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The Grimes family has turned out to be difficult to research, primarily because Orangeburg County, SC is among the counties where most of the public records were destroyed during the Civil War.
We believe we have found our earliest known ancestor, Irvin Grimes, in the 1860, 1870, and 1880 federal censuses. On the 1860 and 1870 Orangeburg County SC censuses, he is listed with Elizabeth Grimes who we assume is his mother. We believe this Elizabeth is the wife of Pearce Grimes who is listed on the 1850 census in Orangeburg County. Pearce does not appear on later census records, so we can probably surmise that he died sometime between 1850 and 1860. By 1880, Irvin and wife Laura are living in the Goose Creek area of Charleston County, SC and by 1900, Irvin’s wife Laura (listed as a widow) and their children are living in Branchville, SC. At least one of Irvin & Laura’s children was born in Pregnal, SC (a town in Dorchester County), and later children were born in Branchville (Orangeburg County). All of the locations where we have found Irvin listed on the census correspond to the railroad lines between Charleston and Hamburg, SC. (See Census Records for transcriptions)
We continue to search for more information, hoping either to prove Elizabeth and Pearce Grimes are the parents of our Irvin, or to find other clues that would lead us to his ancestry. |