at a new location under the name Oak Grove. Every effort has been made to separate the respective records of these two institutions, but some of the records bridging the transitional period of the 1950s are contained in bound volumes that cannot be separated. The present collection therefore contains some a small amount of records dating from as late as 1959, however, which technically represent Oak Grove. The remainder of the records of the Oak Grove facility are still in the possession of the City of Charleston.

The collection consists of the administrative records of the Charleston Orphan House, from its founding in 1790 to its removal from urban Charleston to suburban North Charleston in the early 1950s. These materials not only document the long-term management of a large municipal institution, but also provide significant insight into the care and nurturing of thousands of individual children.

This large body of materials is arranged in thirteen distinct series, including anniversary records, applications to admit and to remove children from the institution, commissioners’ correspondence, financial records, indenture books, library records, minutes, miscellaneous materials, physicians’ records, printed materials, registers, staff records, and superintendent’s weekly reports. Much of the collection is available on microfilm.

Applications, 1796–1929
This series consists of approximately twenty-four linear feet of materials divided into four categories: accepted and rejected applications to admit children into the Orphan House, and accepted and rejected applications to remove children from the institution. All of this material is available on microfilm.

From the beginning of the institution, parents or guardians (or their agents) seeking to place children in the Orphan House were obliged to apply to the Commissioners of the Orphan House for approval. Application materials, including correspondence and printed forms, survive for hundreds of children, but the present collection does not represent a complete record of every child admitted into or turned away from the institution.

Nevertheless, the extant materials often contain useful information about the family circumstances that precipitated the application to place the children in the Orphan House.

Similarly, persons seeking to remove a child from the Orphan House were obliged to apply for the commissioners’ consent. Among the extant applications for this purpose are many letters from parents and other family members wishing to regain custody of their children or relatives. In addition to such requests from family relations, the present collection also includes correspondence from unrelated individuals seeking apprentices or child laborers. Around the age of fourteen, most of the “inmates” of the Charleston Orphan House were “bound out” to serve an apprenticeship or “indenture” with a business or family outside the Orphan House. In order to obtain a child for such purposes, individuals communicated their requirements to the Commissioners of the Orphan House, who would then select an appropriate child. In both of these scenarios, the children in question were “indentured” back to their family or to an unrelated individual for a specified period of time (usually until they reached the age of majority). A typescript name index to the approved and rejected applications to admit and to remove children, spanning from 1796 to the 1929, is available with the present collection.

In conformity with the City of Charleston’s privacy policy, the applications to admit or remove children from the Orphan House from 1930 and beyond are still held by the City Records Management Division and are closed to the general public. Former Orphan House residents and their direct descendants can access these records by contacting the City of Charleston directly.

CHARLESTON ORPHAN HOUSE INDEX, 1796-1929

The Charleston Orphan House Index is, by default, arranged in alphabetical order by the last name of the orphan. It contains eight (8) columns of information.

• Name of Orphan -- This is the full name of the orphan (last, first, middle initial or name) as given in the application or letter. In those cases where the name of the orphan is unknown, such as in indenture applications for an unnamed orphan, the orphan's name is listed as Anonymous. Please note that siblings may sometimes be found listed together on one application, then separately on later applications, or vice versa. 

• Date -- This is the date that the application or letter was made. It is not the birthdate of the orphan.

• Parents/Guardian -- These are the names of the parents and/or guardians of the orphan. Mothers' maiden names are given when known. 

• Other Persons -- These are the names of other people who may have been noted on an application or letter; for example, a letter of reference. 

• Indentured to Whom -- If an orphan has been indentured out of the Orphan House, the name of the person whom the orphan was indentured is listed here. This includes family members who are regaining custody of an orphan. 

• Trade/Relation -- If an orphan has been indentured out to learn a trade, it is listed here. Or, if the orphan has been returned to a family member, the family member's relationship to the orphan is listed here. 

• Other -- Other items of note may be listed here. 

• Filed -- This indicates where the application/letter/etc. can be located in the files. There are five series of files, four of which are as follows:

  • AA -- Application to Admit

  • RAA -- Rejected Application to Admit

  • IND -- Indenture Application

  • RIND -- Rejected Indenture Application

If the record is from the 18th or 19th century, it will be found in one of the four series listed above, as indicated in the index. However, if the records is from the 20th century, it will be located in the fifth series, which contains all four types of applications (AA, RAA, IND, RIND) from the 20th century filed together.

NOTE: Click on the column headers to sort by orphan's name, parent/guardian, others named in the file, and to whom the child was indentured. Filter the results by typing in a name or part of a name in the search box below.