and
Old Camden District
Wills Index
Volume No. 4
Please
note:
The
earliest settlers who came into the future Sumter County were nominally
in Prince Frederick's Parish, but the parish church was many miles
away,
near Georgetown on the coast. By the 1750s, so many settlers had come
to
the area that in 1757, a new parish, St. Mark's, was formed. The line
which
separated St. Mark's from Prince Frederick's was an extension of the
northwest
line of Williamsburg Township to the Santee and Pee Dee Rivers. St.
Mark's
embraced all of the area between those rivers, northward to the North
Carolina
line, and was the largest of the parishes. The whole of St. Mark's
parish
was included in Camden District which extended from the northwest line
of Williamsburg Township to the North Carolina line and from Lynches
River
to the Santee-Congaree-Broad river system.
Early on, what we now know as Sumter County, Clarendon County, and Lee County were all located in Craven County. In fact, much present day South Carolina, except for areas nearer the coast were designated as part of Craven County. Early land grants describe the lands east of the Wateree River as lying in Craven County. In a modern sense, Craven County was not actually a governmental entity, but merely a geographical location. Craven County was created originally in 1682 on the coast of the state, extending from Seewee Bay for twenty- three miles northeast, and inland for thirty-five miles. Settlers gradually moved into the interior, further and further from the coast and the boundaries of Craven County moved with them, eventually extending to the North Carolina line. Craven County was an election district with representation in the provincial House of Commons. When the province was laid out into parishes in 1706, Craven County ceased to exist as an election district. Representation after that was by parishes. The name, Craven, did continue to be used until even after 1769, when circuit court districts were established.
In 1783, a new law was passed and each of the seven great circuit court systems of the state were subdivided into counties of a convenient size. The former Camden District was divided to form seven counties. The boundaries of the seven counties were established, largely on natural lines. Created were York, Chester, Fairfield, Richland, Lancaster, Claremont, and Clarendon. The last two would be included in the area of what would become the future Sumter District.
Two years after the counties were created, the county courts were set up. In 1792 some of the area of Clarendon and Claremont was used to form Salem County. The part taken from Claremont known as "Upper Salem" and the part from Clarendon known as "Lower Salem." But the new sytem did not suit every resident of the area. Among those learned men of the legal profession, the operation of the county courts was not proving to be satisfactory. They felt that justice was not being properly served by laymen. Thus, in 1791, the county magistrates were replaced by three county court judges who were "to handle all business that came before the court." With the opposition of lawyers to lay judges continuing, the county court system was finally abolished effective on January 1, 1800. The region was organized as Sumter District when the legislature of South Carolina united three of the counties of Camden District, namely, Claremont, Clarendon, and Salem; and on the first day of January in the year 1800, the district began to function in the administration of justice through circuit courts.
Many Camden District folks have Sumter District connections. What was previously Sumter District was a part of Camden District before January 1, 1800. The wills that you will find posted on this portion of the website have been donated by people who have visited one of the Sumter District sites and wished to share this information with others. Bobby Thigpen sent in the first large batch of wills which prompted getting this set of pages started..
If you have any trancriptions of wills that you don't see here, please, help the circle of sharing continue by sending your information to be posted here.
All reseachers use their own judgement about spelling and interpretation of the source documents. Anyone wishing to use the wills for accurate documentation of their family tree, will of course obtain a copy of the original from the records at the Kershaw County Courthouse, from the Caroliniana Library on the University of South Carolina Campus, or from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History in Columbia.
Please
be reminded that each new piece of information that one encounters must
be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence. It is
always
best to consult the original material for verification.
In order to return to this page, you will have to use your back button.
None of the wills have links on them. (Too many wills, too little time :)
I have not gotten around to tidying up the
all
of the pages yet. You will find some with funny margins.
It takes time and it sort of tedious, so I
decided
to go ahead and get them posted for now,
so that folks could have access to them.
A Surnames
