African American Heritage

African American Family
Colleton, Dorchester & Bamberg
 Counties ,  South Carolina
The SCGenWeb Project


 With your help and ideas, we can make this a wonderful source of information and a tribute to your African American ancestors.    Until we get more information online, be sure to post your queries on the Colleton County and Dorchester County GenConnect Boards.  You may also want to join the  RootsWeb mailing lists for these counties, as the histories of black and white residents are  entwined.  You'll see information for mailing lists and message boards on the Colleton County SCGenWeb , Dorchester County SCGenWeb
and Bamberg County SCGenWeb.

Linzay Kelly has an amazing collection of African American portraits, most of them unidentified, which she has found in antique stores and flea markets.    Although they are not necessarily of Colleton County families, they are well worth sharing.  Thank you Linzay for the contribution!

A big THANK YOU  to Paulette Johnston  for including African American cemeteries in her walks in Colleton and Dorchester Counties in 2008.  If anyone out there has any tombstone transcriptions and/or photographs of African American cemeteries or sections of larger cemteries, please consider sharing your information with the Bamberg, Colleton, or Dorchester County SCGenWeb.   Just a single grave honors someone's ancestor.  This is an all inclusive, all volunteer genealogy and history project for everyone who has an interest in "lowcountry" South Carolina.

 
Surname Registrations
African American Civil War Officer


SURNAMES RESEARCHER GENEALOGY WEB PAGE
CARTER Melody McGriff -
GALASHAW / GALLASHAW, FIGGERS, SIMMONS, TUCKER, CANADAY Steven C. Perkins
Thomas Nathan Gallashaw &
Mildred Mae Carter
GLOVER, GIBSON, GREEN,  HILLIARD Harriet J. Cockrel -
BROOKS, WINEGLASS, GREEN, HAMILTON, PINCKNEY, SIMMONS Albertha B. Goins -
STEPHENS/ STEVENS, PRIMUS, WILKEY, BARNHILL, BROWN, WASHINGTON Yolanda Mitchell LOOKING THROUGH THE MIRROR...
SALLEY, KINSEY Lisa Salley -
GLOVER, BRAND Our105@aol.com  -
CEASE CMsbroadus@aol.com -
BRITT Michael Gathron -
WHEELDON, WHILDEN Carol Warren -
SYPHRETT,SYPHRET,SYPRES, SYPRESS  Lucy Summey-Greer 
-
BROWN, JAQUES / JAKES, SCOTT
 Bernice Lacy
 -
GARBON / GARBONNE
 Carissa Mann
-

Because the families of  Bamberg, Colleton & Dorchester Counties, "black" and "white"  are interrelated,  all
surname registries (including African American)  are listed on the appropriated county surname registry  here:

                                                                       
 
Genealogy Mailing List for South Carolina 
African American Research

Enter only the word:     subscribe
in the body of your message.  You will need to respond to the e-mail confirmation of your subscription.

South Carolina Research and Links
African American Family
Colleton and Dorchester Counties

Dorchester County SCGenWeb (incl. upper Colleton District)

Colleton County
Census Records - All Available Transcriptions and Indexes
Largest Slave Holders from Colleton's 1860 Slave Census,  and Corresponding Surnames
of African Americans - 1870 Census    - Tom Blake's site
Miscellaneous Marriages - 1900's


South Carolina Don't forget to check the more obvious places for information:

 Note:   If you post a message to a message board of mailing list, be as specific in your subject line and your message as possible, short of posting your entire family tree (WorldConnect is a good place to upload your GEDCOM).  Give names, approximate dates of birth and death, and where you think your family lived.  Mention other surnames who intermarried with your family.

 Talk to older living relatives while they are still around.  Don't believe everything you hear (it's amazing how family legends "evolve" over the years), but consider every bit of new information to be another piece of the puzzle, or a new clue in the mystery.   I don't know of any genealogists who don't regret not taking advantage of this opportunity for information and identification of photographs and memorabilia.

If your ancestors may have been slaves,  search everywhere for wills, diaries, bills of sale, that might  include the names of your ancestors.   Not every researcher posts this information to the Internet, so ASK on message boards and mailing lists.  Most people are pleased to be able to help if documentation is available!   Don't be shy...you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Periodically, check USGenWeb Special Projects  and Google for any new web pages regarding your area or surnames of interest.  Be sure to POST your own information and documents everywhere you can, to help other researchers!   Good Luck!!!

 Abbeyville County  SCGenWeb


Allendale County SCGenWeb

Sumter County SCGenWeb Timeline of African American Heritage in SC

Freedmen's Bureau - South Carolina Records

Christina's Links to SC African American Genealogy

African American Census Schedules - SC

Free African Americans (includes SC)

African American Genealogy- a Bibiography for Beginners

Afrigeneas Mailing List for SC Researchers

On Borrowed Ground- an essay about free African Americans in Charleston, 1810-1861

African American History Online- Sponsored by BellSouth

Beaufort, SC African American History

African Americans in the South Carolina Room

54th. Mass. Volunteer Infantry, Co. I

The Gullah Dialect and Sea Island Culture

African Americans and South Carolina - University of South Carolina

Documenting the American South-University of N.C.- Chapel Hill

Sweet Dreams of Freedom:  Freedwomen's Reconstruction of Life and Labor in
          Lowcountry South Carolina
History of African American Cemeteries in South Carolina

SC Slave Data On Personal Genealogy Sites



General Resource Centers for African American
Genealogy Research
Christina's Genealogy Website- African American Genealogy
Cyndi's List- African American Research
AfriGeneas
Freedmen's Bureau
African American Cemeteries Online
Grave Matters- the preservation of African American Cemeteries

African American History Sites
Black History Pages
African American Perspectives -  American Memory Library of Congress
American Slave Narratives
United States Colored Troups in the Civil War
African American Warriors (US Wars, including Civil War)
The African American - A Journey From Slavery to Freedom
Slavery FAQ

        Green Pond Area
        Rose Hill Cemetery located on the Paul and Dalton Plantation
           Zion Baptist Church Cemetery
           Hickory Hill Cemetery
 
DORCHESTER COUNTY
USGENWEB TOMBSTONE TRANSCRIPTION PROJECT


Help!  We've got to start somewhere! Here are some other  possibilities:


Personal Genealogy/History Web Sites
If you have a personal web site featuring your African American family of Colleton, Dorchester, or Bamberg  County, or if you know of one,  please send me the link!!!
 

If you know of any other good research sites for South Carolina or general/nationwide research, please let me know!  Pat Sabin