Chester County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Volume I

Chester County was formed in 1785 as a county of Camden District. Prior to the border surveys of 1764 and 1772, the area was included in the North Carolina counties of Anson, Mecklenburg, and Tryon. For this reason many grants and deeds from North Carolina are referenced in the Chester County deeds. Chester County bordered on the counties of York, Fairfield, Union, Kershaw, and Lancaster.

The deeds in this volume were recorded 1785-1799. As is common, there are deeds recorded from a much earlier time period. The earliest deed included in this work dates from 17 November 1768. With the beginning of county courts in South Carolina, deeds were required to be either acknowledged or proved by the oaths of two witnesses until 1788. Deeds which had been proved prior to 1785 before a Justice of the Peace were frequently accepted on that proof and recorded. Beginning in 1788 only one witness was required to prove a deed before recording. The deeds in this volume have been abstracted from South Carolina Archives microfilm, Rolls C2268, C2269, and C2270.

Abstracts typically include: deed book and page number(s), date of sale/lease, name of grantor/lessor, name of grantee/lessee, the grantee/lessee's county and/or district of residence, amount charged and/or paid, number of acres and location of property, names of witnesses, name of justice of the peace and/or other official approving deed, date approved, and date recorded. A map of District and County Courts 1785 and a map of Districts 1791-1799, a full-name index, and a place index add to the value of this work.

(2005), 2021, 6x9, paper, index, 298 pp.