Abstracts of the Records of the Register of the Province 1675-1696

The second volume of the Proprietary Records of South Carolina series, titled Abstracts of the Records of the Register of the Province, 1675-1696, was published in the fall of 2006.  This volume sheds light on colonial life through the early land records for Charles Towne and the surrounding Lowcountry. With maps, illustrations and notes on colonial and Indian place names, it provides heretofore unavailable information about the families and relationships of the first colonists and the locations of many of their plantations.  The comprehensive introduction in this record book explains the proprietary period of South Carolina’s history and the role the Register played in preserving the records. The comprehensive index provides a means for researchers to easily access and use these records.

In the late seventeenth century, the promise of land ownership and a new beginning enticed many immigrants to leave Europe, the West Indies and even New England and brave the harsh conditions of frontier life in Carolina. The stories of these intrepid colonists are elusive, since few records of their daily lives have survived the more than three hundred years of history that separate the present day inhabitants of South Carolina from their ancestors.  This book, a compilation of abstracts of the documents in the record book kept by the Register of the Province of South Carolina from 1675 to 1696, sheds reveals the lives of these early settlers. Published here for the first time, these records provide an in depth look at the structure of colonial life based on land holdings. Included are indentures from the Lords Proprietors, letters of attorney, partnerships and early land records for grants and deeds to lots at Charles Towne, as well as the surrounding Lowcountry. The importance of land records to genealogical research is often overlooked. Sometimes land ownership provides information needed to establish relationships within a family.

Editors Susan Bates and Cheves Leland offer historians, researchers and scholars an exciting and essential means of more completely understanding the early culture, life and history of pre-18th century Carolina.  Abstracts of the Records of the Register of the Province, 1675-1696, Volume Two in the series of Proprietary Records of South Carolina, offers a unique opportunity for all readers to access the  recorded documents about the land which became Carolina. The editors have received acclaim for their exhaustive and meticulous research in their abstraction of the records, as well as in the introductory material and footnotes.

View A-J of the Index of Abstracts of the Records of the Register of the Province 1675-1696
View K-Z of the Index of Abstracts of the Records of the Register of the Province 1675-1696