Requesting information

The South Carolina Room staff have several tips to help patrons get their questions answered.

1. We prefer all genealogy questions to be submitted in writing, whether by mail or e-mail rather than by telephone. This reduces the opportunity for error in orally transcribing names, dates, and places and allows staff to devote their entire attention to a question.

2. Limit of one name or one question per letter. We will check resources for one name or answer a single question per request. Surname searches are too broad for the staff to do an adequate job within a reasonable time span. We are only able to look for an individual. Nor can we adequately explore broad topics in a limited time.

3. There is a three-name limit for wills and obituaries. The staff will check up to a maximum of three names per request in the Charleston County Will Books (1671-1868) or Charleston newspapers, when the patron has specified those as the sources to be checked.

4. Obituary requests must include the full name of the deceased. The staff’s odds of success in finding an obituary will increase significantly if we have the date of death. There are still many historic newspapers that haven’t been digitized or indexed. We will scan the newspaper up to seven days after the death date for an obituary. The staff has access to primarily Charleston historic newspapers and can’t adequately search for obituaries in other counties or states.

5. We limit requests to two per patron per month. We do recognize that patrons often have further questions after receiving the response to their query, but in order to provide fair service to all patrons with the limits of staff, we ask that mail and e-mail patrons limit themselves to only two requests per month. We also ask that patrons wait until we have answered the first request before submitting the second one.

6. Questions must be on a topic connected to Charleston, the Lowcounty, or South Carolina. Genealogy questions about a SC family after they moved permanently out of state are better answered by a library near their location. Historic property research requests must be for an address in Charleston County.

7. Due to the volume of requests and staff’s other duties, don’t be concerned if there is a wait in receiving a response. If you haven’t heard from us in two weeks, please contact us again.

8. Due to our responsibility to the Charleston County taxpayer, there are fees for non-County residents. The fees are 50 cents per page for black and white copies, seventy-five cents for color plus a $5 research fee. Scans and digital items are considered the same as a paper copy. We can only send a maximum of twenty-five pages or scans. The amount due will be included with the results of our search. We prefer that you not attempt to pay fees in advance. We can only accept payment by check or money order.

9. Extensive research. We can answer specific questions but cannot do extensive research for patrons. We do maintain a list of fee-based genealogy and history researchers, which is available upon request.

Types of questions the SC Room staff can answer

1. Did my SC ancestor, Josiah Cameroon, served in the Revolutionary War?

2. Do you have a record of Ida Lowe’s admission to the Charleston Orphan House?

3. I’m an architect working in North Carolina, do you have any information or early photos of 271 Ashley Avenue?

4. Records say my ancestor lived on Hacker’s Lane in 1855, where was that?

5. While visiting I saw a historical marker for the Seashore Lodge on James Island, what was that?

6. I would like to find an obituary for my grandmother, Lucy Graham of Mount Pleasant, who died October 23, 1967.

7. Did Samuel Brown have an account in Charleston with the Freeman’s Savings and Trust Company (1865-1874)?

8. Did Dr. Alexander Garden have anything to do with the gardenia?

9. What kind of work did a cooper do?

10. Were there any War of 1812 privateers based in Charleston?

11. Can you check a Charleston phone book from the 1970’s and give me the address of Beautiful Day Wedding Photographer?

Types of questions the SC Room staff can't answer

1. Send me everything you have on the Bull family in South Carolina.

2. You have a copy of a family history of the Clark family in your collection, can you copy the whole book and send it to me?

3. Please send me every listing of the Schmeister name in all the Charleston City Directories.

4. I need a copy of the deed of my grandparents' property. (Register of Deeds Office is the best source for deeds.)

5. I need a list of all the ships that came into Charleston between 1803 and 1810.

6. The 1870 Census says my Alabama ancestors were born enslaved in South Carolina; I want to know who their parents were.

7. I would like copies of the wills of all the brothers and sisters of Ezra Crane, who died in 1794. I don’t know their names.

8. Sometime before the Civil War, the Jones family owned property in either Charleston, Walterboro, or Summerville. Do you know the address?

9. I’m looking for an obituary for my grandmother, who died in Minneapolis in either the 1940’s or 1950’s.

10. The sailing ship, the Sally Maid, from Rhode Island, I believe, visited several antebellum Southern ports. What can you tell me about her?

11. Please explain the ethnic origin of the earliest settlers of every county in South Carolina.

Stumped? Get your questions answered

If you've exhausted your search and still have no answers, the South Carolina Room can help. For a fee, the researchers at the South Carolina Room can search through the archives and hopefully provide information to help get your search back on track. There is a fee schedule spelled out on the form submission page.

Ask the South Carolina Room a question.