Since South Carolina did not officially keep vital records until 1911, it is extremely important to search through newspapers to locate this type of information. Sometimes this is the only source that may have that type of information. These marriage and death notices have been abstracted from The Laurensville Herald, Spartanburg Express, The Spartan, the Conservatist (Newberry), The Newberry Sentinel, The Rising Sun (Newberry) and The Lexington Flag, Temperance Standard and Lexington Telegraph. These are the only newspapers that could be located from the Districts of Spartanburg, Laurens, Newberry, and Lexington, South Carolina, for the years prior to 1866. These notices contain the names of over 5,207 persons mentioned in these newspaper extracts.