Ninety-Six District (not "96th") is a former judicial district in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. 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 Ninety Six is a town in Greenwood County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 1,998 at the 2010 census. Geography Ninety Six is located in eastern Greenwood County at (34.173211, -82.021710). South Carolina Highway 34 passes throu ...

Colonial period

In the colonial period, the land around the coast was divided into parishes corresponding to the parishes of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

. There were also several counties that had judicial and electoral functions. As people settled the backcountry, judicial districts and additional counties were organized. This structure continued and grew after the Revolutionary War. In 1798, all counties were re-identified as "elective districts" to be effective on 1 January 1800. 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 Province of South Carolina, originally known as Clarendon Province, was a province of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712 to 1776. It was one of the five Southern colonies and one of the thirteen American colonies. The monar ...

. Its boundaries included the current

Abbeville Abbeville (, vls, Abbekerke, pcd, Advile) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the chef-lieu of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of ...

, McCormick, Edgefield, Saluda, Greenwood,

Laurens Laurens may refer to: Places United States * Laurens County, Georgia * Laurens, Iowa, a city * Laurens (town), New York * Laurens (village), New York * Laurens, South Carolina, a city * Laurens County, South Carolina * Fort Laurens, an America ...

, Union, and

Spartanburg Spartanburg is a city in and the seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest city in the state. For a time, the Offi ...

counties; much of

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...

and

Newberry Newberry is a surname, a variant of Newbury. Notable people with the surname include: * Booker Newberry III (born 1956), American singer and keyboardist * Brennan Newberry (born, 1990), American professional stock car racing driver * Brian Newb ...

counties; and small parts of Aiken and Greenville counties. The lands further west and on the other side of the Appalachian Mountains were still

homelands, which the British Crown had tried to protect from colonial encroachment by the

Royal Proclamation of 1763 The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued by King George III on 7 October 1763. It followed the Treaty of Paris (1763), which formally ended the Seven Years' War and transferred French territory in North America to Great Britain. The Procla ...

. They continued to allow traders or travelers in the area. The westward expansion of the borders of the

Province of North Carolina Province of North Carolina was a province of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712(p. 80) to 1776. It was one of the five Southern colonies and one of the thirteen American colonies. The monarch of Great Britain was repre ...

and the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertGilbert (Saunders Family), Sir Humphrey" (histor ...

(then including present-day Kentucky) were confirmed by the 1770

Treaty of Lochaber The Treaty of Lochaber was signed in South Carolina on 18 October 1770 by British representative John Stuart and the Cherokee people, fixing the boundary for the western limit of the colonial frontier settlements of Virginia and North Carolina. ...

with the Cherokee. Some 1000 Cherokee were hosted by Alexander Cameron at Lochabar Plantation in the Ninety-Six District. Due to poor surveying,

Tryon County, North Carolina Tryon County is a former county which was located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It was formed in 1768 from the part of Mecklenburg County west of the Catawba River, although the legislative act that created it did not become effective unti ...

infringed on much of its northern boundaries through the 1770s. The judicial capital town was

; located at

Divisions

As a result of the

1785 Act Events January–March * January 1 – The first issue of the ''Daily Universal Register'', later known as ''The Times'', is published in London. * January 7 – Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries tr ...

, districts in South Carolina were further subdivided into counties. These counties were responsible for maintaining court houses, as part of the larger judicial districts from which they were formed. The Ninety-Six District was given the counties of

, Edgefield,

, and Union. On 19 February 1791, the Ninety-Six District lost the land in the current Union,

counties and the portion of

county within the district in the formation of Pinckney District.

Disestablishment

On 1 January 1800, Ninety-Six District was abolished and replaced by the

, Edgefield, Greenville,

, and

Districts.DenBoer, Gordon, and Thorne, Kathryn Ford, ''South Carolina Atlas of Historical County Boundaries'', Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1997, p. 168, .

Notable inhabitants

James Augustus Black James Augustus Black (1793 – April 3, 1848) was a slave owner, manufacturer, cotton broker, and U.S. Representative from South Carolina. Early life and military service Black was born on his father's plantation in the Ninety-Six District, nea ...

, (1793–1848),

United States Congressman The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from South Carolina. *

Bloody Bill Cunningham William "Bloody Bill" Cunningham (1756–1787) was an American loyalist infamous for perpetrating a series of bloody massacres in South Carolina's backcountry in the fall of 1781 as commander of a Tory militia regiment in the Revolutionary War. Th ...

, (Major William Cunningham) (1756 –1787), was an officer in the Loyalist Militia who conducted a bloody campaign in Ninety-Six District in the fall of 1781.

Present day

The Old 96 District Tourism Commission was formed to promote tourism in five of the counties that were formed from the original district - Abbeville, Edgefield, Greenwood, Laurens, and McCormick.

References

External links