Aiken Research Strategy
Jurisdiction-first path for Aiken County families.
Treat Aiken County as a place hub: pin the event year, then pick the courthouse that held authority that year.
- Write person + event + decade before searching.
- Events before 1871 usually require parent/earlier jurisdictions (Barnwell, Edgefield, Lexington, Orangeburg).
- Census clusters → land/probate → church/cemetery/newspapers.
- Use the neighbor panel on the county hub when results go cold.