Ninety-Six District, South Carolina

Ninety-Six District is a former judicial district in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It existed as a district from 29 July 1769 to 31 December 1799. The court house and jail for Ninety-Six District were in Ninety Six, South Carolina.

In the colonial period, the land around the coast was divided into parishes corresponding to the parishes of the Church of England. There were also several counties that had judicial and electoral functions. As people settled the backcountry, judicial districts and additional counties were formed. This structure continued and grew after the Revolutionary War. In 1800, all counties were renamed as districts. In 1868, the districts were converted back to counties. The South Carolina Department of Archives and History has maps that show the boundaries of counties, districts, and parishes starting in 1682.

Ninety-Six District was created on 29 July 1769 as the most western of the seven original districts within the Province of South Carolina. Its boundaries included the current Abbeville, McCormick, Edgefield, Saluda, Greenwood, Laurens, Union, and Spartanburg counties; much of Cherokee and Newberry counties; and small parts of Aiken and Greenville Counties. The lands further west were Cherokee Indian lands barred to colonial settlers (but not to traders nor travellers) since the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The westward expansion of the borders of the Province of North Carolina and the Colony of Virginia were confirmed by the 1770 Treaty of Lochaber where 1000 Cherokees were hosted by Alexander Cameron at Lochabar Plantation in the Ninety-Six District. Due to poor surveying, Tryon County, North Carolina infringed on much of its northern boundaries through the 1770s.

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