The International African American Museum will be open to the public for Presidents’ Day on Monday, February 17, 2025.
Plan your visit and purchase your admission tickets today to explore the museum.
14 Wharfside StreetCharleston, SC 29401
Museum open 10am to 5pm (last entry 4:00 PM) Tuesday-Sunday. Closed Monday.
14 Wharfside Street — Charleston, SC 29401
Jan 02, 2020
Search for your South Carolina ancestor’s death between 1915 and 1965 in the collection South Carolina Deaths, 1915-1965. See the vast amount of information that maybe included on the death certificate:
You should keep in mind that this information is secondary, so for example, the birth certificate will have more correct information. Take good notes, and preserve all information whether you think it is factual or not. Sometimes it is necessary to use wrong information to find historical documentation. When you tell your ancestor’s story, you can reveal how you were led to find records by explaining the information and its reliability.
You will need the name of the deceased person, the date of death, and the place where he or she died. Let’s look up my great grandmother, Lula Vance, who died in Columbia, South Carolina in 1927:
Lula Johnson Vance died August 5th, 1927 in Columbia, SC. She was married to Rev. LaFayette Franklin Vance, a presiding elder of the AME Church. They lived at 2811 Washington St. I was able to document her parents, Andrew Johnson and Jane Smith Johnson McCoy. It was important to have the maiden name for Jane, Smith because she took her mother’s maiden name even though her father was a Burroughs.
I have not been able to physically see her grave, so I am glad that it says she was buried at Randolph Cemetery on the death certificate here and in her obituary. Randolph Cemetery is named after Senator B. F. Randolph who was gunned down in Abbeville County, South Carolina where Beverly Vance, my great, great grandfather was a constable. Senator B. F. Randolph is buried in Randolph Cemetery.
Johnson & Bradley was a well-known funeral home. It is no longer in existence. I have many more leads to follow up on from this death certificate.
The FamilySearch Wiki page African American Resources for South Carolina provides an in-depth look at resources for African American genealogy research in South Carolina.
To learn more about African American genealogy research in South Carolina, you can view BlackProGen LIVE Ep19: North and South Carolina Genealogy Research.
Researching African American Genealogy provides step-by-step guidance for beginning your ancestor search, as well as links to online resources.
Quick Guide to African American Records contains information on beginning research tips, links to suggested guides for beginning your search for African American ancestors, overviews of major record sets, tips for finding the slaveholder, links to tutorials for African American genealogy in the FamilySearch Learning Center, and links to other online and offline resources.
Southern States Slavery and Bondage Collections will help you locate digitized searchable collections as well as digitized microfilms in the FamilySearch catalog related to slavery and bondage. The page is arranged by state.
African American Genealogy provides links to Wiki pages for researching African Americans in each U.S. state.
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