Using Church Records to Identify a Neighborhood

Getting Started with Household Locations in the 1800 and 1810 Census

Willow Swamp Baptist Church was established on August 10, 1805 by members who had been dismissed from Dean Swamp Baptist Church. The names of those 32 individuals were published in South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, volume XX, (Fall 1992), pages 183 and 184.

In order to learn more about where these families lived, I first created a spreadsheet showing the families who started Willow Swamp Baptist Church. Next, using my recently published book for the 1800 through 1820 censuses, I looked up all of those families who appeared in Orangeburgh District in 1800 and/or 1810 and added their household numbers to the spreadsheet. The results are shown here:

(Notes for above data: Willow Swamp Baptist Church was located near a crossing point on the South Edisto River. Many of the families without numbers in the list above lived in Barnwell District at these enumerations. Names in brackets did not appear on the church list but have been added as likely spouses of those who did.  I would be glad to hear from anyone who can identify any of the unattached females on the list or suggest corrections to those I put with spouses.)

With this information it is easier to begin to identify where some of these folks lived at the time of these two early census counts. In 1800 those members whose households were enumerated appeared in the visitation sequence from 507 through 557. In 1810 the households appear in two separate sections of the count: 315 through 333 and 654 through 669. William Pauling, the 1810 enumerator, clearly used a different route through the area than did Gasper Trotti in 1800.

In the next few weeks I will post some articles about more specific locations of some of these households. In the meanwhile, if you cannot make it to Oktoberfest this weekend, consider ordering a copy of my newest book, Orangeburgh District, South Carolina Combined Census Index and Neighborhood Listings, 1800*–1820 from this website.

Tags: Willow Swamp