Genealogical Society meeting to feature program on researching plats

Bruce Pruitt will present a program on “Early South Carolina Plats” at the April 12 Pee Dee Chapter of the South Carolina Genealogical Society meeting in Marion.

Have you been searching for an ancestor, for months or years, and have hit a brick wall? Then the next meeting of the chapter may be for you. In early times, a plat was often the first document to be developed for a land grant. Plats give information not only about location and description of property but also about the grantee(s), including a chain of title. Pruitt will be talking about their usefulness in genealogical research.

Pruitt received degrees from Presbyterian College and Clemson University. His work in genealogy began in 1968 “due to an order from his mother” and has burgeoned over the past 20 years into about 150 books containing abstracts of public records, mostly related to land. His publications include eight books on state plats of South Carolina, six books on Greenville County deeds, three books on Pendleton District deeds and a book on Spartanburg County deeds.

Pruitt is a member of the South Carolina Genealogical Society, the North Carolina Genealogical Society and the National Genealogical Society. He has served as Editor of the “Greenville Chapter Journal” for the Greenville Chapter, SCGS, for many years.

The meeting is open to the public and begins at 3 p.m. in the Conference Center of Pee Dee Federal Savings & Loan in Marion. Pee Dee Federal is at 106 E. Court St., across the square from the Marion County Courthouse.