South Carolina newspapers date to 1732, and the University of South Carolina’s Historical Newspapers of South Carolina site offers free full-text search of papers published since statehood.
South Carolina obituaries in historic newspapers
The South-Carolina Gazette, begun in Charleston in 1732, was one of the earliest newspapers in the South. Charleston papers printed death notices for the city and the Lowcountry plantations, and during yellow fever and other epidemics they ran lists of the dead.
In the 1800s, papers like the Edgefield Advertiser, the Camden Chronicle and the Yorkville Enquirer reported deaths in the upcountry. Formerly enslaved people rarely appear in antebellum notices, but after the Civil War Black-owned papers and church papers began recording their deaths, and later papers often noted how long a family had lived on a particular plantation or farm.
The South Carolina Digital Newspaper Program ran from 2009 to 2015 and digitized more than 100 titles. Its successor site at the University of South Carolina continues to add papers, and the South Carolina Department of Archives and History holds state death records.
Where to find South Carolina obituaries
Digitized South Carolina newspapers
- Historical Newspapers of South Carolina — Free full-text searchable South Carolina newspapers from statehood onward.
Archives and libraries
- South Carolina Department of Archives and History — State records, including death certificates, and research help in Columbia.
- Digital Collections, University of South Carolina — Other digitized South Carolina collections that can support an obituary search.
- South Carolina Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to South Carolina newspaper archives, indexes and microfilm, with county-by-county links.
Nationwide newspaper archives
- Chronicling America, Library of Congress — Free digitized newspapers from every state. Narrow a search to South Carolina and the years you need.
- Google News Archive — Free scans of hundreds of older newspapers, browsable by title and date.
- Internet Archive newspapers — Free digitized newspapers and microfilm uploaded by libraries.
- FamilySearch — Free obituary indexes, death records and the Social Security Death Index (free account).
- Find a Grave — Volunteer-built cemetery memorials, many with transcribed obituaries.
- Newspapers.com — Large subscription archive of U.S. papers. Many public libraries offer free access.
- GenealogyBank — Subscription archive of historic newspapers and modern obituaries.
- Legacy.com — Obituaries published since about 2000 in most U.S. daily newspapers.
Tips for finding an obituary in South Carolina
- Pin down the date and place first. A death index or death certificate gives the exact date and county, and then you only need to search the local papers for the following week or two.
- Search more than one town. Obituaries often ran in the paper where the person was born or had lived before, not just where they died. Small-town weeklies sometimes published a notice weeks later.
- Look beyond the word “obituary.” Older papers reported deaths under headings like “Died,” “Deaths,” local news and personals columns, funeral notices and cards of thanks. See death notices vs. obituaries.
- Try every spelling. Search initials, nicknames and misspellings, and for married women in older papers, search the husband’s name (“Mrs. John Smith”). Digitized text often misreads old type.
- Ask a librarian. Many public libraries and state archives will look up an obituary for free or a small fee, and newspaper microfilm can often be borrowed through interlibrary loan.