(This page's most recent update is
August 2024)
______________________________________
Over the past few decades, thanks to volunteers, librarians, and archivists (as well as the largest of them all – FamilySearch), a great number of indexes to death collections have been provided for free online. These searchable indexes provide specific death information and sometimes scanned images of the actual death certificates themselves. These free online collections have hundreds of millions of records in them in total.
There are a great number of online and offline collections that may include death information that is not included in the lists below. For example, newspapers and obituaries have death info, but most times obituary indexes include the date of the obituary but not the date of death. To find out which types of other records may include death information, please see:
The lists below are specific death indexes and record collections that are available for free online for the state of South Carolina.
Note: Some of the links listed take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections’ images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital. To take full advantage make sure that you are logged in to FamilySearch. The results may be different if you are signed in, rather than not.
Note: I have included links to Free Ancestry records and indexes. You do not need a subscription, but you do need an Ancestry account. Without a subscription, you can view indexes. If there is an image associated with a record, in most cases you will need a subscription, but the index does include very usable information.
South Carolina Death Records
- Abbeville County, Death Indexes
- Aiken County, Death Indexes
- Allendale County, Death Indexes
- Bamberg County, Death Indexes
- Barnwell County Death Records, 1915-1958
- Barnwell County, Coroners Inquest Records, 1890-1958
- Berkeley County, Death Indexes
- Calhoun County, Death Indexes
- Camden, Marriages and Death Notices Abstracted from Newspapers, 1822-1842
- Charles Town Register of St. Philip’s Parish, 1720-1758
- Charleston County Death Index, 1950
- Charleston County Death Records, 1852-1926
- Charleston County, Death Indexes
- Charleston Death Records, 1821-1886
- Cherokee County, Death Indexes
- Chester County, Death Indexes
- Chesterfield County, Death Indexes
- Clarendon County, Death Indexes
- Colleton County Vital Records
- Colleton County, Death Indexes
- Darlington County Records, 1798-1923
- Darlington County, Coroner’s Records, 1910-1986
- Dillon County Deaths
- Dillon County, Death Indexes
- Edgefield County, Inquisition Books, 1844-1902
- Florence County, Coroner’s Inquisition Books, 1889-1915
- Hampton County, Death Indexes
- Horry County, Death Indexes
- Jasper County, Death Indexes
- Lancaster County, Death Indexes
- Lee County, Death Indexes
- Lexington County Death Index
- Lexington County, Death Indexes
- Lexington County, Inquisition Books, 1890-1910
- McCormick County, Death Indexes
- Miscellaneous BMD Records by County
- Newberry County, Death Index and Miscellaneous Death Notices
- Newberry County, Death Indexes
- Newberry Happenings Newspapers Abstracts, 1878-1905
- Oconee County, Death Indexes
- Online Searchable Death Indexes
- Pendleton, The Pendleton Messenger, Marriage and Death Notices, 1826 to 1851
- South Carolina Death Indexes 1915-1967
- South Carolina Deaths, 1915-1965
- South Carolina Federal Census Mortality Schedules 1850-1880
- South Carolina Gazette, Death Notices, 1732-1775
- South Carolina Gazette, Death Notices, 1732-1775
- South Carolina Death Certificates 1915-1963
- South Carolina, Charleston City Death Records, 1821-1926
- South Carolina, Deaths and Burials, 1816-1990
- South Carolina, Deaths, 1915-1968
- South Carolina, World War I American Expeditionary Forces, Deaths
- South Carolina, Marriages, Births, and Deaths
- Spartanburg County Death Certificates
- Spartanburg County Death Index
- Spartanburg County Death and Obituary Notice Search
- Spartanburg County, Death Indexes
- United States Deaths and Burials, 1867-1961
- United States Korean War Battle Deaths, 1950-1957
- United States Social Security Death Index
- United States, World War I American Expeditionary Forces Deaths, 1917-1919
- Wofford College Library Death and Obituary Index, 1837-2008
- York County, Death Indexes
- Yorksville Deaths
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!