South Carolina Genealogy is a free research hub for the Palmetto State. This page is our public editorial standard—how hubs are built, how we cite, and how you can improve the record.

What a county hub includes (Charleston-class template)

• Formation facts, seat, parents, neighbors
• Jump navigation, photos/maps when available, “what’s new,” and this week in county history
• Signature topic essays plus floor topics (strategy, parents, newspapers, records roadmap)
• Towns & communities, research tools CTAs, record availability matrix
• Churches, newspapers (start-here title), cemeteries, societies, courthouse notes, neighbor panel
• Printable per-county cheatsheet

Full product spec: every county follows the same skeleton so usefulness never depends on which county you open.

How we cite

• Prefer repositories and catalogs: SCDAH, SC State Library, FamilySearch wiki/catalog, Chronicling America, NARA, local societies and libraries
• Newspaper year ranges and cemetery notes are research leads—confirm holdings before you travel
• We do not treat unsourced online trees as proof; essays teach where to look and what to verify
• History summaries (battles, formation eras) align with standard chronologies and point to deeper primary paths
• Affiliate links on the shop are disclosed; free guidance stays free

How we update

• Continuous content — topics, newspapers, cemeteries, directory, articles, on-this-day events
• Last reviewed dates on county hubs when we complete a depth pass
• Corrections welcome via contact — broken links, missing societies, better title variants, cemetery survey citations with compiler/year/repository
• Scheduled articles keep method teaching fresh (see Articles)

Lead tools & products

• Free starter checklist (email optional) and printables on Shop
• Per-county cheatsheets on every hub
• Optional paid designed Priority County Pack via Stripe with email delivery
• MailerLite nurture for new checklist signups (SC-only list on a shared ESP account)

Core references we rely on

• SC Department of Archives and History — colonial plats/grants, microfilm, series inventories
• FamilySearch Wiki — South Carolina — county pages and catalog paths
• SC State Library — newspapers and reference
• Chronicling America (Library of Congress) — digitized newspapers
• Walter Edgar, South Carolina: A History — narrative context (verify claims in primary sources)
• South Carolina Historical Magazine and county records inventories — for specialized series notes

We prefer these over anonymous trees. When sciway or secondary timelines conflict with state formation lists, we flag the conflict and cite both.

What we are not

• Not a complete cemetery transcription project
• Not a substitute for original records or professional client research
• Not a dump of unsourced trees

About the editor: About · Network: Sister sites · Start: Start here · System path: SC research system.