Can someone explain this to me... On the Greenville County government site there are historical records. One section is: Court of Common Pleas - Defendant and the other is Plaintiff. Since I have no idea what these records are or what information is in them can someone tell me if these contain any genealogical information that would be useful? Thanks in advance...Kelly Jane Moon O'Hara, Greer, SC ************************************** Get a sneak peak of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour

Kelly Jane, I don't think I have seen anyone replying to you on list so here is what my LDS Research Outline for SC says (in part): Some major SC courts that kept records of genealogical value included the following: 1671-1790's Court of Chancery handled land & inheritance matters for the entire colony. (They were known as equity records later.) 1703-pres. Court of Common Pleas was a statewide court until 1790 when when each district established a separate court with jurisdiction over guardianshp & civil matters. 1769-pres. Circuit courts had district or countywide jurisdiction in criminal cases & some civil cases. 1769-1776 Court of General Sessions was a statewide court until 1790 when each district had jurisdiction over criminal cases. 1791-1900 Courts of equity had countywide jurisdiction over property matters. Prior to 1780 these records were all kept in Charleston, I think. Many of them have been microfilmed by the LDS, too. The problem I have encountered with that is that the SC Archives that allowed the filming stipulated that the films could only be used in Salt Lake City, which leaves folks like me (in Oregon) at the mercy of others. Sounds like it might be worth your effort to check out those records though. Good luck. I may too! Joan Marie > Can someone explain this to me... > > On the Greenville County government site there are historical records. One > section is: > > Court of Common Pleas - Defendant and the other is Plaintiff. > > Since I have no idea what these records are or what information is in them > can someone tell me if these contain any genealogical information that > would be > useful? > > Thanks in advance...Kelly Jane Moon O'Hara, Greer, SC >

Hi Kelly -- the pleadings & judgments of the Court of Common Pleas are some of my favorite original records that we have here in the SC Room. Most of the cases are fiscal in nature -- business partnerships gone sour, or debts unpaid -- but you can find a fair number of assaults, thefts, etc. as well. They are not usually a great resource for genealogical information of the 'so-and-so begat so-and-so' variety, but there's often a mention of family connections in the course of elucidating the facts of a case. More importantly, in my opinion, the records are some of the few that we have that give a real sense of depth to an historical ancestor -- a glimpse of his or her way of life, moral character, and friends and associates. If you are lucky enough to have a family member who shows up in one of these records, you should definitely take a look at it! What is online at the county's historical records site are just the indexes -- each case is indexed separately by plaintiff and defendant. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Yours, Cori Cori Dulmage Carolina First South Carolina Room Greenville County Library System cdulmage@greenvillelibrary.org (864) 242 5000 x2269 ________________________________ From: scgreenv-bounces@rootsweb.com on behalf of OHARA555@aol.com Sent: Sat 7/14/2007 10:32 PM To: scgreenv@rootsweb.com Subject: [SCGREENV] (no subject) Can someone explain this to me... On the Greenville County government site there are historical records. One section is: Court of Common Pleas - Defendant and the other is Plaintiff. Since I have no idea what these records are or what information is in them can someone tell me if these contain any genealogical information that would be useful? Thanks in advance...Kelly Jane Moon O'Hara, Greer, SC ************************************** Get a sneak peak of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour Visit the Greenville County, S.C. GenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~scgreenv/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SCGREENV-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message