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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Giant (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Giant. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the east contained birth and death records; the county to the south contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Giant is located in Dorchester County.

To see how the shape of South Carolina's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Dorchester County: Bamberg, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton & Orangeburg.

Below are the counties that are near Giant. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Giant:

  • Dorchester County     (The home county of Giant)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Giant, with the one closest to Giant listed first.
    • Harleyville
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Dorchester
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Saint George
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Reevesville
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Ridgeville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Grover
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Brownsville
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brownsville
      • Brownsville is located in Dorchester County
    • Flowertown Village
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Flowertown Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flowertown Village
      • Flowertown Village is located in Dorchester County
    • Summerville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Chandler Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chandler Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chandler Village
      • Chandler Village is located in Dorchester County
  • Berkeley County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Giant, with the one closest to Giant listed first.
    • Sandridge
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sandridge. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandridge
      • Sandridge is located in Berkeley County
    • Cross
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Washington Town
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Washington Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Washington Town
      • Washington Town is located in Berkeley County
    • Eadytown
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Eadytown. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eadytown
      • Eadytown is located in Berkeley County
    • Pinopolis
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Highland Village
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Highland Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Village
      • Highland Village is located in Berkeley County
    • Moncks Corner
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Ladson
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Caromi Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Caromi Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caromi Village
      • Caromi Village is located in Berkeley County
    • Pineville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Region Town ‑ Historic
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Region Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Region Town
      • Region Town is located in Berkeley County
    • Mount Holly
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Holly have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Holly
      • Mount Holly is located in Berkeley County
    • Bonneau
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
  • Calhoun County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Giant, with the one closest to Giant listed first.
    • Cameron
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cameron have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cameron
      • Cameron is located in Calhoun County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 396 people
    • Creston
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Creston
      • Creston is located in Calhoun County
  • Charleston County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Giant, with the one closest to Giant listed first.
    • Lincolnville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincolnville
      • Lincolnville is located in Charleston County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,624 people
    • Canady Landing ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canady Landing
      • Canady Landing is located in Charleston County
    • Otranto
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Otranto. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otranto
      • Otranto is located in Charleston County
  • Clarendon County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Giant, with the one closest to Giant listed first.
    • Summerton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Shad Moss village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shad Moss village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shad Moss village
      • Shad Moss village is located in Clarendon County
    • Davis Station
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Jordan
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Jordan. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
      • Jordan is located in Clarendon County
    • Panola
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Panola. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panola
      • Panola is located in Clarendon County
    • Silver
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver
      • Silver is located in Clarendon County
  • Colleton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Giant, with the one closest to Giant listed first.
    • Canadys
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Sidney
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sidney. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sidney
      • Sidney is located in Colleton County
    • Cottageville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Johnsville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnsville
      • Johnsville is located in Colleton County
    • Round O
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Drigger Crossroads
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drigger Crossroads
      • Drigger Crossroads is located in Colleton County
    • Smoaks
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Ruffin
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Walterboro
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Williams
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Drawdy
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Drawdy have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drawdy
      • Drawdy is located in Colleton County
  • Orangeburg County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Giant, with the one closest to Giant listed first.
    • Holly Hill
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Wells
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wells
      • Wells is located in Orangeburg County
    • Possum Town
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Possum Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Possum Town
      • Possum Town is located in Orangeburg County
    • Eutawville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Green Town
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green Town have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Town
      • Green Town is located in Orangeburg County
    • Vance
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vance
      • Vance is located in Orangeburg County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 153 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vance <1>
    • Bowman
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Santee
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Ferguson ‑ Historic
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferguson
      • Ferguson is located in Orangeburg County
    • Parler
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parler
      • Parler is located in Orangeburg County
    • Elloree
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Branchville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Sixty Six
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sixty Six
      • Sixty Six is located in Orangeburg County

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Giant, see our County-by-County Page for Giant.

Cemeteries Near Giant ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Giant.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Giant covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Giant, with the one closest to Giant listed first.

  • Mt. Zion Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Zion Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Zion Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Harleyville Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Harleyville Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Harleyville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Moorer Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Moorer Cemetery
    • The Moorer Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Moore Cemetery
    • Willie Moorer Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #70704 <4>
  • Harper Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Harper Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Harper Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Calvary Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Calvary Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Calvary Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Spring Branch Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Spring Branch Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Spring Branch Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Indian Field UMC Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Dorchester Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dorchester Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dorchester Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Springhill Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Springhill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Springhill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Holly Hill First Pentecostal Holiness Church Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Holly Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • St. James Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. James Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. James Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (234 more) ...
    • Limestone Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Limestone Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Limestone Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Duncan Chapel Cemetery
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Good Hope Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Good Hope Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Good Hope Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<5>

While we didn't find Giant in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Giant.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Giant, with the one closest to Giant listed first.

  • Harleyville
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Holly Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Sandridge
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Sandridge. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandridge
    • Sandridge is located in Berkeley County
  • Connors ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Connors have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Connors
    • Connors is located in Orangeburg County
  • Wells
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wells
    • Wells is located in Orangeburg County
  • Reevesville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Ridgeville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Dantzler
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dantzler have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dantzler
    • Dantzler is located in Orangeburg County
  • Vance
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vance
    • Vance is located in Orangeburg County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 153 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vance <1>
  • Bowman
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Felderville
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Felderville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Felderville
    • Felderville is located in Orangeburg County
  • Long Ridge
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Long Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Ridge
    • Long Ridge is located in Berkeley County
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Fifty Eight ‑ Historic
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fifty Eight have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fifty Eight
      • Fifty Eight is located in Orangeburg County
    • Parler
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parler
      • Parler is located in Orangeburg County
    • Cottageville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Giant. See our List of 1890's Communities around Giant.

Newspapers Published in Giant ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 16 newspapers that have been published in the area around Giant.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Giant, there are papers which were published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Giant.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Giant:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Giant. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Dorchester County: www.dorchestercounty.net/

The official website for State of South Carolina: https://sc.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<5>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Giant, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Giant) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Giant. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.2371, Longitude: -80.4448       In this case, the coordinates for Giant have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 22 Apr 2025