South Carolina roots should be considered

When dealing with Southern research, genealogists always should consider that some of their ancestors might have come from South Carolina.

Many of our ancestors may have immigrated directly to South Carolina and started their American journey there. Others may have just passed through the colony/state on their way westward. I have ancestors in both categories.

Brent H. Holcomb is the editor and publisher of the South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, in its 44th volume this year. With four issues of the journal per year, he has covered a lot of South Carolina genealogy resources.

While the last issue of each year contains an index for that year, Holcomb also has published comprehensive decadelong indexes for earlier decades. Anyone with any South Carolina research questions should check for an individual name, but also for sources, since he includes various record groups, such as the current running of federal equity cases covering South Carolina, and extracts from the Christian Neighbor religious newspaper, among others.

Each issue includes book reviews and queries from subscribers. Placing a query in such a well-known publication is a great way to let others know for whom you are looking.

Holcomb also has published hundreds of books on South Carolina sources, so look for his name in any genealogy library collection.

A subscription to SCMAR is normally $35 a year, but he is offering a one-time-only subscription price of $30 to new subscribers through Feb. 10. It would be a good way to treat yourself to a new genealogy resource. Write SCMAR, P.O. Box 21766, Columbia, SC 29221. His website is scmar.com.

Irish parish registers

More than 1,000 Irish parish registers have been placed online, free, by the National Library of Ireland at registers.nli.ie, but there is no countrywide index as yet. Check out the site to see how it works and what you can find. You can read the microfilm of a parish register directly on your computer, but you have to figure out the parish first.

Jewish genealogy

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Georgia is worth knowing about and joining. Check jewishgen.org/jgsg to see what they offer in meetings and research materials, with lots of links online to Jewish research sources elsewhere. Membership also links you to the Breman Museum.