I found the following information in the Laurens Co., SC mailing list archives. It gives good book suggestions for finding information on the county.
“The Scrapbook, A Compilation of Historical Facts About Laurens County, South Carolina.” It was published by the Laurens County HistoricalSociety and the Laurens County Arts Council in 1982. It is a fairly large,hardback book with history, maps and families. Very interesting. I don’tremember what I paid for it; I believe in around $25.00. It might possiblystill can be purchased from the Historical Society. This can be found at Duke Library in Durham, NC.
One of the most useful books on LC history and places I’ve found is ” Laurens County Sketchbook” by Julian S. Bolick and Edna Riddle Foy, about 1973.
“Stoddard-Sudduth Papers” by Mary Sudduth Stoddard (privately printed, date unknown, prob. about 1960). This book has a lot of ancient gossip in it that’s simply not available anywhere else, and I wish this whole thing could be put on the Net somewhere. Gloria Forrester said that parts of the “Stoddard-Sudduth Papers”by Mary Sudduth Stoddard are already online. It is only a small portion ofthe original paper, but it is very interesting. Fortunately, Bob Burgesshas a portion of these on the Laurens County SC GenWeb Page at http://www.geocities.com/bourbonstreet/4492/studdard.htm
Another very useful book is “Abstracts of Early Records of LaurensCounty, SC, 1785-1820,” compiled by Sara M Nash, privately printed about 1982. Miss Nash, a lifelong genealogical expert, painstakingly copied all these abstracts on her battered old manual typewriter and had this 600-page book bound from photocopies of her typed sheets. Her niece is in the process of re-typing the records. Miss Nash used to charge $22.50 for her copies but I don’t know what they are now. If you want more info, contact me and and I’ll pass along your inquiry to the niece who probably has any remaining copies. Please include your snail mail address as she’s not yet on the Net. I hope others will pick up on this thread and let us all know about books they’ve found useful, and where they might be available.
