The South Carolina Room staff have created these Research Guides and Finding Aids to show patrons what sources are available for individual topics such as probate or military records. 

Deed Research and Conducting a Chain of Title

Making sense of deeds and property records can be a daunting task, but is often useful for genealogists wishing to find where their ancestor’s homes and land were located. This is brief introduction to how deeds are organized and indexed, how to format them to trace a historic property from the past to the present or vice versa, and some important steps to start the process. This guide is geared towards resources at the Charleston County Register of Mesne Conveyance, but should be useful for research in other counties as well, as deeds across the state are essentially organized in the same fashion. There is also a list of books in CCPL’s holdings that contain useful deed information abstracts.

Charleston County Plat Books

This microfilm series features plats of properties in the city of Charleston and outlying areas of Charleston County.

Glossary of Land Terms

Researchers who are using land records or conducting property research will find simple definitions for legal terms and types of sources found in everywhere, as well as those specific to South Carolina.

City Directories

A comprehensive list to what years of the Charleston City Directories are available and in what format, as well as tips and notes of interest for their use.

Charleston County Ward Books 

A guide to what information is provided in these tax records, what years and geographic areas are covered in the SC Rooms collection, and where researchers can find newer ward books.

Land and Tax Records 

This collection contains the land and tax records for the Charleston area from colonial days to the start of the 20th century.