The Darlington Flag Newsletter
FLORENCE, S.C. BIRTH AND
DEATH REGISTRATIONS, 1895-1906, Transcribed by
John L. Andrews, Jr...South Carolina genealogical researchers have been hampered
by a lack of
vital statistics. Although there
are notable exceptions, statewide birth
and death records were not kept by the
State of South Carolina until 1915. However,
several municipalities kept records of births and deaths prior to the mandate
for
statewide records. The City of
Charleston is probably the best-known example.
Beginning in 1895, three additional cities began to record births and
deaths, Aiken,
Newberry, and Florence. The
Florence records are presented in this book.
The birth
records are remarkable for their detailed picture of each
event. Beginning in June,
1895,
these records reveal for each birth: the date of birth, the child’s surname,
the
name of the physician or midwife present, the child’s gender, race, and
place of birth,
and the parents’ names, residence, place of birth, and
occupation. In addition,
information is provided on stillborn births, illegitimate births, and multiple
births. It
should be noted that in
many cases both the names of the mother and father are
provided for illegitimate
births. State law prohibits the
release of information
contained on birth records for 100 years, thus no birth
records after December 31,
1899, are contained in this publication.
The death records contain similar information.
For each death within the City of
Florence, detailed records were kept.
The name of the deceased, date of death,
race, residence, place of death,
age, birthplace, time of residence within Florence,
the attending physician, and
place of burial for each event is given. Among
the
cemeteries noted are the Fraternal Cemetery and the Potters’ Field
Cemetery, both
of which are now abandoned and largely forgotten. Other burials
were in better-known
cemeteries, however permanent tombstones never marked many
of these. It is
believed that
the City of Florence kept these death records until 1915.
However, the
records located by the Old Darlington District Chapter, SCGS
end in 1906. Efforts are
now
underway to acquire records made after 1906.
© 2000, 172 pages, soft cover,
spiral bound, indexed, Library of
Congress Number 99-075922. Price: $20.00 plus
$4.00 shipping for first book and
$1.50 for each additional
book.
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