State Plat Books (Charleston Series), 1784-1860
Item
Country
US
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
eng
Contact information: postal address
8301 Parklane Road, Columbia, SC 29223
Contact information: phone number
001 803 896 6196
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
Reference number
S 213190
Type of reference number
Call number
Title (official language of the state)
State Plat Books (Charleston Series), 1784-1860
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
Surveyor General's Office
Date(s)
1784/1860
Language(s)
eng
Extent
49 volumes and 10 microfilm reels
Type of material
Cartographic Material
Textual Material
Scope and content
This series forms part of the Surveyor General's Office of the Secretary of State records and consists of recorded copies of plats for state land grants with their certificates of admeasurement or certification. The plats are scale drawings and show the scale to which they were drawn; names of the proposed grantees; acreage; boundaries; boundary markers; natural features; improvements, if any; the names of any surrounding landowners; and the names of the surveyors. Roads, creeks, branches, swamps, and the like are named.
Some entries contain the surveyor general's certification, others the deputy surveyor's certificate of admeasurement. The certification gives the names of the prospective grantee and, where applicable, the person for whom the land was initially surveyed; the location by district and more specific locators such as relationship to a particular river, road, or other landmark; acreage; date of survey; the authority under which the plat was drawn if other than the general land acts; the date of certification; and the names of the deputy surveyor who drew the plat, the surveyor general or deputy surveyor general who certified it, and the surrounding landowners. The deputy surveyor's certificate of admeasurement also gives the name of the commissioner of locations who issued the warrant and the date of the warrant.
The series contains some previously unrecorded colonial plats, mainly from the 1770s. Most of these appear in volumes 19, 20, 22 and 23. Throughout this collection, there are several plats for plots in the Ninety-Six District adjoining land belonging to Joseph Salvador (see vol. 9, p. 113; vol. 6, p. 197; vol. 14, p. 139; vol. 11, p. 233, vol. 21, p. 314).
Some entries contain the surveyor general's certification, others the deputy surveyor's certificate of admeasurement. The certification gives the names of the prospective grantee and, where applicable, the person for whom the land was initially surveyed; the location by district and more specific locators such as relationship to a particular river, road, or other landmark; acreage; date of survey; the authority under which the plat was drawn if other than the general land acts; the date of certification; and the names of the deputy surveyor who drew the plat, the surveyor general or deputy surveyor general who certified it, and the surrounding landowners. The deputy surveyor's certificate of admeasurement also gives the name of the commissioner of locations who issued the warrant and the date of the warrant.
The series contains some previously unrecorded colonial plats, mainly from the 1770s. Most of these appear in volumes 19, 20, 22 and 23. Throughout this collection, there are several plats for plots in the Ninety-Six District adjoining land belonging to Joseph Salvador (see vol. 9, p. 113; vol. 6, p. 197; vol. 14, p. 139; vol. 11, p. 233, vol. 21, p. 314).
Archival history
The General Assembly created the post-revolutionary land grant system with the South Carolina Statute 1784 (4) 590, "An Act for Establishing the Mode and Conditions of Surveying and Granting Vacant Lands Within this State". It amended the act twice in 1785 and again in 1786. These acts provided for the purchase of vacant land for $10 per hundred acres and allowed the holders of treasury indents for unpaid Revolutionary War debts to use them as legal tender. South Carolina Statute 1784 (4) 647 provided that bounty lands promised to officers and men of the South Carolina Continental Line, three independent companies, and officers of the South Carolina Revolutionary Navy were to be granted and recorded free of the usual office fees.
The legislature abolished the purchase price for land in 1791. After that, grants were issued upon payment of the office fees. The 1784 act prohibited grants larger than 640 acres. This provision was repealed the following year, and the speculative mania that ensued was further encouraged by the remission of the purchase price. Despite legislative attempts in 1787, 1793, and 1794 to restrict the size and number of grants, many vast tracts were granted in the 1780s and 1790s.
Aiming to accommodate citizens of the backcountry, the 1784 act created a new office, the commissioner of locations, in each of the seven court districts of 1769 and authorised the surveyor general to appoint as many as six deputy surveyors in each district. After 1801, there was a commissioner of locations for each of the greatly expanded number of circuit court districts. After 1839, the court clerks became ex officio the commissioners of locations. The commissioner of locations received the survey petition and issued the warrant to a deputy surveyor. The commissioners of locations initially recorded the plats before being forwarded to the surveyor general.
The South Carolina Constitution of 1790 required the surveyor general to maintain offices in the new capital at Columbia and Charleston. The surveyor general began to use separate volumes for recording plats in his Columbia office in 1796. Before that, all plats were recorded in the volumes begun in Charleston in 1784. After 1796, most plats for land grants in the Upper Division of the state were recorded and filed in Columbia. The surveyor general chose to make the Columbia volumes a continuation of the state plat volumes begun in Charleston and gave the initial Columbia volume the number 36 to correspond with the number of the volume that had then been reached in the Charleston series. As a result, there are volumes numbered 36 through 43 from each office, some with similar recording dates, but their records are not duplicative.
The legislature abolished the purchase price for land in 1791. After that, grants were issued upon payment of the office fees. The 1784 act prohibited grants larger than 640 acres. This provision was repealed the following year, and the speculative mania that ensued was further encouraged by the remission of the purchase price. Despite legislative attempts in 1787, 1793, and 1794 to restrict the size and number of grants, many vast tracts were granted in the 1780s and 1790s.
Aiming to accommodate citizens of the backcountry, the 1784 act created a new office, the commissioner of locations, in each of the seven court districts of 1769 and authorised the surveyor general to appoint as many as six deputy surveyors in each district. After 1801, there was a commissioner of locations for each of the greatly expanded number of circuit court districts. After 1839, the court clerks became ex officio the commissioners of locations. The commissioner of locations received the survey petition and issued the warrant to a deputy surveyor. The commissioners of locations initially recorded the plats before being forwarded to the surveyor general.
The South Carolina Constitution of 1790 required the surveyor general to maintain offices in the new capital at Columbia and Charleston. The surveyor general began to use separate volumes for recording plats in his Columbia office in 1796. Before that, all plats were recorded in the volumes begun in Charleston in 1784. After 1796, most plats for land grants in the Upper Division of the state were recorded and filed in Columbia. The surveyor general chose to make the Columbia volumes a continuation of the state plat volumes begun in Charleston and gave the initial Columbia volume the number 36 to correspond with the number of the volume that had then been reached in the Charleston series. As a result, there are volumes numbered 36 through 43 from each office, some with similar recording dates, but their records are not duplicative.
Access points: locations
Access points: persons, families
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
System of arrangement
Series arranged roughly chronologically by recording date.
Access, restrictions
Digital copies of this series are available online:
Finding aids
All personal names and geographic features on these plats are included in the repository's On-line Index to Plats for State Land Grants and in a 13-reel computer output microfilm (COM) index that the repository produced in 1987 to accompany its Microcopy No. 10, South Carolina State Plats, 1784-1868.
Nineteen-century manuscript indexes (only to the names of the persons for whom the land was surveyed) are also available in the repository and on microfilm produced by the Genealogical Society of Utah.
Nineteen-century manuscript indexes (only to the names of the persons for whom the land was surveyed) are also available in the repository and on microfilm produced by the Genealogical Society of Utah.
Links to finding aids
Existence and location of copies
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2022
Linked resources
Filter by property
| Title | Alternate label | Class |
|---|---|---|
| Jews of Charleston, South Carolina Collection | Existence and location of originals |
| Title | Alternate label | Class |
|---|---|---|
| South Carolina Department of Archives and History | Collections (official language of the state) |