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Search South Carolina Obituaries
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Obituary guide
How to find an obituary in South Carolina
For a recent death, start with the funeral home's website and the local paper's obituary page. For an older obituary, use the South Carolina State Library's NewsBank access (The State from 1891, The Post and Courier from 1803) or the obituary index at Richland Library or Charleston County Public Library.
What to have ready
- Full name, including a maiden name or nickname
- Approximate date and place of death (city and county)
- Age at death or birth year
- Names of close relatives (spouse, children, parents)
Tip: Knowing the county narrows the search more than anything else, because it points you to the right paper and the right library index.
Where to look, by when the person died
| When the person died | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Last few years | Funeral home websites; newspaper obituary pages (listed below), several of them hosted on Legacy.com |
| 1990s to recent decades | Charleston County Public Library's online index (Post and Courier obituaries, 1990 to the present); Richland Library's obituary index; the State Library's NewsBank access for cardholders |
| Older or historic | Spartanburg County Public Libraries' Death and Obituary Notice Search (Kennedy Room); Historical Newspapers of South Carolina (University of South Carolina); Chronicling America (more than 300,000 South Carolina pages); microfilm at your county library; county genealogical societies |
| Official death record | State death indexes begin in 1915, and the SC Department of Archives and History holds 1915–1963. See how to order a South Carolina death record. |
Major newspapers' obituary pages
- The State (Columbia), on Legacy.com
- The Post and Courier (Charleston), on Legacy.com
- The Greenville News
- Spartanburg Herald-Journal
- The Sun News (Myrtle Beach), on Legacy.com
Each page loaded without a login on our check. Older news archives usually need a subscription or a library card.
Libraries and archives
- South Carolina State Library newspaper guide: staff will also do obituary searches for people who don't hold a State Library card.
- Richland Library: the index covers The State (1891 to the present) and the Columbia Record (1909 to the present), plus older Columbia papers.
- Charleston County Public Library: deaths
- Historical Newspapers of South Carolina: a title list with dates for each paper
- Spartanburg County Public Libraries, Kennedy Room: an index to obituaries and death notices from the Spartanburg Herald, Herald-Journal, Carolina Spartan and other local sources
- SC Department of Archives and History
Timeline expectations
- Recent obituaries appear when the family or funeral home publishes them, so timing varies.
- Richland Library's index is updated continually. It lists dates only, not the full text.
- State death records begin in 1915. For earlier deaths, newspapers and church records are the main sources.
Tips
- Richland Library will scan and email an obituary if you send the name, the publication date and the newspaper. The limit is three requests a week.
- For Upstate deaths, search Spartanburg's index. It hasn't covered 1923–1929 yet, and copies can be ordered on the library's request form.
- Chronicling America includes African American newspapers published in South Carolina from 1865–1922.
Last verified:
Note: Coverage years, fees and web addresses are set by the libraries, archives and newspapers listed and can change. PublicLibraries.com is not affiliated with them.