Warrants for Land in South Carolina, 1672-1711

Description

This consolidated volume, published originally by the Historical Commission of South Carolina, encompasses a number of the oldest and genealogically most important records of colonial South Carolina. Compiled by A. S. Salley, the commission secretary and a prolific editor of South Carolina source materials, this collection of land warrants consists of three separately indexed volumes referring to upwards of 5,000 land warrants for the period under investigation.

In colonial South Carolina, a land warrant, of course, was an order issued by the governor or one of the proprietors–usually to a surveyor–for the “laying out” of lands granted to an individual. Each warrant referred to here gives the name of the warrantee, the location of the parcel (whether by county, town, proximity to body of water, etc.), the size of the parcel, occasionally the name(s) of wife and/or siblings, the date of the warrant, the name of the surveyor, and the names of signatories to the document. Each warrant thus has the virtue of placing the possessor in South Carolina at an early point and in a particular locale during the colonial period. One of the starting points for all colonial South Carolina research.